Vanilla-laced whipped ricotta gets swirled on toast and topped with orange slices and a drizzle of honey. This super easy honey orange ricotta toast from The Pretty Dish tastes like a savory sweet creamsicle-like tartine and is here to cure you of all your former breakfast woes.
Super easy breakfast toast is here to save you from your morning cereal or avocado toast rut (me = guilty). I’m of the don’t-talk-to-me-for-at-least-30-minutes-after-I-wake-up variety, and quick nourishing happy breakfast speed up that process tenfold. That’s exactly what I’m serving up this week. This honey orange ricotta toast comes from The Pretty Dish by Jessica Merchant of How Sweet Eats.
Jessica wrote this book while secretly pregnant, so it feels like it was written for me and it’s definitely going to be my best friend for the next few months. Plus, almost all of the recipes can be made in under an hour – score! There are approximately 150 recipes in this book that I want to eat (okay, exactly 150 – that’s all of them), but I took one look at the creamy ricotta slathered on bread with citrus and my heart was sold on the third recipe in the book.
If you’re like me and you eat with your eyes first, she’s got you covered with a gorgeous photo for every. single. recipe. In addition to traditional food recipes, the book has other little peaks into the life and mind of Jessica with playlists to accompany different food occasions and 50 beauty recipe DIYs. The latter of which she describes she started really getting into when she was first pregnant and, as a beauty and make-up lover, she started researching what beauty products she shouldn’t use while pregnant.
Now I’m certain Jessica came to me in book form as a best friend to guide me in all the girly things I need help with in my life. I wish I could say I was also lamenting cutting out faved beauty products while pregnant, but the truth is I barely know how to wear make-up. I still wear bronzer from a compact I bought in 2007. It’s since broken so I keep the broken bronzer bits in a resealable plastic sandwich bag and just stick my brush right into that bag. In sum: I need help. I’ll get to beauty soon, but first, this ricotta toast.
I have a love hate relationship with ricotta. I grew up very adamantly declaring I hated ricotta cheese (you too??). I could not stand that gritty sand texture that bakes up and separates into dry globs popping up just to ruin your lasagna. I thought that’s just what ricotta was and left it alone. That is, until I discovered good ricotta, and specifically Bellwether Farms’ whole milk basket ricotta. It’s smooth and creamy and I’ll eat it by the spoonful. Have you had it? It’s life-changing (No, this isn’t sponsored, I’m just fan-girling about it). That’s when I fell in love with ricotta. I’ve recently turned my mom onto this ricotta, except she can’t find it in her town, so she has to stockpile up when she comes to visit. (Relatedly: does anyone have any recommendations for other smooth and creamy ricotta brands I can point her to?)
While I’m in love with the texture of creamy ricotta, there’s something even more magical that happens when you puree those curds with vanilla bean paste or extract. It gets even smoother – like a lightened up whipped cream cheese with its own unique flavor profile. You want this on toast for breakfast, trust me.
If you can’t get your hands on blood oranges, you can take Jessica’s suggestion and use strawberries or pineapple. I opted for pink-hued cara cara oranges instead of bright red blood oranges because they’re my current early spring citrus obsession (we’re talking like 3/day, which is 100x better than the fistfuls of sour peach rings I’m also craving).
So far we’ve got crusty toast, creamy vanilla-laced ricotta, and sweet oranges. Top it all off with a healthy dose of honey (or honeycomb if you want to pretend to be fancy like I do) and a dash of flakey salt and you’ve got a savory sweet creamsicle-like toast breakfast.
You can get your copy of The Pretty Dish here and you too can lust after: grapefruit rose cake, lobster burrata pasta, chocolate chili cornbread, peach panzanella salad with burrata and bacon, and crispy fish tostadas.
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- ½ cup whole milk ricotta cheese (I swear by Bellwether Farms Whole Milk Basket Ricotta)
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract or vanilla paste
- 2 slices bread, toasted (I use Arise Bakery gluten-free sourdough)
- 1 orange, peeled and sliced (Jessica recommends blood oranges, I used pink cara cara oranges because they're my seasonal fav right now)
- 2 tablespoons honey and/or honeycomb segments
- Pinch of flakey salt (Jessica uses sea salt, but I used maldon flakey salt because it's what I had!)
- In a food processor, combine the ricotta cheese and vanilla. Process until pureed.
- Spread the ricotta evenly over the toast.
- Add the orange slices. Drizzle on the honey and/or honeycomb segments. Hit the whole thing with flakey salt and serve.
Amanda -
Experiences with ricotta tend to be polarizing like that–everyone hates supermarket stuff and everyone loves real stuff. I’ve never had Bellwether ricotta, so I don’t want to steal you away from their product…but ricotta is the easiest thing ever to make yourself, and that way your poor mother doesn’t have to feel sad when she runs out. I would venture to say homemade ricotta tops all other types, and I basically eat it all day every day. We have a dairy farm, so I’m obviously biased towards the quality of our milk creating the very bestest ricotta, but try this: heat a gallon of milk to 180 degrees, remove from heat and stir in 1/3 c white vinegar. Let sit a couple minutes, and if it hasn’t curded into white clumps and a yellowy whey, add a smidge more vinegar. Drain through a cheesecloth, colander, or paint straining bag, and stir in 1-2 t salt. Technically it’s better once it’s not still warm, but it usually doesn’t quite all make it into the fridge.
Nancy -
This looks delicious. I’ll have to try it since it is so simple and you know that is my operating system of late!
By the way…………………………..I can attest that you are beautiful with or without makeup. Your pregnant glow means even less makeup required!
Karen @ The Food Charlatan -
oh my gosh, DYING over your sandwich baggie bronzer. This pretty much encapsulates how I also feel toward makeup. Haha! But I’m all about the cara cara toast with honey! YUM!
jessica @ howsweeteats -
thank you so so so much for sharing!!! xoxoxo
love!
Alene -
Oh my goodness!! The bread made by that company looks and sounds divine. Thank you so much for posting the link. And even though I’m on the west coast of Florida, I am so ordering some loaves. And the first thing I’ll make is your honey orange ricotta toast! And that looks divine too!