This Italian-style mac and cheese uses just ricotta cheese and starchy pasta water to create a surprisingly creamy sauce without cream or butter. It's a budget-friendly, two-ingredient weeknight meal rooted in traditional Italian cooking.
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Bring a large pot of well-salted water to a boil. Add the spaghetti and cook according to package directions until al dente.
While the pasta cooks, place the ricotta cheese in a large serving bowl and season with salt to taste.
Just before draining the pasta, reserve about 1-2 cups of the starchy pasta water. Ladle some of the hot pasta water into the ricotta to begin creating the sauce.
Stir the ricotta and pasta water together. Add a generous drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and continue to stir, adding more pasta water and olive oil as needed, until the sauce is smooth and creamy.
Drain the cooked spaghetti and immediately add it to the bowl with the ricotta sauce.
Toss everything together thoroughly until the spaghetti is evenly coated.
Serve immediately, with an optional final drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.
Refrigerate leftovers in an airtight container for up to 2 days. Reheat gently with a splash of pasta water or milk to restore creaminess.
Fresh ricotta works best for a creamy texture. Aged ricotta may be drier and produce a less silky sauce.
Starch released from pasta into the cooking water emulsifies with ricotta and olive oil, creating a smooth, coating sauce.
Standard dried spaghetti or any long pasta works. Bronze-cut pasta holds the sauce better than smooth pasta.
Yes. Maintain a 1:1.5 ratio of pasta to ricotta (by weight) and reserve 1 cup pasta water per pound of pasta.
Yes, it contains only pasta, ricotta, olive oil, and salt.
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