EASY LEMON RICOTTA PASTA & SPINACH
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I love this zesty lemon ricotta pasta with spinach, it makes a delish weeknight meal ready in less than 15 minutes. Simple, fresh ingredients, delicious flavor, and minimal effort.
This no-cook sauce is one of my go-to recipes from when I was at uni and can be made in no time. Mix creamy ricotta, parmesan cheese, garlic, extra virgin olive oil, and refreshing lemon. Your pasta sauce is ready.
Easy peasy, economical, perfect for your carb cravings and so good.
If you’re a big fan of lemons like me, you’ll love how their juice and zest transform a simple dish into something that tastes pure sunshine. And what about the creamy ricotta? I love it, especially when I used to buy fresh ricotta from the cheese counter in Italy (ahhh distant memories!)
To make this easy pasta dish healthier and more filling, don’t forget to add your greens. You could swap spinach for other delicious vegetables, or even protein like grilled chicken or salmon.  The sky is the limit!
Watch how to make it
What ingredients you need
- Pasta
- Ricotta
- Parmesan cheese
- Baby spinach
- Lemon
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Garlic
- Salt and pepper
- Combine ricotta, parmesan, extra virgin olive oil, garlic, lemon zest, salt and pepper
- Mix well, taste and make sure you’re happy with the seasoning
- Meanwhile, cook your pasta until al dente
- Reserve some pasta cooking water
- Add spinach to the pot and cook for 1 minute
- Drain pasta and spinach and return to the pot
- Add the ricotta sauce, the cooking water, and stir well
- Serve with a drizzle of olive oil,  freshly grated Parmesan cheese, and lemon wedges (optional)
- Enjoy… Buon appetito!Â
Recipe notes & tips
If you fancy fresh and creamy spaghetti ready in no time, inexpensive, and kids approved, this recipe is for you!
Plus, if you go for whole grain pasta you’ll get more natural fiber and micronutrients than white pasta. Whole-grain is the healthier option also when it comes to a bowl of spaghetti, and makes you feel fuller longer which is a great bonus. We love it and we consume it nearly on a regular basis.
HOW TO ADD SPINACH TO PASTA?
Blanched (quickly boiled) spinach works fine in this recipe, and cooking spinach and pasta all in one pot saves time and washing up. Â However, make sure not to overcook it, which will result in the loss of nutrients, flavor, and green color.
Recipe updated: originally posted in July 2019, I’ve tweaked the post adding more notes and new pictures.
SUBSTITUTIONS
What about adding a twist? This terrific recipe is so versatile, feel free to add more vegetables or even protein of your choice. Here are a few variations that taste delicious along with the lemon and ricotta combo.
Add them to the pot when you stir in the ricotta mixture.Â
- Sauteed or grilled vegetables: asparagus, peas, zucchini, artichokes
- Arugula, basil, chives
- Cherry tomatoes or chopped sun-dried tomatoes
- Grilled chicken
- Grilled or smoked salmon
MORE EASY PASTA DISHES READY IN 15 MINUTES OR LESS?
- Cream cheese pasta
- Spaghetti with garlic and olive oil
- Garlic mushroom spaghetti
- Marinara sauce with spaghetti
- Walnut sauce pasta
If you make this vibrant lemon ricotta pasta with spinach, leave a comment, rate it, or tag a photo #theclevermeal on Instagram.
I would love to hear from you!
Lemon ricotta pasta & spinach
Ingredients
- 1/2 lb (8oz/220 grams) pasta (spaghetti, linguine, penne, fusilli...)
- 1 cup (9oz/250 grams) whole-milk ricotta
- 8 oz (230 grams) fresh baby spinach, washed
- 1/3 cup (35 grams) grated Parmesan cheese, plus extra to serve
- 1 unwaxed lemon, zest and juice
- 3 lemon wedges, to serve (optional)
- 1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil, plus extra for drizzling
- 1 garlic clove, grated or pressed
- salt and black pepper, to taste
Instructions
- In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook pasta according to package directions until al dente. Meanwhile, make the ricotta sauce.
