This bright and fresh Ricotta Pesto Sauce is a delicious creamy tweak on classic pesto. It's a perfect sauce for pasta, pizza or grilled meats or even a dip for crusty bread or fresh cut vegetables.
Pesto is one of my favorite sauces for pasta, sandwiches and pizzas. And while I make our Homemade Basil Pesto frequently, especially when our garden is overrun with basil in the summer, sometimes I like to tweak the recipe. Adding ricotta cheese turns fresh pesto into a creamy, yet light and fresh sauce that's delicious stirred into spaghetti, pasta bakes or even our Yukon Gold Mashed Potatoes.
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Ingredients that Matter
Homemade pesto with ricotta uses a handful of fresh and pantry ingredients, all readily available at most grocery stores. Here are the ingredients you'll need for this recipe:
- Basil. Use fresh basil, including tender stems.
- Ricotta Cheese. You can use part-skim or whole milk ricotta cheese.
- Parmesan Cheese. Start with a block of parmesan cheese and grate your own, if possible. Or, you can also use pre-grated parmesan if that's what's available.
- Lemon. The acid from a squeeze of fresh lemon juice helps balance the richness of the cheeses and nuts.
- Pine Nuts. Using pine nuts may be traditional, but it can also be expensive. Feel free to swap in another nut like almonds, walnuts or pecans.
- Garlic. One or two garlic cloves is plenty to add lots of garlicky flavor to this sauce. Swap in garlic powder if that's all you have available.
- Olive Oil. This recipe uses less olive oil than traditional pesto because of the inclusion of ricotta cheese.
- Salt and Pepper. A couple pinches of salt and pepper provide a nice balance of flavor for this creamy pesto sauce.
See recipe card for quantities.
How to Make Pesto Ricotta Sauce
If you have a food processor, this recipe will come together in 5 minutes. If not, use a mortar and pestle (or you'll have a lot of hand chopping to do!) or high-speed blender. Here's how to make this sauce.
Rinse the basil well and pat dry then add to the base of a food processor. Add the pine nuts, garlic, parmesan, lemon juice, salt and pepper.
Pulse the mixture until finely ground, scraping the edges with a spatula as you work. With the machine running, drizzle in the oil, again scraping the edges of the bowl.
Add the ricotta cheese and blend again, scraping the edges of the bowl.
Adjust the seasoning of the sauce with more salt and pepper and add lemon zest, if desired.
Why not just blend everything together? Sure, you could simply add all the ingredients to the food processor and blend, but you'll get better results if you first make a base pesto and then add the ricotta cheese. This ensures all the ingredients are well incorporated.
Substitutions
There are several tweaks you can make to this creamy ricotta pesto sauce, including:
- Parsley - If you are short on basil or want to make a really big batch of this sauce, try including some fresh parsley (including tender stems). Most restaurants I worked at made pesto with half basil and half parsley.
- Nuts - Pine nuts may be traditional for basil pesto, but they can be really expensive. First, be sure to store pine nuts in the freezer to extend their shelf life. Second, you can swap in another nut. My favorite is actually slivered almonds, but you can also use walnuts or even pecans.
- Olive Oil - I recommend a light olive oil for this recipe, but you can swap in a vegetable oil, canola, peanut or corn. What about extra-virgin olive oil? I tend to avoid it in blended sauce as EVOO can get bitter when heated (a food processor can do just that to this pesto).
Serving Suggestions
Use creamy pesto sauce as a dip for crusty bread or fresh cut vegetables. Or, stir it into fresh cooked pasta or spoon onto grilled chicken. Try serving it with our Pulled Chicken in a Dutch Oven or our Smothered Skillet Chicken with Artichokes and Red Peppers.
Try it with our Easy Vegetable Lasagna, Lemon Caper Pasta or our Homemade Fresh Pasta recipe. You can also use creamy ricotta pesto in place of regular pesto in our Easy Tuna Pesto Pasta recipe or Pesto Orzo Salad.
Equipment
Making homemade pesto is easiest in a food processor, and my go-to is this Cuisinart Cup Pro Custom Food Processor. It may be pricey, but it's built well and mine's lasted for a many, many years. I use it to make pizza dough, blend sauces, chop nuts and more.
