Miracle Meal: Creamy Ricotta Pasta with Broccoli

If there’s one type of food I can always count on to be universally requested by my family at dinnertime, it’s pasta. It’s one of the things that my often meat-averse toddler will devour — and given that pasta dishes are affordable, fast, and stretchable into leftovers, my husband and I are typically on board as well.

As we head into late fall and early winter, I’m usually craving versions that are equal parts simple and satisfying — and this creamy lemon-ricotta pasta fits the bill perfectly. It only needs five ingredients, two of which combine to make a lusciously creamy sauce. And with plenty of broccoli tucked into that sauce, this dish ensures my family is getting an extra serving of vegetables. Did I mention it’s ready in only 20 minutes?

Not counting salt and pepper, there are only five main ingredients in this dish. And they’re all important — especially the two that form the sauce. To make it, you’ll combine ricotta and lemon (both zest and juice) in a food processor. This gets you an ideal balance, as the tartness of the citrus brightens up the creamy, rich cheese. Adding a final splash of starchy pasta water then allows you control just how thick you’d prefer the sauce to be.

My favorite thing about the sauce? It’s an excellent canvas for whatever vegetables you’d like to fold in. My go-to is broccoli. (It gets quickly cooked in the same pot as the pasta, so you have one fewer dish to wash!) If you’re not a broccoli person, swap in peas, arugula, or cherry tomatoes. Or try a protein — leftover rotisserie chicken or Italian sausage are good additions. 

One last note about ricotta: You can certainly make your own, but in the shortcut spirit of a true Miracle Meal, I reach for a store-bought version. If you go that route, it’s important to use one made with whole milk — as lower-fat versions (or versions with lots of stabilizers) can result in a less cohesive sauce. 

The ricotta mixture achieves its smooth, creamy texture thanks to a trick I picked up from Kitchn’s Associate Food Editor Kelli Foster: She’s an advocate of whipping cottage cheese in a food processor — which immediately transforms the texture from lumpy to luxuriously airy. You can do the same thing with the ricotta here. Although ricotta isn’t nearly as texturally quirky as cottage cheese, it can still be a tiny bit grainy when you work it into a sauce. But a quick blitz in a food processor solves that completely. Give it a try, and you’ll see what I mean.