You'll be going crazy for these pumpkin cottage cheese pancakes! They're full of fall flavor, ready in 30 minutes and protein-packed. Pumpkin and cottage cheese may seem like an unexpected combination, but it's truly a match made in heaven.
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In the past few weeks, I've eaten a mountain of these pumpkin pancakes and I'm not mad about it. They're super scrumptious and really lovely on a crisp fall morning alongside a big cup of hot coffee.
As a cozy season fanatic, I love sharing pumpkin recipes with my readers and this one happens to be on my list of favorites.
Pumpkin baked oatmeal and healthy pumpkin bread are close contenders (especially in the realm of breakfast-y foods).
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A Recipe Worth Repeating
Low-sugar: These hot cakes are sweetened with just a touch of maple syrup!
High protein: This healthier pancake recipe is made with a full cup of cottage cheese, meaning each serving contains nearly 13 grams of hearty protein to help keep you full.
Quick and easy: A fool-proof recipe made in just 30 minutes.
Meal prep: Make a big batch of pancakes and store them in the refrigerator for busy mornings. They reheat really well, or you can take cold pancakes as a grab and go option. When I know I'll be taking cold pancakes as a snack, I often add chocolate chips!
What You'll Need
- Pumpkin puree: Use store-bought or homemade pumpkin puree.
- Cottage cheese: I recommend full fat cottage cheese for this recipe.
- Eggs: Eggs will make your pancakes nice and fluffy, plus they add great flavor.
- Pure vanilla extract: Imitation vanilla will also do the trick.
- Pure maple syrup: For best results, use real maple syrup! It can be quite expensive, so if preferred you can substitute regular white sugar.
- Nonfat milk: Or milk of choice.
- Flour: Regular, all-purpose white flour. Unbleached.
- Pumpkin pie spice: Or substitute ground cinnamon. I've made this recipe both ways and it was delicious each time.
- Baking powder: Our leavening agent!
How To Make Pancakes
Keep scrolling for the full recipe card and measurements. We’ll start here with a quick overview!
Blend wet ingredients:
- Measure all wet ingredients into a high-speed blender or food processor. Puree on medium speed for about a minute, until smooth. Stop and scrape down the sides of the blender when necessary.
Whisk dry ingredients:
- Combine all purpose flour, baking powder and pumpkin pie spice in a large mixing bowl and whisk, whisk, whisk!
Make pancake batter:
- To finish off your pancake batter, pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients. Use a spatula to scrape ALL of the wet ingredients out of the blender.
- Fold the two together gently and be careful not to over mix. If the batter is slightly lumpy, that's okay!
Fry pancakes:
- Place a griddle pan or large nonstick skillet on the stovetop on medium heat. Allow the pan to heat up for 5-10 minutes. Once hot, add cooking spray.
- Portion batter onto pan using a quarter cup. Use the measuring cup to help spread the batter into a circle shape. Cook for 2 minutes on each side.
- Serve with your favorite toppings and enjoy!
Tips For Perfect Pancakes
Spread batter: The cottage cheese in this pancake recipe makes the batter quite thick. When cooking, use a measuring cup or spoon to spread the batter into a thinner circle shape. This will help the pancakes to cook through more quickly, but be patient! They'll still need 2-3 minutes per side.
Prefer thinner pancakes? You can slowly stir in additional milk until desired texture is reached. Just be careful, don't add too much, too fast.
Allow pan to heat up: For golden brown pancakes, allow your pan to get hot before cooking batter and re-apply non stick cooking spray as needed. You can make a small test pancake to see if the pan is ready!
Recipe Variations
Mix-ins: Stir a handful of chocolate chips into your pancake batter. You could also add chopped walnuts or pecans!
Cheese: Make Pumpkin Ricotta Pancakes instead of cottage cheese!
Pancake Toppings
- Pumpkin Spice Sauce: I generally add this sauce to coffee or espresso drinks but it's also really good on top of pancakes!
- Pumpkin Cheesecake Dip: This tasty pumpkin dip doubles as an excellent spread for both french toast and pancakes.
- Traditional toppings: Butter, maple syrup, pancake syrup, cinnamon, powdered sugar or whipped cream.
- Nuts and seeds: For delicious crunch add chopped walnuts, toasted pecans or roasted pumpkin seeds. Peanut butter or almond butter would also be a tasty addition.
