Lemon Ricotta Pancakes - Light & Fluffy

Recipe: Lemon Ricotta Pancake Recipe »

These lemon ricotta pancakes are incredibly light, fluffy and delicate. Inspired by Bill Granger's famous ricotta hot cakes they're served simply with lemon juice and icing sugar. I also share tips for making your pancakes perfectly evenly sized and thick.

About These Lemon Ricotta Pancakes

Pancake Day is coming up on the 17th March - celebrate it with these lemon ricotta pancakes. These ricotta pancakes are the lightest, fluffiest pancakes you could ever dish up! The base of these ricotta pancakes are based on Bill Granger's famous ricotta hot cakes. He serves them with a honeycomb butter which of course is delicious but I wanted something a bit lighter so I paired it with lemon and sugar.

Lemon and sugar crepes are one of my favourite type of crepe (apart from Mont Blanc-yum!) and all you need is some icing powdered sugar and some lemon juice. We also add some lemon zest in the pancake batter to make it more aromatic and lemony. But of course if you want to serve it with honeycomb butter, just blend 125g/4ozs unsalted butter, 1 tablespoon honey and 45g/1.6ozs of crushed honeycomb (the candy sort not the actual honeycomb from bees).

I'll also show you how to get perfect, even sized pancakes!

Video How To Make Lemon Ricotta Pancakes

Video: How to Make Super Fluffy Ricotta Pancakes

Ingredients For Lemon Ricotta Pancakes

Ricotta - Use full fat ricotta for a creamier texture.

Milk - You can use full cream or skim milk. Even water works.

Eggs - Use large eggs as they will whip up to be more voluminous.

Lemon zest - Fresh lemon zest. This gives the pancakes a lovely lemony aroma without making the batter tart like lemon juice does.

Plain all purpose flour - Just plain old wheat flour works for this!

Baking powder - This helps to leaven the batter and keep the pancakes light and fluffy.

Caster sugar - Optional, but if you serve the pancakes with lemon then I would keep it in. If you're serving them with jam you can omit the sugar.

Butter - I use salted butter for this because I like the flavour.

Tips For Making Lemon Ricotta Pancakes

1 - I leave the batter to sit for 15 minutes before frying the pancakes. Ever notice how some pancake recipes tell you to do that? That's because hydrating the flour gives the resulting pancakes a better texture and more structure.

2 - Depending on the size and thickness of the pancakes you should be able to get anything from 6-9 pancakes from this mix. I got 7 thick pancakes using the recipe below but mine were thicc!

3 - I use these crumpet rings to get a perfect round pancake shape. https://amzn.to/4aJgV4n . These aren't strictly necessary but I like it when you get a really neat stack of pancakes on a plate. But that's just me!

4 - I grease the inside of the crumpet rings for the first use but I find that once they're hot, they become non stick. Make sure to use tongs to pick them up! The metal is hot.

5 - To tell if your pancakes are cooked through, if you gently press the centre and it springs back up, it is cooked through. If the depression holds the batter isn't cooked through.

6 - Serve this with icing sugar and lemon with fresh blueberries. If you prefer things sweeter, try blueberry jam or maple syrup!

Next try my sourdough crumpet recipe made using sourdough discard (and that way you can use the crumpet rings again!). Or try these Norwegian pancakes made using sour cream.

Lemon Ricotta Pancake Recipe

An Original Recipe by Lorraine Elliott

Recipe Overview

Preparation time: 10 minutes plus 15 minutes resting time

Cooking time: 5-6 minutes per batch

Makes 6-8 super fluffy pancakes

Ingredients Needed

• 300g/10.6ozs ricotta
• 180ml/6flozs milk
• 4 eggs, separated
• 1 tablespoon finely grated lemon zest
• 150g/5.3ozs plain all purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 30g/1oz caster sugar
• 25g/1oz butter for frying
• Non stick oil spray
• Lemon juice and powdered sugar to serve

Step-By-Step Instructions

Step 1 WHISK - In a large bowl, whisk the ricotta, milk and egg yolks together until smooth. Whisk in lemon zest. In another bowl whisk the flour and baking powder together and fold into the batter until smooth and there are no lumps. Set aside for 15 minutes at room temperature.

Step 2 EGG WHITES - In a clean mixer bowl add the egg whites and start whisking. When soft peaks form add the sugar and whisk until glossy and stiff peaks. Add into the ricotta batter in two lots folding in gently so as not to deflate the mixture. Ensure there are no streaks of egg white.

Step 3 COOK - Have a tray ready for your pancakes. Heat a large non stick pan on medium heat. Grease the inside of crumpet rings with non stick oil spray and place in the pan an inch apart (you may need to do this in batches). Add 1/2 teaspoon of butter inside each crumpet ring brushing the pan with a silicon brush to spread it out. Pour in a 1/3 cup scoop of batter into the ring - I found that bubbles didn't appear very much but after 2-3 minutes remove the ring with tongs and it should slide right off. Carefully turn over cook until the other side is light golden colour and the pancake is cooked through (around 2-3 minutes). Place cooked pancakes on the tray and repeat with remaining batter.

Step 4 SERVE - Serve with lemon juice and powdered sugar, blueberry jam, fruit compote or maple syrup.

Substitution notes:

You can sub the lemon with other citrus too like grapefruit, orange or lime.

Personal Note

These past few weeks have been like treading water as my father is heading towards the end of his life. We are comforted by the fact that he has had a great life and like in life, he is actually departing it in his own style, on his terms. He is in Singapore at home with my sister and mother who take care and provide anything that he wants or needs. All he wants is routine and to sleep. He gets up at 4am for his breakfast, lunch at 9am and then dinner at 4pm. After this he goes to bed.

The littlest member of the family and the one that is holding the family's sanity together is my sister Blythe's Maltese dog Mimi. She was actually born in Ireland and what was really lovely was that my parents chose her because of her resemblance to my beloved Mochi. She was named after my sister's favourite London restaurant MiMi Mei Fair and tiny Mimi is an absolute delight. She scurries from person to person giving kisses and affection and provides the perfect distraction in the depths of grief.

So tell me Dear Reader, have you ever tried ricotta pancakes? Do you have a favourite pancake topping?

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