Hurry The Food Up Vegan and Vegetarian Recipes For Busy People
I love discovering new recipes! Especially if they’re linked to getting me fitter and stronger. And that’s exactly what these baked ricotta muffin power bombs do.
They’re my new favourite and are now my post gym go-to snack. After a good workout it’s imperative to replenish our body’s natural stores, and protein is critical for muscle growth.
That’s where these baked ricotta muffins really come into play.
For those of you in the know, whey protein is one of the most popular and most effective forms of protein supplement out there.
It’s very common to buy it in powder form, and is a real boost for the muscles after working out.
There are of course other ways to get whey protein into your system, and baked ricotta is certainly one of them.
Whey is the liquid leftover after making cheese or heating milk, and the latter is the basis of ricotta cheese.
Importantly for vegetarians, rennet is not used in the formation of ricotta and is therefore considered a vegetarian cheese. It is also very high in protein and very low in fat.
In fact, thanks to the addition of eggs in these baked ricotta muffins, a small serving of three little muffins contains over 20g of protein!
If you munch all six down yourself (I often do after a big workout) you’re looking at over 40g of protein.
That’s A LOT OF PROTEIN! If you’d like to a know more about how much protein we actually need (and get a full high protein meal plan, please go over here).
Baked Ricotta Muffins – more than just a snack
Of course, it’s all well and good to know you’re about to eat a load of hard-earned protein in your post-workout snack, but if you’re not looking forward to it then you’ll hardly be pushing yourself.
That’s the where the Mediterranean combo comes in – olives or capers (or both!), sundried tomatoes and smooth, fresh cheese. Damn, it’s good.
In fact it’s so good you’ll likely find yourself working out more often just to eat these ricotta muffins. I certainly do.
Mediterranean Baked Ricotta Muffins
Ingredients
- 1 cup ricotta cheese
- 2 eggs
- 2 sun-dried tomatoes in oil (or 4 cherry tomatoes)
- 2 tsp capers
- 2 tbsp olives
- salt and pepper to taste
- muffin tray (and butter to grease it or muffin papers)
Optional:
- 1 tsp hot sauce (eg. sriracha)
- 2 spring onions (or shallots)
- 6 bay leaves
Instructions
- Pre-heat the oven to 190°C/ 375°F
- Slice the sundried or cherry tomatoes into small pieces and place in mixing bowl.
- Do the same with the olives.
- Add the ricotta, eggs, capers, spring onion and salt and pepper.
- As optional - throw in the hot sauce now.
- Beat it well with a fork.
- To prep the muffin tray simply place 6 muffin papers in the appropriate slots. If you don’t have any papers and are cooking directly in a muffin tray, then you should butter the slots to allow easy removal of the baked ricotta.
- Optional: Add a bay leaf into each slot (make sure not to eat it later on, it’s just for flavour!).
- Pour an equal measure of the mix into each of the 6 muffin papers.
- Place tray in the middle of the oven and cook for 18-20 minutes, until the top of each ricotta bomb has begun to brown. That’s it!
- Serve with your favourite sauce or just enjoy alone 🙂
Notes
Nutrition
Miss anything? Get it on 
I’m trying to do more fiber in my diet and I don’t like olives, what could I substitute for the olives and add for fiber?
Hi Sue, how about a few chopped spinach leaves?
Thanks Dave, I will try that!
Would love to hear how it goes!
Do these freeze well to be used later?
I’m making these tomorrow – will throw a couple in the freezer and let you know 24 hours later Ashlee! 🙂
Hi again Ashlee – I’m very happy to say they freeze and reheat wonderfully! Just as tasty as the day they were made – if not more so!!
how did you reheat? any instructions? 🙂
Hi Kat! I put them on the defrost setting on my microwave for 2 minutes, let them stand for a minute and then gave them a 1.5 minute blast on full power (1000w). That was for 6 muffins. Just make sure each one is piping hot throughout and you’ll be fine 🙂
I wanted to tell you that we loved your recipe so much that we featured it on our blog post. “5 Fabulous Recipes Using Fresh Ricotta” on our Lyme and Travel Blog – Dancing With Fireflies. Great Recipe and fantastic blog!
Thanks a ton Crysta!! 🙂
Thank you for sharing amazing, good, easy & healthy recipes.
You’re more than welcome Danya! Thanks for reading 🙂
Love this recipe. I added chilies and fresh basil to my version and they were awesome,!
Fresh basil is such a great idea! I imagine it really adds a nice aroma to the muffins! Thanks for sharing, Aj 😀
Awesome recipe…you guys are brilliant
Thank you, Sue! You’re very kind to say so :). Glad you enjoyed it!
How do you lovely cooks make your ricotta and what do you do with the fluid that over after the separation process
Thank you Shirl
Hi Shirley, actually I’ll confess, we’re naughty. We use the ready-made stuff from the supermarket. I’m sure making your own is 10x better, if you have the time!
Would like to sign up for newsletter. Thank you.
Hi Karin! If you go here: https://hurrythefoodup.com/high-protein-vegetarian-meal-plan/
You’ll see a green box to fill out where you can sign up for our meal plan and newsletter. It’ll be sent to you after that. Thanks!
Love your website! You guys are hilarious! I am trying to get on the mailing list. Hope this does it.
Did you sign up, Michelle? You can fill in the box on this page if you didn’t already 🙂 https://hurrythefoodup.com/high-protein-vegetarian-meal-plan/
I just started trying to get healthy this year, I quit drinking and smoking and I started dieting and working out. I bought some ricotta today and was wondering what to use it for, and I am soooooo excited to try this! Thanks for this amazing idea!!!! I’m drooling lol
Congrats Sierra, it sounds like you know exactly what you want! I’m also an ex heavy-smoker and have cut down on drinking, too (as you have to workout EVEN MORE otherwise) 😀 and I realised that better food goes hand in hand with it 🙂
Great that you came across our recipe! This is a personal fave of mine too, so enjoy!
Just found your website while searching for recipes to use up my homemade ricotta. Just wondering if anyone has made these using an Instant Pot instead of the oven, and, if so, how did they turn out? Recipe sounds like the popular “Egg Bites” that are going around on the web, but this one has more cheese and less egg. I like the olive/caper/dried tomato idea and uses a lot more ricotta…
I’ve never tried them in the Instant Pot to be honest – and I haven’t heard from anyone who has. But there’s only one way to find out, as they say 🙂
We’re glad you found us, Patty – enjoy the ricotta, however you cook it!
❤️ this site so much!
Thank you Rachel! :love: