Ricotta Fritters (Ponchiki)
Ricotta Fritters are like small donut holes. The batter is made with ricotta cheese and they turn out to be so airy, fluffy and tasty.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 hour
- Total Time: 1 hour 10 minutes
- Yield: 70-75 small fritters 1x
- Category: Sweets
Ingredients
Scale
- 2 quarts oil, for frying the donuts (I like avocado best, but you can also use peanut, grapeseed, vegetable, or canola oil)
- 2 cups ricotta cheese (farmer’s cheese or cottage cheese can also be used. See note below.)
- 3 eggs
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- powdered sugar, to sprinkle on top of the donuts
Instructions
- First, start heating up the oil. Pour the oil into a heavy bottomed pot/Dutch oven. Heat the oil to 370-375 degrees Fahrenheit.
- While the oil is heating up, make the ricotta batter. Mix the ricotta cheese, eggs, sugar and vanilla in a large bowl with a whisk until smooth. (You can also use a hand mixer or a stand mixer.)
- In a small bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt, whisking to combine. Add the flour mixture to the batter and mix to combine.
- Using 2 small teaspoons or a small portion scoop, scoop out the batter and drop it carefully into the hot oil. If using two teaspoons, take a small scoop of batter in one spoon and use the other spoon to scrape it off the spoon and into the oil.
- When you add the batter to the oil, the temperature will drop. Adjust the heat of your stove, if necessary, to maintain oil temperature between 325 and 350 degrees while frying.
- Fry until fritters are deep golden brown, 3 to 4 minutes, flipping fritters halfway through frying.
- Drain the ricotta fritters on a paper towel lined plate or a paper bag.
- Heat the oil back up to 370-375 degrees Fahrenheit before adding more batter to the oil. Continue cooking until all the batter is used up. You should have about 70-75 small donuts, depending on the size that you make them.
- Dust the Ricotta Fritters with powdered sugar.
- Serve warm or at room temperature. They are best served the same day, but can still be enjoyed for 1-2 days after cooking them.
Notes
Ricotta Cheese Substitutions:
Instead of the ricotta cheese, you can also use farmer’s cheese or cottage cheese.
- If you use farmer’s cheese, it’s usually a lot drier, so use 1/4 cup less flour.
- However, if you want to use cottage cheese, drain it first through a fine mesh sieve to get rid of excess moisture. Use the same amount of flour as when using ricotta cheese.