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How to make the best Vegan Ricotta – a healthy, nut-free, low calorie, zero cholesterol alternative to ricotta cheese, made with tofu, perfect for lasagna, cannelloni, and other baked dishes where you want a creamy, “cheesy” texture.
Hello creamy, delicious, 5-minute VEGAN ricotta! This Vegan Ricotta Recipe is so easy to make and is great in baked dishes like lasagna, cannelloni or even enchiladas or chile rellenos. It is surprisingly flavorful and has great ricotta-like texture, without the calories of nut “cheeses”. The texture mimics whole milk ricotta very closely, and the ingredient list is short!
Vegan Ricotta: What you’ll need
- Tofu- Use firm or extra firm tofu for the best texture. I always opt for organic, non GMO tofu. Silken tofu, will not give the best texture here, so do not use silken tofu.
- Seasonings- At minimum, salt and pepper is all you need. But why stop there? Add a garlic clove and fresh or dried herbs.
- Olive oil– Adding a few tablespoons of olive oil adds a delicious richness.
- Nutritional Yeast– optional, but if you want and extra “cheesy” flavor, feel free to add.
- Lemon Zest– optional, to give little brightness.
Variations
Depending on what you are using this in you may want to change the flavor profile. For example, if using in lasagna, you could add fresh basil. Or if using in Chile Rellenos, you could add cilantro. Feel free to add different fresh herbs to the basic recipe to customize it. It’s very adaptable!
How to make Vegan Ricotta
Unwrap the tofu and drain well, pat dry.
Place in a food processor along with salt, pepper, olive oil and herbs of choice.
Pulse repeatedly, until it looks like the texture of ricotta.
And voila! It’s done.
Ways to use vegan Ricotta
- Use vegan tofu ricotta in Vegan Lasagna Bolognese
- Broccoli Manicotti with Burrata
- No Boil Mushroom Baked Ziti with Spinach
- In these Zucchini Rolls with Spinach and Basil
- In this Roasted Chile Relleno Recipe!
Enjoy the Vegan Ricotta – please let us know what you think in the comments below!
xoxo
More recipes you may enjoy
- Vegan Hollandaise Sauce
- Vegan Ranch Dressing
- 50+ Amazing Tofu Recipes
- How to make Crispy Tofu
- Vegan Tofu Scramble
Vegan Ricotta
- Prep Time: 6 mins
- Total Time: 6 minutes
- Yield: 2 cups 1x
- Category: vegan
- Method: Blended
- Cuisine: gluten free
- Diet: Vegan
Description
Vegan Ricotta – a healthy, nut-free, low-calorie alternative to ricotta cheese, made with tofu, perfect for lasagna, cannelloni, and other baked dishes!
Ingredients
- 14 ounces tofu, firm, drained.
- 1 garlic clove
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
- small handful fresh herbs- basil, Italian parsley, cilantro, chives, scallions or use 1 teaspoon herbs de Provence, Italian herbs or even dried oregano!
- 2 tablespoons olive oil add more for extra richness
- optional addition : 1-3 teaspoons nutritional yeast (gives it a “cheesy” flavor, other spices)
Instructions
Drain the tofu, ( no need to press it dry) break it up with your hands and place it, along with the other ingredients in a food processor.
Pulse repeated until combined well and coarsely ground, but not totally smooth.
That’s it!
Use it like you wold ricotta cheese- great in lasagna, manicotti, etc…
Notes
Herb options:
- For Italian dishes try basil, oregano or Italian parsley
- For Mexican, try cilantro or Mexican Oregano
- For French, thyme, chives or Herbs de Provence
- For a smoky flavor: add 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
Nutrition
- Serving Size: ¼ cup
- Calories: 69
- Sugar: 0.3 g
- Sodium: 6.1 mg
- Fat: 5.4 g
- Saturated Fat: 0.9 g
- Carbohydrates: 1.6 g
- Fiber: 0.5 g
- Protein: 4.5 g
- Cholesterol: 0 mg
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I can’t believe how good this is! I might even just spread it on toast for breakfast!
I’ll be using it in a baked penne dish, so went with basil and parsley. I love garlic, so used 2 cloves, and I added red pepper flake. I’m also planning on using it on a cauliflower “pepperoni” pizza later in the week.
Thank you so much for your inspirational food. I’ve been making many of your recipes over the last several months and have loved them all!
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Love it Tracy! All such great ways to use the Vegan ricotta! Love it!
This was so very good! It exceeded every expectation! Unbelievable that it is tofu (although I’m a big tofu-fan). Ik could eat this on a cracker, absolutely delicious! Thank you 🙂
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So happy you gave this a go!
