20+ Delicious Ricotta recipes (2024)

FAQs

What to do with a lot of ricotta? ›

And if you're generally a fan of savory, doughy Italian dishes (aren't we all?), try these vegetarian calzones, which benefit from a mixture of three cheeses, including ricotta, Parmesan, and mozzarella.

Unopened ricotta will last about two weeks in the fridge, while opened ricotta will last just a week. As for the freezer, you can store ricotta for up to three months.

I suggest keeping it simple by adding fresh parsley, parmesan cheese, and tomato sauce. I like adding the sauce because it make the ricotta more flavorful and the liquid from the sauce makes it creamier.

For extra creamy ricotta, add in an extra egg, a handful of grated parmesan, and a quarter cup of shredded mozzarella. Eggs help prevent the ricotta from drying out and serve to bind the ricotta so it doesn't become runny.

Ideally, store the cheese in the back of your freezer, where the temperature is the lowest. The door of your freezer is a bit warmer and can fluctuate in temperature whenever you open and close it. Stored properly, fresh ricotta will last in the freezer for one to three months.

Ricotta salata is also a perfect accompaniment to meat-based pasta sauces, fresh salads, and roasted vegetables; even though the outside looks hard, the inside is still creamy enough to mix very well with warm dishes. It's saltier and nuttier than Pecorino and Parmigiano Reggiano, so use in moderation.

Adding egg to ricotta cheese helps to bind the cheese for lasagna so that it doesn't ooze out of the casserole when you cut it. Basically, the egg helps all the cheesy goodness stay intact. So what happens if you don't put eggs in your lasagna? It'll just be a bit runnier, but omitting the egg won't affect the taste.

Consuming ricotta cheese and other dairy products also may reduce certain types of inflammation. 12 Dairy products are associated with a possibly beneficial effect on the biomarkers of inflammation.

The sign your ricotta is bad

If the ricotta has gone yellowish or brown, or if there's a layer of water sitting atop the cheese, that's also an indicator that your ricotta has spoiled (so don't just shrug and mix the water back into the cheese!).

What do you eat ricotta with? ›

Enjoy with crackers, a drizzle of honey, dried fruits or vegetable sticks. As a spread: Toast slices of banana bread or fruit toast, spread with ricotta and drizzle with honey for a snack or brekky. Finger food pasties: Ricotta and spinach are a match made in heaven.

Mold on ricotta can be green, blue, or soft pink. If the ricotta has also turned a yellowish color (instead of its regular creamy white), it's another sign of spoilage. You can also apply the sniff test to ricotta. Ricotta that's fine to eat will either have no odor at all, or it might have a regular milky smell.

Combine ricotta cheese, garlic, 1/4 tsp sea salt, 1/4 tsp black pepper, and pecorino cheese in a bowl. Lay the flatbreads on a baking sheet, and distribute the ricotta mixture evenly on all pizzas. Top with mozzarella cheese, a pinch of black pepper, and a little more of the shredded pecorino.

So, ricotta actually translates to recooked in Italian, and ricotta is what's called a "whey cheese." When you make cheese, you separate milk into two distinct things. You have the solids, called curds, which will be separated out and pressed to form cheese. And you have the liquid that is left behind, called whey.

Galbani® Double Cream Ricotta has twice the cream of regular whole milk ricotta and all the delicious taste and texture you expect plus it is made with 4 simple ingredients. The perfect ricotta to eat on its own as a decadent snack, to make extra rich desserts, and to make your regular hot ricotta dishes even better.

When it comes to storing ricotta, you can use the freezer, but it's important to know that it will compromise the quality of your cheese. While its flavor may endure the freezing process, the texture of ricotta suffers once it has been frozen and thawed, transforming from smooth and creamy to gritty and clumpy.

Can you freeze ricotta cheese mixture? Yes! Say you've made a pasta filling with ricotta cheese and other ingredients like Parmesan cheese, eggs and herbs, it is perfectly fine to freeze it. On thawing, excess liquid may need to be drained away but otherwise it will be good.

You can freeze ricotta cheese, but it's not always advisable. Why? Frozen ricotta cheese has a grainier texture once it's defrosted, though its flavor is preserved. This is because the water separates from the cheese curds and forms ice crystals when frozen.

You can freeze ricotta cheese, but just know that previously frozen ricotta cheese is only going to work for certain recipes. Because ricotta has a high moisture content, the water in it will become ice once it's frozen, causing the texture to change.