If your favorite part of lasagna is the rich ricotta layer, you’re going to love this 3 cheese lasagna pizza. A mixture of ricotta, egg, herbs and spices slathered over the best grandma pizza dough recipe along with fresh mozzarella, fontina and your favorite pizza sauce. Let the ricotta pizza feast begin!
And if you are a super fan of grandma pizza in general, try my Cubano pizza.
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Is Lasagna Pizza Really a Thing?
Honestly, I didn’t think that it was a thing. I love ricotta cheese on a pizza, so I took it one step farther and made a ricotta filling like I would for lasagna and spread that over some well risen grandma pizza dough, topped it with a simple uncooked pizza sauce (or this homemade pizza sauce) along with shaved mozzarella and fontina.
Then I started looking up lasagna pizza, and I found a lot of reference to it online. A couple of the recipes actually had lasagna noodles as one of the pizza toppings.
I didn’t think I needed to go that far–I figured one carb or the other and not both, right?!
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I also have seen a lot of references to pizza lasagna, which is completely different. That’s a lasagna that you build with ingredients you’d normally put on a pizza like pepperoni, mushrooms, onions, etc.
Not that you couldn’t top this lasagna pizza however you want, but I wanted to keep the toppings pretty minimal for three reasons so I could
- taste the ricotta layer
- keep it vegetarian
- not pile on so many toppings that the crust wouldn’t bake all the way through
Do I Have to Make the Ricotta Layer with Egg?
Honestly, no you don’t. Nothing bad will happen if you leave out the egg. Heck, you could even just dot the top of your pizza with straight up ricotta cheese and not hurt my feelings at all.
This is a photo of a grandma pizza I made last week. I topped it with mozzarella, fontina, pizza sauce and dollops of straight ricotta. After baking, I sprinkled it with Italian seasoning and garlic powder. It was pretty spectacular.
What Kind of Crust Should I Use?
You can make a perfectly respectable pizza, either round or square or whatever shape you’d like, with any pizza dough recipe.
I am partial to the grandma pizza dough recipe, linked above, from Peter Reinhart’s new book, Perfect Pan Pizza. Here’s why I like it and why you will too:
- It’s easy to make.
- You don’t need a mixer.
- It’s no-knead–you only need to fold it a few times.
- It rises beautifully.
- It bakes up crispy on the bottom and edges and perfectly pillowy on the insides. Not heavy at all.
- The dough is versatile: not only can you use it to make grandma pizza, you can also use it for focaccia.
Shout out to Peter Reinhart, too, for writing this great book. I highly recommend picking up a copy for your cookbook library, especially if you love deep dish pizza!
Making the Ricotta Layer and Building the Lasagna Pizza
Making this ricotta pizza is very straightforward.
All you have to do to make the ricotta layer is stir together all the ingredients in a bowl. Then top your dough, add mozzarella, pizza sauce, and fontina, then bake. I also like to use my Microplane to shower the freshly baked pizza with Parmesan cheese.
Photos from top left corner, left to right.
- Put all the ricotta layer ingredients in a bowl
- Stir it all up so it’s nice and creamy.
- Plop it all over the surface of your risen crust.
- Use a small offset spatula to gently spread out the ricotta.
- Done with that step!
- Sprinkle on mozzarella (or arrange sliced mozzarella over the ricotta layer.
- Blob on your favorite pizza sauce.
- Spread it out evenly.
- Sprinkle on grated fontina cheese.
What To Do with Leftover Pizza Dough
If you use the recipe I’ve linked to for Peter Reinhart’s dough and you make a grandma pizza, you’ll have 4 ounces of dough leftover.
Might I suggest a personal pizza?
This guy is about 8″ in diameter. I topped it with a drizzle of olive oil, some minced garlic, about 1/4 cup of sauce, and grated pepper jack cheese. Once it came out of the oven, I sprinkled on a bit of finishing salt and a bit of chopped cilantro. The perfect luncheon sized pizza!
I really hope you love this lasagna pizza, you guys! If you make it, please share a photo with me, either in the PCO Facebook Group or on instagram by tagging @onlinepastrychef and using hashtag #pcorecipe. Thanks, and enjoy!
3 Cheese Lasagna Pizza
Equipment
Ingredients
- 32 ounces of grandma pizza dough or your favorite pizza dough
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 3-4 cloves garlic minced
For the Ricotta Mixture
- 1 cup full fat ricotta cheese
- ½ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese I like to use a Microplane for this
- 1 large egg
- ¼ teaspoon Italian seasoning
- heavy pinch of salt
- several grindings of black pepper
- 6 oz fresh or block mozzarella grated or sliced thinly
- 6 oz fontina cheese grated or sliced thinly
For the Sauce
- 1 cup of your favorite pizza sauce store-bought or homemade
- 1 oz Parmesan cheese for grating over the pizza once it is baked
Instructions
- Position your oven rack on the lowest level.
- Line a half-sheet pan with parchment and then spread about 1/4 cup olive oil over the parchment. Stretch out 32 oz of your favorite pizza dough (like the grandma pizza dough) to fill the pan. Scatter the minced garlic over the dough. If using the grandma dough, let the dough rise, covered in the pan for 2 hours or so before topping and baking.
- At least thirty minutes before baking, preheat oven to 450F or 425F for convection.
- In a bowl, mix together all the ingredients for the ricotta layer.
- Dollop the ricotta evenly over your risen crust and gently spread with a small offset spatula. The ricotta doesn’t have to completely cover the dough, but you want to get some in at least most bites of your pizza.
- Sprinkle or place on an even layer of mozzarella. The cheese does not have to completely blanket the pizza.
- Dollop on your pizza sauce, and then spread it out evenly.
- Sprinkle or place on an even layer of fontina cheese.
- Bake the pizza for 15 minutes, then rotate the pan. Bake an additional 10-15 minutes (depending on your oven). Lift up the crust with a spatula and make sure the bottom is a nice golden brown. If it isn't, bake an additional few minutes and check again. Pizza should take no more than 30 minutes to bake, but again, this depends on your oven.
- Place pizza in pan on a heat-safe surface and evenly sprinkle on the second amount of Parmesan cheese.
- Let pizza sit in the pan for 10 minutes, then slide it and the parchment off onto a cutting board to slice and serve.
Did You Make Any Changes?
Video
Notes
Nutrition
And there you have it, friends. A vegetarian lasagna pizza to be proud of and to devour!
Hi, y’all! I hope you’ve enjoyed this post and hopefully also learned a thing or two.
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