Name: Vegan Ricotta Cheese
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 25 min
Total time: 30 min
Ingredients: 1 C Pine Nuts (soaked in water for 1 hour (optional)); 1 Head Garlic (halved horizontally ); 1 tsp Olive Oil; 1 Tbsp Fresh Parsley (leaves minced ); 1 Tbsp Mellow White Miso; 1/2 Lemon (juiced ); 1 tsp Umaboshi Pate (or 1/4 tsp sea salt)

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Vegan Ricotta Cheese – creamy thick and cheesy, this dupe can be used in place of traditional ricotta. The best part is that there are only 7 ingredients and you can make it in two simple steps! Active “prep time” is easy. All you have to do is slice a head of garlic… Oh yeah and push the power button on your food processor. Easy peasy!

Who doesn’t love ricotta? I mean the real stuff. Pillowy and creamy, I used to love ricotta cheese over pasta with marinara sauce… So good! The hardest part about being dairy free, or going vegan is giving up cheese. Many people say that cheese is the one thing that they can’t give up!

This should come as no surprise since cheese actually has chemical compounds in it that act like Morphine (a highly addictive drug). These compounds are known as casomorphins. These chemicals glob onto the pleasure reciptors in your brain and make you feel good. When ever you get stressed out, your body instantaneously starts looking around for what makes us feel better. The morphine like compound in cheese is one of them!

This is partially why so many people struggle with over eating. They may not actually be addicted to eating, so much as addicted to WHAT they’re eating… Just some food for thought.

What’s in Vegan Ricotta Cheese?

There are only 7 ingredients in this ricotta. Most of them are easy to find. The only one that’s obscure is umaboshi paste. You can find umaboshi paste in the Asian section of the supermarket. Umaboshi paste is made from Japanese “Umaboshi” plumbs. It’s actually incredible for your health! But if you can’t find it, fear not. Sea salt will work too! So here’s what you’ll need.

Full ingredient amount can be found in the recipe card below!

Pine Nuts – soaked in water
Whole Garlic Head
Parsley – optional
Mellow White Miso Paste
Lemon
Umaboshi Paste
Olive Oil – optional

Substitutions for Umaboshi Paste: 1/4 tsp of sea salt

How to Make the Cheese

Equipment: Food Processor, Serrated Knife, Tin Foil

Step 1: Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. While the oven is warming up, use a serrated knife to slice the garlic head in half horizontally. Brush the garlic with oil and season with salt and pepper, next wrap it in tinfoil. Once the oven is warm place the garlic on the bottom rack. Roast for 25 minutes.

Step 2: While the garlic is cooking, combine the miso paste, lemon juice, umaboshi paste, olive oil and pine nuts in a food processor. When the garlic is done pop the cloves out of the papery outside and place them in the food processor. Pulse the food processor on high until the mixture is creamy. Use an offset spatula to scrape down the sides of the food processor to make sure the cheese gets mixed evenly.

Storing the Cheese

Fridge – Pine nut ricotta will last in the fridge for up to 6 days in the fridge.
Freezer – You can freeze the cheese for up to 3 months.

How to Serve

My favorite way to serve pine nut ricotta is inside beet raviolis. But you can use it where ever dairy ricotta is called for. For the kids you can mix it into pasta with a little marinara sauce!

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