Fluffy Lemon Ricotta Pancakes (VIDEO)
Super light and fluffy Ricotta Pancakes with lemon are sure to become a new family favorite breakfast! These puff up beautifully and have wonderful flavor with the zest of an entire lemon.
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Why We Love these Lemon Ricotta Pancakes:
These breakfast pancakes are satisfying and keep you full because they are high in protein – there’s a surprising amount of ricotta cheese in this recipe and you get to use the entire 15 oz container without wondering what to do with the rest of it.
Most ricotta pancakes that I’ve come across have about half the amount of ricotta which is basically a pancake with a little ricotta mixed in, but not these! Just like our Cottage Cheese Pancakes, the main ingredient here is Ricotta which keeps them super light and they go down easy in a melt-in-your-mouth kind of way.
Watch Ricotta Cheese Pancakes Video:
Watch how to make these EASY Ricotta Pancakes. The pancake batter is quick and easy to make and comes together in one bowl. All you need is a bowl and a whisk. You’ll feel so good about what’s in this recipe.
When to Flip Ricotta Cheese Pancakes:
Pancakes are ready to flip when you see bubbles pop and remain open on the surface. This is true for these Ricotta Pancakes and ALL pancakes.
Keep pancakes over medium heat so they don’t brown too quickly before they have a chance to cook through. We set to medium heat on the skillet or 325˚F on the griddle.
The Best Oil for Cooking Pancakes:
- Coconut Oil – We love coconut oil because it’s slightly healthier fat and if using unrefined coconut oil it is good for high heat cooking and adds a pleasant coconut sweetness.
- Cooking Oils – A flavorless high heat cooking oil like light olive oil or canola oil will work.
- Butter – If using butter that isn’t clarified, wipe the pan clean between every 2 batches to get rid of any browned butter. You can also do a combination of butter and oil which will increase your smoke point so the butter doesn’t burn as quickly.
Our Favorite Toppings for Ricotta Pancakes:
My personal go-to toppings for pancakes are sour cream, honey, and fresh berries. I find the combination of sweet and tangy irresistible. For company and special mornings, we love to elevate pancakes with these toppings:
- Raspberry Maple Syrup – a blended combination of real maple syrup with raspberries for the ultimate breakfast syrup
- Strawberry Sauce – our homemade topping is quick and easy to whip up and can’t be beaten.
- Cherry Sauce – filled with juicy plump cherries; this tastes like cherry pie filling.
- Fresh Fruit – we love a variety of berries and stone fruit depending on what is in season.
- Real Maple Syrup (from Vermont) – REAL maple syrup makes all the difference.
- Jams and Jellies – our homemade plum jam is a must-try – no pectin needed!
- Fruit Preserves – we love homemade peach preserves where you can see the texture of the fruit
Brilliant Ways to Reheat Pancakes:
If you’re lucky enough to have leftovers of these pancakes, you can cover and refrigerate them for up to 3 days then reheat when you’re ready for pancakes again.
- Toaster – put pancakes individually into the slots of a toaster and toast as you would a slice of bread until they are heated through.
- Air Fryer – put cold pancakes into the air fryer basket and air fry at 350˚F for about 3 minutes or just until heated through.
- Frying Pan – set the burner to medium heat. Brush skillet with a little butter if desired and flip pancakes until warm.
More Pancake Recipes You’ll Make Over and Over:
These Ricotta Pancakes will make a breakfast person out of you! Below are our top-rated pancake recipes (all tested and approved by our family). You can explore all of our breakfast recipes here.
- Sour Cream Pancakes – with blueberries in the batter
- Buttermilk Pancakes – a quick and easy recipe with pantry staples
- Greek Yogurt Pancakes – super fluffy with more protein than traditional pancakes
- Pumpkin Pancakes – for pumpkin lovers! We always keep pumpkin puree in the pantry for these.
Here’s my sweet girl making these ricotta pancakes. This is one of those easy recipes the whole family can help with.
Fluffy Lemon Ricotta Pancakes (VIDEO)
Light and fluffy Lemon Ricotta Pancakes are sure to become a new family favorite breakfast! These puff up beautifully and have wonderful lemon zest flavor. This recipe makes 18 (4-inch) pancakes.
