Lemon Ricotta Pancakes with Blueberry Syrup

Perfectly fluffy, irresistible lemon ricotta pancakes. They’re light and airy, with a subtle lemon flavor and topped with a sweet, syrupy blueberry sauce. The perfect weekend breakfast when you just need a little bit of comfort.

Lemon Ricotta Pancakes

Lemon Ricotta Pancakes

When I think of pancakes, such a cozy, comforting scene pops into my mind. Sunday morning, kind of overcast outside…definitely a day that all you want to do is stay indoors. The fire is lit (even if it’s spring, because let’s be honest I like to sit by the fire all year long), a candle is burning, it’s about 9am and after a warm cup of tea and a few pages of a good book, the only thing you could possibly think of doing is whipping up some pancakes.

Just writing that scene makes me so excited for next Sunday! There’s honestly nothing better on a relaxing, lazy morning at home. Pancakes aren’t difficult to make, but when you’re making them from scratch (which is always the way to go), it feels like a special, out of the ordinary, event.

Lemon Ricotta Pancakes

lemon ricotta pancakes, the details…

I developed a pancake recipe a while ago for wintertime and was super happy with how the pancake itself turned out. It was fluffy, extremely buttery, and had a deep flavor. I decided to work off that recipe to create these lemon ricotta pancakes, which are bursting with bright citrus tanginess.

I adjusted some numbers, took out and added some ingredients, and the result was so much better than I expected. The pancake stayed extremely moist, had a creamy texture from the ricotta cheese, and a subtle tang from the lemon. I use both the zest and juice, which is the only way to get the most flavor.

Lemon Ricotta Pancakes

After sitting down to a nice, big plate of these pancakes, I was torn with how I liked to eat them. I had made a simple blueberry syrup for the top, which was delicious and the perfect combination with the lemon flavor. But I also tried them plain with lots of maple syrup. There was something about the simplicity of eating them like this… the lemon came through, the flavors weren’t overpowering, everything just balanced out so nicely.

So, I’ve included the blueberry syrup which is so, so good if you have a taste for it, but also perfectly fine to leave this out and use a decadent drizzle of pure maple syrup. Enjoy!

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Lemon Ricotta Pancakes with Blueberry Syrup

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5 from 1 review

fluffy, lemon ricotta pancakes with homemade blueberry syrup

serves: 6

Ingredients

Scale

Lemon Ricotta Pancakes

  • 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
  • ½ cup light brown sugar
  • 2 tbsp + 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 4 eggs
  • 10oz whole milk ricotta cheese
  • 2 cups whole milk
  • 1 tbsp lemon juice
  • 1 tbsp lemon zest
  • 2 tsp vanilla extract
  • butter, to cook
  • warm maple syrup
  • powdered sugar

Blueberry Syrup (optional)

  • 12oz fresh blueberries
  • ¼ cup granulated sugar
  • 1 tsp lemon zest
  • ½ cup water, plus more if needed

Instructions

Lemon Ricotta Pancakes

  1. Whisk the flour, brown sugar, baking powder, and salt together in a large bowl until incorporated.
  2. In a separate bowl, beat the eggs. Add in the ricotta cheese and whisk until smooth. Add the milk, lemon juice, lemon zest, and vanilla to the egg mixture. Whisk to combine.
  3. Slowly pour the wet ingredients into the flour mixture, whisking until the flour soaks up the liquid and the mixture is homogenous.
  4. Heat a griddle or skillet over medium heat. Working in batches, add a tablespoon of butter at a time to the griddle or skillet and let melt (it will take only seconds).
  5. Ladle the pancake batter onto the surface, creating your desired size pancakes and evenly spacing them apart. Cook on one side until golden brown and bubbles begin to form on the top. Using a spatula, flip the pancake over and finish cooking on the other side.
  6. Keep the pancakes warm as you finish cooking all the batter.

Blueberry Syrup (optional)

  1. Combine the blueberries, sugar, lemon zest, and water in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Let the sugar dissolve and the mixture begin to bubble.
  2. Once the blueberries start to burst, cook for 2 minutes. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer for about 10 minutes until syrupy, stirring often.

