Here’s a quickie recipe for those nights when you just need something fast and delicious. This Lemon Ricotta Pasta is super fast, light, and fresh, which makes it perfect for an easy weeknight dinner during the summer. The bright lemon flavor perfectly compliments the light and creamy ricotta, and the little pops of sweetness from the peas make every bite a little more interesting. Simple, fresh, and easy.
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Do I Have to Use Fresh Lemon?
This is one of those recipes where you really do want to use a fresh lemon instead of bottled juice. The zest from the lemon adds a ton of bright, summery lemon flavor to the pasta without making the sauce too sour. We add just a little of the juice to balance the creaminess of the ricotta, but the zest is where you’re getting all that gorgeous sunny lemon flavor!
Not All Ricotta is Created Equal
I find there is quite a bit of variation in the quality of ricotta from brand to brand. Some are smooth, mild, and sweet like fresh milk, while others are bland and grainy. My preferred brand is Galbani, but they didn’t have any at the store when I went, so I got the generic Kroger brand. It was definitely a bit grainy, but the pasta was still quite delicious despite that!
Also, make sure to get whole milk ricotta. Low-fat ricotta just doesn’t hit the same in this recipe.
What Else Can I Add?
This simple pasta is a great jumping-off point for making a more elaborate pasta, if that’s what you’re in the mood for. Try adding some sliced chicken breast, fresh basil, or fresh spinach. Garlic butter shrimp would also go great with this pasta!
What to Serve with Lemon Ricotta Pasta
This pasta is so light and fresh that I suggest keeping any side dishes really simple, light, and fresh as well. I would go with a super simple side salad, or maybe some roasted asparagus and tomatoes.
Lemon Ricotta Pasta
Servings 4Ingredients
- 1 lemon ($0.89)
- 8 oz. pasta* ($0.67)
- 1 cup frozen peas ($0.50)
- 1 clove garlic, minced ($0.08)
- 1 Tbsp butter ($0.11)
- 1 cup whole milk ricotta ($1.60)
- 1/4 cup grated Parmesan ($0.36)
- 1/4 tsp salt (or to taste) ($0.02)
- 1/4 tsp freshly cracked black pepper (or to taste) ($0.02)
- 1 pinch crushed red pepper (or to taste) ($0.02)
Instructions
- Zest and juice the lemon. You'll need about ½ tsp zest and 1 Tbsp lemon juice.
- Cook the pasta according to the package directions (boil for 7-10 minutes, or until tender). Before draining, reserve about 1 cup of the starchy water from the pot.
- Place the frozen peas in the colander before draining the pasta so the pasta will thaw the peas as it drains.
- Add the butter and minced garlic to a large skillet and sauté over medium heat for 1-2 minutes, or just until the garlic is fragrant.
- Add the drained pasta and peas, and about ½ cup of the starchy pasta cooking water to the skillet with the butter and garlic. Stir to combine, then turn off the heat.
- Add the ricotta, Parmesan, 1 tablespoon lemon juice, and ½ teaspoon lemon zest to the skillet. Stir until everything is well combined, the residual heat from the skillet and pasta have warmed the ricotta, and the ricotta has formed a creamy sauce. Add more of the warm reserved pasta water if needed.
- Season the pasta with salt, pepper, and crushed red pepper to taste. Serve warm.
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Notes
Nutrition
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How to Make Lemon Ricotta Pasta – Step By Step Photos
Zest and juice one lemon. You’ll need about ½ tsp of zest and 1 Tbsp juice.
Cook 8oz. pasta according to the package directions (boil for 7-10 minutes, or until tender). Reserve about 1 cup of the starchy pasta water before draining.
Add 1 cup of frozen peas to a colander, then pour the boiled pasta over top to thaw the peas as you drain the pasta.
Add 1 Tbsp butter and 1 clove garlic to a large skillet. Sauté over medium heat for 1-2 minutes, or just until the garlic becomes very fragrant.
Add the still-hot pasta and peas to the skillet along with about ½ cup of the hot reserved pasta water. Stir to combine, then turn off the heat.
Add 1 cup whole milk ricotta, ¼ cup grated Parmesan, 1 Tbsp lemon juice, and ½ tsp lemon zest to the pasta. Stir until the ingredients are combined, the residual heat from the pasta and skillet have warmed the ricotta, and the ricotta has turned into a creamy sauce.
Add more of the reserved pasta water if the mixture is too thick or too dry. Season the pasta with salt, pepper, and crushed red pepper to taste.
