Vegan Ricotta
I love traditional Italian ricotta, but I was intrigued to see how vegan ricotta compared. So I made my own🤔
Only 3 ingredients are needed: soy milk, salt & lemon juice or white wine vinegar - it really doesn’t need anything else. And you don’t need any fancy equipment, so it’s easy to make.
The result is comparable to the dairy ricotta you would buy - fresh, creamy & with a touch of sweetness. It’s the perfect vehicle for other ingredients.
Tip
When making the ricotta, I would use lemon juice if you are using it in sweet recipes and white wine vinegar if you are going to use it in savoury recipes.
Serving suggestions
We’re enjoying ours with some fresh figs, walnuts, drizzled with extra virgin olive oil, honey & then finished with a sprinkling of sea salt & chipotle flakes - simple but delizioso. Just use this recipe in anything that requires the traditional ricotta to be used eg. cannelloni, desserts or on it’s own.
Mangia, mangia! 👩🏻🍳
Ricotta-Vegan recipe:
1 ltr organic soya milk - unsweetened (I used alpro)
1 1/2 tbsps white wine vinegar or fresh lemon juice
1/2 tsp salt
Equipment:
Pan
Large bowl
Fine sieve
Clean tea towel or muslin cloth
Ramekin dish or suitable container to store the ricotta
1. Put the milk into a pan & heat and let it come to the pre-boiling stage, make sure it doesn’t boil (pre-boil stage is about 80 C).
2. Add the salt & stir to combine.
3. Turn off the heat & pour the acid of your choice into the milk, very slowly. Stir 2 or 3 times, very gently to combine everything, cover and let it sit for about 20-30 minutes.
4. After this time, put a fine sieve over your bowl, add a tea towel or muslin cloth over the sieve (see my picture).
5. Using a slotted spoon or small fine-mesh strainer carefully lift out as much of the curds as possible & transfer to your lined sieve.
6. Wrap the tea towel so it’s covering the curds. You will see the whey dripping into the bowl.
7. Place this in the fridge to firm up for about 20-30 minutes. Note - the longer you keep it in the fridge the firmer it will become. If you want a softer texture then leave in the fridge for less time, but really you need to check the texture & leave for longer in the fridge if you want it a lot firmer.
8. Check the consistency after 20 minutes or so & if you are happy spoon the ricotta into a ramekin dish or suitable container (approx 9cm (d) x 5cm (h).
9. You can serve the ricotta now or keep it in the fridge covered for up to 3 days.
10. You can basically use this recipe for anything that requires the traditional ricotta to be used. It’s delicious on its own or drizzled with olive oil, honey etc...
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