To Serve

Serve the pancakes in a big stack with a piece of butter and lemon slice on top. Drizzle with a generous amount of maple syrup or blueberry syrup. Or, better yet, both! Sprinkle with powdered sugar to finish.

Lemon Ricotta Pancakes

34 thoughts on “Lemon Ricotta Pancakes with Blueberry Syrup

  1. This recipe has been lovely! Thank you! I omitted the blueberry syrup and powdered sugar and instead chopped many raspberries up and put into the batter. The lemon and raspberry were wonderful together:) I froze most of them for breakfasts and hopefully they heat up beautifully in the toaster oven:)

    1. Thank you for your lovely comment! I’m thrilled to hear that you enjoyed the recipe. The combination of lemon and raspberry sounds perfect, and freezing them for future breakfasts is such a great idea. I hope they heat up well!

  2. I wonder about comments. Can I make these w/o lemon? Why would you even look at the recipe? So many pancake recipes out there that don’t have lemon. What I see is the cost of these – but they sound brilliant. Ricotta where I live is $8-10, optional blueberries about $4. Definitely a Sunday special breakfast. I use almond flour, Swerve granular & brown (zero sugar). All are 1:1 ratio to keep carbs down as I am diabetic 2.
    Someone mentioned lemon curd. I would love to have that as a topping – just because I can eat lemons until the cows come home!
    I am not sure, but maybe a mid week less expensive pancake could have cottage cheese swapped in.

    1. I’ve never tried it, but I would think that it would work well with a little mixed into the batter. Or, you could always just spread the lemon curd on top of the pancakes. I hope this helps!

  3. O M G… these were amazing. Enough to feed 6 – devoured by 4.
    These were fluffy and so delicious.
    A new favourite.






    1. Hi Ryda! Depends on a few factors (such as the power of your burner, type of saucepan, etc.) but anywhere from 20-30 minutes. You’ll want a nice syrupy consistency. And when you cool the sauce slightly, it will thicken further. If you go too far, you can always add a splash of water to loosen it up. I hope this helps!

  4. Random question. I am a family of one. Any suggestions as to how this could be adapted to make four or five pancakes? Or should I just make the recipe and freeze the remainder? Would the ricotta get strange?

    1. Hi there! The recipe easily cuts in half, so I would start by doing that. And then you could reheat any leftovers for up to 2-3 days, or freeze them. I haven’t personally frozen them, but I believe they should freeze well! Hope this helps – enjoy!

    1. Hi Jill! I use a flat top griddle to make these over medium heat. Once the griddle is hot, I had a tablespoon or two of butter and work in batches to cook the pancakes, adding more butter as needed. I’m not using oil here. You can also use a large saute pan if you don’t have a griddle. I hope this helps! Thanks so much and enjoy!!

  5. Hello! Could I substitute the sugar with anything else? I would love to make them for my daughter but she is too young for sugar!

    1. Hi Regina! I haven’t tested these with anything else, but you could probably try honey if she is able to have that. The sugar adds a lot to the texture too, though, so I am not positive on how they will turn out. Let me know how it goes!

  6. So, when do you had the lemon element? There’s no mention of lemon juice or zest in the recipe besides in the title!

    1. Hi Sheila. You add lemon juice and lemon zest to the wet ingredients, along with the milk and vanilla. I just updated the recipe…thank you so much for catching this!! 🙂

  7. These look SO good! My mom made similar pancakes when I was growing up and these reminded me of hers. I’ll have to try your recipe, as no one seems to know where hers ended up. Yum!

    1. Thank you, Kelsie!! Don’t you hate when that happens? My grandparents have so many recipes that I’m trying my best to document before they get lost…family recipes are so special! I hope these pancakes can remind you of your moms! Enjoy 🙂

  8. I can’t wait to try making these beautiful lemon ricotta pancakes! I have an abundance of Meyers right now that were grown just for this stack! Beautiful blog!!

    1. Thank you so much, Cristina!! And YES. That would be the perfect way to use them up. Let me know if you try them 🙂

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