White Pizza Recipe (Pizza Bianca) — Easy, Creamy, and No Tomato Sauce
White Pizza Recipe (Pizza Bianca)
Easy, Creamy, and No Tomato Sauce
Forget everything you think pizza needs. No red sauce. No compromise. Just garlic, ricotta, mozzarella, and a crust that crunches when you fold it.
I’ll be honest with you — the first time someone suggested a pizza without tomato sauce, I looked at them like they’d suggested putting pineapple on a perfectly good steak. Sacrilege, right? Then I actually tried it, and everything changed. Pizza Bianca — white pizza — might just be the most underrated thing in the entire pizza universe.
No tomato sauce doesn’t mean no flavor. It means the garlic gets to shine. The ricotta gets to be silky and rich without fighting for attention. The mozzarella goes gooey in all the right ways. And that crust? With a little olive oil and sea salt? It tastes like something you’d find in a Roman bakery. This is the pizza that converts skeptics every single time.
Whether you’re starting from scratch with your own homemade pizza dough or using a store-bought shortcut on a Tuesday night, this recipe works. Let’s build it.
What Exactly Is White Pizza?
Pizza Bianca (Italian for “white pizza”) simply means the tomato sauce is out and a white base takes its place. That base is typically a garlic-infused olive oil, a spread of ricotta, or sometimes a creamy béchamel. The toppings then build on that foundation — mozzarella, Parmesan, fresh herbs, maybe some spinach or prosciutto if you’re feeling fancy.
It’s one of the many pizza styles that gets criminally overlooked, probably because we’re all so conditioned to the red stuff. But white pizza has deep roots in Italian cooking — Roman bakeries have been selling slabs of it (no cheese, just oil and salt) for centuries as street food. The gourmet, cheesy version you’re making today is the natural evolution of that tradition.
Think of it like this: tomato sauce is loud and bold, which is great. But sometimes you want something elegant. Something that lets the quality of your cheese and the flavor of your dough actually speak. That’s white pizza’s whole thing.
“White pizza is what happens when you trust good ingredients to carry the whole show — no red sauce to hide behind, just pure flavor.”
— Zach Miller, ThatPizzaKitchen.comWhy You Need This in Your Life
Beyond being genuinely delicious, white pizza solves a few real-world problems. Got someone at the table who’s sensitive to acidic foods? White pizza. Bored of the same Tuesday night pie? White pizza. Trying to impress someone and want to seem like you actually know what you’re doing in the kitchen? White pizza.
It also plays incredibly well with toppings that tomato sauce tends to overpower — things like fresh arugula, thin-sliced prosciutto, caramelized onions, or roasted garlic. If you’ve been wondering how to push your topping game further, switching the base up is honestly one of the best moves you can make.
One more thing: white pizza is arguably more forgiving than a traditional Margherita. Since you’re not dealing with watery tomato sauce, you get better control over moisture — which means a crispier base. More on that in the tips section.
The Recipe — Choose Your Pizza Size
Pizza Bianca — White Pizza Recipe
Creamy ricotta base · garlic oil · three-cheese · ready in under 35 minutes
🧾 Ingredients
Whole-milk ricotta is non-negotiable here — low-fat ricotta goes watery and bland under heat. Drain it in a sieve for 20 minutes if it looks wet. Fresh mozzarella gives you better melt and flavor, but low-moisture (block) mozzarella works great if that’s what you have on hand.
👨🍳 Instructions
- Preheat your oven and surface. Crank your oven to its maximum temperature (500–550°F / 260–290°C) with a pizza stone or baking steel inside. Let it preheat for at least 45–60 minutes. A cold stone = sad, soft pizza. ✓ Your kitchen should start feeling noticeably warm by the 30-minute mark.
- Make the garlic oil. Warm your olive oil in a small pan over low heat. Add the thinly sliced garlic and let it gently sizzle for 3–4 minutes until soft and fragrant — don’t let it brown. Remove from heat. Add a pinch of red pepper flakes if you like a little heat. ✓ The kitchen should smell incredible at this point. If it doesn’t, turn the heat up slightly.
- Prep your ricotta. In a bowl, stir together the ricotta, half the Parmesan, a pinch of salt, black pepper, and a small amount of the infused garlic oil. Mix until smooth and creamy. Taste it — this is your base, so season it confidently. ✓ It should taste slightly salty, garlicky, and rich. If it tastes bland, add more salt and a crack of pepper.
- Stretch your dough. On a lightly floured surface, gently stretch your dough to your target size. Don’t use a rolling pin — use your hands and let gravity do the work. Aim for an even thickness with slightly thicker edges. ✓ The dough should feel smooth and elastic, not sticky or tearing.
