Baked Ricotta Cheese Recipe
Baked Ricotta Cheese Recipe
This baked ricotta cheese recipe is surprisingly good!
It sounded strange to me, but my daughter who loves ricotta cheese wanted to try it.
I was very surprised at how light and bright it tasted.
The addition of the lemon zest adds a brightness to the cheese.
It is also very easy to make.
This makes a great appetizer served with a sliced baguette, pita bread, or anything else you want to dip into cheese.
Ingredients:
15 -18 oz Ricotta Cheese
1 lemon zested and 1 tablespoon of juice from the lemon
2 large garlic cloves minced or 1 tsp garlic powder
1/4 cup fresh Parmigiano cheese – grated (not the kraft version)
1-2 eggs
2 tsp fresh minced chives or rosemary or thyme or oregano (if using dry spices, use 3/4 tsp) (choose the spice you like, I used rosemary once and oregano once, both were great but added slightly different tastes to the dish)
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 tablespoon olive oil
pinch of red pepper flakes (optional)
Serve with crackers or sliced baguette or cut up pita bread
Optional Honey to drizzle over the final cooked product (can also try Hot Honey to amp it up!)
Directions:
1- Grease or butter a 1-quart baking pan (a deeper, less wide dish makes for a less dry cheese)
1- Mix all ingredients in the bowl/pan you plan to cook it in. (you can cover this and refrigerate overnight if you want to make this ahead for the next day.)
2- Bake at 375 degrees for 20-30 minutes (depends on the size of the baking dish)
3- If possible, put the pan under the broiler for 2 minutes at the end to brown the top, otherwise, the cheese looks very pale.
4- Serve warm with sliced bread or crackers. You can drizzle honey over it before serving.
This was a big hit. We used thyme and drizzled honey. I personally loved the honey addition. Thank you!