A super easy and light citrus pasta with ricotta and fresh thyme. Perfect for lunch or a light dinner.
This pasta recipe should be on the short list of quick meals you can make on a weekday. There are only a handful of ingredients and you probably already have them in your panty. You can whip this up to impress last minute guests or a late night comfort food binge.
What ingredients do you need for lemon ricotta pasta with fresh thyme?
Spaghetti
Ricotta
Parmesan
Fresh Thyme
Meyer Lemon
Cloves of garlic
Black pepper
Olive oil
Red Pepper Flakes
Salt
The Recipe...
Fill a pot with about one gallon of water and a generous amount of salt. Bring to a roaring boil. Drop the pasta in the water and cook according to box instructions, about 8 minutes.
In a large bowl mix ricotta, parmesan, fresh thyme, lemon zest, minced garlic, black pepper, and olive oil. Add a pinch of red pepper flakes, optional. When your pasta is ready, use tongs to transfer the pasta to the ricotta mixture bowl.
Reserve about 1/2 cup of the boiling water and add to your pasta and cheese mixture. Stir until all comes together. Taste and adjust the salt. (Since parmesan cheese is salty, you might not need to add much salt).
Recipe Tips:
This is a great week-day pasta. It only takes about 20 minutes to prepare and make.
The benefits of Meyer lemons are that they are sweeter, less acidic, and more floral. They are almost a cross between a mandarin orange and a lemon. They are really only available between December and May. But if you can’t find Meyer lemons, you can use any other lemon.
You can use any type of pasta for this dish.
Cheese - You can change up the cheese in this recipe. For example, this recipe uses 1 cup ricotta and 4 oz parmesan cheese. Keep the 4 oz parmesan consistent, but change out the ricotta for any fresh soft cheese. You could use goat cheese, blue cheese, cotjia, etc.
You can add protein such as shrimp, bacon, prosciutto, or chicken to make this a full entree or keep it simple if you are a vegetarian .
Make Ahead:
It’s a great last minute pasta for the guests.
In one bowl, you can make the ricotta mixture. This mixture can be made 1 to 2 days ahead.
You can cook the pasta the day of, before guests arrive.
Then when you want to serve, drop the pasta in boiling water for 15-30 seconds. Then add the pasta to the ricotta mixture and serve.
Storing tips:
This pasta would be good for about 24 hours, if you even have any leftovers.
Fill a pot with about one gallon of water and a generous amount of salt. Bring to a roaring boil.
Drop the pasta in the water and cook according to box instructions, about 8 minutes.
In a large bowl mix ricotta, parmesan, fresh thyme, lemon zest, minced garlic, black pepper, and olive oil. Add a pinch of red pepper flakes, optional.
When your pasta is ready, use tongs to transfer the pasta to the ricotta mixture bowl.
Reserve about 1/2 cup of the boiling water and add to your pasta and cheese mixture. Stir until all comes together.
Taste and adjust the salt. (Since parmesan cheese is salty, you might not need to add much salt).
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