Easter is a time of celebration, reflection, and traditions in my household and I know the same can be said for many others too. Of course, being Italian myself, I couldn’t think of a better way to enjoy Easter Saturday than with a slice of my family’s recipe for Italian Easter Meat Pie.
This traditional Italian Easter Pie is also known as “Pizza Rustica” yet despite what it sounds like, it’s certainly not a pizza that I’ll be walking you through below! Instead, you’ll get to make a scrumptious homemade pie from scratch including the pie dough and pie filling consisting of various meats, cheeses and eggs.
Serve this Italian Easter Meat Pie with your favorite side of veggies or salad.
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❤️ Why you'll love this recipe
- It’s a sure way to experience a traditional Easter dinner Italian-style! If you want to impress your guests this Easter then this pizza rustica is the way to go.
- Pizza rustica can easily be adapted by simple pie filling variations. I’ve included some great ways that you can adapt this pie to suit your taste preferences.
- This Italian Easter Meat Pie recipe makes 2 whole pies that can feed a crowd of 20! This is great if you’re planning on hosting a large holiday celebration over the Easter weekend.
Pizza rustica is one of my all-time favorite recipes to make for Easter and I know you’ll love it too!
🛒 Ingredients
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Note: The full list of this Traditional Italian Easter Meat Pie recipe ingredients with their amounts and options are listed in the recipe card below.
- Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
- Kosher salt
- Instant yeast
- Granulated sugar
- Olive oil
- Water -- spring or filtered
- Eggs
- Ricotta cheese
- Mozzarella cheese
- Parmesan cheese
- Black pepper
- Ham
- Genoa salami
- Pepperoni
- Prosciutto
🗒 Instructions
Note: This is an overview of the instructions. The full instructions are in the Pizza Rustica recipe card below.
- Gather the pizza dough ingredients
- Start combining the pizza dough ingredients into a large bowl.
- Mix until a soft, smooth dough is formed.
- Let the dough sit in a lightly greased bowl, covered, for 1-2 hours, until it's not quite doubled in bulk.
- In another bowl, stir together the ebbs, ricotta, mozzarella, Parmesan, salt, and pepper.
- Make sure it is well incorporated.
- Add in the ham, salami, and pepperoni.
- Stir well. Then divide the filling in half and refrigerate.
- Gather the dough together with a rolling pin and some flour to sprinkle on the surface.
- Gently deflate the dough.
- Divide the dough into four pieces, two of them being slightly larger for the bottom crusts.
- Place one of the larger pieces of dough on a lightly greased silicone rolling mat, or lightly floured work surface and roll into a circle. Leave it for 5 minutes and then roll it again.
- Drape the dough into the and line the bottom crust with half the prosciutto slices. Spoon half the filling on top.
- Halve the pie filling into two separate containers.
- Add the pie filling to the one pie.
- Cover the pie with the rolled out top crust dough.
- Seal the seams of the pie dough bottom and top together.
- Put your first assembled pie aside and assemble the second pie.
- Cut a small circle in the center of the top crust of each pie to allow steam to escape.
- Place both pies on a parchment lined baking tray and bake.
🔪 Equipment
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You’ll need the following items to make this Pizza Rustica recipe successfully.
- 2 Pie plates
- Stand Mixer
- Rising Bucket
- Kitchen Scale -- not necessary but makes measuring easier and accurate.
- Dry Measuring Cups
- Measuring Spoons
- Liquid Measuring cups
🤔 FAQs
These are the questions we are most frequently asked about making the Pizza Ripiena Recipe.
While this depends on the region and family traditions, a traditional Italian Easter dinner will almost always involve a bowl of soup, a salad, risotto, pasta, and lamb with favorite vegetables.
The dinner is best enjoyed alongside quality wine while you prepare yourself for a decadent dessert, coffee, and a little liqueur as a nightcap.
This Italian Easter Meat Pie has many pie filling variations depending on the region of Italy but my homemade pizza rustica includes the classic ingredients of eggs, various cheeses, and meat such as ham, prosciutto, pepperoni, and salami.
