Pizza Rustica (Traditional Italian Easter Pie or Pizzagaina)

My family's traditional Italian Easter Pie, or pizza rustica, is bursting with ricotta cheese, mozzarella, salami, pepperoni, and hard boiled eggs.

Course Breakfast, brunch, Main Course

Cuisine Italian

Prep Time 30

Cook Time 1 15

Chill time 4

Total Time 1 45

Servings

Calories 862kcal

Author Caroline Lindsey

Equipment

10-inch springform pan

Ingredients

2 lbs premade or homemade pizza dough or 3 refrigerated tubes of pizza or crescent dough
1/2 lb hard salami diced
1/2 lb genoa salami diced
1/2 lb pepperoni diced
1/2 lb provolone cheese diced (ingredient added to recipe in 2026 - I think it adds a much needed sharpness to the filling!)
1 lb whole milk mozzarella diced
3 lbs whole milk ricotta cheese
6 hard boiled eggs chopped
2 beaten eggs
1 1/2 tsp kosher salt
1-2 tsp black pepper
1 egg beaten with 1 tbsp water (for brushing the top of the pie)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Divide the pizza dough into approximately 2/3 and 1/3. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the larger portion into a large circle to form the bottom crust of your pie and the smaller portion into a second circle to be the top crust. Line a large springform pan with the larger dough circle and set aside the other dough circle.
In a large bowl, mix the ricotta, beaten eggs, salt, and pepper until combined. Add hard salami, genoa salami, pepperoni, hard boiled eggs, and mozzarella, and mix until evenly distributed. Add filling to the pie and smooth out the top.
Top with other half of pie dough. Trim dough with kitchen scissors so there is about an inch of overhang on top and bottom, and roll edges in to seal. Try to get out as much air from inside the crust as possible - if you notice an air bubble forming as you roll in the edges, open up the seam between the top and bottom crust and push out the bubble.
With trimmed dough, decorate the top of the pies with spring-themed pictures. Brush the top with the egg+water mixture. The water makes it go on smoother.
Cut several small holes (3 or 4) in the upper crust with kitchen scissors to allow steam to escape so bubbles don't form in your crust during baking.
Bake for 1 hour and check on the pie. Cover edges or top with tin foil if browning too quickly. Cook an additional 15-30 minutes, or until internal temperature reaches 150 degrees.
Let cool and refrigerate until filling is set, or overnight.
Slice and serve hot, room temperature, or cold!

Video

Notes

To make dicing meats and mozzarella easy, ask for quarter- to half-inch slices at the deli. They may not believe you at first but insist on it! Half a pound should be about 3-4 slices of each meat.

You can find premade pizza dough fresh near the deli section of your grocery store or in the frozen bread section. Alternately, use refrigerated pizza dough in a tube, crescent dough, or frozen bread dough.

If you don't have a springform pan, you may use three 8-inch cake pans instead, but you will need some extra pizza dough for the additional crust. Cooking time will be reduced with smaller pies.

Nutrition