This easy Cottage Cheese Pancakes recipe is made in a blender using whole foods, and results in healthier pancakes that still taste amazing! Best of all, they contain 5 grams of protein at just 100 calories each.
Want more pancake recipes? Try Buttermilk Pancakes, Lemon Ricotta Pancakes, German Pancakes, or Strawberry Crepes!
We’ve been making these delicious Cottage Cheese Pancakes for years. In love that they’re protein pancakes with the same great taste and texture of regular pancakes, without flour, canola oil, sugar or butter!
Ingredients Needed:
- Eggs: Adds 12 grams protein.
- Cottage Cheese: Adds 13 grams protein
- Whole Grain Oats: Adds 14 grams protein, 10 grams fiber.
- Baking powder.
- Water.
- Olive Oil. You could substitute coconut oil
- Vanilla extract.
- Cinnamon.
- Protein Powder: Optional to add ½ scoop of protein powder to the batter if you’d like.
How to Make Cottage Cheese Pancakes:
Make Oat Flour: Add oats and baking powder to a blender and blend to make a fine powder.
Blend: Add cottage cheese, eggs, water, vanilla, oil, and cinnamon. Blend until smooth.
Cook: Pour pancakes onto a hot greased griddle then cook until golden on both sides.
Serve warm with fruit and real maple syrup.
Freezing Instructions:
Allow cottage cheese pancakes to cool, then lay them in a single layer on a plate or baking sheet and freeze for 30 minutes (to help keep them from sticking together). Then place them in a freezer safe container and freeze for up to 3 months. Warm from frozen in the microwave.
More Healthy Breakfast Favorites:
- Green Smoothie
- Vanilla Protein Shake
- Chocolate Protein Shake
- 5 Minute Whole Wheat Pancakes
- Breakfast Taquitos
- Skinny Banana Bread Muffins
- Strawberry Overnight Oats
- Easy Healthy Granola
- Instant Pot Yogurt
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Recipe
Cottage Cheese Pancakes
Ingredients
- 1 1/3 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 cup cottage cheese
- 2 large eggs (or substitue a flax-egg)
- 1/2 cup water , milk, or dairy-free milk
- 1 teaspoon olive oil
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- dash of cinnamon
Instructions
- Preheat a hot griddle or skillet over medium heat.
- Add oats and baking powder to a food processor or blender and blend until they're as fine as flour.
- Add the cottage cheese, eggs, water, vanilla, oil and cinnamon and blend until smooth.
- Pour about ¼ cup batter onto griddle to form pancake. Cook on one side until bubbles begin to appear on the surface of the pancake. Flip and cook on the other side until golden.
- Serve with fresh fruit and real maple syrup, or a low sugar syrup.
Notes
Nutrition
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*I originally shared this post February 2015. Updated January 2021 and May 2023.
These pancakes are delicious. I added some peanut butter on top as well as syrup.
Made these today and we all LOVED them!! I am particular with pancakes, and this will be our new go-to recipe! Love how easy and quick they are to make, healthy, and that it leaves me feeling energized! My picky kids loved them too!
Can I substitute cottage cheese for plain fat free greek yogurt?
Yes, that would work fine.
We LOVE this recipe, particularly because the protein comes from whole foods. We often substitute milk for water and add lots of cinnamon! Our favorite way to eat them is with applesauce. So good for you and filling.
LOVE these protein pancakes. I make it exactly as the recipe says.
A family favorite! Always a hit when I make these! I double the batch and freeze the extras to use for quick school mornings.
I made a double batch of the Protein Pancakes using fat-free Greek yogurt in place of the cottage cheese and overall, they were very good! It seemed liked they were missing something and I wondered if it was a little salt? My yogurt substitution may have been the problem since yogurt contains less salt than cottage cheese. I will experiment by adding a little salt when I make them again. Thanks for this recipe and many others!
I have been searching for a “healthy” pancake recipe – until now! I loved these! They had the same great taste as regular pancakes but I could eat knowing they are a healthier. Served with fruit = perfection!
I made this pancakes for my daughter and my wife and they love them very much. Thank you we will try to make waffles next.
I don’t eat many pancakes because there isn’t a lot of nutritional value in them but this recipe has changed that for me. They are really good and healthy as well! Will be making again.
I too just tried your recipe and they are fabulous! Good advice to serve with fruit and maple syrup… they are the best. I don’t have a griddle so tried out several frying pans till I found the one that worked best. This recipe is a keeper!!! Thanks so much for sharing.
Hi Lauren,
I made these pancakes this Valentines morning ,my husband really enjoyed them so much.
He couldn’t stop saying how delicious they were .Thank you for a great recipe.Great with maple syrup and fresh fruit.These will be our Sunday breakfast.
These pancakes are wonderful. I cover then with fruit sauce!!
Great recipe.I feel I can have a Saturday morning treat without feeling guilty.Can the batter be stored overnight in the refrigerator?
GREAT recipe! My kids love this and request it when they have friends over for sleepover breakfast. Sometimes we add in blueberries & strawberries, sometimes peanutbutter chips! Freezes and reheats beautifully. Thank you!
Can I use yogurt instead of cottage cheese?
I haven’t tested it but I think a thicker Greek yogurt would be fine.
I just made these pancakes and are delicious especially with maple syrup. Thank you for the re I’ve.Can you freeze them?
I’m happy you liked them! Yes, they will freeze well!
Can I waffle these?
I’ve never tried that. Let me know if you try.
We just waffled it and it is delicious! Thank you!
Could I substitute ricotta for the cottage cheese?
Sure, I think that would work fine 🙂
I have tried different pancake recipes and this is my favorite! I substituted non fat Greek yogurt for the cottage cheese, delicious!!