You can also make this sauce in a smaller food processor like this Cuisinart Mini-Prep Food Processor or use a mortar and pestle to make it by hand. Or, make this recipe in a high-speed blender, just be sure to scrape the edges as you work.
Storing Homemade Ricotta Pesto
Store leftover ricotta pesto as you would regular pesto. Place in an airtight container or mason jar and refrigerate up to 4 days or freeze up to 1 month. Note that the pesto will lose its vibrant green color as it is exposed to oxygen. You can place a piece of plastic wrap directly on top of the sauce to prevent oxidation, or cover with a thin layer of oil.
Adam's Pro Tip
Years of making homemade pesto at restaurants and test kitchens taught me a very cool trick. You can get really rich and vibrant color by blanching the basil in boiling water and then shocking it in an ice water bath. I didn't include it in this recipe because it may sound a bit fussy for a home cook, but it's quite simple. Bring a large pot of water to a boil then add the basil and boil until it turns bright green, 15-30 seconds, then immediately transfer to ice water to chill. Squeeze dry then add to the food processor.
FAQ
Yes, creamy ricotta cheese pairs very well with bright and fresh pesto. Blend them together for a creamy pesto sauce, but be sure to reduce the amount of oil to offset the richness of the ricotta cheese.
Ricotta cheese tends to get watery the longer it sits, so it's not uncommon for this pesto ricotta sauce to get watery, too. Simply stir well to combine. It should stay good for up to 4 days in the refrigerator?
If you blanch the basil first in boiling water then shock in ice water, the green pigment will be sealed, making for a vibrant pesto sauce. You can also cover pesto in a thin layer of oil or place a plastic wrap directly on top of the sauce. This will help prevent oxidation.
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Recipe
Ricotta Pesto Sauce
- Total Time: 5 minutes
- Yield: 1 ¼ cups 1x
Description
This bright and fresh Ricotta Pesto Sauce is a delicious creamy tweak on classic pesto. It's a perfect sauce for pasta, pizza or grilled meats or even a dip for crusty bread or fresh cut vegetables.
Ingredients
- 2 cups (2 oz.) lightly packed basil, leaves and tender stems
- ½ cup (¾ oz.) grated parmesan cheese
- ¼ cup pine nuts (or almonds, walnuts or pecans)
- 2 garlic cloves
- 1 Tbsp. lemon juice, plus zest (if desired)
- ¼ tsp. table salt, plus more to taste
- 1 pinch black pepper
- ¼ cup olive oil
- ½ cup ricotta cheese
Instructions
- Rinse basil and dry well. Place in a food processor with parmesan cheese, pine nuts, garlic, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Pulse the mixture until finely chopped, scraping the edges of the bowl as you work. With the processor still running, slowly drizzle in oil, again scraping the edges of the bowl.
- Add the ricotta cheese and blend until smooth. Adjust the seasoning with more salt, to taste, and add lemon zest, if desired. Use immediately or store in an airtight container for up to 4 days in the refrigerator. Serve with pasta, mashed potatoes, crusty bread, fresh cut vegetables or grilled chicken.
Notes
- Cover leftover ricotta pesto with a thin layer of oil or place a piece of plastic wrap directly on top of the sauce to prevent oxidation.
- You can seal the vibrant green color of pesto by blanching basil leaves in boiling water for 15-30 seconds then shocking in ice water. Drain and squeeze dry then add to a food processor.
- Use part-skim or whole milk ricotta cheese.
- It's common for the water in ricotta cheese to separata, so this sauce may also. Simply stir it together before using.
- You can freeze leftovers for up to 1 month.
- Use any light oil, including olive, vegetable, corn or peanut, if desired. You can use extra-virgin olive oil, but note it may make the pesto sauce a bit bitter.
- You can also make this recipe in a high speed blender or a mortar and pestle.
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 0 minutes
- Category: Sauces
- Method: No Cook
- Cuisine: American/Italian
John says
Ricotta cheese is a good variation for pesto, and tastes less oily.