I was visiting my parents the other day and my mom asked if I could make a vegan ricotta recipe to go with dinner.
“Sure!” I said. I have a cashew or a macadamia nut ricotta recipe already on the blog. But alas, the nut situation in mom’s cupboard was a little grim. My vegan cooking brain started assessing the situation and I found a block of tofu, and told her I can make ricotta with that. Go vegan cooking brain!
“Great, how long will that take?” She asked.
I drummed my head and said “er…..11 minutes.”
“Oh, hahaha, ok, well I can wait for that then.” said mom.
When will she learn that my laziness in the kitchen means I want to get in and outta there as quickly as possible? My foodie mom not-so-secretly wishes I would take my blog from fuss-free vegan to fussy vegan. Not gonna happen, mom, not gonna happen. I’m a proud lazy cook!
Back to my Quick Vegan Tofu Ricotta. This is an easy peasy lemon sneezy kinda recipe. Just the way I like ’em! I’m constantly blown away by the wonders of tofu. If you are afraid this is gonna be all weird and whatnot, never fear! When my parents tasted it, their eyebrows shot up in shock at it’s perfect ricotta deliciousness. Creamy, mild, garlic, onion, and lemon zing. YES!
So now I have THREE ricotta recipes on my blog. I think it’s fair to say I like vegan ricottas! See, isn’t vegan cooking so much cooler? Instead of one boring store-bought product you can customize to your own taste preferences and ingredients. I believe the score is vegan: 18,392 to non-vegan: 0. (I’m not biased at all).
Use this Quick Vegan Tofu Ricotta anywhere you would use traditional ricotta. Serve as a snack with crackers, dollop onto pasta with tomato sauce, layer into lasagna, the possibilities are endless!
To make Quick Vegan Tofu Ricotta: Sauté up the onion and garlic until the onions have turned translucent and begin to brown.
Break the tofu into four pieces, and add it to a food processor or blender. Add in the onions and garlic, and all of the remaining seasonings. Blend until smooth and creamy stopping to scrape the sides as needed.
11 minute, creamy, dairy-free, nut-free, cheesy perfection. Quick Vegan Tofu Ricotta can be used anywhere traditional ricotta is used!
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 yellow onion, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 block extra-firm tofu, drained
- 1/4 cup lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
- 1 tablespoon white miso paste
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Heat the oil in a skillet or frying pan over medium-high heat. When hot, add in the onion and garlic and sauté until the onions turn translucent and begin to brown.
Break the tofu into four pieces and add it to a food processor (recommended) or blender. Add the sauté onions and garlic, along with all of the remaining seasonings. Blend until smooth and creamy stopping to scrape the sides as needed. If your ricotta is too thick, add 1 - 2 tablespoons of water as needed to reach desired consistency.
Bon appetegan!
Sam.
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I totally knew where this recipe was going before reading your mom’s comment! I make a variation of this frequently (cannelloni or lasagna roll-ups), so I was quite excited to see what you had in store. Anyway, the ricotta is super simple and very tasty (signature Sam for sure). My daughter was licking the bowl after I made the cannellonis (so kid-friendly!).
Hahaha! Love that! Love how you have become a mind reader as well 😉
What size block of tofu do you use?
Mine was 350g 🙂
Add one to two tablespoons of ?.
So sorry about that! Fixed. Add 1-2 tablespoons of water….maybe one day I will be able to hire an editor! haha
oh yeah, now you’re talkin’. Sometimes ricotta recipes look the same as sour cream recipes. I’m gonna try this one.
Haha! I hope you like it. I have a vegan sour cream recipe in my cookbook, but it’s very different that this recipe 🙂
Can’t wait for the book.
Woohoo!!
Sounds great! Are there any substitutes for the miso paste? Looking forward to making lasagna now!!
Miso paste gives an umami flavour to the cheese, there are no really good substitutions so I recommend picking some up. It keep for a looong time! Enjoy! 🙂
Should I also press the tofu, or just drain the water from the package?
No need to press, just drain excess water. 🙂
Thanks, Sam!
And then I made cannelloni with a simple tomato sauce. Yum, excellent and just as good as my favourite restaurant version. Lemony but clean tasting and fast eating. Thank you Sammie. (that’s what I call her)
Mom! Shhhhhh…. you’re giving away the surprise of Sunday’s post! Haha.