Check out this vegan version of ricotta cheese! In this recipe I use tofu to veganize this popular Italian cheese and it is unbelievably good! It is also so easy to make and can be used for anything from vegan lasagnas, to spreads, or as a topping for your yummy homemade vegan pizza, or on your favorite vegan pasta. 11 minute, creamy, dairy-free, nut-free, cheesy perfection. My Quick Vegan Tofu Ricotta can be used anywhere traditional ricotta is used! Oh, vegan cheeses - you gotta love 'em!
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 its 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!
How To Make Vegan Tofu Ricotta:
Sauté your onions and garlic until translucent and have begun to brown.
Break the tofu into four pieces. Add to a food processor or blender. Add in the onions and garlic and all of the remaining seasonings. Blend until smooth and creamy. Only stop to scrape the sides as needed.
Quick Vegan Tofu Ricotta
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 yellow onion, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 block (350g) extra-firm tofu, drained
- ¼ cup lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
- 1 tablespoon white miso paste
- ½ teaspoon salt
Instructions
- 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.
Nutrition
Bon appetegan!
Sam.
Enjoyed this recipe? Try these:
sindy says
Can this be used in cake? I found a sweet peach cake recipe that calls for ricotta cheese and I'm trying to find an appropriate substitute and make it vegan. Not certain of the flavor profiles here and if this would work the same as regular ricotta!
Sam Turnbull says
I haven't tried it myself but I don't think this would be the best substitution. It's very savoury and it won't melt like traditional ricotta would. I would recommend finding a vegan recipe for the peach cake. Best of luck!
stefanie says
Absolutely easy, fast and delicious! My new ricotto go-to! My husband who is a self-touted tofu hater, absolutely loved it, even just by tasting a spoonful... that speaks volumes 🙂 I added 2 long red chilis during the sautee phase to give a bit of a kick and it was awesome! Added it to a zucchini sheet lasagna along with the sauce and it was amazing and the perfect texture. Thank you so much for this!
Sam Turnbull says
So happy you enjoyed it, stefanie 🙂
Patricia says
This has nothing to do with
Sam 's ricotta (which my crew loves)...how do you make zucchini lasagna?! I am forever trying to lower our carbs and love zucchini. How do you keep it from turning to mush? Currently on quarantine and have 4 zucchini!
Monica says
Sam, this tofu ricotta is AMAZING. I have made it a few times now and even my moody, judgmental, "I don't want to eat tofu/vegan" teen liked it! I made veggie lasagna and she said it tasted like the "real lasagna". Of course, I'm like IT IS REAL lasagna! *eye roll* 🙂
Sam Turnbull says
Bahahaah! Love it! Thrilled you are enjoying it so much, Monica 🙂
Robyn Scott says
I am very sad to say that I found this just horrible - the umami flavors from the yeast and miso were WAY too overpowering, And there was about 4X too much lemon. I am a certified plant-based chef and am always looking to add recipes, but this one was a huge disappointment, Had to toss a whole lasagna because no one found it edible. I should have known better. Ricotta is clean and simple tasting, and this is much too complex to be a reasonable substitute. Even worse when mixed with tomato sauce - ugh! It is not ANYTHING resembling ricotta except in texture. Sad b/c I really wanted to love it. I am glad others enjoyed it. It has a unique interesting flavor but it ain't ricotta!
Sam Turnbull says
Sorry you didn't enjoy it, Robyn. 🙁
SloaneyD says
Way to handle that nasty comment with class ♀️- big props to you for sharing your recipes on a freely accessible platform for us all to enjoy. Thank you!!!
Sam Turnbull says
Haha, thank you, and you're most welcome! It's my pleasure. 🙂
Amber says
Sam, I think this ricotta is the bomb, especially I the cannelloni which was the first recipe I tried from your blog and have since made it over and over and is my go to meal when I have Omni company. I plan to make shells with it for an upcoming potluck filled with omnis too. ❤
Sam Turnbull says
Haha! That's awesome! Thrilled you enjoy it so much, Amber 🙂
Geneva Ayte says
If you are a "certified plant-based chef", then having read the ingredients you should have been able to more or less predict the flavor and could have adjusted in advance instead of preparing and then disposing of an entire lasagna. I think you need to get a refund from whomever certified you.
Rod says
Very gracious reply to a distasteful comment. A simple, "wasn't my cup of tea" type of comment would have sufficed...
Gina says
Actually her comment was very helpful to me because I came to the comments to find out if the miso paste was necessary as I thought it would give the ricotta a weird flavor and apparently I was right. I am not an expert on umami flavor but I’m pretty sure ricotta cheese does not have that. I think this recipe would work in certain recipes but not the one I’m intending it for. Thank you for posting!