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 cup ricotta cheese (14-15 oz will work)
- 3/4 cup low fat buttermilk (or kefir)
- 3 large eggs
- 2 Tbsp granulated sugar
- 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour (5 1/2 oz)
- 1 Tbsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp sea salt
- Zest of 1 lemon
- Olive oil or coconut oil to cook
Instructions
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In a large mixing bowl, whisk together eggs and sugar until well blended.
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Mix in ricotta cheese, buttermilk and salt and whisk until blended.
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In a separate bowl, sift together flour and baking powder then whisk the flour mixture into the cheese mixture.
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Stir in the zest of 1 lemon. If you let the batter rest for 10-30 minutes, the pancakes will be even fluffier.
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Heat a large non-stick skillet or griddle over medium heat and melt in your oil. Spoon batter into the pan (about 2 Tbsp per pancake) and sautee 2-3 min per side. Repeat with remaining batter, adding more oil as needed.
If you make this recipe, I’d love to see pics of your creations on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter! Hashtag them #natashaskitchen
Natasha Kravchuk
Hi! I'm Natasha Kravchuk. Here you'll find delicious, trusted recipes with easy step-by-step photos and videos. 
Delicious! I served with lemon curd. These are fantastic!
Thank you for sharing, Marjorie. I’m glad you liked it!
I know this recipe link by heart now: everyone who has tried Natasha’s ricotta pancakes asks for the recipe 🙂
Thank you for that wonderful compliment!
Brilliant recipes . Everything I have tried has been so yummy . Not great with the eclairs but can try that one again. Love your videos !!!
I hope you give them another try, Trina! I’m so glad you’re enjoying our videos!
Made these and family loves it! Would adding lemon juice to the mixture help as we love a more lemony taste?
Hi Selena, you can add slightly more for more of a lemon punch.
Your video states 1-3/4 cups of ricotta, but your website recipe says 1-1/4 cups. I think the website has a typo since 14 oz. is 1-3/4 cups? Love your website so much, can your clarify?
Hi Nancy, 15 oz on the container is a weight measurement, but when you transfer it into a US measuring cup, it measures to 1 1/4 cups ricotta.
What will happen if I use use regular buttermilk and not low-fat?
Hi Cindy, I think that will work fine too. Please share with us how it goes.
I’m a huge fan Natasha! Hands down the best pancakes ever. So fluffy and delicious.
That’s just awesome! Thank you for sharing your wonderful review, Birgit!
Hi Natasha! I would like to make these tomorrow but i do not have buttermilk, can i sub in milk? thank you!
Hello Ella, plain kefir will also work well instead of buttermilk. You can also make your own buttermilk at a ratio of 1 cup whole milk to 1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice. Combine and let it sit 10 minutes to curdle then stir and use.
Ok thank you so much for the quick reply, they were so good! i did have extra batter though, could i cover it and put it in the fridge?
Hi Ella, we have always cooked the batter after making it and we reheat leftover pancakes. I think that could work, but without testing it, I’m not sure how it will affect the rise. The cooked pancakes do reheat beautifully though which is why we always just make the full batch.
OMG! Sooo good! My picky 1 year old kept coming up to me and opening up his mouth for more as I was making them. Definitely making this again.
That’s just awesome, Sharon! That is the best when kids love what we moms make.
These pancakes were incredible!! They were light yet creamy and I always love finding new uses for ricotta. Instead of topping them with syrup I cooked down some fresh blueberries and lemon juice. They were perfect!!
Thank you for the wonderful review, Liz!
These are my new family s favorite pancakes and yes they keep you full longer. Thank you so much for all the wonderful recipes. Jocelyne
You are most welcome, Jocelyne. I’m glad your family loved these pancakes!
Hi Natasha,
I tried making these but for some reason the batter came out too thick. I measured everything correctly so don’t know what could have happened. I had to dilute with water to thin it out but they didnt come out as fluffy. Thoughts? Thanks:)
Hi Yevgeniya, diluting with water would cause them to not be as fluffy. Make sure to add the correct amount of buttermilk and also use the correct amount of ricotta. It may help to review how we measure ingredients (dry versus liquid)
Loved, loved, loved this recipe. They were just like Natasha said they would be (great taste, moist and fluffy). Thank you.
