Cheese Blintz Recipe (Video)

What Is a Cheese Blintz?

A cheese blintz (also spelled blintze, plural blintzes) is a thin crepe folded around sweet farmer’s cheese and fried in butter. Blintzes come from Eastern European and Ashkenazi Jewish kitchens, where farmer’s cheese has always been a staple. In Ukraine, the same idea goes by nalysnyky.

Farmer’s cheese can be hard to find in the US, but homemade farmer’s cheese takes just two ingredients. Ricotta or cottage cheese work too, and I’ll show you how to use them.

Cheese Blintz vs. Crepe

Crepes are French, and they’re cooked once. A blintz is cooked twice: first as a pale crepe on one side, then again in butter after it’s filled and folded.

A crepe can hold any filling, or none at all. A blintz is almost always sweet cheese, folded into a neat pocket. For the anything-goes kind, try my Nutella crepes.

Ingredients for Cheese Blintzes

The batter is six pantry staples, and the filling is four. Amounts are in the recipe card at the bottom.

Blintz Batter

• Eggs: large eggs hold the thin crepes together, so you can fill and fold them without tearing. I like eggs with deep orange yolks for the color.
• All-purpose flour: regular all-purpose is all you need. I measure 1 cup as 150 g: fluff the flour, scoop, and level.
• Milk: whole milk browns best, but 2% works. It goes in hot, which is why this batter doesn’t need to rest.
• Kosher salt: keeps the crepes from tasting flat under the sweet filling. I use Morton.
• Sugar: granulated sugar sweetens the crepes a little and helps them brown in the butter later.
• Butter: unsalted. A little in the batter keeps the crepes from sticking to the pan.

Cheese Blintz Filling

• Farmer’s cheese: a dry, crumbly fresh cheese, sometimes sold as tvorog. You can buy it or make your own farmer’s cheese with two ingredients.
• Cottage cheese or ricotta: either one works in place of farmer’s cheese. Drain it very well, since extra liquid makes the filling runny.
• Cream cheese: full-fat, at room temperature. It makes the filling smooth instead of grainy.
• Sugar and vanilla: granulated sugar sweetens the cheese, and pure vanilla extract rounds out its tang.

For Frying

• Unsalted butter: fry the blintzes in butter, not oil. Butter browns them and gives them a crisp, golden outside.

How to Make Cheese Blintzes (Step-by-Step, with Video)

There are four parts: the batter, the crepes, the filling, and then filling and frying. The video at the bottom of the post shows every stage.

How to Make the Blintz Batter

Mix it by hand or in a blender. Either way, it’s ready to use right away.

1. Whisk the dry mix – whisk the eggs, sugar, salt, and flour in a large bowl until smooth. It will look thick and pasty, and that’s right.
2. Stream in the hot milk – pour it in slowly while you whisk, never all at once.
   
   Why add the milk so slowly?

   Hot milk poured in all at once can scramble the eggs. If you still end up with lumps or specks, pour the batter through a fine-mesh sieve and it’s fixed.
3. Whisk in the butter – add the melted butter and keep whisking for 30 to 60 seconds, until none floats on top. The batter should be runny, like heavy cream.
   
   Why doesn’t this batter need to rest?

   The hot milk gets the gluten going right away, which is the job a 30- to 60-minute rest normally does. That little bit of gluten keeps the crepes from tearing when you lift them off the pan.
   Can I make the batter in a blender?

   • In a blender: add everything except the butter, in the order listed, and blend on low until smooth. Add the melted butter and blend for about 30 seconds more.
   • By hand: follow the steps above.

   

How to Cook the Blintz Crepes

Use an 8-inch nonstick skillet or an electric crepe maker. Either way, the crepes cook on one side only.

1. Heat the skillet – set an 8-inch nonstick skillet over medium heat and brush it with butter or use nonstick spray.
2. Pour and swirl – pour in a thin layer of batter and swirl the pan until the bottom is coated.
3. Cook one side only – cook for 2 to 3 minutes, until the top is no longer wet or shiny. Loosen the edges with a rubber spatula and slide the crepe onto a plate. Don’t flip it.
   
   Why not cook both sides?

   The pale side gets cooked later, in butter, once the blintz is filled and folded. Cook it now and the finished blintzes come out dry.
   Why did my first crepe tear?

   The first one almost always does. The pan isn’t evenly hot yet and the butter hasn’t set into a thin film, so toss it and keep going. If they still tear after the first couple, whisk in about 1 tablespoon more flour, or let the batter rest 15 minutes to 1 hour so the flour can soak up the milk.
4. Or use a crepe maker – preheat it, dip the plate into the batter for about 2 seconds, and cook for about 1 minute, until the edges lift. Loosen with a spatula and flip it onto a plate.
   
   Why do I get more blintzes from a crepe maker?

   Crepe maker crepes come out much thinner, so the same batter makes about 22 blintzes instead of 12. I use this electric crepe maker.

