Whipped Pumpkin Ricotta
This Whipped Pumpkin Ricotta is the perfect savory appetizer for Fall entertaining!
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As a food blogger, I get inspiration from all over the place. Sometimes it comes from old family recipes (thanks, Mom and little sis!). Other times, I come up with ideas based on what’s in season. And, of course, I also draw inspiration from what my wife and I order when we go out to eat. Today’s Whipped Pumpkin Ricotta comes from this category.
Last Fall, my wife had a conference in Montreal, Canada. Montreal is only a 3-hour drive from our house, so I decided to head up and meet her at the end of the conference. We spent the weekend roaming the city, and eating all sorts of delicious food!
If you’ve never been to Montreal, then it’s absolutely worth checking out. French is the dominant language, and the older part of the city (Old Montreal) is absolutely awesome. Between the language difference and incredible old buildings and narrow streets, you’ll swear that you’ve stepped into western Europe. It’s totally worth a weekend trip!
Montreal has earned a reputation as being somewhat of a foodie town, and I can totally see why! Between the iconic poutine (french fries topped with gravy and cheese curds) and the fire-baked bagels (yes, fire-baked!), we certainly had our fill of awesome food. But one of our favorites came from Olive + Gourmando, a charming little cafe located in Old Montreal. We noticed it had awesome reviews on Yelp, and we were certainly not disappointed. In fact, we went back there for lunch twice. Yes, we broke our rule about eating at the same place twice on vacation. But this place was just too good!
The 2nd day, the chef had added a couple new items for Fall, and one of them was Whipped Pumpkin Ricotta. This was definitely a new one to me, so we gave it a shot…and it was amazing! We split this as an appetizer over a glass of chardonnay, and all I could do was think about how to recreate this one back home. While I don’t have the exact recipe from Olive + Gourmando, I gotta say that this version of Whipped Pumpkin Ricotta is quite tasty.
With October just around the corner, pumpkin madness is about to reach a full frenzy. I love using pumpkin in desserts and baking, but this is a completely savory dip. I added a pinch of cinnamon to bring a depth of flavor, but there’s no sugar in here at all. If you’ve never had whipped ricotta, then you’ll be surprised at how easy it is to make. And if you’ve never had Whipped Pumpkin Ricotta, well then you are in for a treat!
Whipped Pumpkin Ricotta
Ingredients
- 4 cups whole milk ricotta
- 1 cup canned pumpkin
- ¼ tsp sea salt
- ¼ tsp cinnamon
- ¼ tsp lemon zest
- freshly cracked black pepper
- olive oil
- ¼ cup roasted sunflower seeds shelled (optional garnish)
- toasted bread and crackers for serving
Instructions
- Using a countertop mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, add the ricotta, canned pumpkin, salt, cinnamon and lemon zest. Whip on medium-high for 1-2 minutes, or until mixture is smooth and light in texture.
- Transfer mixture into a serving dish. Top with black pepper, olive oil and roasted sunflower seeds (optional).
- Serve with toasted bread and crackers.
I want to go to Montreal sooooo badly. And I speak French, so I have zero reason not to go…
I love this easy appetizer. Seriously love it! I will eat ricotta straight from the tub. Mmmm. Cheese.
Pumpkiny cheeeeeeeese! {sorry. I had to.} Pinned
Wait. You speak French? AWESOME!! I’m dragging you along next time I go to Montreal so you can translate everything. 🙂
Versatile and delicious! My pumpkin and ricotta ratio was 1:1 as I wanted to use up my leftover ricotta cheese and pumpkin puree. The spread was tasty and I used it as a vegetable dip in addition to bread. Thanks for sharing the recipe!
My mom and sis went to Montreal a few years ago and they tortured me with talk about all the food they ate, while I tried to drown my sorrow at missing out by chugging the maple syrup they brought me!
GAH – and now…now you are torturing me with Montreal Eats…and you didn’t even give me a bottle of Canadian Maple Syrup 🙁
I don’t think I’ve ever had whipped ricotta – but this does sound good – specially with the pumpkin -I eat that shiz year round!
Haha…heck yeah! Pumpkin is definitely not just a Fall ingredient around our house. I think I could eat this pumpkin ricotta pretty much every day for lunch and be a happy camper. You totally need to make your way to Montral…it’s a crazy, awesome city! Just make sure you’re hungry when you go. 🙂
I’ve never been to Canada, but I’ve always said that if/when I go, I’m heading to Montreal first. This whipped ricotta sounds like the perfect spread for everything!
Oh man, and you live so close, Becca!! You definitely need to put Montreal on this list…it’s a really, really fun place to go. You’ll feel like you’re in an entirely different country…well, you are…but you know what I mean!
This looks delicious! I would love to visit Canada (I”m actually visiting NYC next year and North America for the first time!). Love the recipe, perfectly seasonal!
Thanks, Jess! Canada is definitely an awesome place to visit, but you are going to have a blast in NYC, too! I’m actually heading down to NYC in a couple of weeks here, and I can’t wait. 🙂
This is such good timing. I have some pumpkin and ricotta that needs using up. Yum!
Wait. You’ve got leftover pumpkin AND ricotta?? Then you totally need to make this! I love eating it on toasted bread for lunch. 🙂
Montreal is such an awesome city, I love it. I have to agree with you, it looks and feels like Europe – with some US influences though.
Loving this whipped ricotta with pumpkin, it literally screams pumpkin!
Thanks, Mike! Yup, I’d pretty much be in Montreal every weekend (or Europe…but that’s a little more difficult) if I had my way. I also just pictured a pumpkin screaming…it wasn’t pretty.
Het there! My name is Madalynn Smith, and I’m a writer for Washington and Lee University’s chapter of Spoon University. I was wondering if I would be able to use the picture of the whipped ricotta in my article. Thanks!
Hey Madalynn! Thanks so much for reaching out. You may absolutely use the picture(s) above for your article, but please link back here for the actual recipe. Thank you!! Feel free to shoot me an email (david -at- spicedblog.com) if you have any questions.