Sheep's Milk Ricotta: Recipe and Ways to Enjoy It

Published September 27, 2026

La Moutonnière ricotta in its packaging — Ricotta from the La Moutonnière catalogue. The product listing is the reference for ingredients and storage.

Sheep's milk ricotta is a fresh, mild, and slightly creamy cheese made from sheep whey. For a successful sheep's milk ricotta recipe, it all comes down to three steps: gentle heating, letting it curdle, and patient draining. In Sainte-Hélène-de-Chester, Fromagerie La Moutonnière makes its own using milk from its flock of ewes.

What is sheep's milk ricotta

Sheep's milk ricotta belongs to the fresh cheese family. Unlike firm cheeses that need months of aging, it's meant to be eaten young, within days of being made. Its texture is finer and silkier than that of cow's milk ricotta, with a flavour that reflects the natural sweetness of sheep's milk.

At Fromagerie La Moutonnière, in Sainte-Hélène-de-Chester in Centre-du-Québec, ricotta is part of a lineup that also includes fetas, firm cheeses, soft cheeses, and Royogourt. Not every product is pure sheep's milk: the Sein d'Hélène, for instance, blends sheep's milk and cow's milk. The ricotta, on the other hand, puts the farm's sheep's milk front and centre.

How to make sheep's milk ricotta at home

If you'd like to try a homemade sheep's milk ricotta recipe, here are the steps found in most traditional methods:

Heat the milk or whey gently, without rushing it, until it just starts to simmer.
Add an acid, such as lemon juice or vinegar, to start the curdling process.
Let it sit without stirring, giving the curds time to separate properly from the liquid.
Pour carefully into a cheesecloth or fine strainer to drain.
Let it drain for a shorter or longer time depending on the texture you're after: less time for a creamy ricotta, more time for a firmer texture that can be sliced.

The result depends a lot on the quality of the milk you start with. That's actually what sets an artisanal ricotta apart from a mass-produced version: the flavour of the sheep's milk stays present, never masked.

How to enjoy it: savoury and sweet ideas

Sheep's milk ricotta works just as well in savoury dishes as it does in simple desserts.

Savoury:

Spread on a slice of country bread, with a drizzle of olive oil and a crack of pepper.
Mixed into a pasta filling, with fresh herbs.
Served cold alongside roasted root vegetables, such as beets.
Added to a salad to bring creaminess without weighing the dish down.

Sweet:

Blended smooth with a bit of honey and lemon zest, for a quick cream.
Folded into a fruit dessert in place of whipped cream.
Served simply with seasonal fruit, no fuss required.

On a cheese board, sheep's milk ricotta offers a gentle contrast next to more aged cheeses. It pairs well with honey, nuts, fresh herbs, olive oil, and slightly tart fruit like citrus.

Storing and choosing your sheep's milk ricotta

Ricotta is a fresh cheese, so it doesn't keep as long as a firm cheese. Keep it refrigerated, in its original container or an airtight one, and enjoy it within a few days of purchase to make the most of its freshness.

When choosing a ricotta, go by texture and smell: it should stay light, moist, and free of any strong odour. A well-made sheep's milk ricotta keeps a mild flavour, never sharp or sour.

Discover La Moutonnière's ricotta

If you'd rather leave the draining and the fine-tuning to experienced hands, La Moutonnière's ricotta is available through the online shop, with delivery across Quebec or pickup at either of the cheese dairy's two locations. To find more recipe ideas and learn more about sheep's milk cheeses, the dairy's journal features several articles on the subject.