These orange basil ricotta pancakes are deliciously sweet and doughy with a touch of summer freshness from the basil.
I remember on occasion, my mom bringing home store bought muffins when we were kids that were a horribly unnatural shade of pinkish orange.
It’s funny how “health” focused she seemed compared to other moms (we always had whole wheat bread sandwiches, never white <– I hated this as a kid btw) and yet I remember things like these chemical laden muffins or boxes of Entenmann’s always on the counter (mostly for my dad’s sweet tooth).
I *think* they were called morning glory muffins.
Honestly, it doesn’t matter what they were called (or, are called, I’m sure they still exist…) but I can still remember how deliciously sweet and orangey each bite was. It was like they could be considered breakfast and dessert in one.
Well, I had no intentions of making these pancakes taste like those muffins.
I just thought the sound of orange and basil together seemed perfect and since making these coconut ricotta pancakes, I’ve been obsessed with putting ricotta in my pancakes, it just keeps them so moist and doughy but, with the first bite I thought, holy morning glory muffin.
ps- ricotta in cake is also delicious – try out this ricotta almond fig cake. Gah! So good!
Seriously, the taste is dead on just with a hint of freshness from the basil.
If you’re freaked by green stuff in your pancakes:
1. Get over it.
but,
2. If you don’t have an overflowing pot of basil like me right now you could leave it out. I’m not suggesting this however, just stating a fact.
And in my defense, basil isn’t just for savory recipes. It’s delicious in this summer fruit panzanella salad and amazing in this basil nectarine upside down cake. Swear!
But, if green doesn’t freak you out in your pancakes, then give these blueberry avocado pancakes a try.
If you’re not quite there yet though, try these apple carrot cake pancakes or these banana nutmeg pancakes – both different enough to feel “special” but no crazy ingredients that will through you off.
If you’d prefer a great high protein pancake recipe make sure to try these protein pancakes or these pumpkin protein pancakes. They’ve got 30g and 19g grams of protein per serving – hard to beat that in a pancake!
Oh, and these orange basil ricotta pancakes are also gluten free if that’s your thing because I’ve totally become that girl that doesn’t need to eat GF but really enjoys baking that way.
Honestly, I just LOVE this flour. I’m amazed at how easy it’s been to use in regular baking as a gluten-free option. I swap it out 1 for 1 with a traditional flour and have had no problems yet!
But unlike the Jimmy Fallon skit, at least I can tell you what gluten actually is.
MORE DELICIOUS WAYS TO ENJOY RICOTTA:
Whipped Pumpkin Ricotta Dip
Orange Cardamom Whipped Ricotta Bowls with Roasted Pears
Delicata Squash Flatbread with Pecans, Cherries and Ricotta
Orange Basil Ricotta Pancakes
Ingredients
- 1 cup gluten free baking flour
- 1/2 cup cashew flour, or almond flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- zest of 1/2 an orange
- 2 tablespoons chopped basil
- 1 egg
- 1/2 cup whole milk ricotta
- juice of 1/2 an orange
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoons maple syrup
- 3 tablespoons butter, melted
- 3/4 cup whole milk
Instructions
- Heat a pancake griddle over medium heat.
- Combine all the dry ingredients in a large bowl.
- Whisk together all wet ingredients in a small bowl.
- Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix together.
- Once hot, grease the griddle with butter or cooking spray.
- Spoon batter onto griddle in a circle (batter is on the thicker side so you may have to help spread it out with the back of the spoon) and cook for 1-2 minutes per side.
- Serve with additional maple syrup.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Udi’s Gluten Free. The opinions and text are all mine.
Gina Matsoukas is an AP syndicated writer. She is the founder, photographer and recipe developer of Running to the Kitchen — a food website focused on providing healthy, wholesome recipes using fresh and seasonal ingredients. Her work has been featured in numerous media outlets both digital and print, including MSN, Huffington post, Buzzfeed, Women’s Health and Food Network.
I know it’s silly to completely change a recipe and then complain about the results, but I wanted to let you, and your readers, know what I did and what happened. I was out of almond flour so used coconut. I doubled the recipe but didn’t have enough ricotta so I added some artisan plain greek yogurt. I also needed to use up some organic cream in the fridge so used that instead of milk. All that resulted in thick, thick batter so I added several more splashes of whole milk to thin it out some. Still so thick though that it was taking a long time to cook the pancakes through, even doing very small little pancakes, before they were burnt on the bottoms. Finally, I hit upon the solution . . . butter the pan, pour three small pancakes and COVER the pan until they cook mostly through and fluff up, then flip them, cover and cook for a bit more. Just lovely. Very filling. I’ll make them again, especially now that I’ve figured out the technique. Thanks!
Glad you made it work in the end! For future reference, coconut flour and almond flour are not interchangeable at all. Coconut flour is pretty much like a sponge and absorbs tons more liquid than the same amount of almond flour. That was definitely the biggest contributing factor to the thickness of the batter. You’d be better served in the future using another nut flour (if you don’t have any, just grind your own nuts in a food processor or blender until flour like consistency).
my boyfriend pruned a bunch of basil leaves from my plant this morning and this was the perfect way to use them – these were delicious.
Outstanding! I just made these for breakfast and they are the first GF pancakes that actually don’t taste GF. Thank you so much! I love the orange and basil flavor and had to stop myself from eating all of them.
Thank you again for sharing!
Kari
These pancakes look amazing! I love that they are gluten free and light and fluffy! Plus that basil and orange combination is genius!
Basil and orange sounds like the perfect combination! I love how different these pancakes are from the standard syrupy pucks.