Ricotta Salata substitute

Substitutes for Ricotta Salata with ratios

1. 2Cotija

   Different taste

   Use the same amount

   Aged Mexican cow's-milk cheese, firm, dry, white and heavily salted.

   What changes

   Best for

   pasta alla Norma, grating over pasta and vegetables, salads, anywhere you want a salty finishing crumble

   Prep. Grate finely or crumble; add at the end and taste before salting the dish.

   A genuinely good match and often easier to find. It is drier and more granular than ricotta salata, so it grates into a fine powder rather than soft flakes, and it is considerably saltier, so use a lighter hand and pull back the salt elsewhere in the dish. The flavour is more sharply savoury and slightly barnyard-y compared with ricotta salata's clean milky mildness, which is welcome on grilled vegetables and slightly assertive in a fruit salad.

2. 3Queso fresco

   Different texture

   Use the same amount plus a pinch of salt

   Fresh, mild, lightly pressed Mexican white cheese that crumbles cleanly.

   What changes

   Best for

   watermelon and tomato salads, summer salads, topping pasta, when you want mildness

   Prep. Crumble by hand, season lightly with flaky salt, and add at the last moment so it does not weep into the dish.

   The best match for ricotta salata's flavour rather than its texture. It has that same soft milky, faintly sweet character with almost no funk, which is exactly right for the delicate uses. What differs is moisture and salt: queso fresco is wetter and much less salty, so it crumbles into damp curds rather than dry flakes, and without a pinch of added salt the dish will taste underseasoned. It also will not grate, so use it only where crumbling is fine.

3. 4Pecorino romano

   Taste and texture differ

   1:2, so use half as much

   Hard aged sheep's-milk cheese from Lazio and Sardinia, sharply salty and grainy.

   What changes

   Best for

   pasta alla Norma, grating over pasta, cooked dishes

   Prep. Grate very finely and use half the amount called for; season the dish before adding it and not after.

   The right family, since it is also sheep's milk, but a much louder voice. Pecorino is aged far longer, so it is intensely salty, sharply piquant and slightly peppery, and used one for one it will steamroll the dish and taste nothing like the gentle salted-milk note ricotta salata provides. At half quantity it works well on a plate of pasta alla Norma. Do not use it in a fruit or watermelon salad, where it will taste harsh and out of place, and do not add any further salt to the dish.

4. 5Halloumi, grated raw

   Different texture

   Use the same amount

   Firm Cypriot sheep and goat's-milk cheese, usually sold for frying, used here ungrilled.

   What changes

   Best for

   salads, grating over roasted vegetables, when it is the only firm white cheese available

   Prep. Chill the block hard, grate on the fine side of a box grater, and scatter over the finished dish off the heat.

   An improvisation rather than a first choice, but it works better than people expect. Raw halloumi is salty and mild in roughly the right way and it grates cleanly on a box grater when cold. The problem is the squeak: halloumi has a distinctive springy, almost rubbery bite that ricotta salata does not, so grated shreds stay resilient instead of dissolving into the dish. Grate it as finely as you can to minimise that, and never cook it in the dish or it will turn into chewy strings.

5. 6Dry-pressed farmer cheese or paneer with salt

   Different taste

   Use the same amount plus ¼ tsp salt per 100g

   Fresh unaged pressed curd cheese, salted to make up for the missing cure.

   What changes

   Best for

   salads, crumbling over vegetables, vegetarian and halal or kosher kitchens

   Prep. Crumble, toss with salt and a few drops of lemon juice, rest 15 minutes, then use.

   The least-bad option when nothing salty and firm is available, and it needs help. Unsalted pressed curd has the right dry crumbly body but almost no flavour, so the dish loses the entire seasoning contribution that ricotta salata was making. Salt it deliberately, let it sit fifteen minutes so the salt penetrates, and consider a squeeze of lemon to add the faint tang it lacks. Even then it reads as a texture rather than a cheese, so use it where crunch and contrast matter more than flavour.