IHOP is giving away free pancakes for National Pancake Day: Here’s when to get them
If you’re looking for free pancakes on Tuesday, IHOP has you covered.
The breakfast chain is giving customers three free buttermilk pancakes when they dine in on Tuesday, March 4, from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. at participating locations in honor of its National Pancake Day promotion, according to the company’s website. No purchase minimum is required.
According to IHOP, this is the 20th anniversary of its National Pancake Day. The company began the promotion as a way to raise money for charity, and this year is no different – IHOP encourages customers to donate to Feeding America either on their checks or online.
The company has over 1,800 locations around the world, including restaurants in all 50 states and 13 countries outside the United States. You can use the chain’s store locator to find the IHOP location closest to you.
If you find yourself to be more of a doughnut person than a pancake person, you can get a free doughnut at Krispy Kreme Tuesday.
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The doughnut chain is offering customers who wear Mardi Gras beads to a Krispy Kreme shop on Tuesday, March 4 a free original glazed doughnut, limit one per guest. The offer is available in-shop or in the drive-thru and no purchase is necessary, according to the company.
Gabe Hauari is a national trending news reporter at USA TODAY. You can follow him on X @GabeHauari or email him at Gdhauari@gannett.com.
Another freebie: Krispy Kreme giving away free doughnuts Tuesday
Pancake Day 2025: Why do we have pancakes on Shrove Tuesday?
What’s the story behind Shrove Tuesday?
This year, 4 March is Shrove Tuesday – otherwise known as Pancake Day.
Shrove Tuesday is a Christian festival marked all over the world but in the UK, Ireland, Canada and Australia it’s often celebrated by eating pancakes.
Read on to find out more about Shrove Tuesday and why pancakes have become such a big part of it.
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Shrove Tuesday is the day before 40 days of Lent.
Lent is meant to be a time of sacrifice, in honour of Jesus who spent 40 days fasting in the wilderness.
Shrove is the past tense of the verb shrive which means to go to a priest for confession or penance.
It takes place on a different Tuesday each year but it is always 47 days before Easter Sunday.
Lent begins from Ash Wednesday, the day after Shrove Tuesday.
Shrove Tuesday is also the last day of Shrovetide which actually starts with Shrove Saturday.
How to make a pancake
Lent is a time when people give up something.
In Eastern churches, Lent is a time to fast – which may mean that only one meal a day can be served, and certain foods like meat and eggs cannot be eaten.
In Western churches, the rules are more relaxed.
People stop eating something they really like, like chocolate or sweets.
Catholics may also choose to give up meat on Fridays during Lent.
But before the rules were relaxed, people would give up all animal products throughout Lent, including foods like eggs and milk.
Christians would eat pancakes on the last day before Lent begins, to use up things in the cupboard like flour, eggs and milk that they wouldn’t be eating for Lent.
It meant they could remove any temptation!
Lent is a period of 40 days where Christians remember the events leading up to and including the death of Jesus Christ.
Christians believe Jesus is the Son of God, and his life and teachings are the foundation of Christianity.
Jesus went into the desert to fast and pray for 40 days and 40 nights before beginning God’s work.
Lent to many Christians is a time to give things up and test their willpower.
Millions of people do this as a sign of sacrifice, and Christians do it to represent Jesus Christ’s sacrifice when he went into the desert to pray and fast for the 40 days before later dying on the cross.
According to the Bible, Jesus then came back to life on Easter Sunday. This is the most important day in the Christian calendar.
People start the traditional annual Pancake Race in the Buckinghamshire village of Olney in February 1956
When making pancakes people often flip the pan to turn the pancake over – well how about doing that while running?
That’s exactly what happens in pancake races which have been a tradition for a long time.
The legend is that a woman was busy making pancakes when the shriving bell rang calling people to church.
She rushed off still with her apron and her frying pan in her hand.
The first race is thought to have taken place in the village of Olney in Buckinghamshire at around 1445.
The Olney pancake race is now world famous!
The Mardi Gras festival in New Orleans, Louisiana, goes on for several weeks, ending in a big party on Shrove Tuesday
In some countries like France and the USA, Shrove Tuesday is also called Mardi Gras.
Mardi Gras translates to “Fat Tuesday” in French.
There are carnivals and celebrations but pancakes are not commonly eaten.
