Ricotta Pizza Done Right: 7 Ways to Use the Trend Topping
Trending Toppings · 2026 Edition
Ricotta Pizza Done Right: 7 Ways to Use the Trend Topping
Ricotta isn’t just for lasagna anymore. Here’s how to make it the MVP of your next homemade pie.
Ricotta has been quietly sitting in the shadows of mozzarella for years — like the talented understudy who never gets called to the stage. Well, 2026 is its year. Pizza Today flagged ricotta as the #1 most versatile trend topping of the year, and honestly? It’s not hard to see why once you’ve had a properly made ricotta pizza. That creamy, pillowy dollop hits completely differently from standard melted cheese.
Whether you’re loading it onto a white pizza sauce base or pairing it with hot honey and roasted figs, ricotta adds a richness that levels up your homemade pizza game without requiring any fancy technique. You just need to know how to use it right — and that’s exactly what we’re getting into today.
Seven ways, seven totally different flavour profiles, one ingredient. Let’s go.
Why Ricotta Works So Well on Pizza
Let’s be real — not every trendy ingredient deserves the hype. But ricotta genuinely earns it. Unlike mozzarella, ricotta doesn’t fully melt into the pie. It stays in those gorgeous little dollops, creating pockets of creaminess that contrast brilliantly against crispy crust. Texture nerd heaven, basically.
Ricotta is also mild enough to work with practically anything — bold flavours like roasted garlic, sweet ones like honey, acidic ones like lemon. It plays nice. According to Serious Eats, whole-milk ricotta has around 30% fat content which gives it that creamy, luscious body without turning greasy in the oven.
One important thing before we dive into the seven ways: always use whole-milk ricotta. Part-skim is fine for stuffed shells but it’ll turn watery on a hot pizza. You want full fat, full flavour, full commitment. FYI — you can also easily make fresh ricotta at home in about 20 minutes if you want to go full pizza nerd mode.
Also, check out the ultimate guide to pizza toppings and best cheese for homemade pizza for context on where ricotta fits in the wider topping world. Now — seven ways.
Ricotta doesn’t melt into the background. It stays present, creamy, and bold — which is exactly what a great pizza topping should do.
— Zach Miller, ThatPizzaKitchen.comWay 1: Classic White Ricotta Pizza
The One That Started It All
If you’re new to ricotta pizza, start here. A white ricotta pizza skips the tomato sauce entirely and goes straight to a garlic-olive oil base layered with whole-milk ricotta, low-moisture mozzarella, and fresh basil. Simple. Elegant. Deeply satisfying.
The trick is seasoning your ricotta before it hits the pie. Mix it with lemon zest, a pinch of salt, black pepper, and a tiny amount of fresh thyme. This turns a bland dairy product into something that tastes intentional. Dollop it generously — don’t spread it like butter — and let it do its thing at 500°F (260°C) for 8–10 minutes.
For the base, the white pizza sauce recipe on this site is honestly the best starting point. That garlic cream sauce + ricotta combination is something else.
- Best dough: Thin NY-style or Neapolitan
- Bake temp: 500°F / 260°C (as hot as your oven goes)
- Finish with: Fresh basil, crack of black pepper, good olive oil drizzle
Way 2: Lemon Ricotta with Arugula
Bright, Peppery, and Dangerously Easy
This is the pizza you make when you want to impress someone without actually trying that hard. A lemon ricotta pizza hits all the right notes — rich and creamy from the cheese, bright and acidic from the citrus, peppery from fresh arugula. It’s basically a salad on pizza, which is the best kind of salad.
Bake the pizza with just the ricotta (seasoned with plenty of lemon zest and juice) and a light mozzarella layer. The second it comes out of the oven, pile on a mountain of fresh arugula tossed in a little olive oil and lemon juice. Finish with shaved Parmesan and optionally a drizzle of white truffle oil if you’re feeling fancy.
According to Bon Appétit, the key to this style is making sure the arugula goes on after baking so it stays fresh and crisp — not wilted. Don’t skip that step.
- Secret weapon: Lemon zest in the ricotta + more lemon on the arugula
- Optional upgrade: Crispy prosciutto added in the last 2 minutes of baking
- Wine pairing: Pinot Grigio or a dry Sauvignon Blanc
Way 3: Hot Honey & Ricotta
The Sweet-Heat Combo Everyone’s Talking About
Hot honey pizza has been a massive trend, and pairing it with ricotta is genuinely one of the smartest things you can do in your home kitchen right now. The cooling creaminess of ricotta against the sweet, spicy kick of hot honey is one of those combinations that makes you question every pizza decision you’ve made before it.
