This Zucchini and Stracciatella Pizza is a perfect spring pizza recipe. It has a base of an herby ricotta, topped with thin sliced zucchini, shallots, and corn, then finished with some lemony arugula and decadent stracciatella cheese. A perfect way to eat a bunch of fresh vegetables that are at their peak.
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Ingredients
This zucchini pizza comes together with some common spring ingredients that are so good when combined.
- Pizza dough: Any pizza dough will work here regardless of store bought or homemade. Heck, you could even use puff pastry. I personally always get my pizza dough from Trader Joe’s, it’s easy and reliable.
- Ricotta cheese: Whole milk ricotta cheese is always ideal, you’ll get the creamiest texture and most flavor.
- Fresh herbs: My favorite combination is parsley and dill, but any combination of soft sprint herbs will be great here.
- Garlic: A bit of grated garlic goes in the ricotta mixture for added flavor. You could use granulated garlic in its place (¼ teaspoon = 1 clove).
- Red pepper chili flakes: Completely optional, but adds a little delicious kick.
- Shallot: Because the flavors in this pizza are very delicate, I like to use a shallot as opposed to a red onion. If red onion is all you have, that’s totally fine.
- Zucchini: Very thinly sliced zucchini that bakes just enough and is a perfect topping for this spring pizza. Any spring / summer squash is great here.
- Corn: A great texture pop and pop of color. Fresh, canned, or frozen all work. If frozen, defrost prior to adding to the pizza. If canned, drain and rinse before adding to the pizza.
- Arugula: Wild arugula brings such a fresh and slightly bitter bite. It's so good topped on the freshly baked pizza.
- Lemon juice: A squeeze of fresh lemon juice on the arugula brings the perfect amount of acidity to this pizza and brightens it all up.
- Stracciatella: A delicious and creamy cheese that really brings this pizza recipe home.
What is stracciatella cheese?
Stracciatella is an Italian cheese that is made from pulled mozzarella curds mixed with cream (thus it is more liquidy than fresh mozzarella). It’s essentially the inside of the burrata cheese. More on it here.
Step by step instructions
This springy white pizza is really a free for all, layer as you wish, but below is my recommendation for how to approach assembling this zucchini stracciatella pizza.
1. Roll out the dough. Let your dough come to room temperature then either use a rolling pin and roll or use your fingers to press it out until it’s about ½ an inch thin. Transfer to a parchment paper lined baking sheet and drizzle extra virgin olive oil on top.
2. Make the ricotta cheese mixture. In a bowl, mix together the ricotta cheese, chopped fresh herbs, grated garlic, red pepper flakes, salt, and black pepper.
3. Top the pizza. Using a spoon or spatula, spread all of the ricotta cheese mixture on the dough, leaving about a ½ inch border around the edges. Then scatter the zucchini, shallots, and corn evenly all over the ricotta.
4. Bake. Bake at 425°F for 20-25 minutes until golden.
5. Combine lemon and arugula. In a large bowl, squeeze the juice of ½ a lemon over the arugula. Toss to combine.
6. Add final toppings. When the pizza comes out of the oven, top with the lemony arugula and stracciatella cheese.
Tips and tricks
Some tips and tricks below to help make this springy pizza!
- Sprinkle some all purpose flour on your surface before you roll out the dough so it doesn't stick.
- Stretch your dough out on the parchment paper so that you can easily transfer it to your baking sheet. Or stretch it out already on the baking sheet.
- Use a pizza stone if you have one.
- If the pizza dough is scrunching back up when you’re trying to stretch it out, it means it’s still too cold. Let the dough rest at room temperature for another 15 minutes then try again. Repeat if still not cooperating.
- The pizza dough does not need to be a perfect circle! I like to do an oval kind of shape to fit on the sheet pan.
- Slice the zucchini and shallots really thin using a mandoline if you’re comfortable using one. Just make sure to use the guard so you keep your hand and fingers safe.
