Honey Orange Ricotta Dip for French Toast or Fruit

This honey orange ricotta dip is one of the easiest and most delicious dips you’ll ever make! It’s fantastic with fruit or as a topping for French Toast. It’s also great on sweet biscuits, in strawberry shortcake, on a bowl of oatmeal or as a base for fruit pizza.

Also Read: French Toast with Orange Zest, Strawberry Rhubarb Fruit Sauce, Blueberry Lime Sauce

You may be familiar with using ricotta for savoury dishes like lasagna, Spinach Stuffed Manicotti, Ricotta Herb Spread, pizza, etc. but it’s equally delicious for sweet dishes like this French toast.

Because it’s the star of the show in this recipe, be sure to use a high quality ricotta. We really enjoy the texture of Chaeban Artisan Ricotta, available at various retailers in Winnipeg. It has a thick and creamy consistency that is not gritty at all. From my first taste, I knew this ricotta was destined for more than just pasta. This ricotta does not need to be hidden!

Recipe for Honey Orange Ricotta

What is Ricotta?

Ricotta is a type of fresh, unripened cheese.  It is creamy white with a spreadable texture and tiny lumps or curds. These curds are a good thing! They are the milk proteins that have clumped together and are a classic feature of traditional ricotta.

You could consider ricotta somewhere between cream cheese and cottage cheese. Not as dense, tangy or high fat as cream cheese but creamier with much smaller curds, more flavour and less salt than cottage cheese.

Cream Cheese – Highest calories, fat, sugar, and sodium and fewer vitamins and minerals (except Vitamin A and B12) of all three.
Ricotta Cheese – Highest protein and calcium with the least amount of salt and sugar. Of the three it’s also highest in phosphorous, selenium and riboflavin.
Cottage cheese – Lowest in calories and fat with more salt and sugar and fewer nutrients than Ricotta cheese.

You’ll find different types of ricotta in the grocery store, read the labels carefully to get what you love best. Chaeban Artisan Ricotta has 73% moisture and 10% milk fat. Two tablespoons will get you 40 calories, 2.5 g fat, 1 g carbs, 3 g protein, 75 mg calcium and 20 mg sodium.

HOW LONG WILL RICOTTA KEEP?

Previously, I shared that feta cheese, another soft, unripened cheese, will last for 4-6 weeks once opened and almost 10 months if it remains sealed and properly stored. The long shelf life is because feta is kept in a salty brine. Ricotta is not kept in brine, so its shelf life is much shorter than feta.

Unopened Ricotta: Check the best before date set by the cheesemaker. As long as the ricotta stays sealed and in your fridge, it may last another 3-5 days beyond this date, but not longer.

Opened Ricotta: Once opened, keep ricotta tightly covered, in the fridge for 7-10 days.

Freeze Ricotta: Freeze ricotta to extend the shelf life even further. Place in airtight container or freezer bag and use within 3 months. It will lose some flavour and become a little more crumbly, but it will work in casseroles, sauces or pasta dishes.

This recipe was written in paid partnership with Chaeban Artisan. As always, opinions are my own and a sincere reflection of life in my home.