- Build the pizza. Transfer dough to a floured pizza peel (or parchment paper). Brush the base with garlic oil, going right to the edges. Dollop the ricotta mixture across the surface — don’t spread it like butter, leave some rustic gaps. Scatter the mozzarella over the top. Finish with the remaining Parmesan. ✓ It should look rustic and layered — not uniformly flat. Those ricotta pockets are where the magic happens.
- Bake. Slide the pizza onto your hot stone. Bake for 10–14 minutes until the crust is golden, the edges are blistered, and the cheese is bubbling and lightly browned in spots. ✓ Look for golden-brown patches on the cheese and dark, airy bubbles on the crust edge. If the bottom looks pale, let it go another 2 minutes.
- Finish and serve. Pull the pizza out, drizzle with a little extra garlic oil, scatter fresh basil leaves, and hit it with a final pinch of flaky sea salt. Let it rest 2 minutes before slicing. ✓ That sizzle when you drizzle the cold oil onto the hot pizza? Perfect.
Breaking Down the Method
The Garlic Oil: Don’t Skip It
Garlic oil is the backbone of your white pizza. It does three jobs: it seasons the crust as it bakes, it builds flavor under the cheese layer, and it prevents the dough from going soggy (unlike a wet tomato sauce can). Take your time here — gently infusing garlic into warm olive oil is very different from burning it in a hot pan. Low and slow. Fragrant, not brown.
If you want to get extra with it, add a few sprigs of fresh thyme or rosemary to the oil while it infuses. Pull the herbs out before spreading the oil on the dough, but the flavor stays. FYI — this garlic oil is also incredible as a bread dip, just saying.
The Ricotta Layer: Rustic Is Right
The biggest mistake people make with ricotta on pizza is spreading it like cream cheese — thin, even, and wall-to-wall. Don’t do that. Dollop it. Spoon rough mounds across the dough and let it melt and spread during baking. You want pockets of creamy ricotta sitting in a sea of golden mozzarella. That contrast in texture is exactly what makes white pizza addictive.
Season your ricotta before it goes on. A plain ricotta base is flat and boring — a properly seasoned one is revelatory. Salt, pepper, a hit of Parmesan, and a drizzle of that garlic oil. Taste it before it goes on the pizza.
The Cheese: Layer It
Three cheeses sounds like overkill. It’s not. Ricotta gives creaminess and body. Mozzarella gives you that classic stretch and melt. Parmesan gives you the salty, nutty bite that ties everything together. Each one plays a different role — you can’t really swap one out and get the same result. If you want to learn more about which cheeses work best for different pizza styles, the guide to the best cheeses for homemade pizza is worth a read.
Temperature Is Non-Negotiable
White pizza especially benefits from a ripping hot oven. You want that bottom crust to set fast before the ricotta has a chance to release moisture. According to pizza experts at Serious Eats, the ideal home-oven pizza temperature is 500–550°F minimum, and preheating your stone for at least 45–60 minutes is what separates good pizza from great pizza. If your oven maxes out at 450°F, it’ll still work — just watch it closely and check your oven settings to make sure you’re using the right mode.
Pro Tips for the Perfect Pizza Bianca
Drain Your Ricotta
Too much moisture is the enemy of a crispy base. If your ricotta looks wet, strain it through a fine-mesh sieve for 20 minutes before using.
Hot Oven, Longer Preheat
Crank it to max. A hot stone is everything — preheat for at least 45–60 minutes or you’ll get a soft, pale base instead of a proper crisp.
Room-Temp Dough Only
Cold dough fights you when you stretch it and cooks unevenly. Pull it from the fridge at least 30–60 minutes before you want to bake.
Don’t Brown the Garlic
Burnt garlic is bitter and will ruin the delicate flavor of your white base. Gentle heat, fragrant but pale — that’s the goal.
Less Is More on Toppings
White pizza shines when it’s not overloaded. Too many toppings = soggy, steamy base. Keep it restrained and let the cheese be the star.
Add Fresh Herbs After Baking
Basil, arugula, or fresh chives go on after the pizza comes out of the oven — not before. Heat kills their freshness and color instantly.
Pizza Bianca at a Glance
Watch It Being Made
Sometimes the best way to nail a new recipe is to watch someone else do it first. This video walks through a beautiful white pizza from start to finish — great visuals for the garlic oil technique and the ricotta dolloping method especially.
Variations Worth Trying
The core recipe is perfect as-is, but white pizza is also a brilliant canvas for getting creative. Once you’ve mastered the base, try some of these riffs:
🔄 Pizza Bianca Variations
- Prosciutto & Arugula: Add thin prosciutto slices in the last 3 minutes of baking. Pull out the pizza and pile on fresh arugula dressed with lemon juice and olive oil. A classic.
