These easy ricotta pancakes are light, fluffy, rich, and have amazing flavor. Add some lemon zest and top them with fresh fruit and maple syrup and you’re in for an amazing breakfast treat!
Breakfast is without a doubt my favorite meal of the idea. And of course, what better way to start your day than with pancakes? That’s why I have several pancake recipes on the blog, like pumpkin pancakes and chocolate pancakes (probably the most decadent pancakes you’ll ever eat!).
These ricotta pancakes are absolutely divine and so simple to make. I love adding lemon zest for some freshness and flavor, but that’s totally optional. You should give them a try – you won’t be sorry! 🙂
How to make ricotta pancakes
These ricotta pancakes are so simple to make!
Would you like to save this recipe?
We'll email this recipe link to you, so you can come back to it later!
- Combine the dry ingredients. In a small bowl whisk together flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt.
- Combine the wet ingredients. In a larger bowl, combine ricotta, milk, eggs, vanilla, and lemon zest.
- Mix together. Add the flour mixture to the ricotta mixture and mix gently just until combined.
- Cook the pancakes. Heat a griddle or skillet over medium heat. Coat with cooking spray and pour ¼ cup of batter onto the skillet. Cook 2-3 minutes until the surface of pancakes have some bubbles and the bottom appears golden brown. Flip carefully and cook another 1-2 minutes.
- Enjoy! Transfer to a plate and cover loosely with aluminum foil to keep warm. Serve pancakes immediately with maple syrup, fruit jam, lemon curd, or powdered sugar.
Pro pancake tip: To make your pancakes extra fluffy, use room temperature ingredients. Let the refrigerated ingredients sit out for 30-45 minutes before making the batter. This helps create a light and fluffy texture.
Toppings for ricotta pancakes
I love topping my pancakes with fresh fruit and maple syrup or powdered sugar, but here are some other delicious options!
- Whipped cream
- Lemon curd
- Chocolate ganache (try melting it and drizzling it on top)
- Berry compote
More of my favorite pancake recipes
- Apple Cinnamon Pancakes: Made with cinnamon and topped with juicy, caramelized apples.
- Banana Pancakes: Made with ripe bananas for delicious flavor.
- Classic Pancakes: Classic, fluffy buttermilk pancakes.
- Lemon Pancakes: Bright and refreshing.
- Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Pancakes: For an indulgent breakfast treat.
Ricotta Pancakes
Rich, light, and fluffy ricotta pancakes taste amazing topped with fresh fruit and maple syrup!
Ingredients
- ¾ cup (100g) all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup (240 ml) ricotta cheese
- ¾ cup (180 ml) whole milk
- 2 large eggs
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- Grated zest of ½ lemon , optional
Instructions
-
In a small bowl whisk together flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt. In a larger bowl, combine ricotta, milk, eggs, vanilla, and lemon zest. Add the flour mixture to the ricotta mixture and mix gently just until combined.
-
Heat a griddle or skillet over medium heat. Coat with cooking spray, oil, or butter, just enough to coat the surface. For each pancake, drop ¼ cup of batter onto skillet. Cook 2-3 minutes, until surface of pancakes have some bubbles and the bottom appears golden brown. Flip carefully and cook another 1-2 minutes. Transfer to a plate and cover loosely with aluminum foil to keep warm. Make sure to coat the skillet before every pancake or batch of pancakes to prevent sticking.
-
Serve pancakes immediately with maple syrup, fruit jam, lemon curd, or powdered sugar.
Recipe Notes
Pro pancake tip: To make your pancakes extra fluffy, use room temperature ingredients. Let the refrigerated ingredients sit out for 30-45 minutes before making the batter. This helps create a light and fluffy texture.
Irene McMorland says
Easiest ricotta pancakes recipe I’ve tried yet – and so fluffy. It was like eating a cashmere sweater, but in a good way!
Dana Benfield says
What kind of ricotta? dry? fresh?
Shiran says
Hi Dana, I’m not sure what is dry ricotta. I’m using different brands of ricotta cheese. They are slightly different in consistency, but they all work ok.
