The recipe for pasta with ricotta and lemon has become a real must in our home, and we prepare it at least once a week, especially when I have little time to cook more elaborate dishes but don’t want to give up on serving something delicious.
The creamy texture, thanks to the use of buffalo ricotta, and its strong citrus flavor, make this dish very pleasant to the palate.
To prepare this recipe, so simple and fast, you really need few but quality ingredients, with special attention to the choice of lemons which must be absolutely untreated, as both the juice and the zest will be used.
I always choose Sorrento lemons and, regarding the pasta, this time I opted for an artisanal format, namely “fusilli di Sorrento”, produced by a pasta factory in Gragnano that I recently visited. Of course, to recreate this dish you can use the pasta shape you prefer, but I liked the idea of using, in a single recipe, products that remind me of the splendid Sorrento peninsula.
Now take a minute to read the recipe and then… let’s cook and eat!!
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- Difficulty: Easy
- Cost: Medium
- Preparation time: 15 Minutes
- Portions: 4
- Cooking methods: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients
- 12 oz pasta
- 10.5 oz buffalo ricotta
- 2 lemons (untreated)
- to taste mixed peppercorns (to grind)
- to taste fine salt
- 3.5 tbsp butter
- leaves basil (optional)
Tools
- 1 Pot
- 1 Wok
- 1 Bowl
- 1 Citrus Juicer
- 1 Whisk
- 1 Slotted Spoon
- 1 Vegetable Peeler
- 1 Lemon Grater
Steps
This pasta with ricotta and lemon is the classic recipe to prepare just in the time it takes to cook the pasta, so the first thing to do is to bring salted water to a boil in a tall pot.
Meanwhile, collect the ricotta in a bowl, add a pinch of salt, a pinch of pepper, and the grated zest of one lemon.
From the lemon now without zest, extract the juice using a citrus juicer.
Add the lemon juice to the bowl with the ricotta and mix with a whisk to combine the cream. At this point, taste to check if the citrus flavor is to your liking, and if desired, add more lemon juice.
In a pan, melt the butter together with lemon zest strips obtained by peeling half a lemon with a vegetable peeler.
When the pasta is cooked “al dente”, use a slotted spoon to transfer it to the pan and toss it for a minute with the butter flavored with lemon.
At this point, turn off the heat and add the ricotta cream to the pan, combine it with the pasta, adding a little cooking water if necessary to make it a bit more fluid.
All that’s left is to plate your pasta with ricotta and lemon and finish the preparation with more grated zest, a bit more ground pepper, and a basil leaf for decoration 😉.
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