This is an easy, light and savory recipe for vegetable ricotta pie that only takes 15 minutes to prep! It’s the ultimate veggie quiche for your next brunch!
A simple vegetable quiche served with a lightly dressed salad is something I love ordering whenever I’m out having brunch.
It’s tasty, light and always pairs nicely with a glass of chardonnay (or a mimosa)!
But even though I love going out for brunch, there’s nothing better than having friends over for a lazy weekend meal.
This vegetable ricotta pie is one of those hearty vegetable recipes that will please everyone… from those watching their calories – to those friends that just want to feast like there’s no tomorrow! And this ricotta loaded vegetable pie always ends up being a big hit with even the pickiest of eaters. I mean, isn’t it awesome when everyone leaves that table satisfied?!
Bonus: this ricotta pie is SUPER easy to make at home.
Wait, is it a vegetable quiche?
Now, this vegetable ricotta pie is very similar to a quiche in that it begins life as eggs and cheese, baked into a pie crust.
However, this vegetable pie recipe differs slightly since it is made with ricotta cheese instead of milk (or cream). You might just say that makes it a bit more Italian in origin than a traditional French quiche recipe.
Nevertheless, you could totally just call it a ricotta quiche and be done with it.
Way more important than the name is the flavor though!
There’s an undercurrent of savory umami from the pecorino Romano cheese and sun dried tomatoes that is smoothed out and softened by the creamy ricotta cheese. The garden fresh zucchini and red bell pepper pop and deliver great texture.
Oh – and the sun dried tomatoes pull double duty in this veggie loaded ricotta pie. You see, they also impart a light and zesty tartness to the entire flavor profile. Nice!
Btw… if you are a quiche aficionado, you may absolutely LOVE these other quiche recipes:
- Parmesan and Broccoli Quiche
- Spring Swiss Chard Pie With Gruyere
- Bacon Sun Dried Tomato Quiche
- Crustless Quiche With Edamame and Sun Dried Tomatoes
Feel free to experiment with the ingredients you use in your own brunch-y quiche creations. Believe me, your hungry friends and family will be glad you did!
How to make ricotta pie with vegetables
This pie is packed with zucchini, red bell peppers and sun dried tomatoes. It’s a healthy and vibrant medley of summer veggies baked with eggs, pecorino Romano and ricotta cheese.
Full disclosure: I am using store-bought pie crust for this vegetable ricotta pie recipe since I’m not much of a baker.
And, while they tend to be a little sweeter than homemade crusts, I personally find that to be a good thing. You see, I enjoy the combination of slightly sweet and savory when it comes to my quiche.
To start, I just get my oil going in a pan with garlic, rosemary, chopped zucchini and red bell pepper. After cooking for about four minutes, I add my sun dried tomatoes, scallions and dried oregano and stir the mixture for another 3 minutes.
After cooking, those veggies need to cool to room temperature (or close).
Then, it’s time to whisk the eggs in a bowl, add your pecorino Romano, ricotta and salt and pepper! Mix the cooled veggie mixture in – and transfer to your pie crust.
It’s gonna be so yummy!
40-50 minutes in the oven at 350°F will cook your vegetable ricotta pie to perfection!
What is Ricotta Cheese?
Ricotta is a creamy, white Italian cheese made from milk whey.
And while it can be made from sheep, cow or goat’s milk, most varieties have a fresh, slightly sweet taste.
Similar in texture to mascarpone, it’s common to find ricotta used in both savory and sweet recipes due to it’s light flavor and malleable nature. It takes on whatever flavor profile you throw at it like a champ!
But to break it down to its flavor essence, you could almost say that ricotta cheese’s flavor is most similar to cottage cheese if it had a SUPER fine texture.
It lends a wonderful airy creaminess to this savory vegetable ricotta pie.
Can you refrigerate this vegetable ricotta pie?
This ricotta and veggie loaded quiche is fluffy, eggy and so satisfying!
