Cottage Cheese Pancakes are soft, fluffy, and protein-packed. They are also easy to make and you probably already have all of the ingredients in the refrigerator. These breakfast pancakes puff up like nobody’s business and reheat well.
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My son does this hilarious thing where he pretends to fall over and pass out after tasting something that is just way too good for words. These pancakes passed his test and the kids went back for seconds.
We love pancakes in our house and recipes like Dutch Baby Pancakes, Crepes, and Pumpkin Pancakes are on the regular rotation. Pancakes are such a treat for breakfast, especially on weekends when we slow down and really savor the first meal of the day as a family.
Ingredients for Cottage Cheese Pancakes
- Cottage Cheese – we use small curd, undrained
- Vanilla extract – for flavor
- Honey – adds natural sweetness
- Eggs – add rich flavor and protein to the pancakes
- Raisins (optional) -use brown or golden1/3 cup raisins (regular or white raisins)
- All-purpose flour – measured correctly (fluff, spoon into measuring cup and level the top)
- Baking soda – activated by cottage cheese to give these amazing rise
- Oil to sautee – we use extra light olive oil
How to Make Cottage Cheese Pancakes
1. In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs until well beaten. Add cottage, vanilla, honey, and whisk until combined then stir in 1/3 cup raisins.
2. In a separate small bowl, whisk together flour and baking soda (if baking soda is lumpy, sift it into the flour). Whisk dry ingredients into wet ingredients.
3. Heat a large non-stick skillet over medium/low heat. Swirl in 2 Tbsp oil then add pancake batter a heaping Tablespoon at a time, or to your desired pancakes size. Sautee until pancake is puffed and golden on the first side (about 2-3 minutes) then flip and continue cooking another 2 minutes. Repeat with remaining batches and add more oil as needed.
Pro Tip: We recommend a splatter guard since these do create a little bit of splatter. If you see too much splattering, turning down the heat will help.
Common Questions
If you prefer to use a different protein, you will love our Ricotta Cheese Pancakes or our Greek Yogurt Pancakes. We also have some fluffy Sour Cream Pancakes.
You can leave the raisins out if you prefer a simpler pancake. The recipe will work just as well.
Ukrainian cheese pancakes are typically made with a dryer cheese called Farmer cheese and are called Syrniki.
Cook pancakes about 2-3 minutes per side over medium/low heat. Flip the pancakes when they are nearly set on top and bubbles form around the edges of the pancakes.
Serve With
We love to serve cottage cheese pancakes with fresh fruit and these toppings (P.S. It’s perfectly acceptable to make these pancakes for dinner).
- Homemade Strawberry Sauce
- Easy Cherry Sauce
- Confectioners Sugar
- Sour Cream and Peach Preserves
- Honey Butter
- Raspberry Maple Syrup
- Fresh Berries
Reheating Pancakes
These are amazing serve these while they are warm and puffy, but you can also keep them warm on a baking sheet in the oven while you finish up your batches. Leftover pancakes also reheat really well with any of these methods:
- Bread Toaster – put pancakes in one at a time and toast until heated through.
- Air Fryer – add cold pancakes into the air fryer basket in a single layer and air fry at 350˚F for 2-3 minutes or just until heated through.
- Skillet – Place skillet over medium heat and brush with butter if desired. Heat pancakes in a single layer (flipping once), just until warmed through.
Fluffy Cottage Cheese Pancakes Recipe
Ingredients
- 16 oz small curd cottage cheese
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 3 Tbsp honey
- 4 large eggs
- 1/3 cup raisins, regular or white raisins
- 1 cup plus 2 Tbsp all purpose flour, *measured correctly
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 2 Tbsp extra light olive oil, for each batch
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, whisk together 4 large eggs until well beaten. Add 16 oz cottage cheese, 1 tsp vanilla, 3 Tbsp honey and whisk until combined. Stir in 1/3 cup raisins, if using.
- In a separate small bowl, whisk together 1 cup + 2 Tbsp flour and 1 tsp baking soda (if your baking soda has any lumps at all, sift it into the flour). Whisk the dry ingredients into your wet ingredients.
