What To Do With Leftover Ricotta Cheese?
I love ricotta cheese so much that I could eat it straight from the tub (and even better, mixed with salt, pepper, and some herbs.) And this is good because it seems that any recipe that calls for ricotta ends with plenty leftover. But I thought there might be a more interesting way to finish off a container.
- Explore: “White” Baked Ziti
I posed this question to my parents on a recent visit: “What do you do with leftover ricotta?” The answer: “Your grandmother used to make ricotta pasta. She’d stir it into cooked pasta with a little pasta water.” Well, if it’s good enough for my Italian grandmother, it’s good enough for me. So I decided to create a simple recipe based on my parents’ memory.
Easy and Fast Ricotta Pasta
You can’t get much easier than a six ingredient pasta (plus pasta water!) I chose to use spaghetti because I like to twirl my pasta. I tend to think spaghetti-adjacent pastas (fettuccine, linguine, etc.) are more fun to eat. But any pasta is fine because this is pretty much a pantry clean-out recipe.
I like this recipe so much that I might start buying ricotta cheese just to make it!
Ricotta Pasta | A Perfect Recipe for Leftover Ricotta
Ingredients
- ½ lb pasta of your choice I like spaghetti!
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 shallot chopped fine
- ½ tsp red pepper flakes up to 1 tsp if you like a lot of spice
- 1 cup ricotta cheese whole milk is best
- ¼ cup Pecorino Romano (or Parmesan) cheese grated; plus a bit more for serving
- ½ cup pasta water you may not use all of this
Instructions
- Cook the pasta according the package directions. Make sure you salt the water well as this will season the pasta. Cook pasta until it's al dente–cooked but firm to the bite.
- While the pasta is cooking, place a high sided pan on the stove over medium heat. Add the olive oil. Once the oil is hot, add the shallots. Cook the shallots for about 2 minutes until they start to soften and go translucent. Then add the red pepper flakes. Cook, stirring well, for another minute or until the shallots just start to go brown at the edges. If the pasta isn't done yet, pull the pan off the heat and wait.
- Once the pasta is cooked, use tongs (longer pastas) or a slotted spoon (shorter pastas) to move the pasta straight from the water to the pan with the shallots, red pepper flakes, and oil. Mix the pasta well to coat with all of the flavored oil.
- Add the ricotta cheese and a few heavy splashes of pasta water from the pot (using a glass measuring cup.) Use about 1/4 cup of pasta water. Stir the ricotta and water into the pasta creating a smooth sauce.
- Add the Pecorino (or Parmesan) cheese with another splash of water. Keep stirring until the sauce is smooth and starts to thicken. If the sauce gets too thick for your liking add a bit more pasta water to thin it out.
- That's it. Serve in a large bowl with another sprinkle of grated cheese.
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Kerry this looks so good and easy! I think even I could handle making this!
This recipe reminds me slightly of an alfredo, but lighter and with the distinct texture of ricotta cheese. Definitely one of my new favorites for a quick and easy meal to make use of something forgotten in the fridge.
Now I need to find reasons to have leftover ricotta! So easy and tasty!
So simple and delish! Thanks!
Easy and quick, great if you have left over ricotta. Just wondering how many calories was in it!
Thank you
I’m glad you liked this recipe! I just ran this through MyFitnessPal and it’s estimating 360 calories for this recipe if you use whole milk ricotta. Hope that helps!
You could probably lighten it up with less pasta and more veggies. I did, and loved it. It was creamy but less heavy than Alfredo sauces.
Great idea! Broccoli would probably be super delicious!
Yum! Had some leftover ricotta from a calzone earlier this week, the sauce was AMAZING! Perfect solution… I added veggies I had on hand since I’m bad at finishing produce before it spoils. A perfect, inexpensive “base” recipe to avoid food waste, I will DEFINITELY make this again.
So glad you liked this one. It’s great for creating less waste and for being a very speedy dinner (or lunch!)
This was so good! I had leftover ricotta and leftover fettuccini. Did a google search and here was your recipe! I didn’t have any pasta water, but found regular water worked just as well. It’s important to have the water as it smooths everything together, especially when adding the parmesan cheese. Otherwise, it gets clumpy (learned from past experiences).
I’m so glad you liked this recipe! Water is definitely the secret here to making sure the sauce isn’t too thick.
Not a keeper. Bland.
I’m sorry you didn’t like this, but curious if you used the shallot? That should give a ton of flavor to this dish!