Build this on a classic tomato base with mozzarella and pepperoni (or fennel sausage if you want to go full Italian-American). Add dollops of ricotta before baking. Once it comes out, immediately drizzle with hot honey — Mike’s Hot Honey is the benchmark, or make your own by infusing raw honey with dried chilli flakes.
The Mike’s Hot Honey team recommends a ratio of roughly 1 tablespoon per 12-inch pizza, but honestly — pour with your heart. This one is also brilliant on a creative topping combination with crispy shallots and fresh chilli.
- Base: San Marzano tomato sauce
- Key toppings: Pepperoni + ricotta + hot honey post-bake
- IMO: This is the best of the seven. Controversial take, but here we are.
Way 4: Ricotta & Roasted Garlic
Low-Key Sophisticated, High-Key Delicious
Roasted garlic transforms from sharp and pungent into something almost sweet and nutty — and when you smash it into whole-milk ricotta and spread that mixture across a pizza base, magic happens. This is a white pizza variation that’s deeply umami without being heavy.
To roast the garlic: slice the top off a full head, drizzle with olive oil, wrap in foil, and roast at 400°F (200°C) for 40 minutes until the cloves are caramel-soft. Squeeze them into your ricotta, add some grated Pecorino Romano, a little salt, and fresh rosemary. Spread this as your “sauce” layer and top with sliced baby tomatoes and fresh mozzarella.
If you want a deeper understanding of how baking temperature affects cheese behaviour, check out the guide to best oven settings for pizza at home — it makes a real difference to how this comes out.
- Prep note: Roast the garlic a day ahead and store in olive oil in the fridge
- Cheese combo: Ricotta + Pecorino Romano + fresh mozzarella
- Herbs: Rosemary before baking, fresh thyme after
Way 5: Sweet Fig & Prosciutto Ricotta Pizza
The One That Goes on a Date Night
This is the pizza you make when you want dinner to feel like a restaurant experience. Fig jam as the base, dollops of ricotta, thin-sliced prosciutto, and a honey finish — it’s elegant without being fussy. It also happens to be one of the most visually stunning pizzas you’ll ever make at home, which is great for the ‘gram.
Use fig jam (or fresh sliced figs if they’re in season) spread thinly across the dough as your sauce. Add your ricotta in generous dollops, layer with prosciutto di Parma, and finish with a few sprigs of fresh thyme and a scattering of crushed walnuts. Bake until the crust is golden, then finish with a drizzle of raw honey and a handful of fresh rocket.
Food & Wine has explored this combination extensively and it consistently ranks among their most-made pizza recipes. Not hard to see why — sweet, salty, creamy, and savoury all at once.
- Season: Best in late summer when fresh figs are available
- Swap: No figs? Try thinly sliced pears with gorgonzola and ricotta
- Occasion: Perfect for pizza date night
Way 6: Spinach & Ricotta (The Classic Done Better)
You Already Know This One — But Not Like This
Spinach and ricotta pizza is the classic that every home cook has made at some point. But most people make it wrong — watery spinach flooding the base, bland ricotta, sad results. Here’s how to actually do it right.
Step one: always cook your spinach first. Sauté it in garlic and olive oil until completely wilted, then squeeze out every drop of moisture using a clean kitchen towel. Seriously — squeeze harder than you think you need to. This step alone is the difference between a soggy disaster and a genuinely great pizza.
Mix the spinach into your seasoned ricotta along with some nutmeg (a tiny pinch — don’t go crazy), lemon zest, and Parmesan. Spread this as your base layer, add mozzarella on top, and bake. The result is creamy, savoury, deeply flavoured, and nothing like the sad version you’ve probably had from a takeaway.
- Critical step: Squeeze ALL the moisture from the spinach
- Flavour booster: Add a pinch of nutmeg and plenty of Parmesan
- Related read: 7 healthy pizza toppings for more veggie-loaded ideas
Way 7: Dessert Ricotta Pizza
Yes, Really. Don’t Sleep on This.
Hear me out. A dessert ricotta pizza sounds gimmicky until you actually eat one — and then you immediately want to make another. This is a thing. A real, genuinely delicious thing.
Start with a slightly sweetened pizza dough (add 1 tablespoon of sugar to your standard recipe), bake it off without any toppings until just golden, then top with a sweetened ricotta spread (ricotta + powdered sugar + vanilla + lemon zest), fresh berries, a drizzle of raw honey, and a dusting of icing sugar. Some people add Nutella as a base layer instead of the plain ricotta — both approaches work brilliantly.