- Heat a large non-stick skillet over medium/low heat and add 2 Tbsp oil. Once the oil is hot, place a heaping tablespoon of pancake batter into the hot oil and sauté until golden and puffed up (about 2-3 min per side). I recommend a splatter guard since these do create a little bit of a splatter. If it's splattering alot, turning the heat down will help. Serve warm with sour cream, maple syrup, fruit or jam, or all of the above!
Notes
Nutrition Per Serving
Filed Under
hi Natasha, I was super excited about this recipe as I am diabetic and needed a heavier protein rich breakfast. My problem however was that the batter was way too sticky so I had a real hard time turning them over in the pan and in the process they got mushed and batter all over my spatula. Also in order to be able to flip them I had to keep the first side cooking for a longer time and in order to get the insides cooked, in the process both sides were burnt. 🙁 I still ate them but looking for some tips and tricks to get this right. Temp was between medium-low and non stick pan. Thanks.
It seems like you could have used a little more flour. Did you do the 1 cup plus 2 Tbsp flour?
Hi Natasha, thanks so much for the quick response. Yes I did the exact measurements for the flour. I use Robin Hood All purpose flour as I’m in Canada. Anything else I can try? Add more flour? If so how much more?
It might be due to the Canadian flour which has more gluten than US flour. I haven’t tested it with Canadian flour so I’m not sure how much more exactly. Start with 2 Tbsp and see if that helps.
Hi Natasha, to get the exact measurements for the flour, I think it would be much more precise to use grams instead of volume measurements ( 140 g + 2 Tbsp but just in grams as well). Thank you for the wonderful recipe.
The ingredients in the recipe can be converted to grams, you can click Jump to recipe and click Metric. I hope that helps!
Natasha, these recipe is very good, I always make pancakes with cottage cheese for my grandson. I read in your replies to other people that Canadian flower measures differently. Would you please specify.
Thank you Baba Luba :). Canadian flour has more gluten and from my experience it does change many baked goods. I really like Canadian flour but I don’t use it very often because it’s not available for everyone. Some recipes do work better with Canadian flour (like Rogaliki). When I make my baked cherry piroshki, I actually need less Canadian flour than American all-purpose flour.
Yes, I’ve noticed the thicker consistency of batter. it didn’t even splatter, like you’ve mentioned it could. but the finished product was vey good. next time I give a little less flower, to make them more fluffy.
BTW, Love all your recipes, you are very talented.
Thank you so much for your sweet comment 🙂
I made these pancakes this past weekend and they were delicious! My husband loves pancakes and he said these were by far his favorite pancakes!
I tried these. OK but not the hit. They need more flour and sugar. otherwise spread too much on a pan, and are barely sweetened.
Hi Natalia, I’m surprised to hear you say they spread too much on the pan. What kind of flour did you use – was it Canadian possibly? That one actually measures out differently than American all-purpose for recipes. We didn’t over sweeten them because we usually serve them with maple syrup or jam so I didn’t want to overdo it.
Will these turn out ok with tvorog? I don’t have any cottage cheese.
Zena, they would be awesome with tvorog, let me know how you like them :).
I read your recipe pancakes with apples. Do you think I can add apples instead of raisins in this recipe?
HI Lina, I think that would work, but the extra moisture in the apples might cause it to splatter. Also, don’t over-do it because the pancakes might have a harder time staying together if you add too many apples.
Thank you for the recipe Natasha! I made it yesterday, I did not have the raisins so I added fresh blueberries and they came out very good, not too sweet, very delicious!!! My family enjoyed it. Thanks
Thank you for the great review! I’m so happy to hear that your family enjoyed the pancakes. Blueberries sound so good in these pancakes!
I used 24 oz tub of cottage cheese, added a little more BS and added more vanilla. In my opinion they came out too eggy (I used 4). With quality maple syrup it tasted fine but can’t stand alone. Will add only one egg next time. Texture inside was weird too. I would never tell that there is cottage cheese in them. They did rise beautifully. I liked your other recipe (Polish cottage cheese pancakes with apples) better. Nevertheless, kids ate them and no complains:)
I’m glad your kids enjoyed them! 🙂 I didn’t really get any sense of eggyness in these though. I wonder if that and the texture had to do with changing the proportions of ingredients. I haven’t tested it the way you wrote so I can’t say for sure. Also, if you use fresh eggs (if you have your own chickens), the pancakes will be yellower if that is what you mean??