The filling sits on a simple flour pie crust made from scratch, sealed in with a crust topping that becomes golden brown once baked.
If you can’t find basket cheese then a great alternative is either Greek feta or salted ricotta cheese (known as “feta Salata”).
Reheat any leftovers by placing it uncovered in the oven at 350F until heated through.
👩🏻🍳 Tips
- It’s important to let your freshly baked pies rest for at least 1 hour (preferable 2 hours) before cutting.
- I like making use of a baking sheet as it’s then much easier to transport the pies in and out of the oven. The parchment paper is also very handy for catching any spills while the pies bake. If you don’t have a large enough sheet, simply use 2 smaller sheets of paper that you can overlap.
- I make these Italian Easter meat pies specifically for Easter Saturday but you could certainly use this recipe as a way to use up any leftover holiday ham for a hearty family meal in the days that follow.
- Making the crust and filling a day in advance is a great way to save on recipe preparation time. Make sure that you store both the dough and the filling in the refrigerator, rolling the dough out and baking just prior to serving.
- Since this pizza rustica needs to sit for at least 1-2 hours after baking, it’s ideal to make the day before and reheat just prior to serving.
📚 Variations
- Some recipes for pizza rustica add a squeeze of lemon juice into the buttery pie dough as a way to balance out the rich ingredients in the dough and the filling. While I haven’t done so in my version of this Italian Easter Meat Pie, you are more than welcome to try it.
- You can omit the eggs and simply make a meat and cheese Easter pie. This variation is referred to as Pizza Giana (Giana meaning “God is gracious”).
- Another well known variation to this Italian Easter pie is the inclusion of greens in addition to the eggs, cheese, and meat. This pie is known as Torte Pasqualina.
- You can easily halve the ingredients in this recipe if you only intend to make one pie or freeze the second pie (unbaked) for a delicious family meal later on.
🥫 Storage
Store leftover Italian Easter Meat Pie wrapped tightly with plastic wrap or placed in an airtight container, in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
Reheat in the oven until heated through.
You also have the option of freezing your pizza rustica (baked or unbaked) by wrapping it tightly with plastic wrap and aluminum foil, for up to 6 months.
📗 Related Recipes
If you’re on the hunt for more recipes to make this Easter extra special, be sure to check out my fork-tender Roast Boneless Leg Of Lamb, Balsamic Glazed Lamb Chops, Spicy Bacon-Wrapped Grilled Pork Roast, And Lamb Ravioli With Brown Butter Sauce. All of these are excellent options for hosting an Easter dinner to remember!
🍽 Serve with
This Italian Easter Meat Pie can be served with a variety of your favorite vegetable dishes such as Potatoes Au Gratin or Italian Balsamic Roasted Sugar Snap Peas.
In addition to that, you can’t go wrong by adding this very festive Italian Easter Bread With Colored Eggs to the menu!
📞 Chiacchierata (chat)
Like many households, traditional meals during specific holidays create unique and cherished memories that last a lifetime with recipe notes and tips passed on from generation to generation.
In my home, this Italian Easter Meat Pie, otherwise fondly known as pizza rustica, is always part of our Easter celebrations - prepared in time to be enjoyed on Easter saturday for dinner.
While the term “pizza rustica” may lead you to believe that you’re about to see a recipe for traditional pizza, it’s anything but that. Instead, you’ll learn how to make a traditional Italian Easter Meat Pie, loaded with various cheeses and meats, with a melt-in-your-mouth dough crust and pie topping.
What's new? Check out my All Our Way Store on Amazon. We'll be adding more items we love and use or wish we had to make cooking fun and easy.
📝 Recipe Card
Italian Easter Meat Pie, aka pizza rustica, pizza ripiena or pizzagaina is a traditional Italian pie recipe specifically enjoyed during the Easter weekend for dinner. It’s loaded with a meaty cheese and egg filling and a delicious pizza dough crust bottom and top. We always hope for leftovers so we can enjoy it as a Torta Pasqualina which Pasqualina is Easter Monday.
If you love this recipe please give it 5 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.
