3 Ingredient Cottage Cheese Pancakes (High Protein & Gluten Free)
- Updated on Feb 15, 2024
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Here is my prediction: this Cottage Cheese Pancake will soon be one of the most popular breakfasts of humankind.
I know it’s a bold statement, but there are six strong indicators pointing to it. Let me elaborate:
First, it’s super simple to make. The basic recipe just calls for three ingredients: Cottage cheese, eggs and oats and from start to finish you need a maximum of 12 minutes.
Second, eggs are celebrating a huge comeback.
After being looked at suspiciously for decades, a new study has shown that there is no link between eggs and cardiovascular disease.
In other words eggs are super nutritious and not bad for you.
Third, these cottage cheese pancakes are gluten-free, which is very important these days, haha (note: make sure your oats are labeled gluten-free, because they’re sometimes processed in the same factory as gluten-containing grains!)
Fourth, this pancake – because of it’s ingredients – is a 100% natural, no extra powder added, protein powerhouse.
Next to gluten-free, high protein products are the rage nowadays and these tasty pancakes definitely tick that box. How about 26g of protein for breakfast? You’re welcome.
Fifth, all three ingredients help with weight loss because of their satiating effect, making these pancakes an excellent breakfast, even for people on a diet.
Sixth, they taste bloody good. Period.
Eggs are surging through on a comeback, and gluten-free and high protein are taking over the world.
To top it all off, convenient, great tasting weight-loss recipes are an evergreen and always will be.
See the puzzle falling into place? I do. Since the cottage cheese pancakes are riding high on all these trends, they’re a sure bet to become the world’s most popular breakfast from 2016 on (and I bet these cottage cheese bites will be up there too!).
I even ditched my long time favourite the Banana Egg Pancakes for this one!
In case you’re still harbouring any doubts, let’s move to the health section.
Ingredients
Cottage cheese
Cottage cheese belongs to the healthiest cheese groups out there, being low in carbs, low in fats and loaded with proteins ( no wonder we love cottage cheese recipes).
On top of that, cottage cheese is also high in micronutrients like calcium, vitamin B12, vitamin B2 and lots of other nutrients. Dang!
Oatmeal
Oats are one of the healthiest grains mother nature came up with. They’re high in fiber, proteins and a whole host of other nutrients.
As a further example, oats have been linked to lowering the risk of heart disease and diabetes.
Oats can also keep you feeling full for longer which can help to stop you reaching for an unhealthy mid morning snack.
Eggs
Eggs raise HDL, the “good” cholesterol. HDL stands for High Density Lipoprotein. Higher levels of HDL can lower risk of heart disease, stroke and various health problems. Check out our other high protein egg recipes for more eggy inspo!
Not too bad for a breakfast pancake, right?
So tell us:
- Do you think these pancakes have the potential to be more successful than breakfast cereal?
- What is your favourite breakfast dish?
- In general, what was the last dish you’ve been extremely excited about?
- Could you imagine having a smoothie with raw eggs for breakfast?
Edit: Since we released this recipe, they have become my absolute, no doubt favourite breakfast of all time. I seriously love them – Howie was right all along. Dave.
Health benefits
These cottage cheese pancakes are high in protein, low in carbs, gluten free (if that sounds good, you need to check out our vegetarian low carb breakfasts!). we could go on! The reason this dish is so healthy is because of the amazing qualities of it’s individual ingredients.
FAQ’s
We’ve covered some of the most common questions about this recipe, but if you can’t find an answer to yours let us know in the comments section.
Can you freeze cottage cheese pancakes?
Yes, simply let them cool and freeze either flat, or with grease-proof paper between each pancake to stop them sticking together.
Can you make the mixture ahead and store it in the fridge?
You can definitely blend the mixture up and keep it prepped in the fridge for up to 2 days.
How many carbs do they have?
32g per serving – a lot less than their traditional flour based counterpart.
What about protein?
These cottage cheese pancakes are super high in protein – 26g per serving in fact!
Are these cottage cheese pancakes gluten free?
Yes, just make sure to choose oats labelled as gluten free.
Do I need to cook the oats before using them?
Nope, just pop them in the blender and you’re good to go.
Will this mix work for waffles too?
Whilst we haven’t tried it ourselves, our awesome readers have reported back that this recipe does indeed work for waffles!
