With fresh from the garden tomatoes, this summertime savory Italian Tomato Ricotta Pie is indulgent, filling, and full of flavor!
This post, photos, and recipe updated August 11, 2016. You can see the original, ugly photos at the bottom of this post. If you really want to.
Weeks ago I saw a Tomato Pie on The Chew, and just knew I had to make a version of it that night! It sounded fabulous, with tomatoes and a peach-chili jam, but I didn't have all of the ingredients on hand right then, and I wanted to put more of an Italian inspiration into it anyway, so Italian Tomato Ricotta Pie was born. You can view the original recipe from The Chew here .
When I make it again ( I might wait until next summer so I can use tomatoes from the garden again) I think I would add more tomatoes. My recipe calls for 3 medium-sized tomatoes, if you would like more I would suggest 4-5. With the 3 it's good, but to me it's more of a ricotta pie than a tomato pie. It is a thin pie, but it's very filling. If you would like it a bit thicker, add another ½ container ricotta cheese or it could also be easily adapted to include cooked ham, or ground beef, or maybe add some crumbled bacon!
I originally called for a store-bought pie crust, but after making it again, I think homemade crust would be much better, if you have the time. The main reason is the store-bought crust shrinks during pre-baking, making the crust very small. You can find an easy to make recipe using a food processor on It's Yummi or a handmade pie crust with a recipe for a yummy blueberry pie on It's A Keeper. If you don't have time to make your own crust, don't worry, it's still delicious!
Italian Tomato Ricotta Pie
Ingredients
- 9 inch frozen pie crust thawed or homemade
- 3 tomatoes sliced ¼ inch thick, seeds removed
- 15 ounce container whole milk ricotta cheese
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 1 egg
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
- 1 teaspoon chopped fresh oregano
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- ⅛ teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
- white sugar for sprinkling
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375*F. Place the pie crust in a 9 inch pie pan sprayed LIGHTLY with cooking spray, and crimp the edges. Bake the pie shell is the preheated oven for 10 minutes, remove from oven and allow to cool.
- Meanwhile, slice the tomatoes, removing the seeds with a sharp knife, sprinkle lightly with sugar, and place in a colander to drain.
- In a large bowl combine the ricotta, minced garlic, egg, oregano, parsley, salt, and pepper; stir well.
- Spread the ricotta mixture into the bottom of the cooled pie crust, then layer the tomatoes on top.
- Bake, uncovered, for 25-35 minutes, or until the crust is golden brown and the tomatoes are soft.
- Let cool for 10 minutes before slicing, and serve.
Nutrition
Cindy says
I have to find my recipe but I use to make a spinach ricotta cheese pie. I think the recipe is just like the one you have but you add a box of frozen spinach that has a lot to the mixture. and you could always leave the tomatoes out or put them in and then I also had a friend that needed with broccoli instead of the spinach she kind of pure read it a little bit so it wasn't as chunky or she chopped it and put it in as well so you can experiment that way but I recently moved and I have stuff still packed away and I can't seem to locate the recipe right now.
Bernadette says
I thought about chopping the tomatoes and adding them right in with the ricotta mixture. There is a lot you can do with this! Play around, and find a version you love 🙂
Tonette Joyce says
That's very generous,Bernadette.I have in-laws coming to visit;I'll do it next week.
Tonette Joyce says
Looks YUM, Bernadette...can't go wrong with real ricotta for me!
I plane on an easy-crust post soon on my blog with several recipes, in case you'd like to go all the way with this and use homemade crust.
Bernadette says
Sure! Share it on my FB page when it's done 🙂