Monica says
Is there supposed to be more flour or maybe less milk? I tried making these tonight, and I ended up having to add nearly twice as much flour to get them to pancake batter consistency. It was liquid like for making crepes with what is called for. Haven’t had them yet, but I’m sure they’ll be delicious, just didn’t seem to work out right as written.
Shiran says
Hi Monica, maybe it’s the ricotta cheese, every brand makes it different and I use one that is quite thick. You can add 1/4 cup more flour if it happens again, and it shouldn’t be liquid then.
christie says
The type of ricotta matters as does the brand. Some are more drained of whey then others and a simple “cheese” is made by draining most of the whey out in a basket. Whole milk ricotta is tastier, cheaper versions are made with just or mostly whey. One can get it from Italy from Water buffalo Milk and it is best also available, sometimes, cheeses made from Sheep’s milk.
when you make cannoli filling you use a type that is more dry, or take what you have put in a cheese cloth and hang in fridge over a bowl. Reserve it as you can over dry the filling. You could blend in some very soft IMPORTED marscapone cheese.
The filling is not overly sweet and a few bits of chocolate and pistachios are nice at the ends. And make them small. Some people make the filling so sweet it would make great white icing but very poor cannoli.
Here in NYC are believe it or not I buy 2 kinds Shop Rite store brand or Polly-O. Now that is a big swing, but the SR brand is drier and for somethings , for me better. The taste is fine, and seldom has it needed draining. It was exceptional in eggplant rollatini, (ok I used zukes and made them flay for Zucchini Flatinni.
Monica says
That makes sense, it could definitely be that. I ended up just adding a little flour then mixing until they seemed like the consistency they should be, and we liked them as something different than a regular pancake. Thanks!
Amie says
Holy cow these were great! We will be making them again.
Lisa says
Love these – I used 1 1/3 cups of gluten-free King Arthur Flour Co. mix instead of the dry ingredients (was out of sugar), 1/4 c melted butter, and added in 1/2 mashed banana – light, fluffy but also dense and rich – heavenly!!
Babs says
These were delicious but I would use 1 1/4 cup of flour because the pancakes were more like a crepe and very difficult to flip, but YUM delicious,
Joy says
Can you use almond milk?
Shiran says
You can use almond milk instead of the milk.
Mister B says
I picked this recipe over some others I found because I didn’t feel like separating eggs and beating egg whites. It was super easy and the results were really delicious. I used a whole milk “double cream” ricotta I had from Publix, and didn’t have to add any extra flour. I would suggest letting the batter sit for about 5 minutes before pouring onto your cooking surface.
Mavis says
I came across this recipe lately and have made these pancakes twice. They are delicious- light, sweet, and fluffy!
Perhaps the consistency isn’t to the liking of some people because they didn’t use whole milk and whole milk ricotta. Ricotta is similar to cottage cheese in that you can buy whole, 2 percent, fat free, etc. Whole is always my preference for baking because it makes your dish all the richer.
Thanks for a great recipe! I can’t wait to someday have guests again, and I for sure will make these pancakes!
bev says
Hi –
I just discovered your blog today.
I accidentally purchased a 16 ounce and 32 ounce container of ricotta cheese. Looking for recipes to use up the 32 oz container, I made your ricotta pancakes this morning, cutting the recipe in half because there are only two of us.
They were delicious – my husband agreed.
I am going to make your recipe for the ricotta cheesecake next.
Your blog is absolutely elegant!! I have a few favorite bloggers and am adding you to that list.
Could you kindly inform me what digestive biscuits are.
Shiran says
Thank you so much for the kind words! You can use graham crackers instead. Digestive biscuits are more common in Europe.
Joe says
Easy and excellent. I used whole milk ricotta.
Tracy says
These were delicious!!! I didn’t add the lemon because my daughter doesn’t like it and they were still fabulous! Served with sausage links and fruit it was an excellent brunch 🙂 thank you for the wonderful recipe
Rachelle Lemay says
These are the best pancakes ever! I just sprinkled them with powdered sugar and enjoyed them immensely.
Meg says
Halved the recipe and added chocolate chips. Turned out great! A bit custardy and tender.