These light and lemony pancakes make for the perfect spring-time breakfast and are even healthy enough to enjoy any day of the week!

After making deconstructed lasagna last week, I was left with half a container of whole milk ricotta – and I knew exactly what I wanted to make with it: pancakes. Go to my Pinterest board and you will find at least 5 recipes for ricotta pancakes that I have pinned over the years, but I’m embarrassed to admit that I’ve never made any of them. Pancakes tend to be a spur of the moment weekend breakfast and ricotta cheese is not something a routinely have in my fridge. But not this weekend. This weekend we finally got to have ricotta pancakes and man were they good.

Let me start by saying, however, if you are looking for a big, fluffy pancake then this is not the recipe for you. These pancakes are incredibly delicate (do NOT crowd them on the skillet while making, you will definitely want some extra room for flipping) and moist. If you’ve ever made cottage cheese pancakes the texture is very similar with the ricotta pancakes being just a tad lighter overall.

In addition to providing a creamier texture, the ricotta packs in a healthy dose of protein to keep your stomach grumbles at bay. For anyone watching their carb intake, these are also incredibly low in carbs compared to traditional pancakes. Rather than flour I used rolled oats, which add a bit of a heartiness. If you don’t like the texture of whole oats in your pancakes, you can soak the oats in milk overnight to soften them up.

You’ll also notice that this recipe doesn’t use any added sugar. Most of the sweetness comes from the blueberries with a bit of natural sugar from the ricotta. As I’ve stated many times on this blog, I don’t like real sweet things in the morning, but if you’re like Bry and believe pancakes should be sweet, feel free to drizzle on some pure maple syrup or a homemade berry compote.

One more tip before we go, I cannot reinforce enough how delicate these guys are. For best results, cook them on medium-low. Yes, this will take longer, but you’ll be able to cook them all the way through and avoid a half-burnt, half-undercooked mess.

So here’s a toast to a balanced breakfast in pancake-form!

Print Recipe

Blueberry Lemon Ricotta Pancakes

These light and lemony pancakes make for the perfect spring-time breakfast and are even healthy enough to enjoy any day of the week!

Prep Time10 mins

Cook Time20 mins

Total Time30 mins

Course: Breakfast

Cuisine: American

Keyword: Healthy, Overnight, Pancakes, Ricotta, Vegetarian

Servings: 2

Author: The Healthy Toast

Ingredients

• 2 large eggs
• ½ cup milk I used unsweetened soy milk, but any milk will work
• ½ tsp vanilla extract
• Juice from ½ a large lemon
• ½ cup rolled oats
• ¼ tsp cinnamon
• ½ tsp baking powder
• 1 Tbs chia seeds can also use ground flaxseed
• 150 g whole milk ricotta
• 6- oz container of organic blueberries rinsed

Instructions

• Preheat skillet to medium-low.
• In a small bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, vanilla extract, and lemon juice.
• In a medium bowl, combine oats, cinnamon, baking powder, and chia seeds. Slowly stir in egg mixture until just combined. (Note, if you want to soften the oats overnight. combine milk and oats in a sealable container and place in fridge. The next day add in whisked eggs along with remaining ingredients).
• Carefully fold in ricotta.
• Begin making pancakes. Pour about ¼ of batter on skillet and sprinkle blueberries on top. You’ll know it is ready to flip when the bubbles are popping, the edges are turning light brown and you are able to fit a spatula underneath. Flip and cook until golden brown. Repeat with remaining batter. Enjoy!

Notes

Nutrition for 1/2 of recipe (using unsweetened soy milk): 320 calories, 16 g fat, 26 g carbohydrate, 5 g fiber, 7 g sugar, 19 g protein

Adapted from The Healthy Chef