It works especially well as a dessert pizza option at a pizza party because it’s unexpected and always gets a reaction. The King Arthur Baking team has also published a version using their all-purpose flour that creates a particularly tender, cookie-like base — worth checking out if you want to go deep on the technique.
- Sweet ricotta mix: Ricotta + icing sugar + vanilla + lemon zest
- Toppings: Fresh strawberries, blueberries, drizzle of honey
- Optional: Nutella base layer + ricotta + raspberries + crushed pistachios
Pro Tips for Perfect Ricotta Pizza Every Time
Before you head to the kitchen, a few golden rules worth burning into your memory:
Whole Milk Only
Always use whole-milk ricotta. Part-skim turns watery in the oven and loses that creamy texture you’re after.
Season Before It Goes On
Plain ricotta is bland. Mix in salt, pepper, lemon zest, and herbs before it ever touches the dough.
Control Moisture Ruthlessly
Cooked vegetables on a ricotta pizza must be thoroughly drained. Excess water = soggy base. Non-negotiable.
Blast it With Heat
Ricotta pizza needs a hot oven — 475°F to 500°F (245–260°C). Lower temps result in rubbery cheese and pale crust.
Dollop, Don’t Spread
For most styles, dollop the ricotta in spoonfuls rather than spreading it flat — it creates better texture and visual appeal.
Finish With Acid
A squeeze of fresh lemon or a splash of good balsamic after baking brightens up every ricotta pizza instantly.
And if you’re still getting soggy results from your pizza base in general, the guide to why your pizza base won’t crisp covers all the likely culprits. Read that, fix the issues, then come back to ricotta pizza with a proper foundation.
Ricotta Pizza at a Glance
Ricotta Pizza — See the Technique Before You Try It
Sometimes you just need to see how it’s done before you trust yourself in the kitchen. This video walks through the ricotta pizza process beautifully — pay attention to how they handle the dolloping technique and the final bake. It’s quick, it’s clear, and it’ll save you from making rookie mistakes.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can you use ricotta as the only cheese on a pizza?
Yes — and it can be brilliant. A ricotta-only white pizza with olive oil, garlic, and herbs is a classic style in Southern Italy. That said, most home cooks do better with a ricotta + mozzarella combo since mozzarella provides the stretchy melt while ricotta provides creaminess. Check out the guide to the best cheese for homemade pizza if you want to explore the full picture.
Does ricotta go on before or after baking?
For most savoury styles, ricotta goes on before baking — dolloped onto the raw dough so it gets slightly golden and set during the bake. For dessert ricotta pizza (Way 7) and some fresh-style white pies, it can go on after baking for a cooler, fresher texture. Both approaches work depending on the style you’re going for.
Why is my ricotta pizza watery?
Three main culprits: using part-skim ricotta (which releases more water), adding wet toppings like unsqueezed spinach or fresh tomatoes without pre-salting, or baking at too low a temperature. Always use whole-milk ricotta, drain/cook any vegetables thoroughly, and push your oven as hot as it’ll go. For more on fixing a soggy base, the pizza base crisping guide is essential reading.
What’s the best dough for a ricotta pizza?
Thin-crust styles — Neapolitan or New York — work best because ricotta is already rich and creamy. A thick crust can make the whole thing feel heavy. If you’re looking for the right dough foundation, the ultimate homemade pizza dough guide is a great starting point. You want a dough that gets a little charred and crispy at the edges to contrast with the soft ricotta.
The Bottom Line on Ricotta Pizza
Ricotta isn’t a gimmick and it isn’t a flash-in-the-pan trend. It’s a genuinely brilliant pizza topping that home cooks have been underusing for years. The fact that it works equally well on a savoury white pie, a bold hot honey pizza, and a dessert dessert slice tells you everything you need to know about how versatile this ingredient is.
Pick one of the seven ways above that jumps out at you — honestly, start with the Classic White or the Hot Honey version if you’re not sure — and give it a proper go this week. Use whole-milk ricotta. Season it before it goes on. Blast it with heat. Don’t overthink it.
For everything else you need to nail your homemade pizza game, the ultimate pizza beginner’s guide covers the full picture from dough to bake. Go make something great. 🍕
Ready to Put Ricotta to Work?
Explore more pizza recipes, technique guides, and topping ideas — everything you need to make great pizza at home.