Enjoy the lemon ricotta pasta while still warm!
This is my go to for using up weird amounts of ricotta. I agree with the comment to boil the pasta in broth. Just make sure to salt to taste, it’s delicious.
Simple and tasty!
The ingredients and directions were very simple, we just didn’t care for the flavor.
Super bland. I even made sure I had the same brand of ingredients and added some cooked shrimp but nothing could save it. Not sure if others added something in to help make it taste like something beyond what it did.
Ended up having to go pick up something else for dinner since no one could muster through it.
I subbed edamame for the peas and added bacon and it was phenomenal!
This was absolutely fantastic! I really love the lemon zest to brighten the taste. Absolutely phenomenal. We served with crusty multigrain bread and it was fabulous.
This was the first Budget Bytes recipe that’s really disappointed me. Hate to say it, but it was flavorless, even with the red pepper.
TBH the most underrated budget bytes recipe. This one slaps IF you cook the pasta with some kind of bouillon instead of water, and reserve the starchy broth water. I literally make this all the time. I do wish the pasta water was added to the ingredients, and that putting the peas in the colander came before draining in the instructions– I’ve forgotten to do both multiple times.
Just made this tonight. It was simple and delicious. Used GF Tinkyada noodles and didn’t add the red pepper flakes. Added a little more salt and parmesan at the end. Thank you!
Another solid recipe I made w/ my 10 year old niece. There were plenty of left overs & when we reheated it I added in some extra broccoli onetime & artichoke hearts the next time. The lemon zest & fresh black pepper really shine through in this recipe. So good & so simple & I’ve got enough cheese to make it again! 🙌🏾
Absolutely delicious! I love how easy and inexpensive this meal was. The lemon and peas made this dish taste so fresh.
Can you add the reserved pasta water to the ingredients list? I check the ingredient list twice for it and didn’t see it so I dumped my water.
This recipe is delicious as written! No need to change a thing!
I’m never one to suggest changes on a recipe site, especially not this one, because the recipes are so great!
But, hear me out…if you do want to change it up…add bacon and sautéd onions. I basically made it exactly like the recipe calls for, but I sautéed onions and bacon until crispy in a pan while my pasta cooked. Instead of butter, I used the bacon fat to sauté my garlic. It was so tasty and still very easy.
Love how simple this technique is for getting a creamy pasta sauce. I think next time I make this, I might dissolve a little veggie bouillon in the hot pasta water to add some depth of flavor. Even half a tsp should make a pretty big difference.
Sorry posting again because I forgot the stars!
This was so good! I accidentally forgot the garlic but it was still really yummy. For those who have grainy/store brand ricotta…whip it in the food processor and be amazed! I almost bought the fancy ricotta that was $9 but it was just too much so I went with store brand even tho I knew it was grainy. I’d heard that you could whip it to improve texture and it does work! It was very smooth and creamy. Since I had dirtied up the food processor already I mixed up the rest of the sauce ingredients in there too. I was worried the sauce would become grainy again once I mixed it in the pasta but it stayed nice and smooth.
Thanks for this–my only minor quibble with this recipe was the texture of the ricotta and next time I’ll definitely try whipping it in the blender.
I had some sliced mushrooms I needed to use up so I sauteed them with the garlic, and it added a nice deepness of flavor (I loooooove sauteed mushrooms)
Excellent! I added grape tomatoes, more lemon and extra chili flakes and paired it with a nice lager for a delicious dinner
It was ok. I was the only one that liked it out of five people. It’s kind of bland and the ricotta had a grainy feel, but maybe that can be fixed by adding more pasta water. I made the garlic shrimp to go with it and it was good.
Anyone know if whipping the ricotta first would help create a smooth texture in the finished sauce? (Or would it re-grainify once heated?)
I think you should try making ricotta. It’s only a 2 ingredient recipe!
I used frozen spinach and sautéed some shrimp in olive oil and garlic and put it on top of the pasta. Was absolutely excellent! Thank you for an easy delicious recipe,
This was so quick and easy to make! My sauce turned out a more watery than in Beth’s photos (maybe too much pasta water, oops) but I’m not too bothered by this. I added grape tomatoes, as well as fresh basil and olives as suggested. Chicken would have been nice too but I didn’t have any.
Tried this to use up some extra ricotta I had, and it was very easy to make, and very filling!
When I make it again, I am thinking of adding some chilli flakes to give it a little kick, and perhaps a sprinkling of shaved/grated parmesan to boost the flavours. It was delicious (and smelled amazing!), but maybe lacked the strong flavours that I like.
