Want to add a delicious Italian twist to your usual pancakes? Try these easy and flavorful ricotta lemon pancakes using your favorite pancake mix or baking mix. This is perfect for a quick breakfast or as a weekend treat with friends.
Growing up in an Italian family, I certainly ate my fair share of ricotta pancakes which is the inspiration for this recipe. It was one of the ways my family made use of leftover ricotta from lasagna or other Italian dishes that were made. I often have leftover ricotta from making gnocchi di ricotta or my whipped chocolate ricotta so these pancakes put that ricotta to great use.
Now that I am older and with my own family, I like to continue the tradition of making ricotta pancakes but I also like to speed it up so breakfast is a bit quicker to prepare. This is my version of my grandmother's ricotta and lemon pancakes. My recipe uses an all-purpose baking mix (you can also use pancake mix) to speed things up in the kitchen since my schedule is always busy.
This is my favorite pancake recipe that uses baking mix and they are so delicious and so easy to make.
Ingredients
- All Purpose Baking Mix (or pancake mix): These two are pretty much the same so use whichever you have on hand. I have tried this recipe with both and the results were the same.
- Whole milk ricotta: The fat really helps make a moist pancake.
- Milk: I like to use whole milk.
- Eggs: Large eggs
- Vanilla extract
- Lemon Juice
- Butter: For the griddle or pan.
How to Make Ricotta Pancakes with Baking Mix
- Whisk Dry Ingredients: In a large bowl, add the baking mix and whisk to ensure there are no lumps.
- Mix wet ingredients: In a separate medium bowl, mix the eggs, ricotta, milk, and vanilla well. Then mix in the lemon juice.
- Combine: Pour the wet ingredients into the baking mix and whisk just until combined. Do not over-mix.
- Preheat pan: Preheat a griddle or large nonstick pan over medium heat then add the butter.
- Scoop: Scoop ¼ cup of the ricotta pancake batter onto the pan. I can get about 3-4 onto my pan. Just make sure you leave a little space between the pancakes.
- Cook: Cook the pancakes for about 1-2 minutes.
- Flip: Now flip the pancakes when you begin to see air bubbles forming and cook for another 1- 2 minutes or until the pancakes just start to brown. remove them from the pan at this point.
- Keep warm: To keep the pancakes warm, you can place them under a warming rack if you have one over your stovetop. If you do not, place the pancakes on a plate then top with a clean and dry kitchen towel.
- Add Toppings: I love powdered sugar on my pancakes but add syrup or your favorite toppings.
Continue cooking the pancakes until all of the batter is used up.
Recipe Tips
- Adjust the liquids if needed: Every all-purpose baking mix will have a different amount of leavening agents which can cause the batter to be thicker or thinner. Add the milk slowly and add more than the recipe calls for if needed to achieve a pourable pancake batter.
- Do not over-mix the batter: Only mix the pancake batter enough so that the ingredients are just combined. A few lumps are ok. If you over-mix, the pancakes will come out tough.
- Reduce the heat if the pancakes start to brown too much: Ricotta adds fat to pancake batter which can sometimes cause the outside of the pancakes to brown too much before the inside cooks fully. Just reduce the heat a little and that will fix that.
- The first batch is never as pretty: Don't worry if you see the first batch of pancakes that you cook turn out not so pretty. This is normal and the next batches will come out amazing.
- Best toppings: Top with honey, karo syrup (how I grew up eating it), maple syrup, or powdered sugar.
- Storing: Pancakes in my opinion do not store and reheat well. They taste best fresh. This recipe makes about 18 pancakes. If you do not think you can eat this much, you can easily halve the recipe below. If you do not mind leftover pancakes, you can store them in an air-tight container in the fridge for up to 2 days.
Variations
- Make them even fluffier: If you love a more cake-like texture in your pancakes, reduce the milk in the recipes by ½ cup and they will be nice and thick.
- Omit the lemon: My grandmother often made ricotta pancakes with cinnamon. To do this she just omitted the lemon and added about 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon to the pancakes.
- Add Blueberries: Blueberry and lemon are great together. Add some fresh blueberries right into the batter before cooking the pancakes.
- Use cottage cheese: If you want more protein in your pancakes, or you want to use up leftover cottage cheese, uses that in place of the ricotta.
More Ricotta Recipes
Ricotta Pancakes Made With All-Purpose Baking Mix
Want to add a delicious Italian twist to your usual pancakes? Try these easy and flavorful ricotta lemon pancakes using your favorite pancake mix or baking mix. This is perfect for a quick breakfast or as a weekend treat with friends.
Ingredients
- 2 cups All-purpose baking mix or pancake mix
- 1 ¼ cups Full-fat ricotta
- ½ cup whole milk plus more if needed
- 2 Large eggs
- 2 tablespoon Lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon Vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon Unsalted butter
- Powdered sugar optional
- Maple syrup optional
Instructions
- In a large bowl add the baking mix and whisk well to remove any lumps.2 cups All-purpose baking mix
- In a medium bowl add the wet ingredients and mix well.1 ¼ cups Full-fat ricotta, 2 Large eggs, 2 tablespoon Lemon juice, 1 tablespoon Vanilla extract, ½ cup whole milk
- Add the wet ingredients to the baking mix and stir until just combined. Do not over-stir. If the batter is too thick, slowly add a little more milk until it reaches a slightly pourable consistency.
- Preheat a large pan or griddle over medium heat.
- Add butter and melt.1 tablespoon Unsalted butter
- Scoop ¼ cup of the pancake batter onto the pan and cook for about 1-2 minutes or until you see air bubbles forming.
- Flip the pancakes gently and cook the second side for about 1-2 minutes.
- Remove the pancakes from the heat onto a plate and keep warm by covering them with a dry clean kitchen towel.
- Keep cooking the pancakes until all the batter is used up.
- Top with powdered sugar or maple syrup and enjoy.Powdered sugar, Maple syrup
Nutrition
Calories: 102kcalCarbohydrates: 9gProtein: 4gFat: 5gSaturated Fat: 3gPolyunsaturated Fat: 0.5gMonounsaturated Fat: 2gTrans Fat: 0.03gCholesterol: 29mgSodium: 192mgPotassium: 50mgFiber: 0.3gSugar: 2gVitamin A: 123IUVitamin C: 1mgCalcium: 63mgIron: 1mg
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
Lauren
Easy, moist and fluffy! These ricotta pancakes are a new family favorite. I am making another batch this weekend already!
kisitalian
I love hearing that Lauren! Thank you for sharing 🙂
Irena
Lovely pancakes, great texture from ricotta. My daughter (and I) gobbled them down so quickly! Thanks for sharing.
kisitalian
I am so glad you both enjoyed the pancakes Irena!