In fact, if you’re cooking for two, it’s probably better to make two pies if you are planning to have any leftovers. Ben and I always manage to eat an entire pie over the course of a day! The extra ricotta pie holds up pretty well in the fridge for a couple of days provided it is well covered by plastic wrap or foil.
And the same logic applies if you plan on having a crew of people over for brunch.
You can totally make this vegetable ricotta pie the night before, toss it in the fridge and then warm it up when your guests arrive.
This cheesy vegetable pie holds it’s own in the microwave. Or you can do the re-heat in the oven on low – around 240°F for 15-20 minutes or so.
So, the next time you hold the brunch get-together at your place, you’ll be ready to cook on the spot… or reheat to your heart’s content 🙂
What about you? What’s your favorite thing to serve at brunch? I’d love to hear about your favorites in the comments section.
Happy cooking, friends!
Serve this vegetable ricotta pie with these delicious and easy salad recipes:
- Summer Rainbow Salad
- Chopped Salad With Avocado and Endive
- Creamy Cucumber Tomato Salad
- Arugula Salad With Cranberries and Blue Cheese
- Quinoa Edamame Salad
Did you like this Vegetable Ricotta Pie Recipe? Are there changes you made that you would like to share? Share your tips and recommendations in the comments section below!
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Vegetable Ricotta Pie Recipe
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 45 minutes
- Total Time: 60 minutes
- Yield: 6 people 1x
- Category: main
- Method: baked
- Cuisine: Italian
Description
This is an easy, light and savory recipe for vegetable ricotta pie that only takes 15 minutes to prep!
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic (minced)
- 6 sun dried tomatoes (finely chopped)
- 1 zucchini (diced)
- 1/2 red bell pepper (cored, seeded and diced)
- 2 stalks scallions (finely chopped)
- 1 sprig rosemary (finely chopped)
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 9 inch deep dish pie crust
- 2/3 cup partly skimmed ricotta cheese
- 1/4 cup grated pecorino romano or parmesan cheese
- 4 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350ºF.
- In a large pan over medium high heat, add olive oil, garlic, rosemary, zucchini and red bell pepper and cook for 4 minutes.
- Add sun dried tomatoes, scallion and dried oregano and cook for 3 minutes. Transfer the vegetables on to a plate and let cool to room temperature.
- Whisk eggs, ricotta, pecorino, salt and pepper in a bowl and add vegetables.
- Pour mixture in the pie shell and bake in the oven for 40-50 minutes, until cooked through. Serve.
Notes
This vegetable ricotta pie is best fresh out of the oven, but leftovers hold up rather well in the refrigerator for 2-3 days. Heat up leftover ricotta pie in the microwave – or reheat in the oven on low (around 240ºF for 15-20 minutes).
Nutrition
- Serving Size:
- Calories: 323
- Sugar: 0.9 g
- Sodium: 701.7 mg
- Fat: 22.6 g
- Saturated Fat: 6.5 g
- Carbohydrates: 19.4 g
- Fiber: 2 g
- Protein: 11.1 g
- Cholesterol: 134.9 mg
Is it ok to use a frozen pie crust? If so, do you simply thaw, or thaw and cook before putting in the ingredients? You mentioned cooking the crust on another comment in order to make the bottom crispier
Delicious! Made your recipe this week for our Meatless Wednesday (in this case not Monday) – garlic, rosemary & oregano from our garden (plus the addition of parsley and chives also from the garden). Keep it up Caroline
Thank you so much Vicki! 🙂
I’ve loved this recipe since I first tried it 3 or 4 years ago. I use fresh Roma tomatoes (about 3) instead of sundried (because they’re my least favorite thing pretty much ever) and cook them down a bit to get rid of the liquid. So yummy and smells like pizza
I adapted this recipe successfully–at least the people eating it thought so! I made a “crust” out of 1-1/2 cups cooked brown rice mixed with an egg and baked in a 9×9 square pan for 15 minutes. I used onion, spinach and yellow pepper as the veggies, cooked as per the instructions, and made the ricotta mixture as in the recipe to spread on top of the crust. Baked at 375 for 30 minutes, and it turned out great!
