These lemon ricotta pancakes are light, fluffy and citrus-scented! They’re an easy breakfast that tastes luxurious.

Lemon Ricotta Pancakes

Need a show-stopping pancakes recipe? Look no further than these Lemon Ricotta Pancakes! They’re impossibly fluffy and light, with a pop citrus flavor on the finish. Even better: they’re packed with protein and made with half the flour of a normal pancake! They might sound fancy, but they’re so easy to whip up and perfect for impressing friends and family at a lazy breakfast or brunch. (Our 4 year old adores them!) Ready for all our secrets?

Ingredients in lemon ricotta pancakes

This lemon ricotta pancakes recipe follows a formula that’s similar to our Cottage Cheese Pancakes. The base is mainly this high-protein cheese and eggs, and you need only half the all-purpose flour that’s called for in a standard pancake. This not only loads the pancake with protein, but it makes it impossibly fluffy. You’ve got to try this trick! Here’s what you’ll need:

  • Eggs
  • Ricotta cheese
  • Maple syrup
  • Vanilla
  • All-purpose flour
  • Baking powder and salt
  • Lemon juice and lemon zest
Ricotta

Makes for high protein pancakes

These lemon ricotta pancakes are irresistibly tasty, elegant and protein-packed, which makes them a win-win-win in our book. The protein helps turn them into a filling breakfast where you’re not hungry an hour later (which happens to us with standard pancakes). Here’s the breakdown for this ricotta pancake:

  • Lemon Ricotta Pancake has 9.6 grams protein! That’s 20% of your daily protein: in one pancake.
  • 1 Standard Pancake has approximately 4 grams protein. So the ricotta pancake is almost double the protein!
Lemon Ricotta Pancakes

Best toppings for lemon ricotta pancakes

Lemon ricotta pancakes are great with any toppings, but there’s a natural choice that fits more than any other: blueberries! Use either fresh blueberries or make a quick sauce (see below). Here are some of our other favorite toppings:

  • Pure maple syrup and powdered sugar: they taste incredible dressed simply
  • Blueberry sauce or compote: Try these recipes for quick stovetop Blueberry Sauce or Blueberry Compote
  • Peach compote: Try this simple peach compote!
  • Fresh berries like raspberries, blackberries or blueberries
  • Crushed nuts like pecans, walnuts, pistachios, hazelnuts or slivered almonds
  • Nut butter like peanut, almond, pecan, pistachio, or walnut butter
Lemon Ricotta Pancakes

More ricotta recipes

Ricotta is a high-protein soft Italian cheese that’s ultra versatile! There are so many ways to use it in recipes both savory and sweet. Once you’ve used it in these pancakes, try these ricotta recipes for using up the leftovers:

This lemon ricotta pancakes recipe is…

Vegetarian.

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Lemon Ricotta Pancakes

Lemon Ricotta Pancakes


  • Author: Sonja Overhiser
  • Prep Time: 10 minutes
  • Cook Time: 10 minutes
  • Total Time: 20 minutes
  • Yield: 8 to 9 medium pancakes 1x

Description

These lemon ricotta pancakes are light, fluffy and citrus-scented! They’re an easy breakfast that tastes luxurious.


Ingredients

Scale
  • 4 eggs
  • 1 ½ cups ricotta cheese
  • 3 tablespoons maple syrup
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • ¾ cup all-purpose flour
  • ½ tablespoon baking powder
  • ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1 tablespoon fresh squeezed lemon juice
  • 1 tablespoon grated lemon zest

Instructions

  1. In a medium bowl, whisk the eggs, ricotta, maple syrup and vanilla.
  2. In another bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder and salt. Add it to the bowl with the wet ingredients, then add the lemon juice and lemon zest and mix until a smooth batter forms.
  3. Heat a non-stick skillet or griddle over medium heat, then add a bit of butter to coat. Scoop out ¼ cup portions of batter and cook the pancakes until golden brown on one side, adjusting the heat so it doesn’t brown too fast. Flip and cook until cooked through and no longer gooey at the edges (the batter will ooze out a bit at the sides; just keep cooking until it is fully cooked, adjusting the heat as necessary so it doesn’t brown too fast). Place the pancakes in a stack under an overturned bowl, and cook the second batch of pancakes.
  4. Serve immediately, topped with pure maple syrup.
  • Category: Breakfast
  • Method: Stovetop
  • Cuisine: American
  • Diet: Vegetarian

Keywords: Lemon ricotta pancakes

About the authors

Sonja & Alex

Meet Sonja and Alex Overhiser: Husband and wife. Expert home cooks. Authors of recipes you'll want to make again and again.

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4 Comments

  1. To make your lemon ricotta pancakes gluten free, don’t you need to use gluten free flour? Your recipe just says all-purpose flour.

    1. You are correct — removed the incorrect reference to gluten-free! But you can test gluten free flour to make it gluten-free!