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Just 4 Ingredients needed to make these Flourless Ket Low Carb Vanilla Ricotta Pancakes! They’re gluten free too!
When all you need is just 4 ingredients to make a quick and easy breakfast, you never have to feel deprived on a sugar-free, low carb diet. Simple recipes like these are what can keep you feeling satisfied and happy and ready to take on the day ahead!
I’ve never been much of a pancake girl myself, not sure why but it’s just not a breakfast I often crave. But lately I’ve been eating eggs and eggs and more eggs and just felt kind of tired of the same old breakfast.
I’ve got a few pancake recipes here on the blog and one I absolutely love that’s in my cookbook made with coconut flour, but this recipe was created on a day where I just didn’t feel like getting fancy. A day when I just wanted to make a simple, yummy, “feels like a carb” kind of breakfast without too much fuss.
I’ve been experimenting a lot with protein powder lately, using it for my Cloud Bread Loaf and rolls, grilled cheese and French Toast so I knew a little protein powder might just work with eggs for a pancake, even without typical flour being used. Cream cheese is used a lot in many low carb recipes and many times I’m just not a fan of it. That’s why I adapted my Cloud Bread with sour cream instead. I’ve also tried my friend Melissa’s very popular Cream Cheese Pancakes when I tried an egg fast a while back. They were delicious and perfect if you can’t have protein powder, but I wanted to eat so many of them because they just weren’t filling me up.
If you’re looking for a thick and fluffy kind of pancake, these will not be what you want. Try my Coconut Flour Pancakes in my cookbook for that kind. But they are spectacular for a quick light breakfast when you don’t don’t want the typical eggs you’ve been eating.
The brown syrup you see on top is actually sugar free syrup made by Sukrin, called Sukrin Gold Fiber Syrup. I love it and so do the kids!
You could even make these as a wrap with some crumbled cooked sausage and cheese in the middle, YUMMO! Brenda’s Notes:
- You don’t need to make these as large and flat as I did. You could pour batter in an English Muffin ring mold to make them perfectly round and a little thicker if that’s what you like. You could also try using mason jar lids as forms as well.
- You really don’t need any sweetener since the protein powder will have sweetener in it. But me and the kids do like it better sweeter so we use vanilla stevia, but feel free to refer to my conversion chart for a substitute amount of another sweetener to use.
- You can use butter instead of coconut oil to fry pancakes if you prefer.
- You can even skip the sweetener if you don’t care for sweet pancakes.
- If you’re on a very low carb diet or can’t do protein powder you may be able to sub the protein powder with some almond flour although I haven’t tried that.
- Nutrition info does not include oil to fry pancakes.
This recipe was first published in July 2016.
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4 Ingredient Keto Low Carb Vanilla Ricotta Pancakes
Ingredients
- 4 eggs
- 1/2 cup ricotta cheese (I used part skim)
- 1/4 cup vanilla whey protein powder I used Jay Robb's
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- pinch salt
- Optional: 1/2 tsp vanilla liquid stevia
- coconut oil for frying
Instructions
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Add all ingredients to a blender or whisk together by hand.
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Heat coconut oil in a skillet on medium high heat.
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Use 1/4 cup to measure batter for each pancake.
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Free form pancakes or use an english muffin mold in skillet to form pancakes.
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Allow to cook 2-3 minutes on one side or until you see bubbles forming around edges and center. Flip and cook 1-2 minutes more on other side. Makes a total of 8 pancakes, serving size is 2.
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Enjoy immediately!
Can you use Whey protein.- 2 g Carbs.
Yes I used a whey protein powder in vanilla flavor by Jay Robbs.
Made these this morning. Used Almond flour instead of Whey. Dusted LIGHTLY w/Swerve Confectioners & Cinnamon w/a pat of unsalted butter. They were yummy, yummy, yummy……but THIN! Will be purchasing a pancake form soon!
Photo on Instagram ~
#sugarfreemom
#lowcarb
#yummy
used Same recipe!!! twas?????
I can see adding 3-4 yummy blueberries to each pancake as they form in skillet. Does that sound good?
YEP sure does!
Looks amazing but beware if you have pets, as the protein powder contains Xylitol which is highly toxic to cats and dogs. I won’t have anything with Xylitol in my house.