I love that substitution idea! Thanks for sharing.
Delicious. We make them all the time. I usually add a mashed ripe banana which really enhances the flavor and adds a little bit of sweetness.
any way to lower the fat grams in these? Really want to try.
Hi Susan,
The recipe is pretty lean as it is. You could find a substitution for the cottage cheese but it’s also contributing to the 5 grams of protein in each serving! 3 grams of fat doesn’t seem too high a price for 5 grams of protein and 1 gram of fiber per serving – seems pretty good to me for a pancake :).
Tried these this morning when I realized I didn’t have enough kodiak pancake mix. They were delicious and easy. Wish I would have doubled the recipe!
Thanks friend <3 I'm so glad you liked them!
Can I use oat flour instead of processing my oats.
I’m confused. They’re called Protein Pancakes. Is there supposed to be protein powder in the recipe?
Hi Cindy, the protein source is from the cottage cheese (cottage cheese has 25 grams of protein in one cup!) and the whole grain oats (oats have 10 grams of protein per cup). Hope that helps!
Also, you can add protein powder to the batter, if you want 🙂
How long would the batter last in the fridge?
Do you know a way to add pumpkin to these??? I adore these pancakes and make them on a Friday, I call it pancake day! It’s getting to be fall and would love a seasonal treat. Thank you!
Hi Diana, I haven’t experimented with pumpkin yet, but I bet it would work well to do 1/4 cup cottage cheese and 1/4 cup canned pumpkin puree. Then I would also add a few dashes of cinnamon, and maybe a tiny pinch of cloves and nutmeg. Let me know if you try it!
I am confused by the 24g carbs. In the nutritional value, it is broken down as 4g Dietary Fibre and <1g Sugars.
I made these pancakes with an egg substitute, Lactaid cottage cheese & added blueberries & vegan vanilla protein powder & they are really good! I made a big batch & refrigerated them. Thanks for a great simple recipe!
Do you think these would bake well in mini muffin form? I’m thinking portable toddler food! I’m not sure what time and temperature would be appropriate.
Hi Rachel, I haven’t experimented with baking these, so I really couldn’t say for sure. If you try it I would love to hear your thoughts!
They look really good and I have been on quite a mission for a pancake recipe. We eat pancakes at least 3 times a week and add cottage cheese or greek yogurt for protein all the time. I want to make homemade pancakes but have this fear of the eggs not cooking thru. Does anyone else ever wonder about that? I have been using box mixes for that reason( have tried no egg recipes but no success). I am going to try this one, I make everything e from scratch and don’t like using box mixes.
I love these! I add a scoop of whey protein isolate, sub non fat probiotic yogurt for the water, add a mashed banana, and leave out the cottage cheese.
Stuff on some frozen blueberries when they’re on the pan and soooooo good!
(I also put a bit of lemon juice in the batter to compliment he blueberries and it was yummy)
You could also add 2 tbsp of peanut butter instead of the blueberries for peanut butter banana pancakes 🙂
This looks like the perfect meal to start the day ! Great pictures, amazing looking food !
Great .. Thanks for sharing great article
These are super delicious and I love how it’s all mixed up in the blender. Easy clean up! Also, they soak up syrup really well – which is a pancake necessity. 🙂
I just tried your receipe. Omg, they are so light and delicious. Thank you.
I’m really happy you liked them! They are the best healthy pancakes!! Thanks for coming back to comment 🙂
anyone tried putting this batter into a Waffle Maker? is the consistency ok to try that ya think?
Hi Trisha, I’ve never tried it so I can’t say for sure, but I imagine it should work. They would be a little heavy as a waffle.
I just made these in my waffle iron and they are delicious! Not heavy at all very light and fluffy made recipe as written. One recipe makes 3 waffles.. I put the recipe in MFP for nutrional info for 3 servings 213 cals, 6.9 fats, 12.4 protein, 26 carbs, 2.6 sugars. Love this recipe!
Thanks so much for the great feedback! I’ll have to try them in the waffle iron next time!
What is whole grain oats? Is that like steel cut oats?
Hi Cindy, most oats are whole grain. The typical “Quaker Oats” Old-fashioned Oats are whole grain. Sorry for the confusion!
Well they would have been great if my blender didn’t go on the fritz! Can I use a combination of flour and oats?
Oh what a bummer! I’m sure that would work fine!
I added 1/4 cup ground flax, replaced the water with milk, replaced the olive oil with coconut oil.
Worked great!!
I will freeze and let the kids heat them in the toaster!
Thanks for this!! Love the high protein!
Great substitutions! They freeze great–I love having them on hand for a quick breakfast!
I love this idea to ad in protein. Could this be done in a waffle recipe too?
How many servings? I see it yields 6, but I’m not sure if it is 6 pancakes or what. Thanks!
Hi Tamara, that’s right, it yields 6 pancakes total, so it should serve about 3 people.
do you know the calories/protein per pancake?
Hi Angela, Its’ about 190 calories/10g protein . You can view the nutritional info here: http://www.yummly.com/recipe/Oatmeal-Protein-Pancakes-1030209?columns=4&position=1%2F12
according to the carbs on this. It’s 24g per serving correct?– 6 servings. so one pancake is 24g — 2 pancakes per person **3 people** that’s a lot of carbs for it being diabetic friendly recipe
Do you think the cottage cheese could be substituted with greek yogurt?
Yes, I think that would taste great 🙂
Do you think these would freeze/reheat well? Always looking for something decent other than cereal for breakfast.
Yes! I usually just stick them in the fridge and pull a few out in the morning to throw in the microwave! So nice to have on hand.