I have used this in lasagna and it is soooo good! Now I want to try it in ravioli, but I noticed you referred specifically to “baked” dishes. Do you think it should work in a ravioli?
Absolutely Mary! It would be great in Ravioli!
Wonderful, surprising recipe. Surprised my tofu-hating husband ‘it’s tofu!!!!’ and he absolutely loved it!
Great, creamy addition to all pasta recipes. I immediately shared it with my cookingclub-friends. Thank you Sylvia! Tonight: beet salad with pistachios… 🙂
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thanks Ellen! Love your country. xoxo
This really surprised me! I’m not a vegan (and I’ve not had much luck with vegan subs for cheese. Nooch…yuck) but I was curious so I tried it. Yum! It actually feels exactly like ricotta. Ricotta has a mild flavor and this is mild in the same way. In fact it’s so close if I wasn’t the one who made it I would have said this was ricotta. I used basil, parsley, chive for herbs. I upped the salt pretty significantly but that’s my taste. Can’t wait to use it in pasta or lasagna. Thanks for showing how versatile tofu is. Now I’m wondering what else I can sneak it into!
Totally delicious. I mixed with fresh Italian parsley and basil. Used it in spinach & mushroom Cannelloni, topped with fresh tomato sauce.
★★★★★
This was absolutely delicious!! My family went plant-based about a year ago, but just recently started venturing out with tofu. OMGH! My entire family, including our picky 6 year old, loved this!! I used it in a zucchini lasagna type dish & everyone had seconds! This will definitely be a new stable! Thank you!!
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I made this to try out something vegan even if I have no plans of going vegan and it was good! I scaled the recipe down to one-ish servings but the texture was airy and creamy and light and it felt like eating ricotta in my pasta. It didn’t taste like cheese of course and I can’t describe the flavor and it didn’t taste like tofu either which is good. I wouldn’t eat it on its own but I’m pleased with the result!
★★★★
Excellent and flexible!
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Ok, wow!! I followed the recipe exactly except I omitted the the olive oil (I’m trying to adhere to oil free), and tried it in its basic form. This is a perfect substitute and much more affordable than using nuts. I then blended in sautéed mushrooms (per a reviewer comment), onion and kale (because why not). It’s so good that next time I’m putting it in the lasagna for my non vegan husband and son. They’ll never figure it out 😉
Thanks for another great recipe Sylvia!!
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Why no silken tofu?
The texture is just not the same. You can try it of course. Regular tofu gives it that heavier ricotta texture.
I made this to use in your Polenta Lasagna recipe. I gave some to my Italian Mother to try and she didn’t believe me when I said it was tofu. Light and delicious. Going to use it next in manicotti!
★★★★★
Love it Linda! Thanks for sharing!
Made it with smoked paprika and cilantro/parsley for the Stuffed Chile Relleno dish I’m making later tonight, tastes great!!
★★★★★
really good, i had chives and lemon basil so used them. will make again for sure. thanks.
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Perfect!Glad it worked for you! 🙌
Thank you so much for making these recipes, it has helped me a lot with the transition from vegetarian to vegan.
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Awesome- glad they are helping! 🙌
Tasty! Easy! Nice lower fat alternative to vegan ricotta make out of nuts. I made mine with dried Italian seasonings.
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Just out of curiosity, why does silken tofu not work for this recipe?
You can use it but it will not have that ricotta-like texture ( which is more granular) like regular tofu will give it.
Thank you for this amazing idea! Tonight I made the ricotta. I caramelized mushrooms and then added the garlic to that and cooked it a min then added fresh spinach and cooked a few minutes. Then added it all to the food processor. Made stuffed shells with it. OMG so fantastic!!!
This is such a great idea! thanks I may use it!
I don’t have a blender or food processor – is this something you could make by hand?
I’m not sure you could get the consistency of doing it by hand. But I’ve never tried. You’d have to really mash it up, and whip it. If you do try let me know!!! Curious!
This was absolutely delicious and super easy to make! This will become a staple for me to use often – and it was delicious with the Roasted Chili Relleno recipe.
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Awesome Jill-yes it comes in handy!
Which herbs did you use for the ricotta we using it with the Chile relleno recipe?
You could use a little fresh cilantro or dried Mexican Oregano
How long can this keep for?
1 week.
Every picture looks gorgeous and I can’t wait to make this, but does one simply drain the tofu or use a press to get all water our first? I only have one package of tofu and I can’t figure if the extra water will help, or harm. Thank you, I’ll report back after I’ve made a batch of vegan, but how can they not be great with this recipe?