This pasta with ricotta and tomato sauce recipe made me reconcile with ricotta, and that was not a small feat. The ricotta helps to tone down the sweetness coming from the shallots and the tomato puree and binds the ingredients together beautifully. It makes for a luscious and creamy tomato sauce that coats the pasta perfectly!
There is still a long way for me not to think that putting ricotta in cheesecakes is an atrocity. Who would prefer a ricotta cheesecake with a gritty texture to a silky smooth cream cheese one? Really who? I want an explanation. But I digress. With this pasta with ricotta and tomato sauce though, the ricotta is a true asset as it rounds up the flavors of the sauce while making it richer.
Go to:
⌛ Weeknight dinner
This pasta with ricotta and tomato sauce recipe comes from one of my dearest friends who made it for me the last time she visited. I couldn’t believe I actually was enjoying something with ricotta in it so I had to ask for the recipe. Technically it used to be a lasagna recipe with layers upon layers of finely cut summer vegetables mixed in the sauce, lasagna sheets, bechamel sauce, and a copious amount of grated cheese.
However, I decided to turn her recipe into something lighter, something I could make with cupboard staples anytime I felt like it. I really liked the consistency the ricotta brought to the tomato sauce and I didn’t want to have to wait to have enough time to make lasagna to be able to enjoy it. Making pasta with ricotta and tomato sauce is way simpler than making lasagna from scratch but it is still plenty flavorful and comforting to boot.
📋 Step by step
Finely chop the basil leaves, peeled garlic cloves & shallots.
Heat the oil in a large pan. Cook the shallots for 5 min. Add the garlic and cook for 2 min. Stir in the passata and ricotta cheese and cook for 13 min. Stir in the seasoning and chopped basil.
Cook and drain the pasta. Toss them into the sauce and serve the pasta with ricotta and tomato sauce hot.
🥘 Storage
You can prepare the sauce for up to 3 days in advance. Store it in an airtight container in the fridge. Reheat gently over medium-low heat while cooking pasta.
Freezing is also a good option if you have the possibility. The sauce will be a bit more watery but the flavors will be preserved. Because the pasta with ricotta and tomato sauce recipe does not use up the whole tub of ricotta, I will often double the quantity of the sauce ingredients and freeze half of the sauce. Wait for the sauce to cool down completely and place it in a freezer bag. You can keep the sauce in the freezer for up to 6 months. Thaw it overnight in the fridge and reheat it gently in a saucepan while you cook pasta. If you have forgotten to thaw the sauce overnight, you can reheat it directly in the pan but it will take longer.
Pasta with ricotta and tomato sauce
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 50 minutes
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
- Category: Main course
- Method: Stove
- Cuisine: Italian
- Diet: Vegetarian
Description
Nothing could be easier (or tastier) than making a big pot of pasta with ricotta and tomato sauce for dinner!
Ingredients
- 5 sprigs of basil
- 2 garlic cloves
- 2 shallots
- 75ml olive oil (⅓ cup)
- 375g passata (1 ½ cups), or you can use tomato puree
- 125g whole milk ricotta cheese (½ cup)
- 1 ½ tsp fine sea salt
- ½ tsp black pepper, freshly ground
- pinch of sugar
- 455g uncooked pasta (1 lb or 16 oz)
- 45g parmesan (½ cup), shredded
Instructions
- Make the sauce. Pick the leaves from the basil sprigs. Discard the sprigs, chop the leaves and set aside. Peel the garlic cloves, finely chop them and set aside. Peel the shallots and finely chop them. Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan over medium-low heat. Sauté the chopped shallots for 5 min, stirring from time to time with a wooden spoon. Add the chopped garlic and cook for 2 min. Stir in the tomato puree and ricotta cheese. Increase the heat to medium and cook the sauce for 13 min, stirring from time to time. Season with salt, pepper and sugar and sprinkle over the basil. Mix until combined.
- Cook the pasta. While the sauce is cooking, fill a large pot with water and bring the water to a boil over high heat. Add 1 tbsp of salt to the pot, reduce the heat to medium-high and cook the pasta according to the packet instructions. Reserve half a cup of starchy cooking water by dipping a heatproof cup into the boiling water (be careful with your hand). Drain the pasta by tipping them into a colander set over the sink.
- Combine. Add the drained pasta to the pan with the sauce. Toss gently until the pasta is well coated. You can loosen the sauce if needed by stirring in some of the pasta cooking water (a little bit at a time). Serve hot with the parmesan on the side for people to help themselves.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 serving
- Calories: 689
Keywords: basic pasta sauce, meals under 1 hour, ways to use up ricotta
Are you looking for other pasta recipes? Here are some of my favorites:
Joseph
white wine dry or sweet or chardonnay. Paccheri ??? canned mushrooms to much liquid. how about fresh ?? also could you show a n index to find recipes. ,like what cuisine country ingredient and so on. ??? this recipe found by looking at another HELP ASSISTANCE. it looks awesome. and the chicken Caribbean one is dynamite. been cooking for 72 years can remember my first. fried eggs sunny side up snuck down to basement kitchen early before everyone was up so I would not be scolded for being near flame on stove. was 6 yrs old ..made my own flame grilled small fish outside on return from a small lake a mile walk away yummy love what recipes I have found you are an amazing person I was delighted to read about you. I also grow a nice garden, all heirloom vegetables like kohlrab , bon chow , cabbages carrots 5 kinds , beets 3 kinds , radishes 3 kinds ,French are my favorite, German next best , rutabaga , 7 kinds pole and bush beans , escarole love it in a chicken broth with white beans , herbs lots of em , roman lettuce bib lettuce , Nagasaki cabbage , thing You can not buy at da markets . love to cook love fishing love the LORD ,
★★★★★
Amélie
I’m also delighted to read your stories, they always brighten my day!
I could totally picture you cooking as a little kid! I used to wait for my dad to go to the supermarket so I could use the oven to bake in secret.
If you click on ‘recipe box‘ in the menu below the website’s banner, it will take you to the index. There you’ll be able to browse the recipe by types of cuisine of types of meal.
If you are on a phone you’ll have to click first on the 3 bars on the top left corner, next to the banner, to make the menu appear.