So glad you loved it, Lisa. Thank you so much for your great feedback!
I don’t have flour. Can i use Bisquick as a substitute?
Hi Gee Gee, I have not tested that yet to advise but I imagine that should work. Please share with us how it goes if you try it!
I am excited to try making these pancakes. Would you please confirm that the amount of baking powder is 1 tBsp? Since the amount of flour is only 1 1/4 C, I wasn’t sure if the amount of baking powder is accurate.
Thank you & your recipes look divine.
Hi Sarah, that is correct!
Hi Sarah, it is accurate since the ricotta is much heavier (by weight) than the flour, the little bit extra baking powder makes these very pleasantly fluffy.
This is one of the most delicious pancake recipes I ever made.
I’m so happy to hear that Evie! Thank you for that awesome review!
Hi Natasha …wat could I use instead of buttermilk ? Regular milk ? Skimmed ?
Hi Ireen, I haven’t tested this with a buttermilk substitution but here’s what one of our readers wrote: “I just made these ricotta cheese pancakes, I didn’t have buttermilk or kefir at home so instead i used 2% milk with home made ricotta. I have never had such moist and fluffy pancakes before. I served them with fresh fruits.They are so delicious. Thank you so much for the great recipes.” I hope that helps.
Hi Natasha, I’m just getting started and I don’t know how to see your notes on youtube. Please advise.
Mike
Hi Michael, we have the full recipe posted on our blog HERE. If you are looking for notes on the Youtube video made follow the recipe link and open it on Youtube. Once you’re watching the video on Youtube clock the Show More in my video description directly below the video. I hope that helps.
Thank You, Natasha!
My wife and I were doing the Natasha “Bop” as we took bites of these delicious, fluffy pancakes served with blueberries and strawberries. We served with a bit of syrup Instead of confectioners sugar.
It would be helpful if you had a serving calculator for your recipes. We made 9 pancakes and have plenty of batter for tomorrow in the fridge.
Stefanie & I are “white belts” in the Kitchen and you, your recipes and videos have added so much variety, flavor and fun for both of us. ❤️
That is so awesome! Thank you so much for sharing your great experience with us and for your suggestion too. We appreciate it!
Made these this morning for my husband.. got rave reviews! I didn’t have the kefir, so used a combination of half & half, milk and a couple of drops of vinegar. Thanks for (all) the wonderful recipe(s)! I’ve made several of your recipes… they’re all terrific!
I’m so happy you enjoyed that. Thank you for sharing that with us!
The Fluffy Lemon Ricotta Pancakes are DELICIOUS. What pancake pan or ring do you use to cook pancakes?
Hi Marge, I recommend watching the video. We haven’t tried using pancake rings but we used one of our heavy bottom skillets to cook the pancakes on. I hope that helps.
I just made these ricotta cheese pancakes, I didn’t have buttermilk or kefir at home so instead i used 2% milk with home made ricotta.I have never had such moist and fluffy pancakes before. I served them with fresh fruits.They are so delicious. Thank you so much for the great recipes.
That’s just awesome! Thank you for sharing that with me!
I just made these ricotta cheese pancakes for the first time. I didn’t have any buttermilk or kefir on hand, so I just used 2% milk. I have never had such moist and fluffy pancakes before. I served them with fresh berries and a rosette of whipped cream on top of each cake. They were divine. We have enough left over to reheat for breakfast tomorrow.
I’m so glad you enjoyed that Jane. Thank you for that great review!
We make these about twice a month( or more) our families new favorite breakfast!!! This morning we’re going to have them with our freshly homemade pineapple jam! We love your recipes!
Yum, looks like this is already one of your favorites! Enjoy.
These were absolutely DIVINE!!! Light & FLUFFY!! I was supposed to only have a bite to do a taste test but ended up eating almost 3 of them!
I didn’t have any buttermilk so just made some, I only used 1 tbsp sugar and I find icing sugar is best when making pancakes (tip from another food blogger). I also replaced 1/4 cup AP flour with almond flour. I let the batter rest for almost half an hour as you suggested and I think that really helped. It’s so good to know that this is a healthier version of pancakes which means less guilt when you feed this to your family. We had them with maple syrup. Thank you Natasha!
