What Is Ricotta Cheese? Texture, Uses, and Pizza Applications

Ricotta is the quiet workhorse of Italian cheese — it does not stretch like mozzarella or bite like gorgonzola, but it gives lasagna its body, cannoli its filling, and white pizza its creamy backbone. The name means "recooked," and that one word explains almost everything about it.

How Ricotta Is Made

Traditional ricotta is not technically cheese at all — it is made from whey, the liquid left over after making other cheeses. The whey is reheated (recooked) with a touch of acid, and the remaining proteins clump into soft, snowy curds. The result is naturally light, slightly sweet, and low in salt: a blank canvas that carries other flavors.

What Ricotta Tastes Like

Fresh ricotta tastes like sweet milk with a faintly grainy, cloud-like texture. It is the mildest cheese in the Italian repertoire, which is exactly its job: on a pizza, ricotta cools and softens whatever it sits next to — spicy sausage, sharp parmesan, bitter greens.

Ricotta on Pizza

Ricotta shines on white pizzas, where there is no acidic tomato sauce to overpower it. Forni's Four Cheese Pizza is the showcase: ricotta dollops stay cool-centered and creamy through the 90-second bake while mozzarella melts and parmesan crisps around them. Four cheeses, four different textures — ricotta is the soft one you remember.

• Dollop, don't spread: pockets of ricotta stay creamy; a thin layer dries out
• Pair with something sharp: gorgonzola, parmesan, or peppery arugula
• Add after or late in the bake for maximum creaminess
• A drizzle of honey or hot pepper oil over baked ricotta is a classic finish

Is Ricotta Halal?

Because ricotta is whey-based, rennet is less central to its production — but the whey itself comes from cheesemaking that may have used animal rennet. At Forni, every cheese in the kitchen, ricotta included, is sourced from producers using microbial enzymes, keeping the entire menu 100% halal without asterisks.

Want the full cheese tour? Read: The Best Cheeses for Pizza, Ranked →