Ricotta Cheese Recipes
Ways to use a tub of ricotta — lemon ricotta rigatoni, beef-stuffed shells, whipped ricotta toast, and fluffy pancakes for busy weeknights and slow mornings.
★ dinner
dinnerLemon Ricotta Rigatoni
Bright and satisfying pasta dish that can be done in one pot!
Emily ScruggsIngredients
- 2 cups Rigatoni (uncooked)
- 1 cup Ricotta
- 1 Lemon
- Basil leaves
- Red pepper flakes
Instructions
- 1Prepare pasta as directed (boil about 9 minutes until tender)
- 2When pasta is done, reserve half cup of pasta water, drain the rest of the pasta in a colander
- 3In the same pot, add pasta water and ricotta over low heat
- 4Add juice of 1 lemon and some zest, stir as sauce thickens, about 3 minutes
- 5Add basil leaves to cheese sauce. Add back pasta and stir until well coated. Season with red pepper flakes
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Open in Pepper →One Tub Of Ricotta Goes A Long Way
Ricotta is the container in the back of the fridge that can turn into dinner or breakfast, depending on the day. It melts into pasta without a roux, it stirs into batter and keeps pancakes soft, and it needs nothing but lemon and salt to taste like you tried.
Cooks on Pepper reach for this collection when they've got half a tub left and don't want to waste it, or when pasta night needs to be creamy without standing over a pan of cream sauce.
Every recipe here uses that tub in a real way: Lemon Ricotta Rigatoni, Beef-Stuffed Shells with Creamy Ricotta Filling, Garlic Butter Chicken with Creamy Ricotta Alfredo Linguine Pasta, Roasted Strawberry Whipped Ricotta Toast, Blueberry Lemon Ricotta Pancakes, and Raspberry Ricotta Cake.
Quick Tips
- 1
Save your pasta water
Scoop out 1 cup before draining, then add it a few tablespoons at a time to loosen ricotta into a smooth sauce instead of a grainy clump.
- 2
Drain wet ricotta
If your ricotta is watery, set it in a fine strainer for 20 to 30 minutes so stuffed shells and toast don't turn soupy.
- 3
Whip it before spreading
Beat ricotta 2 to 3 minutes with a hand mixer, plus a pinch of salt and a little olive oil, until it's light enough to spread on toast.
- 4
Fold pancake batter gently
Stir ricotta batter just until the flour disappears, about 10 strokes, and let it rest 5 minutes so the pancakes cook up tall and tender.
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