Ricotta Pizza
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This ricotta pizza is an easy white pizza topped with creamy, garlicky ricotta and herbs. It’s simple yet delicious, and great to customise with your favorite add-ins.
Another Friday, another pizza night!
You’d know I LOVE playing with different pizza toppings, especially with glorious cheese. Think of these gooey mozzarella pizza, cream cheese pizza, gorgonzola pizza or this terrific pizza with goat cheese that I shared weeks ago.
They’re ALL amazing, seriously.
Today, I wanted to share with you a simple ricotta pizza recipe that’s not only easy, but incredibly flavorful. The recipe uses my no-knead pizza dough, it’s a breeze to whip up in one bowl and makes a crispy crust that goes wonderfully with creamy ricotta.
And yes, let’s talk about this ricotta topping, the star ingredient in this pizza recipe!
First, all you need to do is combine ricotta with a few pantry staples like extra virgin olive oil, garlic, dried herbs and seasoning. You’ll want a creamy and flavorful ricotta mixture to spread all over your pizza dough before baking.
As you can see, I’ve kept this ricotta pizza super simple as it tastes delicious on its own, but at the same time it can be a sort of blank canvas that pairs wonderfully with grilled veggies, olives, mushrooms, spinach and your fav add-ins.
Possibilities are endless, let’s get creative, and ricotta pizza for dinner tonight!
List of the ingredients
- No-knead pizza dough (or pre-made crust or your favorite recipe)
- Ricotta
- Salt & pepper
- Basil (fresh or dried)
- Chilli (fresh or dried flakes)
- Extra virgin olive oil
How to make ricotta pizza
(Note: this is a quick description, the full recipe is at the bottom of the page)
- Make this dough using just one bowl (follow the video tutorial, super easy!). You can also use your favorite recipe or a store-bought pizza crust. Totally up to you.
- Prep the topping by combining fresh ricotta, grated garlic, olive oil, basil, chili flakes, and seasoning in a bowl. Set aside.
- After rising, stretch the dough into a rectangular shape on parchment paper.
- Spread the ricotta mixture over, sprinkle with chili flakes or black pepper, and drizzle with olive oil.
- Bake until golden and crispy. Enjoy!
Recipe notes
Ricotta pizza ingredients & substitutions
Let’s have a closer look at what goes in this white pizza recipe, including substitutions and variations:
Pizza crust: You can use your fav recipe or even store-bought pizza crust, but I would highly recommend trying my easy no-knead pizza dough that you can make in 1 bowl, and no-kneading required. Make sure you follow recipe and tips here, and your pizza with ricotta will be amazing.
Ricotta: Full-fat ricotta is the best for flavor and texture. Either standard ricotta sealed in containers and fresh ricotta from the deli counter work for this recipe. And if you have ricotta leftovers to use up, check out these ricotta recipes to turn this fresh soft cheese into scrumptious pastas, dips or sweet desserts.
Extra virgin olive oil: When it comes to pizza, you’ll want to use extra virgin olive oil or olive oil. In this recipe we use it to emulsify the ricotta and to drizzle the pizza before or after baking. It adds great fruity flavor.
Herbs: I love the combo ricotta and basil. I used dried basil for the cheese mixture, and fresh basil over the pizza after baking so that it doesn’t wilt in the oven. You’re also welcome to use dried oregano or thyme, although the end flavor will be more earthy, and less fresh.
Garlic: I recommend grating the fresh garlic, and garlic lovers are free to use more garlic, if desired.
Chili flakes: I used both fresh and dried chilli flakes for a touch of heat, but you can use only convenient dried chili flakes, or skip the chilli if it’s not your thing.
Salt & pepper: Taste the ricotta mixture before spreading it over the pizza, and adjust the seasoning to your liking. A sprinkle of Maldon sea salt is delicious here.
Let’s customize your pizza with ricotta!
This ricotta pizza recipe pairs beautifully with a myriad of vegetarian add-ins.
You’re welcome to scatter over grilled veggies, (peppers, eggplants, zucchini…), sautéed spinach, cherry tomatoes, sun-dried tomatoes, canned artichokes, fresh arugula, fresh or sautéed mushrooms. The end result will be fresh and flavorful!
Tips for the best ricotta pizza
- Preheat the oven for burst of initial heat. The hotter, the better.
- Bake the pizza on the bottom rack of the oven, close to the heating element. This is the best position in my oven, but each oven is different, use the position that works for you.
- NO rolling pin! Stretch the pizza dough using your fingers and starting from the center. You want to keep the dough fluffy and light while stretching.
- Bake your pizza on a preheated pizza stone or pizza steel. Alternatively, you can use a baking tray (see my tips in the recipe card!).
- Use parchment paper and a pizza peel (or the back of a baking sheet) to transfer your pizza to the hot stone. This is essential if use a high-hydration dough like my no-knead dough.
- A drizzle of extra virgin olive oil, before or after baking, is essential for flavor.
- Serve with extra black pepper or chili flakes, and fresh basil for freshness! I also love a sprinkle of Maldon sea salt.
More pizza recipes you’ll love!
These collection of 17 veggie pizzas and 35 YUMMY pizza toppings or Focaccia toppings are a dream for any pizza lover!
Here some of my favs:
- Greek pizza
- Pizza with eggplants
- Pesto pizza
- Fresh tomato pizza
- Pizza with peppers
- Quick Caprese pizza
- Sun dried tomato pizza
If you make this ricotta pizza, or you have a question, let me know by leaving a comment. I would love to hear from you and get your feedback! x
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Ricotta pizza
Ingredients
Pizza dough
- 1 easy pizza dough (or your fav dough)
Mozzarella topping
- 1 cup (250 grams) full-fat ricotta
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling
- ½ teaspoon dried basil (or 1 Tbsp of chopped fresh basil), plus more to serve (optional)
- 1 garlic clove, grated
- ¼ to ⅓ teaspoon dried chilli fakes (or 1-2 sliced fresh chilli), to taste
- ½ teaspoon fine salt, plus more to taste
- freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
Pizza dough
- Follow the easy no-knead pizza recipe through step 5, including shaping the pizza and preheating the oven.
Ricotta topping
- Make the cheese mixture: Add the ricotta, olive oil, garlic, basil, chilli, salt and pepper to a bowl and mix with a spoon until fully combined and creamy. Taste and adjust the seasoning and overall flavor to your liking, feel free to add a bit more garlic or chili flakes if you like. Once the ricotta is well combined with the other ingredients, set aside.
- Shape the dough: When the dough is ready follow step 5, preheat the oven and place the parchment paper onto a pizza peel or onto the back of a rimmed baking sheet. Then place the dough on this parchment paper, and starting from the center, gently press it out with your fingers until you get approx a 9×13 inch pizza.
- Add the topping: Spread the ricotta mixture over the pizza dough, add extra fresh chilli flakes, fresh chili, or more black pepper if you like. Finish with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil (if you skip it know, you can add olive oil at the end of the baking time).
- Bake the pizza: When the oven is hot, use the pizza peel to carefully transfer the pizza onto the preheated pizza stone. Bake the pizza until the crust is nicely browned, approx 10-15 minutes. But each oven is different, keep an eye on it ( in a forced fan oven it will take about 8-10 minutes).
- Serve: allow the pizza to cool for a minute or two before serving, then scatter with fresh basil leaves and sea salt flakes (optional). Slice, serve immediately, enjoy!