So awesome to hear that, Jay. Thank you for sharing your experience with us and for giving the recipe a great review!
These turned out delicious! I used the entire 15 oz container of Polly-O ricotta and didn’t look back. Lemon zest is a great touch, I could actually taste lemon as J was eating the pancakes. Thank you for another great recipe.
You are so welcome, Darya. Thanks for your good feedback!
I don’t even know where to start!!! These pancakes are like eating a very very very yummy and soft pillow with a hint of lemon. It’s amazing. Like you said, no left overs. Next time doubling the recipe.
Sounds like you found a new favorite! Thank you so much sharing that great review!
I really love your recipes I love how simple they are. Today I made these pancakes and I had to close the kitchen door, because they were disappearing faster than I was making them! thank you!
You’re welcome Kate! Thank you so much for sharing that wonderful review!
when is your next give away?
Hi Anna, I don’t have any giveaways at the moment. In case you receive those messages and it asks you for your credit card info, know that it’s not from me. We found some scammers who are posing as me especially on Facebook.
OMG! Best pancake ever. I made these for breakfast this morning. Followed the recipe exactly and they were fantastic. I’ll have to take your word that they reheat well since there aren’t any left to test. 🙂
Yay I am so glad you loved it!
Delicious! I had to try one as I was making them. The first one I thought they were good but wasn’t sure if could eat many. After I made them all I sat down with 2 more and fell in love. Almost like dessert meets breakfast, a perfect pair! I sent my husband to work with 3. I hope he enjoys them as much as I did. I love all your recipes. You are my go-to for quick, easy and delicious! Thank you!!
You’re welcome! I’m so glad your family enjoyed this!
Delicious! This recipe is a keeper. I didn’t have buttermilk so made my own. I have a few pancakes leftover and anxious to see how they reheat (as Natasha on the video says they do).
Thank you for that wonderful feedback Yolande! I’m so glad you enjoyed that!
Thank you for this recipe! It was delicious and a total hit with our family’s weekly Saturday sit down breakfast!
I’m so glad you enjoyed that! Thank you for sharing that wonderful review with me!
I made these pancakes for breakfast this morning. My daughter loved them, and my husband took a bunch to work. Before I knew it there was one left. These pancakes are light and fluffy, delicious.
I’m so happy you enjoyed that. Thank you for sharing that with us!
This recipe is so delicious! My family went crazy for it!
I am so glad your family enjoyed the pancakes! Thank you for sharing that with us.
Oh my gosh…I normally don’t care for pancakes, but this morning I made these and they are beyond fantastic! I used a 2T ice cream scoop and it was perfect for the batter. I ate four of them! Could have eaten more, but I froze them so I can have for later and will heat them up in my toaster oven. I do think even frozen, the regular toaster would not work. That’s a guess on my part. Thanks for the great recipe; it is now part of my recipe collection as KEEPERS.
I absolutely love your comment! I am so glad you enjoyed your pancakes, thank you for sharing that with us!
Can they be frozen for future eating?
Hi Cindy, we haven’t tried freezing but that should work fine to freeze the cooked pancakes.
Can you substitute the lemon with anything?
Hi Jessica, different citrus zest like oranges or clementines would also work here. You could also leave it out if you didn’t like or didn’t have citrus on hand and it would still work.
Can the all-purpose flour be substituted with buckwheat flour or a combination of both. If so, how much of each?
Hi Margaret, I haven’t tested it that way but I think it should work since flour isn’t the main ingredient. You’ll probably get fluffier results combining the two types of flour (half of each). Please let me know how it goes and I hope you love the pancakes.
WOWWW!! Tried it this morning and completely loved it! Quick, easy and super filling 🙂 thanks Natasha!
Thank you so much for the wonderful review! I’m so glad you loved the lemon ricotta pancakes.
What a delicious way to up our pancake game! These have such good flavor!
Isn’t the flavor amazing! Thank you for sharing that great review!
When I tried it they tasted so amazing
I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
WOW!! Such a fabulous way to start the day! These pancakes are amazing!!
They are so good! I’m so glad you enjoyed that!
U should start working at a restaurant because ur foods are so nice
Thank you for that wonderful compliment! You’re so nice!