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This lemon ricotta pasta recipe makes a creamy, zingy sauce in minutes! It’s a shortcut that makes mealtime easy.

Lemon Ricotta Pasta
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Here’s a quick and simple pasta recipe that’s the perfect shortcut for weeknights: lemon ricotta pasta! Mixing ricotta cheese with olive oil, Parmesan and a little pasta water makes a makeshift white sauce that’s ideal for coating on long noodles (who knew!).

This quick weeknight trick has become a staple over here: the zing of the lemon zest makes it absolutely irresistible not to keep slurping down noodles.

Ingredients in lemon ricotta pasta

Ricotta is a creamy Italian cheese with a mild flavor that’s famous for its use in lasagna: but it’s ideal for long noodles, too. The great part about this lemon ricotta pasta? It requires just 1 minute of cooking to form a beautifully creamy white sauce. You’ll literally stir together a few ingredients and voila: a creamy sauce. Here’s what you’ll need for whipping up this pasta at home:

  • Bucatini or spaghetti noodles (or your noodle of choice)
  • Ricotta cheese
  • Olive oil
  • Grated Parmesan cheese
  • Salt and pepper
  • Lemon zest
Lemon Ricotta Pasta

Tips for lemon ricotta pasta

This lemon ricotta pasta recipe could not be easier: boil the pasta, stir together the sauce ingredients, and combine! There’s not much cooking here. But there are a few minor tips that can make or break the recipe:

  • Save the pasta water! This ingredient is used to make a creamy sauce. It’s easy to forget (been there), so my mom shared a tip with us that helps. After you start the pasta, place your strainer in the sink, then place a liquid measuring cup inside as a reminder. When you go to dump the pasta, you’ll think: what’s that liquid measuring cup? Oh yes, I need to save the pasta water!
  • Make sure to cook the pasta to al dente. This means “to the bite” in Italian: when it’s tender with a small white speck inside when you bite into a piece. Boil it a few minutes less than the package instructions indicate, and start taste testing early!
  • The texture is best when served immediately. This lemon ricotta pasta is best when the pasta is freshly cooked and it’s warm: especially since you use the pasta water to help create the sauce. You can eat it later, but it does get drier in texture.

Leftovers and storage instructions

Want to eat this lemon ricotta pasta the next day? You can, though it’s not quite as good as the day of. This pasta is best with piping hot fresh pasta and sauce warm from the stove. It does get a gummier texture as it sits, and especially once it’s cooled. Here’s how to freshen up your leftovers:

  • Leftovers become drier over time, and with refrigeration. You can store the pasta about 2 days refrigerated, but the texture becomes drier.
  • How to reheat it? You can reheat the pasta with a splash of milk on the stovetop, and revive the flavors with a pinch or two of salt. Make sure to generously garnish with grated Parmesan cheese as well.
Lemon Ricotta Pasta

What to serve with lemon ricotta pasta

Want a few fast and easy side dishes to serve with this pasta? Anything from a quick green salad to lemony peas works here. If you’re serving it as a main dish, think about dishes that add additional protein. Here are a few ideas:

Dietary notes

This lemon ricotta pasta recipe is vegetarian. For gluten-free, use gluten-free pasta.

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Lemon Ricotta Pasta

Lemon Ricotta Pasta
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4.9 from 8 reviews

This lemon ricotta pasta recipe makes a creamy, zingy sauce in minutes! It’s a shortcut that makes mealtime easy.

  • Author: Sonja Overhiser
  • Prep Time: 10 minutes
  • Cook Time: 10 minutes
  • Total Time: 20 minutes
  • Yield: 4 1x
  • Category: Pasta
  • Method: Stovetop
  • Cuisine: Italian
  • Diet: Vegetarian

Ingredients

Scale
  • 12 ounces bucatini or spaghetti
  • 1 cup ricotta cheese
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • ½ cup grated Parmesan cheese, plus more to garnish
  • ½ teaspoon kosher salt
  • Fresh ground black pepper
  • Zest of 1 lemon (plus reserve some for garnish)
  • ¼ cup pasta water
  • For the garnish: chopped parsley, red pepper flakes (optional)

Instructions

  1. Bring a large pot of well-salted water to a boil. Cook the pasta until it is al dente, testing a few minutes before the package instructions indicate. Using a glass liquid measuring cup, reserve ½ cup of the hot pasta water, then drain the pasta.
  2. In a saucepan, mix the ricotta, olive oil, Parmesan cheese, kosher salt, black pepper, lemon zest, and ¼ cup pasta water. Warm over medium heat and stir until a creamy sauce forms, about 1 minute. 
  3. Pour the sauce onto the noodles and stir to combine. Add another splash of pasta water to help the sauce coat the noodles. Serve with chopped parsley, additional grated Parmesan cheese and the reserved lemon zest. (Leftovers last 2 days refrigerated but the sauce becomes thick when cold. Reheat with a splash of milk and additional kosher salt to revive the flavors.)

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About the authors

Alex & Sonja

Hi! We’re Alex & Sonja Overhiser, authors of the acclaimed cookbooks A Couple Cooks and Pretty Simple Cooking—and a real life couple who cooks together. We founded the A Couple Cooks website in 2010 to share seasonal recipes and the joy of home cooking. Now, we’ve got over 3,000 well-tested recipes, including Mediterranean diet, vegan, vegetarian, pescatarian, smoothies, cocktails, and more!

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16 Comments

  1. Lori Whittemore says:

    Did you do a video back in 2019/2020 on homemade Egg nog?
    It was absolutely amazing! Sadly I forgot to bookmark the recipe.

    Please send a link if you have it.

    Best wishes
    Lori Whittemore

    1. We don’t have an eggnog recipe actually! We need to add it to our list.

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