This 100+ year old recipe for Italian Ricotta Pie has been passed down through generations. Perfectly sweet with great flavors – a slice of Italy!
We’re sharing this Italian Ricotta Pie as part of an ongoing Ambassadorship with Peapod. All opinions are 100% mine.
Today we’re sharing a treasured family recipe from my husband’s side of the family. This recipe for Italian Ricotta Pie was part of a collection of handwritten (and very weathered) recipes that we were lucky enough to inherit from Jack’s grandmother.
Italian Ricotta Pie is a classic, traditional recipe – often served at Easter. Like so many of the other passed-down recipes that we’ve recreated here on A Family Feast, this 100+ year-old family recipe was vaguely written, and it lacked some exact ingredient measurements. So – it actually took us three attempts to get this Italian Ricotta Pie recipe just right! (You’ll also notice that Jack’s grandmother called it a ‘cake’ but it is baked in a pie plate!)
I think our Italian Ricotta Pie will make any fan of traditional Italian foods very happy! (Especially those of you who love Italian desserts!)
This pie has a lightly sweetened, very moist ricotta cheese filling, and a thick, rustic crust with hints of both vanilla and almond flavors. Interestingly – this recipe does not use butter in the crust. Extra virgin olive oil is used instead – and it totally works – giving the crust a crispy, flaky and almost cookie-like texture on the outer edges, and the bottom crust under the ricotta cheese filling is slightly cake-like in texture.
You can buy all of the ingredients to make this Italian Ricotta Pie – as well as everything else you’ll need to prepare your Easter dinner – from Peapod’s grocery delivery service. Peapod carries thousands of items including Easter candy, holiday hams, and so much more – just like your local supermarket. You can even place your grocery order from the Peapod app! Just decide on the date and time of your grocery delivery – and Peapod will bring your groceries to your home or office.
PrintItalian Ricotta Pie
This 100+ year old recipe for Italian Ricotta Pie has been passed down through generations. Perfectly sweet with great flavors – a slice of Italy!
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 hour 20 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 50 minutes
- Yield: Serves 8
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients
Crust
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/3 cup granulated sugar
2 egg yolks (save egg whites for filling)
1/3 cup whole milk
1/3 cup good quality olive oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon almond extract
Flour for dusting your counter
Filling
2 cups whole milk ricotta cheese
1/2 cup granulated sugar
3 whole eggs, beaten
2 egg whites (saved from making the crust)
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Bring 2 or more quarts of water to boil on stove. In the bottom rack of the preheated oven, place a baking dish such as a 9×13-inch baking dish and fill with the hot, boiled water. Place another oven rack directly over that to next rack position.
- In a large bowl, sift flour, baking powder and sugar. Stir to combine.
- In a smaller bowl combine egg yolks, milk, olive oil, and both extracts.
- Make a hole in the center of the flour and pour in liquid. With a wooden spoon, mix to combine. (If the mixture gets too difficult to combine with a wooden spoon, used your hands to finish mixing).
- Flour your countertop well and place the dough ball in the center, pressing to form a round disc. Keep flouring, pressing and flipping. Flour a rolling pin and gently roll to a circle an inch or two larger than a deep dish 9-inch pie plate.
- Either fold the dough in half and place over half the pie plate, flipping other half over or roll the dough onto your rolling pin than back over the pie plate. Again, the dough is soft and delicate so be gentle.
- Use your fingers to form and press the dough into the confines of the pie dish, crimping the top edge all the way around (as you would any other pie) by pinching with thumb and index finger. Set aside, the shell is not pre-baked.
- Make the filling by placing the ricotta in a large bowl and mixing in sugar until combined.
- Add whole eggs, egg whites and vanilla and stir to combine with a wooden spoon. If lumpy, use a wire whisk to smooth out.
- Pour directly into unbaked crust. Cover the crust edge with foil or pie crust shield so the edges don’t get too browned as the pie bakes.
- Place pie in the center of oven on the rack over the water bath and bake for one hour and ten minutes. Turn off oven but leave the pie in the oven for ten more minutes. (Don’t open the oven door during any of the time that the pie is in the oven.)