Cooking tips
If you want to become a cottage cheese pancake flipping master, then try out these tips to achieve a fluffy golden pancake every time.
- Use a non-stick pan! This probably makes the biggest difference when making these cottage cheese pancakes.
- Make sure you have enough oil or butter on the cooking area of the pan, it helps the pancakes to cook a lot smoother all over and they shouldn’t break apart.
- Fry with a lid on when cooking the first side (around 9 minutes) and then flip and cook without a lid for a further 1-2 minutes to brown the other side. Check out the video in the recipe section for full details on this.
- Try cooking multiple small pancakes to begin with, as they’re much easier to flip and control compared to one giant one.
What our readers are saying
Absolutely stellar! Thank you!! I made these as a special treat for Mother’s Day b’fast, and was amazed at how light and fluffy they were!
ineduc8r ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
You are God-sent. What’s more both of you are so humble replying to every query. Thank you. Tried it today as lunch and was amazing and so filling. I didn’t quite get the pancake right but the suggestions of others has been helpful. Great work guys!
Abbie ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
OMG! Thank you soooooo much for the cottage-cheese-pancake recipe. I haven’t had pancakes in years (since being diagnosed as a Type II diabetic). Made this in the food processor, used coconut oil in the skillet. Gotta say they actually turned out better than any of my pre-diabetic attempts at pancakes!
Sheryl ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Ingredients
- 1 tsp coconut oil (or butter)
- ⅓ cup low fat cottage cheese
- ½ cup rolled oats (no pre-cooking necessary)
- 2 eggs
- Salt to taste
Instructions
- Get a bowl or, even better, use a blender.
- Throw in all the ingredients and whisk/mix until smooth.⅓ cup low fat cottage cheese, ½ cup rolled oats, 2 eggs, Salt to taste
- Add the oil (or butter) to a pan and fry the batter on low to medium heat.1 tsp coconut oil
- Flip with a spatula once bubbles start to appear. Cook until both sides are golden brown.
- Simple as!
NOTES
Make-ahead? Yes, just keep toppings separate. Freezable? Yes! Again, either the batter or the pancakes. Here are some ideas on how to pimp these pancakes up! (All optional of course) Batter ideas: 1 tbsp of coconut powder
* A small handful of hazelnuts, almonds or walnuts
* 1 tbsp of peanut butter
* 1 tbsp of protein powder
* 1 tbsp of raisins
* 1 tsp of cinnamon
* 1 tsp of vanilla extract
* A few thin slices of apple or pear Topping ideas:
* Honey
* Maple syrup
* Cherries, strawberries
* Yogurt
* Sugar and lemon juice EQUIPMENT & PRODUCT TIPS:
You’ll need a non-stick pan for successful pancake action, but that’s it. See what you think about this pan. I recently started using coconut oil instead of butter for frying. It works great, especially for pancakes! If you want, give this one a shot. IF YOU LIKED THIS RECIPE: Then you definitely have to check out our Banana Egg Pancakes! Probably even easier to prepare and absolutely delicious. Or if you’d rather like to go into no milk, no egg direction, check out our roundup of these 24 awesome vegan pancakes!
Nutrition
If you liked this, you should definitely try our cottage cheese fritter recipe too!
Comments
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251 comments
I’m following a gestational diabetes diet and am always looking for ways to make my meals more exciting. I can’t do these for breakfast because I have to keep my carb count fairly low early in the day to avoid massive glucose spikes (and oats at breakfast always do me in!). To make this an appropriate meal for one for me, I cut the measurements by 1/3–1/3 cup cottage cheese, 1/3 cup oats and 2 eggs. I use coconut oil to fry them up, then warm up some berries to put on top. I toss some of the warm berries in what’s left in my tub of cottage cheese and the rest go on the pancakes. I use my immersion blender to mix it up and like the consistency. I’ve made Greek yogurt pancakes in the past and they’re often really hard to flip. I still kept these relatively small, maybe 1/4 cup of batter per pancake and got eight easy-flipping pancakes out of it. This is a a total win in terms of taste and fitting in with my meal plan. I’m one happy mama!
That sounds really good Tina! Thanks for sharing, we hope it will help other people out there. I’m not sure how it would fit to your diet, we also have a recipe that uses just bananas and eggs to make pancakes, would that interest you?
Absolutely! That could be a good snack as well.