Michael says
Robyn Scott, If you're a certified chef, and you knew it was 4x too much lemon why would you use that much? More than that, why would you make a big lasagna without trying it first to see how it tastes? I would think you would taste it when it was being made to see if you wanted to put it in. I've never known ANY chef who didn't sample all ingredients, especially those made from scratch, before adding them to something bigger. Don't blame Sam for your mistakes.
Meg says
OMG! This is delicious. I used it in a vegan lasagna and no one knew they were not eating cheese. Thank you! You have a new fan 🙂
Sam Turnbull says
Hahahaha! Love it! 🙂
Sam says
Love this! I am very new to Vegan cooking but I am trying to cook meals that I can make for everyone (my daughter is Vegan, son and husband are not). This was fantastic in a veggie lasagna! Much better flavor than the pan I made for my son and husband with ricotta!
Sam Turnbull says
Haha wonderful!! So happy you enjoyed it. I'm all about making recipes that everyone will enjoy, vegan or not, so I hope you continue to find many more recipes to enjoy on my site or in my book 🙂
China says
This was so delicious!!!!! Thank you!!!!
Sam Turnbull says
You're welcome 🙂
Lovely says
How long does this keep in fridge? I made this today and it's yummy!!!!
Kim Aubin says
Soooo delicioous! The texture is PERFECT! Love it! I was preparing it to eat with pasta - but I am now thinking to eat it on bread for breakfast. One thing, my tofu block was almost 400 g. Excellent alternative. Thank you!
Kim Aubin says
Also, I put half lemon juice, I felt that it was a bit too much.
Sam Turnbull says
Thrilled you love it so much, Kim! 😀
Anissa says
Which one of the recipes resembles real ricotta the most? Taste and texture.
Sam Turnbull says
They are both pretty equal, but I would say the cashew is a little richer. 🙂
Deana says
Will make again, but with modification. I felt the lemon flavor overpowered it (and I like lemon) as I wanted to use in lasagna and don't want it tasting like lemon. Perfect texture though! Thank you so much for sharing this!
Sam Turnbull says
For sure, adjust to taste. Enjoy!
Srivani says
This was so Sam-Easy! (New word, "sam-easy", meaning: easy, simple, delicious, specific to idtlc) And so delicious. I did use a butternut squash (because, well, no pumpkin) and added about 1 TBSP more curry since we LOVE curry dishes. Also added about a half can of chickpeas that were just sitting in the fridge yelling at me to use them (added after I used the hand-blender). The 9 month old boy LOVED this too. Thanks Sam!
Srivani says
Oops... this is under the wrong recipe! Should be for the Pumpkin Cashew Curry. Anyway you can delete this Sam?
Sam Turnbull says
Haha! Why would I delete such a lovely comment? Wrong recipe or not, I love the concept of Sam-Easy!! 🙂
Karry says
Omg. I just made this to put in to my lasagna and its sooooo good. I added italian seasoning as well and omg. It would be great as a bagel spread as well. I love it. Thanks so much
Dora says
how much does it weight a block of tofu?
Sam Turnbull says
Great question! Mine was 350g, and I updated it in the recipe too 🙂
Srivani says
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!).
Sam Turnbull says
Hahaha! Love that! Love how you have become a mind reader as well 😉
Courtney says
What size block of tofu do you use?
Sam Turnbull says
Mine was 350g 🙂
Lindsay says
Add one to two tablespoons of ?.
Sam Turnbull says
So sorry about that! Fixed. Add 1-2 tablespoons of water....maybe one day I will be able to hire an editor! haha
Bethery says
oh yeah, now you're talkin'. Sometimes ricotta recipes look the same as sour cream recipes. I'm gonna try this one.
Sam Turnbull says
Haha! I hope you like it. I have a vegan sour cream recipe in my cookbook, but it's very different that this recipe 🙂
Bethery says
Can't wait for the book.
Sam Turnbull says
Woohoo!!
Gina Caracci says
Sounds great! Are there any substitutes for the miso paste? Looking forward to making lasagna now!!
Sam Turnbull says
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! 🙂
Kristen says
Should I also press the tofu, or just drain the water from the package?
Sam Turnbull says
No need to press, just drain excess water. 🙂
Kristen says
Thanks, Sam!
Carolyn says
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)
Sam Turnbull says
Mom! Shhhhhh.... you're giving away the surprise of Sunday's post! Haha.