In Spain, the Thursday before Ash Wednesday is known as Jueves Lardero, which translates as “Fat Thursday” or Día de la Tortilla (“Omelette Day”).
The day is similar to Pancake Day where people use up all their eggs before Lent and make delicious omelettes.
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Why is it called Shrove Tuesday?
Why do people eat pancakes on Shrove Tuesday?
What is Lent?
What other ways is pancake day celebrated?
Do other countries celebrate Shrove Tuesday?
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Pancake Day: What is Shrove Tuesday and when is it celebrated?
Butter your frying pans because Pancake Day is nearly upon us
Get your eggs, butter, sugar and lemon juice at the ready, because Pancake Day is almost here.
In 2025, Pancake Day (or Shrove Tuesday) is on Tuesday 4 March, falling much later than last year.
Whether you find delight in crepe-style pancakes or you prefer the fluffy variations typically found in Scotland and the US, Pancake Day is an annual celebration enjoyed by many across the world in the lead up to the Christian festival of Easter.
From its religious significance to delicious recipes that you can try, here’s everything you need to know about Pancake Day:
Shrove Tuesday, also commonly referred to as Pancake Day, is a celebration that’s observed the day before Ash Wednesday.
Ash Wednesday marks the first day of the Christian observance of Lent, a 40-day period of abstinence that precedes Easter (which is a moveable feast).
As such, Ash Wednesday is the last day on which those who observe Lent can enjoy richer foods before abstaining for them, should they choose to.
Throughout the centuries it’s become tradition for people to eat pancakes to mark the beginning of Lent to use up ingredients that they wouldn’t be allowed to eat during the 40-day period, which is how Pancake Day obtained its name.
As Pancake Day always takes place 47 days before Easter Sunday, its actual date on the Gregorian calendar can vary.
According to Historic UK, the term Shrove Tuesday derives from the act of Anglo-Saxon Christians confessing their sins before Lent, and thus being “shriven” of them.
In some countries, including France, Germany and the United States, the day before the start of Lent is recognised with a celebration called Mardi Gras.
Translated as meaning “Fat Tuesday” in French, the festivities often involve Carnival activities such as extravagant parades.
The tradition of eating pancakes to see in the beginning of Lent has been observed in Britain since around the 16th century.
The Encyclopedia of Traditional British Rural Sport outlines that this occurred because the ingredients that make up pancakes – namely eggs, butter and fat – would typically be banned during Lent.
“In some parishes it was the custom for the church bell to ring at noon as the signal for people to begin frying their pancakes,” the authors of the book state.
This bell became known as the “Pancake Bell”, Historic UK explains, and is still used in parishes today.
While pancake eating on Shrove Tuesday has been a custom for the past few centuries, the act of marking the beginning of Lent prior to Ash Wednesday has been around for far longer.
According to the Anglo-Saxon Ecclesiastical Institutes, a text reportedly translated by writer Abbot Aelfric around 1000AD, in the week preceding Lent it was custom for Christians to confess their sins so that “the confessor shall so shrive him as he then may hear by his deeds what he is to do [in the way of penance].”
Centuries later, around the time of the 16th-century Western Christian Reformation movement, “Shrovetide”, the period of celebration before the fast of Lent, would last around a week.
First and foremost, the primary focus of many people on Pancake Day is the excessive consumption of palate-pleasing pancakes.
Some also take part in an activity called “pancake racing”, which, as the name suggests, involves participating in a race while flipping pancakes in a frying pan.
It’s believed this tradition originated in 1445, when a woman lost track of time while making pancakes on Pancake Day.
As she heard the church bell ring, calling for the community to head to the church for confession, she ran out of her house to make her way to church, all the while still holding her frying pan with the pancake on top.
In the UK, some also celebrate Pancake Day by taking part in “mob football” matches.
This centuries-old tradition used to be more common, and involves teams kicking a ball around on public roads.
While many no longer partake in the activity, some villages, such as Atherstone in Wawrickshire, continue to uphold the tradition.
From simple crepes topped with sugar and lemon juice, to fluffy pancakes adorned with chocolate spread and banana, there’s no end to the creative pancake recipes you could fry up on Pancake Day.
If you’re looking for inspiration, look no further than The Independent‘s list of appetising recipes below:
If you’re in need of a decent frying pan, click here to take a look at 10 of the best varieties on the market.
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