Recipe customizations
I love this recipe as is of course, but below are some ideas for swaps and add-ons if you want to go a bit more of a custom route.
- Cheese
- Add some parmesan cheese to the ricotta mixture.
- Use 70/30 ricotta cheese / goat cheese.
- Sprinkle some mozzarella cheese on top of the ricotta mixture before the vegetables.
- Herbs
- Sub fresh basil or fresh oregano in for any of the soft herbs.
- More vegetables and topping ideas
- Slice some cherry tomatoes in half and put them on before baking, or add sundried tomatoes on after baking.
- Grate a bit of lemon zest in with the arugula or ricotta mixture.
- Adding some sliced prosciutto or spicy salami on top after baking would be so good.
- Chop up some romaine hearts and put on before baking.
- Add shaved fennel with the arugula topping.
- Top with thinly sliced jalapeños.
- Other
- Mix some pesto in with the ricotta cheese to make it a springy ricotta pesto pizza.
What to serve with white pizza
Pizza can totally be a full meal, but if you're serving this for, let's say, al fresco on a warm day, consider serving with the below:
- Fresh fish that's been grilled or sautéd with white wine (shrimp, branzino, or cod would be great).
- Pasta with a fresh homemade tomato sauce (bonus points if you use san marzano tomatoes).
- A simple charcuterie board with some chunks of parmigiano reggiano and kalamata olives.
Storage and reheating
Storage: Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days.
Reheating: Since there is arugula on top, I like to just mildly warm this pizza for about 1 minute in the microwave. It takes the initial chill off, while not fully heating the arugula.
FAQs
You may for others, but not in this instance. The zucchini is sliced thin enough that they cook fully from raw.
Nope! It all bakes at one time together.
Not necessarily. They aren’t crispy, but they are golden brown and cooked through.
I like 425°F because this will give you a nice crispy crust that’s cooked through.
Because it’s playing with pretty delicate flavors and there’s a pretty decent layer of the ricotta cheese which texture wise would be strange with red sauce, I wouldn’t.
More pizza recipes
📖 Recipe
Zucchini and Stracciatella Pizza
Ingredients
- 1 lb pizza dough
- 1 zucchini thinly sliced
- 1 shallot thinly sliced
- ½ cup corn
- 1 cup whole milk ricotta cheese
- 2 tablespoon fresh parsley minced
- 2 tablespoon fresh dill minced
- 2 garlic cloves grated
- ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 2 cups arugula
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 6 oz stracciatella cheese
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 425℉.
- Let your dough come to room temperature then either use a rolling pin and roll or use your fingers to press it out until it’s about ½ an inch thin. Transfer to a parchment paper lined baking sheet and drizzle extra virgin olive oil on top.
- In a bowl, mix together the ricotta cheese, chopped fresh herbs, grated garlic, red pepper flakes, salt, and black pepper.
- Using a spoon or spatula, spread all of the ricotta cheese mixture on the dough, leaving about a ½ inch border around the edges. Then scatter the zucchini, shallots, and corn evenly all over the ricotta.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes until golden.
- In a large bowl, squeeze the lemon juice over the arugula. Toss to combine.
- When the pizza comes out of the oven, top with the lemony arugula and stracciatella cheese.
Notes
- Sprinkle some all purpose flour on your surface before you roll out the dough so it doesn't stick.
- Stretch your dough out on the parchment paper so that you can easily transfer it to your baking sheet. Or stretch it out already on the baking sheet.
- Use a pizza stone if you have one.
- If the pizza dough is scrunching back up when you’re trying to stretch it out, it means it’s still too cold. Let the dough rest at room temperature for another 15 minutes then try again. Repeat if still not cooperating.
- The pizza dough does not need to be a perfect circle! I like to do an oval kind of shape to fit on the sheet pan.
- Slice the zucchini and shallots really thin using a mandoline if you’re comfortable using one. Just make sure to use the guard so you keep your hand and fingers safe.
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