- Carefully remove the pie from the oven and place on a wire rack to cool completely. (Cool completely before refrigerating – if you put the pie in the refrigerator while still warm, it will weep slightly and collect moisture on top.) Chill overnight uncovered.
- Once chilled, cut and serve.
Notes
Please note: The dough for the crust is very delicate and very soft. This is normal and if it breaks as you put it into the pie plate, it can easily be repaired by pressing the tear together. (So don’t worry at all if it doesn’t roll out and transfer perfectly to the pie plate.)
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Looks delicious! Can you freeze this. Does the integrity hold up?
We haven’t tried freezing this pie Nancy – I’d be worried that after thawing, the filling might seep liquid or the overall texture could change. To be safe, I’d make this up to a day ahead of when you plan to serve it.
Can we forego the almond extract? Or substitute with something else? A couple people in my family have nut allergies.
Sure Eli – You could swap in vanilla or lemon extract for a different flavor.
Hi Martha,
I am going to make a easier crust using Biscoff Crumbs and butter coz I happen to have it. In this case, for the filling can I just use 3 egg and skipped the 2 egg white? How would it affect e texture? Looking forward to make this cake🙂
Hi – The filling will probably be heavier/more dense without the egg whites but if that doesn’t bother you, you can try it.
Oh my word – this was delicious! (I had ricotta I needed to use up, and refrigerated pie dough…did a Google search of those two ingredients and came across this recipe.)
I added the vanilla and almond extracts to the filling (considering I cheated on the crust). Didn’t have quite enough ricotta, so used whipped cream cheese to make up the difference. Followed baking directions to a T, and it came out perfect (course, I’ve never made a ricotta pie, but to me it seemed perfect 😉 ). Decided to sprinkle dark chocolate chips on the top, right after removing from oven (pushed down lightly). Then decided to dust with powdered sugar. Then thought, “hey, I’ve got some raspberry fruit spread that might be good on this.” Then figured, why not top it off with slivered almonds?! Lol. I’m certain that it would have still tasted fabulous even without my additional “thens” 🙂 Thank you for the recipe – it’s a keeper!
Sounds like some great additions Julie! So glad you enjoyed the pie!
This recipe is so perfect! It was almost exactly like the pies my Mother used to make every Easter before she had passed away over 8 years ago. This comes very close to hers! And dare I say it? The crust is actually even better because it is more flaky and much easier to cut and eat! Thank you for sharing this recipe! It is the closest thing I have to my Mother making it. It is so delicious! God bless!
Thank you so much Jennifer – we are honored to have our recipe turn out even half as good as your mother’s pie!
This recipe was so amazing. I rolled the crust between two sheets of waxed paper and it worked very easily. Mixing the ricotta was a breeze and keeping in the oven is definitely the secret. The flavor of the almond and vanilla in the crust makes the pie very tasty. Everyone enjoyed the pie!
Thank you so much!
Hi! I just made this pie. It smells wonderful but it’s very soft in the middle. Should I keep it in longer or will it settle?
Thanks for the info🙏🏻🐰
If it’s still liquid in the middle yes. If it’s slightly jiggly, it might be done and will firm up a bit more once it is chilled. Hope that helps!
Going to try your lovely recipe today! Just a little worried about the water in the oven. Might the moisture short out an electric oven?
Hi Lorraine – As long as you don’t spill the water all over the oven, I think you should be fine putting a pan of water on the lower rack. The water bath will just create more moisture in the oven air. Good luck!
Smells great and waiting To try tomorrow for Easter. Only thing is I bought a deep dish especially for this recipe but I think a regular pie plate would be better as the filling didn’t seem to fill the deep dish. Might take some crust off the top so it looks a little better.
Thanks for your feedback Lauren.
Outstanding… this is better than anything you could buy in an Italian bakery. I had to play around with the temperature (my oven seems to run hot), for me the crust browned fast. I needed a pie shield and just a touch of lower temp (I baked it at 325 for just a few minutes longer). I love the cake like texture of the crust on the bottom and the custard consistency on the top. Thank you for posting this!
Wow Shannon-thank you so much! We’re very glad you enjoyed the pie!