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One-Pot Pasta With Ricotta and Lemon
Updated March 13, 2024
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- Total Time
- 15 minutes
- Rating
- Notes
- Read community notes
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Ingredients
- Kosher salt
- 1pound short, ribbed pasta, like gemelli or penne
- 1cup whole-milk ricotta (8 ounces)
- 1cup freshly grated Parmesan or pecorino (2 ounces), plus more for serving
- 1tablespoon freshly grated lemon zest plus ¼ cup lemon juice (from 1 to 2 lemons)
- Black pepper
- Red-pepper flakes, for serving
- ¼cup thinly sliced or torn basil leaves, for serving (optional)
Preparation
- Step 1
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the pasta and cook according to package instructions until al dente. Reserve 1 cup pasta cooking water, then drain the pasta.
- Step 2
In the same pot, make the sauce: Add the ricotta, Parmesan, lemon zest and juice, ½ teaspoon salt and ½ teaspoon pepper and stir until well combined.
- Step 3
Add ½ cup pasta water to the sauce and stir until smooth. Add the pasta and continue to stir vigorously until the noodles are well coated. Add more pasta water as needed for a smooth sauce.
- Step 4
Divide the pasta among bowls and top with some of the sauce that’s pooled at the bottom of the pot. Garnish with grated Parmesan, black pepper, red-pepper flakes and basil, if using.
Private Notes
Cooking Notes
Made this tonight for the second time, and made several important upgrades. Most important, I used my mini Cuisinart blender to whip the artisanal whole milk ricotta and Parmesan into a delicious, creamy spread, before tossing it in the pan with spinach, lemon zest, a bit of lemon juice and hot pepper flakes, along with about 1 cup of pasta water. The result was a wonderful, rich sauce -- unlike the first time I did it, when I didn't use the blender and the "sauce" was mostly lumps of ricotta.
I made this with the addition of arugula. So good! Just tossed in the arugula at the end for some green, peppery flavour.
Made this last night as I used up cream and made ricotta. So silky smooth and so easy. Did not use Parmesan. Did use fresh basil. Also tossed in some roasted coins of summer squash and zucchini. Rave reviews all around.
I made this recipie as written, and had none of the texture / "curdled" problems reported by some. It was smooth and rich. I forwarded it to a friend, who made it "exactly", and did not like it after saying much of what others said: "bland", "curdled", "no taste"....I discovered that she inadvertently used low-fat riccotta instead of the full fat version called for. Do use the correct kind. I made again using goat milk riccotta - even more savory!
Yes, the peas are delicious here, and to make the sauce silky smooth, add a tablespoon (or more) of unsalted butter . . . luscious.
Once again, hardly a 15-minute prep time--unless you have a sous chef, which most of us don't, I'd venture to guess. Would be nice to have more accurate prep times with NYT recipes, which are often quite good, just totally unrealistic in that regard.
Be sure to use a very good quality "whole milk" ricotta. It makes a huge difference. There are many supermarket brands out there with very grainy textures that will disappoint. Not having access to a quality, fresh ricotta, I make my own with Melissa Clark's excellent, quick and easy recipe that always comes out perfect.
Great starting point recipe, and made it a few times now. Favorite additions: 1. 2 tbsp of leftover homemade pesto stirred into the ricotta; 2. Sprinkle toasted panko or lightly toasted pine nuts on at the end; and/or 3. Preheat oven to 425/400 convection. Take 2 broccoli crowns, chop into florets; toss them in a light drizzle of olive oil, sprinkle S&P, garlic powder or garlic. Roast on sheet pan for 10-12 min or until done (while pasta boils) with some tasty brown bits. Toss into pasta.
Great! I added Asparagus and found I didn’t need a full cup of pasta water. Generally needed more lemon zest in there to cut through the heaviness of the ricotta and Parmesan but that could be a personal preference.
I whipped Trader Joe’s ricotta with a little olive oil, salt and lemon zest before making the sauce. The sauce ended up very smooth and luscious.
Delicious. We make a variation of this often with peas and sausage but the addition of the lemon is really nice as well as the way to get a smooth sauce. Will be making again.
I made this last night to use up some homemade ricotta and it was a hit - plus easy! When I added the reserved cooking liquid to the sauce I was worried I'd thinned it out too much, but it thickened as it cooled and turned into the perfect consistency. I used the zest from two lemons and the juice of one, the pasta has a lovely bright lemon flavor. Didn't have basil so I took someone else's suggestion and tossed in arugula from the garden: delicious!
This was so great and so easy! I stirred in some arugula and topped it with sliced, grilled Italian sausage.
Very good for a quick, tasty dinner. I would suggest if you know in advance that you are going to fix this, do yourself a favor and fix Melissa Clark's recipe for homemade ricotta. Maybe 30 minutes max for the ricotta and would add immeasurably to the flavor here.
Subbing in a half-cup of the Costco fresh pesto for half of the cheese and the basil is a great shortcut. You also don't need to add extra salt.
Ummm needed way more seasoning / Lemon juice . However the lemon juice really did create the separation of the sauce. I added tomato sauce and stuck in the over and made baked ziti. Wont be trying this again. But good effort. And yes I used really good ricotta and I whipped it with the parm and zest ahead of time
I added way too much lemon
this is a good recipe. i always make it in a food processor and with the addition of whatever pesto I have on hand. you can also make the pesto at the same time & just add in the sauce ingredients to the finished pesto.
good recipe as written - kids will love it and with chili it is a wonderful side.
I added fresh garlic, rotisserie chicken, kalamata olives and artichoke hearts and it's delicious!
This was delicious! I use the immersion blender on the ricotta, parmesan, lemon juice and pasta water mixture as suggested by others and it was perfection!
This is delicious! A friend told me to add more ricotta but I didn't have any so added a bit of half & half. Did follow advice from here and blended the ricotta and parmesan in a food processor before adding to the pot. Got raves from all our dinner party guests.
Don’t add lemon juice, just lemon zest. Lemon juice caused the ricotta to curdle and turn into firm, stringy blobs.
It was alright! A little bland, so I probably won’t make it again :/
I made it just as directed using small shells, but added some frozen peas halfway through cooking the pasta. Could have used a bit more salt and garlic for an adult’s taste but my toddler loved it! I was content with an added sprinkle of salt at the table & some red pepper flakes. Comes together so quickly and a nice meal to share with a kid. :)
Arugula was a great addition.
I followed the directions my second time around and it came out perfect, with a decent whole-milk ricotta from the supermarket and, frankly, a pre-grated Parmesan from the deli. I added some red pepper flakes and arugula with the pasta. Very tasty.
This was great! I made only one change: I grated 2 ears of fresh corn on the cob into all the other sauce ingredients. (I prepped everything in a bowl and dumped it all in the pasta pot at once.) What the sauce lost in smoothness it made up for in fresh corn flavor, which was magnificent with the lemon and basil.
I do a riff on this, with a trick to speed things up: While the pasta water boils, I put ricotta, lemon juice, whatever seasonings I'm in the mood for, and olive oil in a cup and whip it with an immersion blender so it's smooth. I add it to the pasta and a little pasta water in the hot pan it cooked it. I add parm or pecorino if I feel like it. I often do it with Carne Diem lower carb pasta (cook 2 fewer minutes than the minimum cook time the box says for al dente). Faster than takeout!
So simple and delicious! I added a little bit of Trader Joe’s Lemon Pesto to the sauce and served with zucchini sautéed with pepper flakes.
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