My protein powder doesn’t contain xylitol. I used Jay Robbs and here’s the link:https://www.jayrobb.com/protein/whey-protein-vanilla-12-oz-bag.asp
Brenda, Would love to make these for my hubby but what do you use for syrup? Thanks!!
Sugar Free Sukrin Gold Fiber Syrup
Just tried these using almond flour (no protein powder). The batter was very very thin and made all kinds of shapes, none of then pancake like but the taste was great!!!
Wonder if I could sub cottage cheese for the ricotta and use a blender to mix….
That might work.
Can you use this better for waffles?
Whenever I have a recipe, that calls for Ricotta cheese, I use cottage cheese and blend it!
I don’t like the taste of protein powder in my food. What do you suggest replacing it with?
Maybe some almond flour?
Made these for the third time this morning. What a great solution for someone who needs low carb and additional protein and yet still wants to eat pancakes. I add a little almond extract to my mix and it’s delightful. Instead of syrup I just use fruit but anything would do.
Thanks for the awesome recipe sans flour!
Yeah! Glad you liked it!
These were fantastic and super-picky kid said they were the best pancakes yet! Major win considering that I think I have tried just about every LC pancake recipe under the sun. So easy too. We even pulled out the Sukrin Gold that I totally forgot I had and need to find more uses for. Thank you so much for the great recipe!
So happy they liked it!
I cannot wait to make this recipe! I have Jay Robb’s Vanilla Whey Powder and ricotta cheese. I had another recipe for pancakes using whey protein powder. They were good, but very dry. The ricotta cheese in this one will take care of that problem. Thank you so much!
I made these yesterday with my DH and they were fantastic! We both agreed they taste like the best part of french toast. I hard a hard time with them sticking in the middle to the pan so mine kind of folded witch led to a thicker pancake mouth feel, and it was wonderful! We had some homemade sausage and this meal filled us both up all day long, no cravings!
Glad you liked it!
these were so good. How would they be with just egg whites or 2 eggs 2 egg whites?
Not sure, never tried that, may change the texture but let me know if you try it.
These look amazing! I actually purchased ricotta to try making a “cream cheese style” pancake with. When I do, I will link to you too! Pinning this now…
Thank you!
My new favorite flour less pancakes. I added the zest and juice of one lemon. I added the yolks and folded in the whipped whites. I also, doubled the ingredients but forgot to double the amount of eggs. They still came out great! Yum
Hi Brenda,
I’ve been waiting all week to try your recipe, and had pretty good success making them lighter and fluffier with a few modified instructions, a little bit like Carla did, if you’ve got the time and a set of 3 mixing bowls (should be metal or glass). It is a bit fussier, but worth the result I thought!
Also thanks Carla and others for suggesting lemon zest–I’ll be trying that for sure.
– First of all, I did actually use the “grainy kind in a tub” ricotta, but it still worked fine for my purposes. It was also 4% M.F. (I didn’t intend to buy lower fat, so I’ll be watching out for full fat in future–carbs were still very low in the recipe overall).
– I used unflavoured whey protein and added about 1-1.5 tsp vanilla extract.
– I separated 2 of the eggs, with whites going into a metal bowl on their own (I got this idea from a waffle recipe I have, which has some heavy ingredients but makes a nice crispy waffle).
– I whisked the 2 yolks and 2 whole eggs together with all the other ingredients.
– Beat the whites to stiff peaks (I did not add anything for stiffness but might try a tiny bit of ACV in future).
– in a third bowl put half the main mixture, then gently fold in half the egg whites until well blended. Batter should expand and get a little bit foamy.
– use a soup ladle to spoon the batter into the pan–it should hold it’s shape while cooking for a slightly lighter/thicker pancake. They flatten out slightly once off the heat, but never as flat as if you hadn’t beaten the whites.
– repeat above steps with remaining half of batter and whites.
*I suggest mixing the batter in fresh parts like this because I had actually doubled the recipe to begin with, but after about 6 pancakes the batter started to lose its fluffiness and get runnier (back to the flatter/thinner version of your pancake). To prevent this I will mix smaller batches at a time.
I have a vegan plant-based protein powder on hand, do you think it will work as well as whey protein powder?
sure
If you use quest protein powder or the vegan plant-based protein powder do you think that will up the carb value?
can I use Almond flour instead of whey protein?
