This cottage cheese pancake recipe is in constant rotation in our house. We love them because they are a little sweet, a little caramelized from where the cheese melts and totally delicious.
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What's so great about this cottage cheese pancake recipe?
First and foremost this is a really simple pancake recipe. Mix the dry ingredients, add in the wet, give it all a stir, and voila you are ready to go.
Another reason to love this pancake recipe is that cottage cheese pancakes are higher in protein than regular pancakes. The addition of the cottage cheese adds another layer of nutrition for all of us carb lovers out there 😊.
Lastly, this pancake recipe is a great "breakfast for dinner" option, just like my French Toast Casserole. Serve the cottage cheese pancakes with lox, tuna or whitefish salad, cut up some veggies and dinner is served!
Ingredients
A few notes on the ingredients:
- Cottage Cheese - I use 4% milkfat small curd cottage cheese when I make these pancakes but you can use any time of cottage cheese you like. Aldi cottage cheese is a great option, as finding the Dean's Cottage Cheese (my favorite) is getting harder and harder.
- Flour - the recipe calls for all purpose flour, but you can use white whole wheat flour or a mix of the two. Gluten free flour at a 1:1 substitution is a good alternative as well.
- Milk - Use what you have. I typically use skim, but have also used whole milk and plant based milks well.
How to make cottage cheese pancakes (step-by-step directions)
You'll need two things to get started, a large mixing bowl and a glass measuring cup. A whisk and a fork will help too.
- Gather your ingredients and put a large skillet on the stove.
- Whisk together the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl. In the glass measuring cup measure out all of the wet ingredients and stir together.
- Add the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir until just combined.
- Turn the stove on to medium heat and melt the butter in the pan. Portion out the pancakes, flipping when a bit bubbly on top, but just browned on the bottom.
- Cook the cottage cheese pancakes on their second side until lightly browned and move to a serving dish. Repeat with the rest of the batter and enjoy!
Frequently Asked Questions
Since I'm always about making things simple, I cut out a step from the recipe from Smitten Kitchen that inspired this one. If you want to make these pancakes fluffier, you'll need to separate the eggs. Add the yolks into the recipe as directed, but beat the egg whites until stiff. Then fold them in at the end and you'll have a fluffy cottage cheese pancake for breakfast!
Yes. I often substitute white whole wheat flour for all purpose flour. You can also make this recipe gluten free, by using a 1:1 substitute gluten free flour. I like the one from Trader Joe's and from King Arthur.
How to store the leftover pancakes
Store the leftover cottage cheese protein pancakes one of two ways:
- Refrigerator: Put the leftovers into an air tight container or zip top bag and store in the fridge for up to 5 days. To reheat, simply pop into the microwave for about 10 seconds and enjoy.
- Freezer: Let the pancakes cool on the serving dish and then place them into zip top bag and lay them flat in the freezer. Freezing them flat make takes up less room in the freezer and allows you to take out just when you need when reheating. To reheat, pop them into the microwave for 10-20 second and serve. Be careful not to overheat as the cottage cheese with get crazy hot.
One more tip:
These pancakes recipe is not particularly pretty. For the best chance at getting these pancakes to come out all the same size and close to the same shape, use a small cookie scoop to portion them. It's a good trick to use any time you are looking for uniformity.
Some pancakes get browned bits from where the cottage cheese caramelizes on the pan, some may stick a bit, some may even fall on each other when flipping, but they will still be delicious.
Looking for other simple breakfast or brunch ideas? Try these:
When you try this recipe and love it 😍 let me know by leaving a comment below or 5 ⭐ rating!
Simple Cottage Cheese Pancakes
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups all purpose flour
- ¼ cup sugar
- 2 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup milk
- 1 cup cottage cheese
- 2 eggs
- 3 tablespoons butter (melted and cooled) plus more for the pan
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
Instructions
- In a large bowl whisk flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt together with a whisk or fork
- Measure milk, cottage cheese, eggs, butter and vanilla into a liquid measuring cup, and mix until eggs are broken up. Pour wet ingredients over dry ingredients and whisk together until just combined.
- In a large skillet melt about a ¼ tablespoon of butter. Once butter is melted use a small cookie scoop to put batter into the pan.
- Cook on once side until you see bubbles on the top, then flip. Cook on the second side until just browned, then move to a plate. Repeat until remaining pancake batter has been used up.
- Serve with syrup and fruit and enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
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