These Lemon Ricotta Pancakes with Blueberries are the perfect weekend breakfast! Freeze extras for busy weekday mornings. So good, you might even plan on having leftover ricotta cheese just for this recipe!

I was cleaning out the fridge the other day and discovered I had two full tubs of ricotta. Why? To be honest, I’m not sure. Maybe there was a lasagna planned that didn’t happen. Could’ve been on sale? It’s anybody’s guess. I was just gonna toss it, because who has time to make a lasagna? But guilt got the better of me. Hungry kids in Africa and all.

Turns out, if you google “leftover ricotta recipes”, there are plenty of suggestions. Apparently, others have found themselves in the same ricotta-boat as myself. Soups, dressings, desserts and pizza can all be made better with a dollop of ricotta. I am so intrigued by my ricotta research I’m thinking I may have to stock tubs of it on purpose.

But, one idea that got stuck in my head… ricotta pancakes. With lemon, and maybe some blueberries. Light, fluffy, tart and sweet. Yup. It sounded like a good idea and it tasted like a great idea.

And you know what? The promise of pancakes got my typically sluggish kids animated on this early Monday morning. These Lemon Ricotta Pancakes with Blueberries are the perfect weekend treat to make in bulk and freeze for busier school-mornings.

This batch makes about 12 medium sized pancakes, so it should do the trick. Unless you have a lot of extra ricotta. 😉

Lemon Ricotta Pancakes with Blueberries

Preheat a griddle to medium high heat. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In a medium bowl, whisk together the ricotta cheese, egg, egg whites, lemon juice, zest and oil.

Gently fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, stirring until just combined and you can no longer see bits of dry flour. Stir in the blueberries, adding milk by the tablespoon if the batter is too thick.

Reduce the griddle to medium heat and coat with cooking spray. Drop batter (about 1/3 cup should do) onto the hot griddle. Once the batter starts to bubble on the edges, flip. Continue cooking until golden, then remove from heat and repeat until your batter bowl is clean!

Serve immediately with butter and syrup, or allow to cool and wrap in wax paper and freeze.

Lemon Ricotta Pancakes with Blueberries

Yield: 12 pancakes

These Lemon Ricotta Pancakes with Blueberries are the perfect weekend breakfast! Freeze extras for busy weekday mornings. So good, you might even plan on having leftover ricotta cheese just for this recipe

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
pinch of salt
2 cups ricotta cheese
2 large eggs
4 large egg whites
1 cup lemon juice
zest of two lemons
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 pint of blueberries, cleaned and destemmed
up to 1/2 cup milk

Instructions

Preheat a griddle to medium high heat. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In a medium bowl, whisk together the ricotta cheese, egg, egg whites, lemon juice, zest and oil.
Gently fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, stirring until just combined and you can no longer see bits of dry flour. Stir in the blueberries adding milk by the tablespoon if the batter is too thick.
Reduce the griddle to medium heat and coat with cooking spray. Drop batter (about 1/3 cup should do) onto the hot griddle. Once the batter starts to bubble on the edges, flip. Continue cooking until golden, then remove from heat and repeat until your batter bowl is clean!
Serve immediately with butter and syrup, or allow to cool and wrap in wax paper and freeze.