I’m not sure, I’ve not made them using additional almond flour. The whey protein provides a nice texture almost like gluten would in a traditional recipe. I wouldn’t skip it.
ok… cold out and i was dying for some warm low carb something! no eggs, ricotta and only chocolate whey in the house. sigh! 🙂 your post caught my eye because of the almond flour.
mixed 3 ounces cream cheese. warmed, 3 T almond flour, vanilla and enough half and half to bind. fried in butter… used sf maple syrup… craving satisfied and they were great.
most of these recipes, happily, are adaptable to what we have on hand! 🙂
I tried the recipe with 1/4 cup of walnut flour and 1 tbsp of coconut flour. The first pancake fell apart but it was very tasty. Then I decided to experiment and added 1 tsp of xantham gum: the pancakes held together better but it changed the texture. It became slightly slimier in texture, almost like ground flax seeds were added. Tasty recipe regardless, thanks for sharing!
These Ricotta cheese pancakes are the closest I’ve come to the real thing! Absolutely love them…
Service size says 2, serves 8…I’ve divided my 8 pancakes into two little stacks and saved the second one for tomorrow. Very filling, making my Keto way of eating a little easier when coming up with replacements. Thank you!
Awesome to hear thank you!
Are there any adjustments needed to the recipe to use batter for waffles instead of pancakes?
I gave these a try today, as I had ricotta that needed to be used. I subbed about 1/8 c coconut flour for the protein powder, and added about a teaspoon of erythritol and a few drops of almond extract. They were eggy, but decently fluffy! I need to get some of that syrup to try with them.
Mrs. Butterworth’s is sugarfree and no net carbs!
I just made a batch of these for myself, but let my kids (12 and 13 years old) try them. I didn’t get a whole pancake out of the first batch….just tastes off the first pancake. They said these were the best pancakes they’ve ever eaten!! I think the Spirutein, which is extremely thick, made these the fluffiest pancakes I’ve ever made. Without all of the fuss of separating the eggs and whipping the whites!!
I used Unsweetened Spirutein Protein Powder, and homemade vanilla extract + one packet of stevia powder instead of the vanilla stevia liquid.
P.S. – I looked at the syrup on Amazon and several of the reviewers indicated that it acts upon diabetic blood sugar levels as if all of the sweetness is being metabolized. Just wanted to caution that it might be messing up your diet or worse, if you’re diabetic, messing up your sugar levels.
Thank you for sharing this recipe – exactly what I was looking for! I had some ricotta to use up, and was hoping to reproduce a swedish-style pancake. This worked perfectly!
These are better than the pancakes that I make for my kids. If you like lemon, squeeze a small amount of a fresh lemon in for fantastic flavor. I cooked mine in salted butter and didn’t need any toppings.
Thank you for this great recipe.
Brenda, thank you for your hard work, and for your wonderful blog. We really appreciate what you do.
I did have one question:
sukrin gold fiber syrup,
if you are eating grain free, the malt barley in the syrup would have the same problems as other grains, I presume?
Thank you so much,
Stephanie
It isn’t gluten fee so if you have an issue with gluten choose another sugar free syrup, there are so many available now. But as far as staying in ketosis I don’t have an issue using a small amount to drizzle on pancakes.
these were pretty good pancakes. I think they were a little too flat. I would have liked a little more air to them. I added a little vanilla extract and some Lakanto powdered sugar to the recipe. then I put it in the frig to set up 15 min. before making hoping the batter would help in the rising process.
1/4 cp whey powder is hoe many grams?
I made these and enjoyed them but found the individual cooking a bit slow.
So this morning, I dumped all the ingredients in the blender while I preheated a tablespoon of coconut oil in a square glass baking dish in a 400° oven.
Baked 15 minutes, covering with foil after top was golden. Perfect, hands-off square pancakes!
Thank you Valerie!
Excellent idea I will be trying soon.
My two attempts at keto pancakes have been less than successful.
Edible, but uneven.
Can’t wait to try this,
Beth
Im looking for a simple to make low carb pancake. These look perfect
Can cream cheese be substituted for Ricotta?
yes
Can you use nonfat Greek yogurt instead of ricotta cheese? Thanks!
It might work though I’ve not tried it to say for sure.
These are great. Nice flavor and they reheat well from the freezer. Will make again!