   

How to Make the Cheese Blintz Filling

Cream cheese goes in first, then the farmer’s cheese.

1. Cream the cream cheese – mix it with the sugar and vanilla until completely smooth.
   
   Why does the cream cheese go in first?

   Cold or unmixed cream cheese leaves small lumps. Once the crumbly farmer’s cheese is in the bowl, you can’t smooth them out.
2. Mix in the farmer’s cheese – stir until combined. If it’s too thick to spread, add warm milk a splash at a time. Stop while it still holds its shape on a spoon.
   
   Why is my filling runny?

   The cheese was too wet. Cottage cheese and ricotta need a good rinse, a long drain, and a blot with paper towels. A runny filling leaks out of the blintzes in the pan.

   

How to Fill and Fry Cheese Blintzes

Fry them seam side down first, and keep the heat at medium.

1. Fill – lay a crepe browned side up and add a scoop of filling to the middle, leaving a clear border. Skillet crepes take a large ice cream scoop, and crepe maker crepes take a medium one.
2. Fold into a pocket – fold the left and right sides toward the middle, then roll away from you 3 or 4 times.
3. Fry seam side down – melt a little butter in a skillet over medium heat and add the blintzes folded side down, in batches. Cook until golden, then flip and brown the other side.
   
   Why seam side down first?

   It seals the fold, so the blintz can’t unroll when you flip it.
   Why only medium heat?

   On high heat, the outside browns before the filling warms through, and you get a dark blintz with a cold middle.

   

4. Serve warm – top with lightly sweetened sour cream and berry sauce or jam.

Marina’s Pro Tips for the Best Cheese Blintzes

These keep your blintzes from tearing, leaking, or going dry.

1. Add the hot milk to the blintz batter slowly. Pour it in a thin stream while you whisk, or it can scramble the eggs. A fine-mesh sieve fixes any lumps.
2. Skip resting the blintz batter. The hot milk gets the gluten going right away, so the crepes are strong enough to lift without tearing.
3. Toss the first blintz crepe. The pan needs one crepe to heat evenly and set its film of butter. Every crepe after that behaves.
4. Cook the blintz crepes on one side only. The pale side gets cooked in butter at the end. Cook both sides now and the blintzes turn out dry.
5. Cream the cream cheese first. Beat it smooth with the sugar and vanilla before the farmer’s cheese goes in, or you’ll be stuck with lumps.
6. Drain the cheese for the filling well. Wet cottage cheese or ricotta is the number one reason blintzes split open in the pan.
7. Fry the blintzes seam side down on medium heat. The seam seals shut, and the filling has time to warm all the way through.

How to Serve Cheese Blintzes

Blintzes want something cool and something sweet on top. Here’s what I put out.

• Sour cream: stirred with a little sugar. It’s the classic, and the tang keeps the whole plate from being too rich.
• Sweetened condensed milk: straight from the jar, poured right over the blintzes. It’s one of the most popular ways to eat them.
• Berry sauce: this strawberry sauce is the one I reach for, and it keeps in the fridge for days. The blueberry sauce from my farmer’s cheese crepes is just as good. Watching sugar? Try my low-sugar berry sauce.
• Jam: my raspberry refrigerator jam, or cherry or apricot, warmed for a few seconds so it spoons easily.
• Fresh berries: with a dusting of powdered sugar.
• Honey: with a spoonful of sour cream, for the simplest weekday version.

Sauces to Serve with Cheese Blintzes

These are the four I make for blintzes. Pick one, or put out a few.

Strawberry Sauce

Cooked for just a couple of minutes, so the berries stay bright and fresh. →

Raspberry Refrigerator Jam

No canning needed. It lives in the fridge, ready to spoon over warm blintzes. →

Blueberry Sauce

The sauce I serve with my farmer’s cheese crepes, a close cousin of these blintzes. →

Low-Sugar Berry Sauce

Strawberries and raspberries sweetened with SPLENDA instead of most of the sugar. →

How to Make Cheese Blintzes Ahead

Make the blintz batter up to a day ahead and keep it in the fridge. Stir it well before cooking, since it separates as it sits. The crepes keep for a day, stacked and covered in the fridge, and the filling keeps for 3 days. Folded, unfried blintzes are the easiest make-ahead of all.

Answers to the most common cheese blintz questions, starting with the ones that go wrong.

More Farmer’s Cheese Recipes to Try

Syrniki

The same farmer’s cheese, mixed into little pan-fried cheese pancakes. →

Lazy Pierogi

Sweet farmer’s cheese dumplings with no wrapping and no folding. →

Russian Blini

The yeasted cousin of the blintz crepe, lacy and a little thicker. →

Cottage Cheese Pancakes

For when there’s cottage cheese in the fridge and no time to drain it. →

You May Like

Farmer’s Cheese Crepes with Blueberry Sauce

Strawberry Sauce Recipe – Strawberry Topping

Cherry Pie Filling Recipe – Cherry Sauce

Raspberry Refrigerator Jam

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Cheese Blintz Recipe

5 from 11 votes

Cheese blintzes are thin crepes filled with sweet farmer's cheese and fried in butter until golden. Easy step-by-step photos and video.