I bet I would pass out too if I got to try one of these! I had never thought of putting cottage cheese in a pancake before but it sounds like a great idea! I bet it keeps them super moist!
Shelby, they are very moist. Be careful, during your taste test, I don’t want you to pass out :D.
Those look delicious. I haven’t thought of putting cottage cheese in my pancake batter, I’ll have to give that a try!
I love pancakes with cheese but farmer’s cheese is not available in many stores, so these are my go to pancakes right now :).
I made these with one cup of pancake mix instead of the flour/baking soda the recipe called for, omitted the raisins because papa has an aversion and they turned out great! Rave reviews from the crew. Thanks!
It’s great to know it works with pancake mix! Thanks for sharing 🙂
I just made these pancakes and the oil splattered so bad everywhere and created a very big mess. My personal opinion is that it needs 2 big tbsp of sugar. And another problem with these are that they are very hard to flip over. Some of mine turned out like scrambled eggs. But…they do taste good after sugar is added.
Hi Yana,
They do splatter from the moisture of the cottage cheese, that is why I recommended a splatter guard and turning the heat down helps if they are splattering too much. Did you make sure to add the extra 2 Tbsp of flour? It almost sounds like you didn’t have enough flour if they were difficult to flip. We typically serve them with maple syrup so I don’t like my pancakes to be too sweet. I hope that helps 🙂
Oh no! I forgot to add the extra flour! Im sorry.I will try again tomorrow. Hope it solves the problem. Thank you Natasha! By the way my 4 year old loved these despite how they looked 😲lol
That should definitely help 🙂 I’m happy your little guy enjoyed them 🙂
Natasha I tried adding more flour and they came out very well! What I also did was I added about 3-4 tablespoons of olive oil in the batter and one tablespoon in the pan to start of with. The pancakes came out less greasy and saved me from cleaning my kitchen from oil splatter. I was very happy with the results! I always add olive oil to batter for my russian blinchiki.
That is a great tip and thank you so much for sharing it! I’ll have to try it next time I make these 🙂
i 100% agree, and I did add 2tbsp of flour and still was not enough, agree on sugar too. Unfortunately, my family did not like them too much.
These were great! Thank you for your recepies, I always wait for the new ones to come!
Natallia, thank you for your sweet comment and you are welcome :).
These are delicious! Made them yesterday as a snack an my kids were asking for more, making them today for breakfast again! Love how fluffy they are:):):)
Oksana, thank you for such a great review, I’m so happy they loved them :D.
I’m not much of a fan of raisins and I intend to try this recipe without them. Nevertheless, the pancakes look amazing and I love that you replaced the sugar and salt with other ingredients that will add more flavour to the pancakes.
I do love how the honey makes these taste without being too sweet. I think they would taste just fine without the raisins. Thanks Amy!
Funny you should make these, Natasha, because my folks came for a visit today and my dad treated us to tvorog (quark cheese) pancakes! They were delicious. Dad says he thinks they turn out even better if the batter rests in the fridge for a day or two.
I will have to try your version with cottage cheese as it is more easily available. We tried making them w ricotta, but were not very happy with how they came out.
Coco, that’s what I like about cottage cheese :). It’s easily available and less expensive than farmer’s cheese.
These look delicious! I just made your buttermilk pancakes with your blueberry sauce from the cheesecake and added whipped cream for my friend and she said it was one of the best breakfasts she’s every had. I will definitely have to try these!
Mary, thank you for such a great review and blueberry sauce goes together with them really well :).
Well, I’m hyperglycemic which means I have to be very careful about sugar in my diet. So I tend to avoid pancakes because they lift me up then drop me off like a ton of bricks. I get shaky and sick. I love the cottage cheese in here, that ingredient might allow me to have pancakes again, something I avoid so I don’t have sugar issues. Thank you for sharing this unique option.
You are welcome Laura, I would love to hear what you thought of them :).
Just made them for breakfast this morning. Very good, good job Natasha. Every recipe i try from your site its very good.
Awww that’s so sweet of you to say. Thank you so much! 🙂
I’ve tried your other pancakes and loved them. Can’t wait to try these!!!
Thanks Jean! I hope you love these too! 🙂