- Spinach & Artichoke: Stir wilted spinach and chopped artichoke hearts into your ricotta mixture. Tastes like the dip got promoted to main course.
- Caramelized Onion & Gorgonzola: Swap some of the mozzarella for crumbled Gorgonzola and top with slow-cooked caramelized onions. This is the version that impresses people.
- Roasted Garlic & Mushroom: Use roasted garlic (instead of raw-infused) for a sweeter, milder flavor. Add sautéed mushrooms and fresh thyme. Earthy and deeply satisfying.
- Truffle White Pizza: Keep it simple — just ricotta, mozzarella, Parmesan — and finish with a drizzle of truffle oil and shaved Parmesan. This is the move for pizza date night.
- Gluten-Free Base: The topping method works perfectly on a gluten-free pizza dough — no adjustments needed. Just nail your base recipe.
- Flatbread Version: Not ready to make dough from scratch? Use a flatbread or naan base and you’re 15 minutes away from dinner. The naan pizza recipes on the site have great inspiration for this.
Dough: The Unsung Hero
White pizza shines brightest on a proper homemade dough. Without tomato sauce doing a lot of the flavor lifting, your crust needs to pull more weight. That means a dough with good fermentation flavor — ideally one that’s had time to cold ferment in the fridge. If you want to understand why that matters, the piece on cold fermentation pizza dough breaks it down really well.
Short on time? The no-rise, no-stress pizza dough works in a pinch and still gives you a solid result. You can also lean on beginner-friendly dough recipes that don’t require any special technique. White pizza is forgiving like that.
If you’re getting into the weeds on flour types — and honestly, the flour you use does make a difference to the final texture — the breakdown of bread flour vs 00 flour for pizza is genuinely worth 5 minutes of your time before you commit to a recipe.
One thing I’ll always push: don’t skip the proper oven prep. Preheating your oven correctly is the single highest-impact thing you can do for your home pizza game — and it costs you nothing except a bit of patience.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes — with some caveats. You can prep the garlic oil and the seasoned ricotta mixture up to 24 hours in advance and keep them refrigerated. The dough can be made ahead and frozen or fridge-proofed. But assemble and bake fresh — pizza doesn’t survive pre-assembly well. The ricotta will release moisture as it sits and you’ll end up with a soggy base.
Three likely culprits: (1) your ricotta was too wet — drain it next time; (2) your oven or stone wasn’t hot enough — give it a longer preheat; (3) you over-topped the pizza, which traps steam. Check out the full breakdown on why pizza bases don’t crisp up for more diagnosis tips. Also, make sure your oven mode is right — fan/convection is usually better for pizza.
A few options work well. Mascarpone is richer and creamier — use slightly less since it’s more intense. Cottage cheese (blended smooth) works in a pinch and is higher in protein. Cream cheese mixed with a little olive oil and garlic can stand in if needed, though it’s denser. IMO, ricotta is the right call for the classic texture — but any of these will get you a white pizza worth eating.
Absolutely. A sheet pan works great — preheat it in the oven so it’s hot when the pizza goes on. A cast iron skillet is another excellent option and gives you a seriously crispy bottom. You’ll also find a full guide on making pizza without a pizza stone if you want the full rundown of alternatives.
Store slices in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days. To reheat, skip the microwave — it makes the crust rubbery and the cheese weird. Instead, use a skillet over medium heat for 4–5 minutes with a lid on. You’ll get a crispy bottom and melted cheese. Alternatively, a 375°F oven for 8 minutes works well. The full guide on reheating pizza so it’s crispy, not soggy has all the methods covered.
Final Thoughts
White pizza is one of those recipes that genuinely changes the way you think about what pizza can be. Once you realize tomato sauce was just one option — not a requirement — a whole new world opens up. Garlic oil, creamy ricotta, golden mozzarella, fresh herbs. It’s a completely different experience, and IMO, it’s one that every home pizza maker should have in their back pocket.
This is also a recipe that scales effortlessly. Making it for two? Date night pizza sorted. Feeding a crowd? Bump up the size and prep double the garlic oil. Hosting a pizza bar? This sits beautifully alongside a more traditional red sauce pie and gives everyone options. It even fits perfectly into a DIY pizza party bar setup where people can customize their own.
So give it a go. Make the garlic oil. Season that ricotta. Get your oven ripping hot. And when you pull it out and it’s golden and bubbling and smells incredible — tag us. We want to see it.
— Zach Miller, ThatPizzaKitchen.com
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