Best Substitutes for Ricotta Cheese

Ricotta is a versatile cheese. It sweetens cheesecakes and enhances lasagnas. It has a light, creamy taste and spongy texture that blends well with a variety of dishes.

Its a staple in dishes such as:

lasagne
Gnocchi
Cannelloni
Salads
Cheesecake

Few cheeses are as versatile or blend as ably with sweet and savory ingredients. But what to do if you cant find the ricotta cheese you need for the recipe youre following?

Luckily, ricottas culinary flexibility means there is a selection of cheeses you can substitute for ricotta.

Recommended Ricotta Cheese Substitutes

You can use Cream Cheese as a ricotta cheese substitute because it has the closest taste to ricotta cheese, although you might need to add sour cream or an extra egg to balance the higher density of cream cheese. Other ricotta cheese alternatives are Cottage cheese, Mascarpone and Pot cheese.

1. Cream Cheese

The great advantage of cream cheese as a ricotta cheese substitute is that it too is highly versatile. In a pinch, you can substitute cream cheese for ricotta in savory and sweet recipes, as well as in hot and cold dishes.

As the name suggests, cream cheese works well as a substitute for ricotta cheese because of its inherent creaminess. Like ricotta, the taste it evokes is sweet and milky. Unlike ricotta, however, its denser, more spreadable, and has a markedly different texture. Its also more prone to melting in hot dishes.

With all that in mind, if youre going to use cream cheese for a ricotta cheese substitute in a cooked dish, the best thing to do is to add in a bit of sour cream and an extra egg. This counterbalances the higher density of the cream cheese. It will also prevent the dish in hand from becoming too thick.

2. Cottage Cheese

If youre trying to reproduce the particular texture of ricotta cheese, then cottage cheese is the best ricotta replacement youre likely to find.

Cottage cheese shares ricottas lumpy, coarse texture, making it an ideal substitute for ricotta cheese. Additionally, it possesses a similar taste. Its still rich and sweet, albeit less so. Even better, as another soft cheese that is both moisture-rich and light, it has a similar consistency to ricotta.

If youre still looking for reasons to substitute cottage cheese for ricotta, it has fewer calories and reduced fat content.

Its an ideal substitute for ricotta in savory dishes. In particular, it is a highly effective substitute in lasagne.

However, no match is perfect, and while its a good substitute for ricotta, cottage cheese possesses a wetter and coarser consistency. Its also less sweet, something that may be reflected in the taste of the dish youre preparing.

3. Mascarpone

Mascarpone is another rich, decadent soft cheese that works well as a substitute for ricotta. It shares a similarly sweet and creamy taste to ricotta, though its markedly tarter. However, the tartness isnt enough to spoil a recipe, and since its a highly adaptable cheese, it makes a fast and efficient substitute for ricotta.

It works especially well in cheesecakes, dips and is an excellent substitute for ricotta in lasagne. But mascarpone is not only significantly thicker than ricotta; Its also heavier, creamier, and buttery by comparison.

Accordingly, if you use mascarpone as a substitute for ricotta you will want to thin it out first.

4. Pot Cheese

Pot cheese has much in common with cottage cheese, which goes some way to explaining why it works so well as a substitute for ricotta cheese.

Its a soft, readily crumbling cheese with a sweet taste much like ricotta. But because more whey drains from pot cheese than ricotta, it is also much drier. This can affect texture and density.

While pot cheese is an excellent substitute for ricotta, if you decide to use it, youll want to add more cream or yogurt to give your recipe the additional moisture it would usually derive from ricotta.

That said, pot cheese is highly versatile and suitable as a substitute for ricotta cheese across a range of recipes, whether sweet or savory.

5. Fresh Goat Cheese

Finally, fresh goat cheese makes an excellent alternative to ricotta. It is similarly creamy and some of the same textural properties. This means it works effectively as a substitute for ricotta in savory dishes and is an ideal substitute for ricotta in lasagne. It also does well in pasta, pizzas, and cold, savory dishes.

Health-wise, it has fewer calories than cream cheese, which makes it an even better substitute for ricotta for the healthy eater.

There are two considerations if you choose to use goat cheese for a ricotta cheese substitute. Firstly, goat cheese, unlike its Italian equivalent, hardens as it ages. This hardening noticeably changes the texture and consistency; With time it develops a stringent, tangy flavor. For this reason, its vital that if you use goat cheese as a ricotta alternative, you select fresh goat cheese.

Secondly, goat cheese is markedly more acidic than ricotta. If you do use it as a ricotta substitute you may want to add a sweetener to balance out the natural tartness of goat cheese.

Related Article: Best Substitutes For Goat Cheese

What is Ricotta Cheese?

Ricotta is a soft cheese with a range of culinary purposes. Its name comes from an Italian word that translates into English that means recooked. This is because, while many cheeses derive from milk, ricotta atypically derives from repurposed milk, yogurt, or kefir.

To better understand what this means for ricotta its worth taking a look at the cheesemaking process.

How Cheese Is Made

Typically, you make cheese by combining the curds or the solids found in milk with the whey or liquids. Cheesemakers heat the well-mixed curds and whey and use a coagulant to thicken the mixture. Depending on the cheese, salt and auxiliary ingredients are added as required.

But ricotta is made from neither curds or whey, but the tiny, fragmented, leftover curds in other dairy products such as

Milk
Yogurt
Kefir

In other words, this versatile cheese is the cheesemakers answer to what to do with the leftover, unusable parts of the cheesemaking process.

Now, however, store-bought ricotta is often made from milk. The variety of milk ricotta can come from reflects the cheeses adaptability. These include

Cow Milk
Goat Milk
Sheep Milk
Buffalo Milk

Standard issue ricotta, though, most likely has its base in whole cows milk.

However its made, the important thing to understand about ricotta is that it is a fresh cheese and has, therefore, retained much of its moisture. Other cheeses harden and dry with age, which gives them their individual tastes, but its the freshness and softness of ricotta that keeps it creamy, crumbly, and delicious.

That establishes what ricotta is and why its so popular in recipes. But what to use if you need a substitute for ricotta?

Finding a Substitute for Ricotta Cheese

To find the best substitute for ricotta cheese, there are several things to keep in mind.

Part of ricottas culinary appeal is that it neither melts nor forms a crust. This potent combination is what makes it such an asset to sauces and other recipes.

When choosing the best substitute for ricotta cheese, consider:

Texture
Consistency
Taste

Texture

Neither overly moist nor highly granular, ricotta has a distinct texture that can be difficult to replicate with other cheeses.

Consistency

Although ricotta is a soft cheese, it isnt the most spreadable cheese, either. On its own, it retains liquid but also forms hard, occasionally gritty pieces. They crumble beautifully when pressed, but they dont spread smoothly.

Taste

There are strong cheeses out there, but ricotta isnt one. Its gently aromatic and has a moderately creamy, sweet flavor to it.

While there are several popular substitutes for ricotta cheese, its necessary to understand none will mimic it exactly. Some capture the creaminess, others the texture, and still other cheeses replicate ricottas sweetness.