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You are here: Home / Dessert / Italian Rice and Ricotta Pie

Italian Rice and Ricotta Pie

May 4, 2020 by Marisa 4 Comments

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Rice and Ricotta Pie with Phyllo Dough

A lemon flavoured Italian Rice and Ricotta Pie, encased in a flaky phyllo dough crust. It’s elegant, beyond delicious and makes for one great make ahead dessert!

A slice of rice pie with phyllo pastry crust

Although pies such as this rice and ricotta confection is traditionally served during the Easter holiday, I believe something this good should be made all year round.

Its centre is soft and creamy. A cross between a rice pudding and a lemon custard combined to form an elegant pie.

Italian rice and ricotta pies are customarily made with a pasta frolla crust. Such as this Pastiera Napoletana Recipe made with grano cotto, which is cooked wheat.  Or even this simple yet elegant Chocolate Orange Ricotta Tart made with a silky smooth filling of ricotta and mascarpone cheeses.

Usually I’ll go crustless with this rice and ricotta pie, however, I thought I’d switch it up a little by using the remaining frozen phyllo dough sitting in my freezer.

The phyllo dough is easy to work with and dresses up this Italian pie so prettily! No pastry chef degree is required here!

How to Make Italian Rice and Ricotta Pie

Cooked rice in a blue and white bowl.

Making an Italian pie such as this one is really quite simple!

You’ll want to start by cooking the rice with the water and milk till it’s creamy. Then, as the rice mixture cools you can prep the egg mixture and line the pie plate with buttered phyllo sheets.

The phyllo sheets are quite delicate to work with and tear easily but thats ok. Once baked the tears are not noticeable. 

And besides, a generous sprinkle of powdered sugar will hide any imperfection.

Phyllo dough pie crust with a creamy rice filling.

While testing this pie with different amounts of layered phyllo sheets, I found that 5 or 6 phyllo sheets will give you nice ruffled pie edges while using more weighs the ruffles down.

Once the phyllo sheets are buttered and layered you’re now ready to stir the rice mixture into the egg mixture.

Make sure to stir the mixture well while removing any lumps of rice.

Then pour the rice mixture into the prepared pie plate and bake in a preheated oven for about 50 to 60 minutes, at 350 degrees F. 

If your phyllo dough is darkening too much, you can easily cover the pie loosely with aluminum foil.

I didn’t cover mine, however I did rotate the pie half way through the baking time.

Italian Rice and Ricotta Pie

Make sure to allow the rice and ricotta pie to cool completely before serving. 

Or better yet, once it’s cooled off, chill the pie for a couple of hours or overnight! 

All it needs is a generous dusting of powdered sugar just before serving. And if you wish you can garnish the pie with some candied lemon slices.

Happy Baking!

A slice of Italian rice pie

Three slices of pie with phyllo crust.

Rice and Ricotta Pie with Phyllo Dough

Italian Ricotta and Rice Pie
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Italian Rice and Ricotta Pie

Italian rice and ricotta pie encased in phyllo dough. Although traditionally served during the Easter holiday, this creamy and custard-like pie is simply wonderful all year round.
Course Dessert
Cuisine Italian
Keyword Italian Rice and Ricotta Pie
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 50 minutes
Servings 8
Calories 308kcal
Author Marisa

Ingredients

Rice and Ricotta Filling

  • 1 1/2 cups water
  • 1 1/2 cups milk full fat
  • 2/3 cup arborio rice
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 1/2 cup ricotta full fat, smooth ricotta
  • 2 large eggs
  • 2 tablespoons honey
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • lemon zest from 1 lemon
  • 1/8 teaspoon salt

Phyllo Dough Crust

  • 6 frozen phyllo dough sheets thawed, according to package instructions
  • 1/3 cup melted butter
  • powdered sugar for dusting

Instructions

  • Place the water, milk and rice in a medium sized stock pot and bring to a boil.
  • Once it starts to boil, lower the heat and allow to simmer for 20 minutes.
  • Stir often while taking care not to allow the rice to stick to the bottom of the pot.
  • Set aside to cool while you prepare the egg mixture.
  • Place the sugar, ricotta, eggs, honey, vanilla, lemon zest and salt in a medium sized bowl.
  • Beat well with electric beaters till thoroughly combined.
  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
  • Grease a 9 inch pie plate.
  • Roll out the phyllo dough and keep covered with saran wrap OR a clean and damp kitchen cloth to keep it from drying out.
  • On a clean work surface brush a sheet of phyllo dough with butter and transfer onto the pie plate while gently pressing down to line the pie plate.
  • Crunch up the overhang part to make a frill. It doesn't have to be perfect.
  • Repeat with the remaining phyllo sheets while rotating off line from the previous layer, creating a star-like pattern.
  • So you'll be brushing the phyllo dough with butter, lining the pie plate and crunching the edges 6 times.
  • Once the pie plate is ready and lined with the phyllo dough, stir together the rice mixture with the egg mixture. Make sure there are no lumps in the batter.
  • Pour the rice batter into the prepared pie plate.
  • Set the pie plate onto a cookie sheet, place in the oven and bake for approximately 50 to 60 minutes.
  • The top of the pie should look set. If the centre is slightly jiggly it's ok. It will set further as it cools off.
  • If your phyllo dough is browning too much you can always loosely cover it with aluminum foil.
  • I didn't need to cover mine but I did however rotate my pie half way through cooking to brown evenly.
  • Let the pie cool completely before serving.
  • Dust with powdered sugar just before serving.

Nutrition

Calories: 308kcal | Carbohydrates: 40g | Protein: 7g | Fat: 13g | Saturated Fat: 8g | Cholesterol: 79mg | Sodium: 226mg | Potassium: 117mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 19g | Vitamin A: 446IU | Calcium: 96mg | Iron: 1mg
Tried this recipe?Mention @marisasitaliankitchen or tag #marisasitaliankitchen!

Filed Under: Dessert Tagged With: dessert, Italian pie, pie, Rice, ricotta

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. blankCarmie

    May 5, 2020 at 10:38 am

    The picture is mouth watering
    N beautiful!! Looks delicious! This
    Recipe has all components in
    Baking taste that i love !! Enjoy it!!

    Reply
    • blankMarisa

      May 5, 2020 at 10:24 pm

      Thanks so much Carmie…we go crazy for this dessert!

      Reply
  2. blankEnrique

    May 5, 2020 at 3:20 pm

    Hi Marissa!

    This looks extremely good, but I want to ask you something:
    You think that I can add a little limocello and lemos candied peel to the ricotta filling?

    Thanks and keep posting!

    Reply
    • blankMarisa

      May 5, 2020 at 10:28 pm

      Enrique, limoncello would be wonderful and yes both candied lemon or candied orange would work well here!

      Reply

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