These lemon poppyseed pancakes make the absolute best pancakes for entertaining! Treat yourself to my Lemon Poppyseed Ricotta Pancakes, the best pancake recipe!
If you love pancake recipes like we do, try our Churro Toffee Chip Pancakes too!

Lemon Ricotta Pancakes
These lemon ricotta pancakes are so soft and tender. I can’t get enough of this flavor combination. Tastes like something that would be out of a gourmet restaurant. I used my very favorite Buttermilk Pancakes recipe from my cookbook and turned them into the ones you see today. It could not have been more perfect and I can’t wait for you guys to try these!
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What You’ll Need
Here’s what you’ll need to make lemon ricotta pancakes at home. See the recipe card located at the bottom of the post for full details and instructions.
- All-Purpose Flour– Flour is the main dry ingredient in the pancakes.
- Baking Soda– Baking soda helps the pancakes rise as they cook.
- Salt– I use kosher salt for most of my recipes.
- Buttermilk– Use real buttermilk for the recipe. No substitutions.
- Egg– For consistency, I use large eggs for my recipes.
- Ricotta- Find ricotta in the cheese section of the grocery store. It adds an incredible soft fluffy texture.
- Lemon Curd– Lemon curd can be found near the jams and jellies in most grocery stores. When all else fails, check Amazon.
- Vanilla– For best tasting results, use pure vanilla extract.
- Lemon Zest– Lemon zest adds freshness to the pancakes.
- Poppyseeds– Find poppyseeds in the spices section of the grocery store.
- Blueberries– Fresh blueberries are added to the top of the pancakes if desired.
- Pure Maple Syrup– We like to use fresh maple syrup for our pancakes, but any maple syrup of your choice works just fine.
How Do You Make Lemon Ricotta Pancakes?
Add Pancake Ingredients To Large Mixing Bowl. Place flour, baking soda, and poppyseeds and salt into a large mixing bowl. Mix to combine.
Buttermilk and Egg. Pour buttermilk and egg into mixing bowl, stirring to combine.
Lemon Curd, Lemon Zest, Vanilla. Add lemon curd, lemon zest and vanilla to mixing bowl. Stir until combined.
Ricotta Cheese. Add ricotta cheese to mixing bowl and stir to combine.
Cook Pancakes. Heat a large skillet over medium heat. When hot, spoon about 1/4 cup batter into center of pan. With spoon, form round pancake quickly. Let cook for 60 seconds or until batter starts to bubble. With spatula, flip and cook an additional minute or until cooked through and browned. Continue until all batter is used.

Serve Pancakes. Top each pancake with additional dusted powdered sugar, lemon curd and blueberries. Drizzle very lightly with pure maple syrup and enjoy.
Tips For Making The Best Pancakes
- Mix lightly and give batter a rest! Mix pancakes minimally to avoid forming toughening gluten. There are a few ways to ensure that you mix pancake batter well without overmixing it. Have all your ingredients at room temperature. Mix cold buttermilk and eggs with melted butter and you get clumps of butter—not the end of the world, but not optimal for even distribution.
- Mix the wet and the dry ingredients separately before combining.
- Give the batter a rest before cooking. A rest of at least five minutes allows for the even hydration of the batter and also allows the gluten you created—which will develop even with careful, minimal mixing—to relax. The lumps will smooth out somewhat during this rest.
- Test a small pancake in the hot skillet/griddle to make sure temperature is good. No need to waste a full size pancake.
- Cook until bubbles cover the surface; flip before they all break.
To serve, place individual pancakes on plates, spread with a thin layer of lemon curd and drizzle lightly with warm pure maple syrup. Nothing better! Enjoy 🙂
How To Serve
Serve lemon ricotta pancakes stacked on individual plates with powdered sugar and maple syrup. We like to add some fresh blueberries on top too.
Leftovers
Store any leftover pancakes in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
Reheating Instructions
To reheat pancakes, place pancake onto a heat proof plate, loosely covered in the microwave. Cook for 45-60 seconds, or until hot.
