Vegan Ricotta Cheese

This Vegan Ricotta Cheese recipe is a great dairy-free substitute for your regular ricotta cheese. It’s creamy, cheesy, and made from simple plant-based ingredients. It can be used for both sweet and savoury dishes, for example, lasagne, cannelloni or spread on toast with jam or fresh fruit.

Vegan Ricotta Cheese Ingredients

This recipe is made from 7 ingredients blended together to create a dairy-free ricotta. These include tofu, soaked cashews, nutritional yeast, lemon juice, garlic, salt and olive oil.

There are two key ingredients that create the ricotta cheese texture: cashews and tofu. Both of these ingredients work together to make the texture of the vegan ricotta creamy and thick. Ensure you soak your cashews for a minimum of four hours before you create your ricotta and use a medium firm tofu.

There are also two key ingredients that create the ricotta cheese taste: nutritional yeast and lemon juice. Nutritional yeast is what gives this parmesan cheese recipe its cheesy flavour. It’s also packed with B vitamins, which is great for vegans. My favourite brand of nutritional yeast is Bragg, but any brand will work. The lemon juice gives the ricotta a slight tang.

This recipe also includes a few extra savoury ingredients including garlic, salt and olive oil. If you are wanting to make a plain or sweet ricotta you can leave these ingredients out.

How to Use This Ricotta Cheese

You can use this vegan ricotta cheese to replace your regular ricotta cheese in a variety of dishes, for example:

Pasta Dishes: spinach and ricotta cannelloni, lasagne, or stirred through your favourite pasta. This would also be a great addition to top a pizza.

Bread: dollop this ricotta on some toast with roasted tomato and mushrooms, or for a sweet twist add some fresh fruit or jam.

Prepping and Storing

This ricotta cheese will store for up to a week in the fridge and is also freezer friendly. If you freeze the ricotta cheese, you may need to give it a good stir once it has defrosted. This will thicken as it chills in the fridge or freezer, if you want it to have a thinner consistency simply stir in a small amount of water or plant-based milk.

If you are looking for more dairy-free and vegan sauce or condiment swaps, you’ll also love these other sauce and condiment recipes.

If you like this recipe and decide to share it on Instagram, don’t forget to tag me @theplantryco and #theplantryco, I would love to see all your recreations!