Wow this was so delicious! I followed your recipe pretty exactly and it came out perfect! Everyone loved it so much, it went quickly and I had to make another one the next day! Thank you!
Thank you so much Marissa! 🙂
It was excellent. I will definitely make it again and tell my friends
I never realized I did not review this recipe. I have been making it regularly for the last two years. It is delicious and easy, yet it impressive enough for company. I’ve passed this link off to everyone whose asked for the recipe. 🙂
Thank you Amber 🙂
I love this recipe. I’ve made it probably a dozen times, and half a dozen different ways. I love switching around the veggies for whatever is in season, but the original recipe is great too. I’m making two today to since and freeze in preparation for our baby arriving next month. How would you suggest reheating from frozen?
I’m so happy you like this recipe Laura! I would reheat in the oven at 350ºF for about 25-30 minutes (straight from the freezer).
As a busy working person, I found this easy to prep and store in frig until dinner. Awesome taste and texture.First time I have ever used ricotta in a quiche. Seems much tastier than those heavy cream ones.
Can this be prepared the day before and then reheated? What would be the best way to reheat it?
Yes Elsa, keep it refrigerated and reheat in the microwave or in the oven on low (around 240ºF for 15-20 minutes) 🙂
This is literally the BEST recipe I’ve ever made from Pinterest. It was DELICIOUS! I also used sundried tomatoes in oil. The only change I made is that I don’t love rosemary so I used very little of that and subbed Italian seasoning instead. I paired with a quick panzenella salad and it was delicious. Thank you! I think I’ll be subbing milk for ricotta whenever I make quiche in the future!
Thank you Christina! 🙂
I made this tonight. Added mushrooms and it was DELICIOUS!!! Thank you! Will definitely be making this again!
Thank you Karen 🙂
Question, do you precook the store bought pie crust? I have a frozen one, was going to bake then fill and re-cook with veg/ricotta mixture.
Hi Denise, I’ve done it both ways and the bottom of the pie does come out crustier by precooking the crust. But to me, there wasn’t enough of a difference to add that extra step to this recipe 🙂
Can i use egg replacement for this recipe?
Hi Neeti, Unfortunately I’m not familiar with egg replacements. If it works the same way (if it acts as a binder) then it should work. 🙂
Can I substitute fresh tomatoes from,my garden for the sun dried ones?
Hi Estelle, fresh tomatoes sound lovely! The one thing I would suggest doing is to seed and drain the tomatoes as the excess water could ruin the texture of the pie.
I’m making this tonight for a cocktail party!! Can’t wait to try it!!!
I made this for my women’s group and it was a huge hit! This evening I added about 1 cup of chopped Italian sausage and made it a meal. Between my husband and I….There are unfortunately no leftovers! 🙂 Thank you for sharing such a tasty recipe.
Yay Eve! Thank you for sharing 🙂
I know I’m late to post but we enjoyed it so much – just had to comment. I have made this twice in last 2 weeks. Super tasty! I doubled the zucchini and added mushrooms on the 2nd one to sneak in more veggies; it didn’t take away from the cheesy, eggy goodness at all! Thanks for this recipe!!
Yummy! I love adding more veggies too, makes everything healthier and tastier. Thanks for sharing Tracy!
What is the ingredient pictured between the onion and the tomatoes? I am going to make this don’t want to miss out on any flavor. Thanks
Hi April! It’s salt and pepper. I hope you enjoy the pie!
Sun-dried tomatoes are included in instructions, but not listed in ingredients. Please clear this up for me as I am eager to make this dish today.
Thanks, Janel
lol Janel sorry about the mistake! I’ve corrected the recipe – 6 sun dried tomatoes finely chopped darling! 😉
Hi, your recipe mentions using sun-dried tomatoes, but I do not see them mentioned in the list of ingredients. How much please and do I soak…have never used them and am geared up to make this today Please help.
Janel
Hi Janel, I use sun dried tomatoes in oil as I find they taste sweeter and are ready to use (no need to soak).