I discovered First Watch a few years ago and it is by far my most favorite regular brunch/breakfast place to frequent. The food is always good and reliably so. Which isn’t easy to come by for a lot of restaurants. The have at least a semi focus on healthier and more natural ingredients, and they have a seasonal menu which is fun. The downsides: there isn’t one super close to me, you’re definitely dropping at least $40 and there’s typically a wait.
One lovely brunch filled Saturday, we tried the lemon ricotta pancakes there and fell in love. I’m not a huge pancake person, because I’m not a huge bread person, but the lemon ricotta pancakes were wow.
Light and airy, so moist and the lemon was divine.
One day when my kids were asking for lemon ricotta pancakes and I didn’t want to spend my entire weekend fun money at First Watch, I had the idea that maybe I could make them. And make them I did! I’ve tried a few recipes since then, and this is my favorite. It’s a modified recipe from Food Network and it’s so good.
Lemon Ricotta Pancakes Recipe
Ingredients:
Dry Ingredients:
3/4 cup flour
1 TBS baking powder
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp salt
3 TBS sugar
Wet Ingredients:
1 cup full fat ricotta cheese
2 eggs
2/3 cup milk
Zest & juice of 1 lemon
Toppings:
Lemon Curd
Sliced Strawberries
Spray/butter for griddle
Directions
Combine the dry ingredients all together. Add then add wet ingredients on top, whisk or stir ingredients together until light and airy. If you like things extra lemony, at this step, a few times I’ve tried the batter and added more lemon juice. This would be to taste, so use your best judgement.
Slice the strawberries so they are ready to go, as soon as the pancakes are done.
Grease the griddle and start cooking. Yes, you can make them on a stovetop, but it’s generally easier on a griddle. Drop 1/4 cup of batter onto your griddle into circles. I set my temp lower (200-250 degrees), but watch and adjust as needed. Cook both sides til golden brown and remove your lemon ricotta pancakes.
I usually stack up a few for presentation, add a dollop of lemon curd and top with strawberries. If desired you can heat up your lemon curd, but First Watch doesn’t, so I don’t either, and it melts fairly quickly anyway.
I hope you like them. Thanks for stopping by. If you’d like to try more recipes I’ve made, consider trying this delicious Creme Brûlée Recipe or my Root Beer Float Popsicles .