- In a medium bowl, combine ricotta, olive oil, parmesan cheese, garlic, lemon zest and juice. Season with 1/4 tsp of salt and a good pinch of pepper.
- Stir until well combined, taste and make sure you're happy with the seasoning.
- In the last minute of the pasta's cooking time, reserve 1/2 cup of the cooking water, then and add spinach to the pot. Stir well and push the leaves down to submerge them in water.
- After 1 minute, drain and return pasta and spinach to the same pot.
- Add the ricotta sauce and part of the reserved cooking water. Stir well to evenly coat the pasta in the sauce, add more cooking water as needed, you want a smooth and creamy texture.
- Serve immediately and garnish with grated or shaved Parmesan cheese, a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and lemon wedges if desired (for extra freshly squeezed juice, but I leave it optional). Plus, I love adding a good pinch of red pepper flakes, you might give it a go. Enjoy!
I was looking for some inspiration for tonight’s dinner and came across your recipe. Looks fantastic and can’t wait to try it. The bonus is I already have all the ingredients 🙂
Brilliant, Sam! Let me know how it turns out 🙂
I hope to make this tomorrow. What do you suggest if I wanted to either use spiralised courgette noodles or grated courgettes? When to add them to the ricotta mixture?
Hi Courteney…
1. The ricotta sauce is for 3 servings (you need more than 1/2 lb of zucchini)
2. Thin out the ricotta mixture with some water or milk
3. I would skip the spinach
4. You can serve it cold: toss noodles and ricotta sauce in a salad bowl
5. You can serve it warm: toss noodles and sauce in a pan over medium heat until nice and warm.
In both cases, add some extra water or milk if you need to loosen up the sauce.
Enjoy 🙂
Absolutely my new favorite dish. This was so good! I will be making this often!
I’m so pleased, Liz 🙂 Thanks so much for your comment x
Delicious! Made with zucchini noodles and threw in shrimp and red pepper flakes and oregano.
I love zucchini noodles + shrimp, great variation, Christy! Thank you for your comment 🙂
What kind of olive oil do you use?
Extra virgin olive oil, the best vegetable oil in my opinion 😊
Sounds delicious always wanted to know how ricotta works as a sauce.
Is the recipe for one or more and is the calorie for just one serving?
Please add me to your blog
Hi Suzanne, the recipe is for 3 medium-sized servings and the calories are an estimate for 1 serving. Added to the list 🙂 x
Really delicious. I love the flavor of lemon so much. The only change I would make in the future for my taste is a smaller clove of garlic. The one I used was a little on the bigger side. Since it’s being used raw in this recipe, it was a little overpowering. Otherwise it’s a light delicious change to eating pasta.
The raw-garlic flavor might be pretty intense for some, but I’m glad you liked the recipe, and thank you for your comment! 🙂
I used 2 cloves of garlic but fried them off little in olive oil but we do love garlic. x
I love garlic too! Thanks for your comment, Carole x
DELICIOUS! I served it with panko & parm baked scallops. I received rave reviews.
Wow, that sounds utterly delicious, I love baked scallops! Thanks for your comment 🙂
It came out Super delicious ?.
The combination of lemon zest and juice with spinach and recotta ….. heaven in mouth?
Thank you for sharing, Harmeet! I’m happy you loved it 🙂
I made this last night used peas instead of spinach loved it will make it again 👌
I’m so pleased you loved it! Thanks for sharing your feedback 😊
I think the calorie count is WAY off. 538kcal is 538,000 calories. 😉
Yes, that sounds a LOT, definitely 🙂 but there’re Cal/kcal/calories, and kcal and Cal are used interchangeably.
Basically: 1 kcal and 1 Calorie = 1000 calories. For example, I’m having a look at a pack of spaghetti right now and the label says 351kcal/100gr.