- Fruit: Blackberries would be SO good with these healthy pumpkin pancakes.
Serve Pancakes With
I love serving my sweet pancakes with a savory side like scrambled eggs, egg bites, crispy bacon, potato hash browns or breakfast sausage patties.
Storage & Meal Prep
Refrigerate: Place leftover pancakes in an airtight container or Ziploc baggie and store in the refrigerator for 3-5 days.
Freeze: Store frozen for 3-4 months. Note: to prevent sticking, wrap pancakes individually in plastic wrap or place parchment paper between each cake. If they do freeze together, they will break apart after sitting on the countertop for 5-10 minutes or once microwaved on the defrost setting for a minute or two. You can also pop them in the refrigerator to thaw overnight.
Reheat: Microwave pancakes on high until warmed through. If refrigerated, this will take only 30-60 seconds. If reheating from frozen, you'll need to heat a bit longer (around 2-3 minutes).
Meal prep: This is a great recipe for meal prep. You can make a giant batch of pancakes and store them for later. Or, instead of reheating pancakes, enjoy them cold. I often add chocolate chips to my pancakes when I know I'll be eating them cold, on the go!
Frequently Asked Questions
They just need to cook a little longer. If the outside of your pancakes are burning before the middle cooks, turn your stovetop heat down a bit. You may also try spreading your batter into a thinner circle shape to help with even cook through.
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Pumpkin Cottage Cheese Pancakes (High Protein)
Equipment
- Non-stick cooking spray
- Frying pan or griddle *A regular skillet also works
Ingredients
Wet Ingredients
- ¾ cup pumpkin puree *about half a 15 ounce can
- 1 cup full fat cottage cheese
- 3 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract *Or imitation vanilla
- 2 tablespoons pure maple syrup *Or sugar
- ½ cup nonfat milk *Or milk of choice
Dry Ingredients
- 1 & ½ cups all purpose flour *Unbleached
- 1 & ½ teaspoons pumpkin pie spice *Or ground cinnamon
- 1 & ½ teaspoons baking powder
Recipe notes:
General: This pancake batter is very thick! If you like thinner pancakes, you can add a little extra milk until your desired texture is reached. General: This recipe makes 10-11 pancakes when portioned into ¼ cup size.Instructions
- Add pumpkin, cottage cheese, eggs, vanilla, syrup and milk to a high speed blender. Puree until mixture is smooth (about 60 seconds). Stop to scrape down the sides of the blender when necessary.¾ cup pumpkin puree, 1 cup full fat cottage cheese, 3 large eggs, 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract, 2 tablespoons pure maple syrup, ½ cup nonfat milk
- In a large mixing bowl combine flour, pumpkin pie spice and baking powder. Whisk well.1 & ½ cups all purpose flour, 1 & ½ teaspoons pumpkin pie spice, 1 & ½ teaspoons baking powder
- Pour wet ingredients into dry and fold together with a spatula. Don't over-mix. It's okay if the batter is a little lumpy. (Note: if desired you can also stir a handful of chocolate chips into your batter!)
- Place a griddle pan or skillet on the stovetop, turn heat to medium and allow the pan to heat up for 5-10 minutes. Coat the pan with non-stick cooking spray. You can make a small test pancake to see if the pan is ready!
- Use a quarter cup to portion batter onto the pan. This batter is thick, so I recommend spreading it into a thinner circle shape using a spoon or your measuring cup. If you don't spread the batter out a little the pancakes may turn out gooey in the middle.
- Cook pancakes for two minutes. Once they're beginning to look a little dry around the edges, flip and cook 2 minutes longer.
- Remove cooked pancakes from griddle pan, add desired toppings and enjoy!
Optional toppings:
- Butter, pumpkin sauce, whipped cream, roasted pumpkin seeds, chopped walnuts, chopped toasted pecans, blackberries, cinnamon, maple syrup or pancake syrup of choice.
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Nutrition
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CC says
Great recipe for the fall! Very hearty and a nice way to start the day with protein.
Garlic Salt & Lime says
Yay! I'm so glad to hear you enjoyed this recipe. Thank you!
Sharon Potter says
Love simple recipes…very tasty.
Garlic Salt & Lime says
Thank you, Sharon! Glad you enjoyed the pancakes!