🍳 BREAKFAST
Varškės Blynai (Curd Cheese Pancakes)
Little pan-fried pancakes of fresh curd cheese, crisp and golden outside and tender inside, served with sour cream and jam.
Lithuanian · easy · serves 4
prep 15 min · cook 15 min
~313 cal · 18g protein · 22g carbs · 16g fat · 0g fiber · 10g sugars · 8g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Varškė, fresh farmer's curd cheese, is at the heart of the Lithuanian kitchen, and varškės blynai are its most comforting breakfast form: soft curd bound with egg and a little flour, shaped into small rounds, and fried in butter until the outsides turn crisp and golden while the centres stay moist and faintly sweet.
They are home food through and through, the sort of thing made from the curd that was always in the cool pantry, a quick and cheap way to turn it into something warm and satisfying. Close cousins are eaten all across the region, from Polish serniki to Ukrainian syrnyky, but every Lithuanian family has its own hand for them.
Served hot with a spoon of cold sour cream and a little jam or honey, they are the taste of a weekend morning at grandmother's table. Crisp, creamy, and lightly sweet, varškės blynai are of how far a bowl of good curd can go.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally vegetarian and nut- and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 4
- 2 cups fresh curd cheese (varškė) or dry-pressed cottage cheese
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour, plus more for shaping
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 pinch pinch of salt
- 3 tbsp butter, for frying
- to taste sour cream and jam, to serve
Instructions
- 1If the curd is wet, press it in a sieve or squeeze it in a cloth to drain, then mash it smooth in a bowl.✎ Chef’s noteDrier curd makes firmer pancakes that hold their shape. Wet curd needs a little extra flour.
- 2Mix in the eggs, sugar, vanilla, and salt until well combined.
- 3Add the flour and stir to a soft, slightly sticky dough that just holds together.
- 4With floured hands, scoop portions and shape into small patties about 2 inches across and 1/2 inch thick.
- 5Melt some butter in a skillet over medium heat.
- 6Fry the patties in batches for 2 to 3 minutes per side, until deep golden and cooked through, adding butter as needed.
- 7Serve hot with cold sour cream and a spoon of jam or honey.
Vilnius home tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Vilnius. Cepelinai are named for their shape, a zeppelin of grated potato moulded around minced pork, boiled and then served under pork crackling and sour cream. Rye bread, forest mushrooms and cured pork carry the rest of the year, when nothing cold is wanted at all.
🗺️
Lithuania. The pink comes from beetroot but the body of the soup is kefir or buttermilk, with grated cucumber, spring onion and a great deal of dill stirred in cold. The one rule nobody breaks is the plate of hot boiled potatoes served on the side rather than in the bowl, so every spoonful is chilled and every bite of potato is not.
🌍
Europe. European cooking is built on the land and the seasons, wheat, butter, and cured pork in the north; olive oil, tomatoes, and seafood around the Mediterranean; preserved vegetables and hearty stews through long winters. Centuries of peasant tradition, guild craft, and royal courts refined techniques from French mother sauces to Italian fresh pasta and Central European baking. Regional identity runs remarkably deep, with a single dish often changing from one valley to the next.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Lithuania
Šaltibarščiai (Cold Beet Soup)A shocking-pink chilled soup of beets, kefir, cucumber, and dill, Lithuania’s summer in a bowl, with hot potatoes on the side.
Kugelis (Baked Potato Pudding)A dense baked pudding of finely grated raw potato bound with egg, milk, onion and smoked bacon, browned on top and served with sour cream.
CepelinaiZeppelin-shaped potato dumplings stuffed with meat, served with bacon-onion sauce and sour cream.
Browse all Lithuania recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Skillet or frying pan.
Storing it: Best fresh and hot. Keep batter covered in the fridge for up to a day, and rewarm cooked ones in a dry pan.
Make it a Lithuania meal
Krupnikas (Lithuanian Honey Spice Liqueur)Drink
TinginysDessert
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Cuisine
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Frequently asked questions
What is Varškės Blynai (Curd Cheese Pancakes)?
Little pan-fried pancakes of fresh curd cheese, crisp and golden outside and tender inside, served with sour cream and jam.
Where does Varškės Blynai (Curd Cheese Pancakes) come from?
Varškės Blynai (Curd Cheese Pancakes) is a Lithuanian dish from Vilnius, Lithuania.
Can Varškės Blynai (Curd Cheese Pancakes) be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Varškės Blynai (Curd Cheese Pancakes) recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions. Treat the substitutions as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Varškės Blynai (Curd Cheese Pancakes) safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we still count coconut as a tree nut to be cautious, although the FDA stopped listing it as one in 2025), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Varškės Blynai (Curd Cheese Pancakes) take to make?
About 30 minutes total (15 minutes prep, 15 minutes cooking), serving 4.
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