Author: Marina | Let the Baking Begin

Course: Breakfast

Cuisine: Jewish, Russian, Ukrainian

Keyword: Blintz, Cheese Blintz

Calories: 125 kcal

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour

Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes

Servings: 22 blintzes

Ingredients

Blintz Batter

• 4 (200 g) large eggs
• 1 cup (150 g) all-purpose flour 1 cup = 150 g (Note 1)
• 1 cup (240 ml) whole milk hot
• 1/4 tsp kosher salt
• 2 Tbsp (25 g) granulated sugar
• 2 Tbsp (28 g) unsalted butter melted

Cheese Blintz Filling

• 1 lb (454 g) farmer's cheese well drained (Notes 2 and 3)
• 4 oz (113 g) cream cheese full-fat, room temperature
• 1/4 cup (50 g) granulated sugar
• 1 tsp (5 ml) vanilla extract

For Frying

• 4 Tbsp (57 g) unsalted butter

Equipment: The pans and tools I use are in my Amazon shop.

• Electric Crepe Maker
• Large Ice Cream Scoop
• Medium Ice Cream Scoop
• 8-inch nonstick skillet

Instructions

Blintz Batter

1. Whisk the dry mix. In a large bowl, whisk 4 eggs, 2 Tbsp sugar, 1/4 tsp salt, and 1 cup flour until smooth. It will be thick.

2. Add the hot milk. Pour in 1 cup hot milk in a thin stream while whisking, not all at once. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve if lumpy.

3. Whisk in the butter. Add 2 Tbsp melted butter and whisk 30 to 60 seconds, until fully mixed. The batter should be runny, like heavy cream. No resting needed.

4. Or use a blender. Blend everything except the butter on low until smooth, then add the melted butter and blend about 30 seconds.

Blintz Crepes

1. Heat the skillet. Preheat an 8-inch nonstick skillet over medium heat and grease it with butter or nonstick spray.

2. Cook one side only. Pour in slightly less than 1/4 cup batter and swirl to coat the bottom. Cook 2 to 3 minutes, until the top is dry, and do not flip. Loosen the edges and slide onto a plate. Toss the first one if it tears. Makes about 12 (Note 4).

3. Or use a crepe maker. Preheat it, dip it into the batter for about 2 seconds, and cook about 1 minute, until the top is dry. Loosen the edges and invert onto a plate. Makes about 22 (Note 4).

Cheese Blintz Filling

1. Cream the cream cheese. Mix 4 oz cream cheese, 1/4 cup sugar, and 1 tsp vanilla until completely smooth.

2. Add the farmer's cheese. Mix in 1 lb farmer's cheese. If too thick, add warm milk 1 Tbsp at a time until spreadable but not runny.

Fill and Fry

1. Fill and fold. Lay a crepe browned side up. Add a large ice cream scoop of filling to the middle (a medium scoop for crepe maker crepes), leaving a border. Fold in the sides, then roll away from you into a pocket.

2. Fry in butter. Melt about 1/2 Tbsp butter per batch in a skillet over medium heat. Fry the blintzes seam side down first until golden, then flip and brown the other side.

3. Serve warm. Top with lightly sweetened sour cream and berry sauce or jam. (See the post above for step photos and video.)

Recipe Notes

1. Measuring flour: 1 cup = 150 g. Fluff the flour, scoop, and level. Weigh it if you can.

2. Farmer's cheese: It is sometimes sold as tvorog. If you can't find it, make your own farmer's cheese.

3. Cottage cheese or ricotta: Start with double the amount, rinse it in a sieve, drain it well, and blot with paper towels. Use 1 lb of the drained cheese. Extra moisture makes a runny filling.

4. Yield and servings: A skillet makes about 12 blintzes; a crepe maker makes about 22 thinner ones. One serving is 2 skillet blintzes or 3 to 4 crepe maker blintzes. Nutrition is per crepe maker blintz.

5. Storage and freezing: Fridge up to 3 days. Freeze folded, unfried blintzes on a tray, then bag them, up to 2 months. Fry from thawed, or from frozen over medium-low heat.

Nutrition Facts

Cheese Blintz Recipe

Amount Per Serving

Calories 125 Calories from Fat 72

% Daily Value*

Fat 8g12%

Saturated Fat 4g25%

Cholesterol 52mg17%

Sodium 151mg7%

Potassium 39mg1%

Carbohydrates 9g3%

Fiber 1g4%

Sugar 4g4%

Protein 5g10%

Vitamin A 227IU5%

Calcium 24mg2%

Iron 1mg6%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

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I first shared this cheese blintz recipe in 2020, and it’s still one of my favorite breakfasts. In September 2026, I added the step-by-step video, tips for each stage, storage and make-ahead notes, and metric measurements in the recipe card.