📖 Recipe
Traditional Italian Easter Meat Pie A Meat Filled Pizza Rustica
Equipment Needed
- Digital Kitchen Scale optional but very helpful for accuracy.
Ingredients
Crust
- 4 ¾ cups Unbleached all-purpose flour 567 grams
- 2 teaspoons Kosher salt 12 grams
- 2 teaspoons instant yeast
- 2 Tablespoons Granulaed sugar 25 grams
- ¼ cup Olive oil 50 grams
- 1 ½ cups Water, warm 340 grams
Filling
- 6 Eggs, large
- 4 cups Ricotta cheese, part-skim 907 grams
- 2 cups Mozzarella cheese, shredded 227 grams
- 1 cup Parmesan cheese, freshly grated 99 grams
- ½ teaspoon Black pepper, coarsely ground
- 2 cups Ham, diced into ½-inch cubes 227 grams
- 2 cups Genoa salami, diced into ½-inch cubes 227 grams
- 2 cups Pepperoni, diced into ½-inch cubes 227 grams
- 8-10 slices Prosciutto, very thinly sliced 113 grams
- Olive oil for brushing on the crust
Instructions
Pizza dough
- Mix all of the dough ingredients until you've made a soft, smooth dough. You can do this my hand, mixer, or in a bread machine.
- Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl, cover, and allow it to rise for 1 to 2 hours, until it's not quite doubled in bulk.
The filling
- While the dough is rising, stir together the ebbs, ricotta, mozzarella, Parmesan, slat, and pepper.
- Stir in the ham, salami, and pepperoni.
- Divide the filling in half (each about 4 ½ cups, (36 ounces, 1020grams), and refrigerate.
- Preheat the oven to 325℉ (162.778℃). Have ready two 9"pie pans.
- Gently deflate the dough, and divide it into four pieces. Two of the pieces will be bottom crusts, and should be just slightly larger than the other two pieces.
- Place one of the larger pieces of dough on a lightly greased silicone rolling mat, or lightly greased work surface. Roll itinto a circle that's about 16" in diameter; go away for 5 minutes, then come back; the circle will probably have shrunk.
- Roll it out again, and drape it into the pie plate, anchoring the edges to the pan by folding them underneath the rim; you don't want it shrinking down the sides of the pan while you're rolling the other crust.
- Roll one of the smaller pieces of dough the same way you did the larger, giving it time to shrink and then rolling again, if necessary.
- Line the bottom crust with half the prosciutto slices. Spoon half the filling on top.
- Drape the top crust over the filling, and bring the edge of the bottom crust up over the edge of the top crust, sealing the two together and smoothing them as best you can.
- Cut a 1"inch circle in the center of the top crust, to allow steam to escape. Make another pie with the remaining dough and filling.
- Place both pies on a large, parchment-lined baking sheet; if you don't have a bit enough sheet, use two. The baking sheet makes it easier to transport pies in and out of the oven, and parchment will catch and spills.
- Bake the pies for 80 minutes, until they're a light golden brown.
- Five minutes before the end of the baking time, remove them fro the oven, brush or spray with olive oil, and return to the oven; this will give the crust a nice glow.
- Remove the pies from the oven, and let them rest for at least 1 hour (preferable 2 hours) before cutting. Serve warm, or at room temperature.
- Don't serve until Easter Saturday!
- Refrigerate any leftovers for up to 4 days.
Notes
- Some recipes for pizza rustica add a squeeze of lemon juice into the buttery pie dough as a way to balance out the rich ingredients in the dough and the filling. While I haven’t done so in my version of this Italian Easter Meat Pie, you are more than welcome to try it.
- You can omit the eggs and simply make a meat and cheese Easter pie. This variation is referred to as Pizza Giana (Giana meaning “God is gracious”).
- Another well known variation to this Italian Easter pie is the inclusion of greens in addition to the eggs, cheese, and meat. This pie is known as Torte Pasqualina.
- You can easily halve the ingredients in this recipe if you only intend to make one pie or freeze the second pie (unbaked) for a delicious family meal later on.