❤️❤️♥️ This recipe, it is so simple and pancakes are wonderful. I added cinnamon and can’t wait to add other ingredients. I love that no flour or sugar is in the recipe.
Thank you for sharing this recipe!
Hi Teresa! Thanks so much for the feedback!! Yess, it’s really cool that it doesn’t call for any flour, plus it’s so versatile! It’s fund to try out new ingredients to change the taste! I see, we appreciate the same things in a recipe 😀
So, I made these twice today. For breakfast, as pancakes with blueberries, cinnamon, flax added in, topped with banana. They were pretty good and extremely filing. I will omit the flax next time, as it gave a strange texture. For dinner, we made them into waffles,with only the addition of cinnamon. To make them light and fluffy, we sprayed the eggs and whipped the whites on their own, then folded them in to the mixture of yolks, oatmeal, cottage cheese, and cinnamon. Let me tell you, they were amazing! The texture was so perfect. And I am stuffed!
Thanks for the feedback Elizabeth!
Wow, I didn’t know that you can improve the texture so much by whipping the egg whites, thanks for the tip!! Seriously, we really appreciate it that you try your way through our recipes!! Plus it’s really cool to hear what people think of them, how they improve and change them too!! 😀
Have you tried freezing them or throwing them in the fridge for later? I am wondering how they would reheat if i sent them to worth with my hubby and he either microwaved or toasted them.
Hi Elizabeth! Good question, I don’t have an answer for this at the moment though, sorry! Will try it out myself today and get back to you tomorrow! 🙂
DUDE! These are KILLER! I’m doing the 21 Day Fix and I was lacking protein, carb, and fruit serving. I didn’t feel like eating plain cold cottage cheese with fruit, so I got on Pintetest and looked for alternatives. These hit the spot! I added Mexican vanilla (because who doesn’t love that stuff!) and topped it with pecans, a dusting of cinnamon sugar, and I ate it with grapes on the side. Unfortunately it was the only fruit I had on hand, but some berries would be delightful. I actually ended up eating them as a crepe because mine turned out so thin, but I ain’t complaining. BTW, my fiance hates cottage cheese and he LOVED them. We had a 30 second dance party in the kitchen to celebrate the complete transformation of cottage cheese. Thanks a billion!
Hahaaaa!!! What a great story, thanks for the props!!
Mexican Vanilla you say? I’ll have to look that up on Amazon – never heard of it.
Yeeh, cottage cheese is celebrating a huge comeback in my diet as well!
Un abrazo 😀
😀 30 second dance party 😀
What is the container count?
I tweaked the recipe after a lot of experimentation and wanted to share it! The applesauce makes the pancakes have a slightly sweeter aftertaste and the baking soda makes them rise and be fluffier pancakes.
3 eggs
-1 heaping cup of rolled oats
-half cup of cottage cheese
-1/4 cup applesauce
-vanilla
-cinnamon
-baking soda
-Small amount of coconut oil on pan or in batter if you like the flavor
Blend ingredients in blender and pour in dollops onto a hot pan (or waffle iron or griddle)
Top with maple syrup, and on the still warm pan throw whatever frozen berries you have to warm them up and condense the juices and throw on top! (Can also add a pinch of lemon juice to the berries.)
Wow, thanks so much for sharing your tweaks on the recipe, Jean. This truly sounds amazing!!! I might have to make a new blog post based on your version. Definitely will try it out! 🙂
these are similar to the tweaks i use too as i feed these to my kids and i needed to suit to their taste. i use baking powder instead of baking soda and i add a tsp of honey and no applesauce.
great recipe and definitely a keeper!
I made these twice this week, and they are by far my new favorite breakfast! Super high in protein and so filling.
My recipe however calls for only egg whites (4). I’m going to try yours with whole eggs. I put the oatmeal in the blender for a couple of whirls, then add the other ingredients. A teeny splash of vanilla is great too. Also..I make one HUGE pancake, lol. It’s thin, but puffs up after it’s flipped over. Love it!
Haa, thanks so much for sharing – glad you like the pancake recipe! When I told Dave about your comment he mentioned the same, haha: “Ah, cool! We’re also having them all the time at the moment, love the amount of protein in there.”
I’m also a big fan of one huuge pancake. It takes a little more flipping experience but it’s also much quicker 😀
Great to hear Shelley! I really love these pancakes, we have them every weekend now, as a bare minimum 🙂