There’s no mention of calories or Calories, only kcal. I hope this helps xx
This was just so delicious! And oh so easy! I have a lemon salt I got when I was in Italy that made it even that much better. Sometime I’ll add grilled chicken or salmon on top for a great winter dish. Thank you for this wonderful dish
The Italian lemon salt sounds so delicious, not to mention the option of adding chicken or salmon 🙂 I’m so glad you loved it and thanks so much for your lovely comment, Debra! x
I love this recipe!! So creamy and good without feeling too heavy.
I’m glad you loved it! Thanks so much for sharing your feedback, Sara 🙂
Hi,
We just made it and loved the fresh flavors and how easy it was.
At the end we felt it needed a bit more of ricotta, which was an easy thing to do.
It was a very light and flavorful meal, our children loved it.
Too bad we can’t share the pic we took of the result.
Regards.
Thanks so much for your lovely feedback, Alvaro! I’m so happy it was a hit with your family 💛
Beautifully flavored light meal. We added a Gavi and some reheated leftover veggies from. Covid takeout meal – we LOVED it. I’ll be doing it again also a perfect meal for the upcoming warm season.
Thankyou!
Thank you so much for your lovely comment, Charlotte! I’m so so pleased you and your family loved it. All the best x
My 11 year old granddaughter helped make it, and said we HAVE to make it again
Thank you for your comment! I’m so pleased she loved it ??
Instead of ricotta I used greek style yogurt. Given the other sauce ingredients I guess you could now call the recipe pasta in tsatsiki ?
I like the idea of using thick and creamy Greek style yogurt, why not? I’ll give it a go 🙂 Thank you for your comment! x
What changes would you make to accommodate zuchinni noodles instead of pasta?
I would add some liquid to the ricotta mixture (milk or even water). When you mix ricotta with the other ingredients, make sure it’s a bit runny and coats your noodles nicely, otherwise, you might end up with a block of zucchini noodles and cheese. And I would skip the spinach. Hope you enjoy it x
Fabulous. So easy. Love the lemon flavor. Used home made whole milk ricotta. Goes into my book!
I’m so pleased, homemade ricotta sounds delicious, thanks for sharing this lovely feedback! 💛
Nice quick dish as main meal or side. The subtle lemon flavor with fresh garlic and pepper flakes makes this pasta truly my new go to. Awesome!
I’m so glad you liked it, Ginny… and thanks so much for sharing your feedback 🙂
This was so delicious! A wonderful combination of flavors.
Thank you! I’m so pleased you liked it 💛
I was looking for recipes to make with the spaghetti noodles that I had previously cooked (I did have to steam the spinach in the microwave while reheating the pasta), that wouldn’t heat up the kitchen. This was perfect and delicious!
Thanks so much for sharing your feedback! I’m so glad you liked it 💛
Can I make this vegan by using vegan ricotta?
Hi Ashley, I’ve never made a vegan version of this cake, and I don’t know how the heat affects the ricotta texture. I’m sorry if I can’t help x
Made this tonight. If we make it again, will cut by 25% (at least) The amount of ricotta cheese. We felt it was just too overwhelming and goopy mixed with the pasta. The other change I would make is to warm up the ricotta and Parmesan, and other ingredients in a separate pot before adding to the pasta and spinach. We did not do that, and even though we stirred the cheese mixture with the pasta over a low flame for a couple of minutes, the entire dish was only lukewarm when we sat down to eat it. I had hoped to have leftovers for lunch tomorrow, but the ricotta mixture was just too much for me to want to eat again.
Hi Ginny, I’ve never received complaints about the amount of ricotta, but it’s all a matter of personal preference. Feel free to adjust the recipe according to your taste, it’s easy to modify, I hope you make it again and enjoy x
Loved this! Served it with grilled chicken.
I’m so glad you loved it, Angelica! Thanks for your lovely comment 💛
I don’t know how it taste, but I’m trying this recipe tonight. I do plan on using fresh spinach, frozen broccoli and chicken. Anything I need to do in altering the recipe?
Hi Nicole, cook spinach as per the recipe, while you should cook chicken and broccoli separately.
You can add the cooked/sauteed broccoli while you stir ricotta sauce and pasta together in the pot. Same for the chicken, or you can serve it on the side if you wish. Enjoy!