Try More Pancake Recipes
Lemon Ricotta Pancakes
Equipment
- Stove
- Skillet
- mixing bowl
- measuring cups
- measuring spoons
- mixing spoon
- spatula
Ingredients
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 1 large egg
- 1/2 cup ricotta cheese
- 2 tablespoons lemon curd
- 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest
- 1 1/2 tablespoons poppyseeds
TOPPINGS FOR PANCAKES:
- 2 tablespoons powdered sugar
- 1/2 cup lemon curd
- 1 cup blueberries
- 1/2 cup pure maple syrup
Instructions
- Place flour, baking soda, salt, buttermilk, egg, ricotta cheese, lemon curd, vanilla, lemon zest and poppyseeds into a large mixing bowl. Mix to combine.
- Heat a large skillet over medium heat. When hot, spoon about 1/4 cup batter into center of pan. With spoon, form round pancake quickly. Let cook for 60 seconds or until batter starts to bubble. With spatula, flip and cook an additional minute or until cooked through and browned. Continue until all batter is used.
- Top each pancake with additional dusted powdered sugar, lemon curd and blueberries. Drizzle very lightly with pure maple syrup and enjoy.
I am not sure how long I’ve had this recipe in my vast array of saved recipe hyperlinks. Today is 3/16/16. All that matters is that I finally did make these pancakes this morning. I could kick myself for waiting so long to make these tender and moist, delicious pancakes from the God’s. Thank you for sharing this recipe.
Looking good i will try, Thanks!
If I can I will greet each perfect spring sunrise with these very delicious pancakes.
I’ve never made ricotta pancakes before, but these sound fantastic!
You’ll have to let me know if you give them a try! We are such huge fans 🙂
Such beautiful pictures Jenny! I love how high your stack of pancakes are! And loving the flavor combo – yum! Pinned 🙂
Thanks so much Chelsea!
I don’t think I can wait to have these for breakfast, maybe we will have them for dinner tonight!
Wow, these look amazing! What a great way to satisfy a sweet tooth for breakfast. I have never tried ricotta pancakes before but now will certainly give it a shot!
You are going to love them Elizabeth! It took me so long to try Ricotta pancakes, don’t know what I was waiting for!
These are so pretty! Those last few photos….swoon!
Ricotta pancakes are the best, pulse lemon poppyseed so yum!
What a fun twist on the normal pancake breakfast
Thanks Terri, my boys were over the moon about this fun combo 🙂
These pancakes look divine- love the addition of lemon curd into the batter!
I’m so making these! I love the flavor combo in one of my favorite breakfast meals!
Thanks Naomi 🙂
Funny story about the poppy seeds. Where I live, we have to go to the customer service desk and show proper ID with proof of age before they hand them over. I’m seriously not kidding.
That is hilarious!!!
LOVE these with all that lemon curd topping!
I love using ricotta in baked goods and using it in pancakes must make them SO light and fluffy!! Love this inspiration, Jenny!
I don’t know what took me so long to experiment with Ricotta! Such perfect pancakes!!!
I am totally hooked on Ricotta pancakes and these look super good!
These look just wonderful!I absolutely love ricotta pancakes,a nd the lemon -poppyseed sounds lovely!
Simply stunning! I’ll take a giant stack of these any day!
Now everyone in my family would go head over heels for these pancakes.
Lemon pancakes are always a good idea!
Oh, I am SO making these!!! These look out of this world, Jenny!!!
Jenny,
This looks so yummy…..In the picture and the name of the pancakes there is poppyseeds but I don’t see them in the recipe….Plz help!!!
Christy
Just edited that, thanks Christy!
I LOVE ricotta pancakes! These look amazing, Jenny!
Thanks Ashley!
I wish I was having this for breakfast!
These pancakes look unreaaaaaal! So yummy!
I’ve seen these all over the internet for months and I still haven’t given them a try. I guess there’s no more excuses I just need to do it!
They look perfect!
Have a gorgeous Monday Jenny!
Hello pancake perfection! I LOVE adding ricotta to make pancakes thick, and lemon poppyseed anything is always ah-may-zing! Pinned 🙂
Oh these are just perfect looking pancakes!