Creamy Almond Ricotta
Creamy Almond Ricotta is a luscious oil-free vegan spread — perfect for pizzas, lasagnas, pastas and a natural with dark greens
Creamy Almond Ricotta makes a great spread on bread and has lots of other uses in dishes like lasagnas, pastas and my favorite—on pizza. It is very quick to make and looks beautiful on an appetizer plate. It works really well as a substitute for dairy ricotta in any recipe. It actually has more flavor. It can be dressed up a little with toasted almonds, a hit of grated nutmeg, lemon zest and black pepper.
Blanched Almonds
Blanched almonds (almonds with their skin removed) are the obvious choice to get the smooth texture and creamy whit color. Most stores sell blanched almonds, sometimes whole and sometime in slices. The sliced almonds are the easiest since they ready to be rinsed and soaked. Whole blanched almonds can be used but need a longer soaking time, method 1 below is best for whole almonds.
The almonds need to be softened by soaking before making the ricotta to get the creamy consistency with a little nutty grainy texture left. There are two methods described below in the instructions that work well.
It goes so well with dark greens too, try it on the Swiss Chard & Creamy Almond Ricotta Pizza!
Tools Used in this Recipe
- 1 glass quart jar with lid (for soaking)
- 1 Chef Knife
- 1 Cutting Board
- 1 lemon squeezer
- 1 flexible spatula
- 1 Immersion blender and blender cup
- 1 glass jar for storing (to hold 1 1/4 cups)
Ingredients
- 1 cup blanched almonds, sliced or chopped or whole
- 2½ cups boiling water divided
- 2 tsps chickpea miso or sweet white miso
- 1 Tbls lemon juice
Instructions
- Either of the following two methods will get the almonds ready and soft enough to make it creamy and still have the texture that a good ricotta should have. Method 1: Rinse and drain the almonds, then put the almonds in a quart size jar, pour 2 cups of boiling water over them, cover the jar and let sit for about an hour. The almonds will be soft enough to blend to the right texture. Then drain the water and rinse one more time and continue to step #2.Method 2: Rinse the almonds, then put in a jar with the lid on and refrigerate overnight. Then drain the water and rinse the water and continue to step #2.
- Place the soaked almonds in the blender cup, and ½ cup of boiling water in the blender cup. Boiling water or very hot water as opposed to cold or room temperature water is key to achieving a creamy texture.Wrap a paper towel around the top of the blender cup so the liquid doesn’t spatter out. Blend on the highest setting for about 30 seconds, then turn it off and lift the stick up and push down the almonds and repeat a few times.
- Add in the lemon juice and miso and continue blending as in step #2 until creamy, but with a little texture left.
- Taste it and add more lemon or miso if needed and blend a little more.
- The creamy almond ricotta is ready to enjoy now, but will be even better after it has been refrigerated for a few hours.It can be store up to 4 days in the refrigerator. It is best stored in a glass or ceramic container with a tight fitting lid.
