Homemade pancakes aren’t exactly a feat of dazzling culinary wizardry, but for a simple breakfast staple, they are surprisingly easy to mess up. Plus, it’s totally understandable not to want to fumble with measuring cups in the morning. Betty Crocker Bisquick, krusteaz gingerbread cookie mix Snoqualmie Falls Lodge, your Arrowhead Mills, and others of that ilk. Most of these mixes contain the same basic ingredients and only ask you to add water.

These easy boxed pancake mix upgrades are all worth a try, and still, barely require you to be conscious. So next Saturday morning, break out the boxed mix and try one of these brilliant tricks — or combine a few — for breakfast nirvana. Simply mixing in a whole egg enriches the boxed pancake batter, but there’s an additional step that will make extra fluffy pancakes, and that’s whipping the egg white. According to cookbook author Stacie Billis for The Kitchn, this trick makes for “ethereally fluffy cakes” and it only adds three minutes to the whole process. You’ll need one egg for each cup of pancake mix. After separating your yolk, whip the white until stiff peaks form.

The most important part is how you combine the whipped white with the rest of the ingredients. Once you’ve whipped up an airy cloud of egg white, be sure to fold it into the batter gently so you don’t deflate it. If you like, you can mix the yolk in too, but it will inhibit the rise a bit and make the texture denser and richer, so feel free to save it for another purpose. Adding a bit more fat in the form of melted butter not only makes for a more tender, richer pancake with a moister crumb, but amps up the flavor too. Where butter isn’t better is in the pan itself. Unlike many cooking oils, including common canola, butter has a relatively low smoke point and is apt to burn, so if you use it to grease your pancake pan or griddle, you may end up with bitter, blackened edges.

Just add water” is the order of the day for most boxed pancake mixes, but replacing the H20 with milk — whether cow, coconut, almond, oat, or any other alternative dairy option — instantly improves the taste and texture of the finished product. Two things to note: Skim milk and some plant-based milks that are lower in fat and thinner in consistency may not make as noticeable a difference as fuller fat milks will when it comes to plusher pancakes. And strongly flavored substitutes like coconut milk will impart their own subtle taste to the pancakes, but that might work beautifully if you’re going for a tropical brunch. While this is along the same lines as swapping in milk for regular water, it probably sounds a whole lot stranger.