Those would be great additions Tamara!
This was delicious and so easy!! Perfect for a weeknight meal. I used part skim ricotta and .5 T of butter to cut down on the calories a bit and it was a winner.
I’m not really familiar with American measurements. Do you know a good place to look that up? I tried some, but they all told me to multiply oz with 28 to get to grams and I think that doesn’t add up for this recipe. Normally I would take 125g pasta per person – according to this method this recipe would only have 224g for 4 people..
Thanks in advance
Yep, if you Google “weight conversion” Google opens a conversion calculator for you, and there are several others available online, like this one.
Thanks so much for your quick reply! My other sources were right then, I just thought there would be more pasta :D
Love your page!
I really dislike the texture of ricotta cheese for pasta sauces (it’s fine in lasagna and what-not); do you think you could make this with mascarpone cheese instead?
Hmm, perhaps. I haven’t worked a lot with mascarpone to know how it would behave when turned into a sauce like this.
This recipe is awesome. I make it all the time. The only things I do differently is I grate a clove or two of fresh garlic into the “sauce”. I think lemon and garlic go so well together. I also add some parmesan cheese and sometimes some feta cheese. It is such a great quick meal! Thanks for another great recipe !
Delicious! Made this for my mom and me and we both loved it. I think that next time I will make it with broccoli instead of peas – I was hoping the sauce would overpower the peas enough for me to force them down, but unfortunately not. Guess I still just don’t like them.
Very easy recipe. I added onion salt after it was complete because I felt it was bland even with the regular salt and pepper. Onion salt added a lot of flavor.
This was very tasty and perfect as a low budget meal. I added 2 chicken breasts cut in bite size pieces (cooking it in the water of pasta). I am wondering what the 1Tbsp of butter did for the sauce? Not sure I feel that small amount did anything for it at all, any reason in particular to keep it?
The butter helps smooth it out a bit, but that’s all :) If you didn’t notice it, you’d probably be okay leaving it out next time.
Just made this and agree with the poster that says something is missing – I think it’s garlic. I crumbed a bit of Boursin on top since I had it on hand (I’m sure garlic/herb cream cheese would work fine too), and it made a huge difference.
Great, thanks! We left the peas out and subbed 1 cup of cauliflower from the food processor for half of the ricotta. Made a great, refreshing side:)
Just made this. good, easy and cheap meal. :)
This is a great recipe! Didn’t have peas so I added carmelized onions and roasted zucchini instead. THANKS FOR POSTING!
This was great! I threw in a can of tuna fish for some protein, and it worked well.
I tried it with a combo version of ricotta, peas and cauliflower sauce all blended together plus added Parmesan cheese for a heartier version!
I tried this recipe and substituted the peas for soybeans to make up for my missing protein, it is an extra step but tasted really good. =)
Made this tonight for dinner. Super yum. Total keeper. Fills that peas craving I get every now and then.
I just had this, and it was good, but I couldn’t help but feel like something was missing. Maybe next time I’ll put in more pepper or some basil? I bet fresh asparagus would go great with this (when in season, of course!)
I just finished this and it was delicious! The peas work really well with the lemony ricotta sauce.
This looks delish…will try it out tonight…
Cottage cheese is NOT ricotta! UGH Every time I see someone use cottage cheese in its place I feel sick :( YUCK!! And I like cottage cheese, but they have completely different flavors!
looks real good, I think I will be trying this very soon.
My homemade ricotta is cottage cheese put through the food processor – walla! Plus organic cottage cheese is a fraction of the cost of actual ricotta.
I second the whole milk ricotta thing. If you made your own ricotta, it would probably be under a buck for all 4 servings! http://adventuresofathriftymama.blogspot.com/2011/04/little-miss-muffit-makes-ricotta-cheese.html
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One of my sons despises peas. Do you have any other ideas for a veggie that would work in this dish?
So fresh! So easy! So cheap!
I just gave this a try and it was delicious.
And it was only $3.00 for me. :-D
I like this. I’ve been wanting other recipes that use ricotta. I am tired of ziti and lasagna. Since you can size this any way you want, this will be great when you have just a little ricotta left.
You didn’t make your own ricotta? ;) You already have the lemons, it’s just lemon juice and milk. Sure it’s not *technically* ricotta, but it’s basically the same (and way tastier)!
Sounds delicious I’ll have to try this
This sounds fabulous
This looks really good. I’ll have to give it a try soon.
This looks amazing. I can’t wait to try it!