This Easy White Spinach Pizza is made with creamy ricotta, spinach, Italian herbs, and a mixture of mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses! It captures the classic Florentine flavor in pizza form.
If you like pizza, you will also want to check out Taco Pizza, Tomato Pizza, Buffalo Chicken Pizza, Pizza Rolls, and Easy Pull Apart Pizza Bread.
Florentine Pizza
You often hear of Florentine dishes in context with Italian foods.
There is Chicken Florentine and Eggs Florentine to name the most popular Florentine dishes prepared with spinach.
What does Florentine mean? It refers to a recipe that is prepared in the style of the Italian region of Florence. But another definition of Florentine means to be prepared with spinach. And that is what I think of when I think of Florentine-style dishes.
So a Florentine Pizza simply would mean a pizza with spinach.
But the pizza I created is so much more than just pizza with a bit of spinach tossed in the mix.
This Spinach Pizza has a tender crust, topped with garlic-infused olive oil, and a mix of creamy ricotta, spinach, and herbs. And then finished with sharp Parmesan cheese and mozzarella. It remains me a lot of a white pizza--but balanced out with spinach.
Tips for Preparing Spinach Pizza
This recipe is super easy to make and is of course adaptable to using what you have on hand or what your family likes. I have a few tips to help you make the best Florentine Pizza.
- While I like to start with my homemade pizza dough, you can certainly use your favorite store-bought pizza dough to speed up the process.
- The biggest tip is to remove all excess liquid from your spinach before adding it to your pizza toppings. You can saute spinach at home, or you can use defrosted frozen spinach. A tip for squeezing the frozen spinach dry is to place the thawed spinach in a clean old kitchen towel and squeeze it over the sink. Then simply wash the towel--this works MUCH better than using a paper towel.
- Feel free to cut out the red pepper flakes for less heat in this pizza or add more if your family likes spice.
- If you happen not to like garlic, just omit it from this pizza.
- Whole milk or reduced-fat ricotta can be used for the base of this white pizza.
- If you don't have ricotta, you can drain cottage cheese over a fine mesh strainer overnight and use that in place of ricotta. I recommend, pulsing the strained cottage cheese in a food processor briefly before mixing together the pizza topping. This will give the cottage cheese a better texture for the pizza.
More Easy Italian Favorites
These Italian recipes are a bit Americanized, just as this recipe for Florentine Pizza is, but they are absolutely delicious.
Spinach Pizza
Ingredients
Pizza Dough:
- ¾ cups warm water
- 2 teaspoons yeast
- ½ tablespoon olive oil
- ½ tablespoon honey
- 1 ¾ cups whole white wheat flour
- ½ teaspoon salt
For the Pizza:
- cooking spray
- 1 pound pizza dough
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 teaspoon fresh minced garlic
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ cup frozen chopped spinach defrosted, and drained well
- ½ cup ricotta cheese
- ¼ cup Parmesan cheese freshly grated
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- ⅛ teaspooon red pepper flakes optional
- 2-3 cups mozzarella cheese shredded
Instructions
For Pizza Dough
- Combine the water and yeast and let sit for about 5 minutes in a large mixing bowl (or bowl of your stand mixer with dough hook attached.)
- Mix in the honey and oil. Add the flour and salt slowly and mix in as you go. With dough hook or large spatula mix together dough until well combined.
- Once mixed, knead for 5 minutes by hand on a lightly floured surface or with your dough hook on low-medium speed.
- Place dough in oiled bowl and cover and leave in warm spot for 20-30 minutes.
For Pizza
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Spray a 12-inch pizza pan with cooking spray or brush with oil.
- On a lightly floured surface, roll the pizza dough out into a 12-inch circle, about ¼-inch thick. Carefully transfer the dough to the prepared pan. Alternatively, you can roll the dough out directly onto the lightly greased pizza pan.
- In a small bowl, combine the olive oil, salt, and minced garlic. Using a pastry brush, evenly spread this mixture over the dough.
- Place the defrosted spinach into a clean lint-free kitchen towel and squeeze out the excess water over a bowl or sink. Place the drained spinach into a large mixing bowl.
- Add the ricotta, oregano, parmesan, and red pepper flakes to the spinach and mix well to combine. Spread this mixture evenly over the seasoned pizza dough. Top with mozzarella cheese.
- Bake for 18-22 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and golden. Allow the pizza to cool for 5-10 minutes before slicing and serving.
Notes
- You can use any pizza dough you would like for this White Spinach Pizza.
- If you don't have ricotta, you can drain cottage cheese over a strainer overnight and use that instead (if you want the same texture as ricotta, just pulse in food processor for a few seconds.)
- Feel free to use fresh spinach for this Spinach Pizza recipe. It is best to cook the spinach first and then drain, so the spinach will not release water while the pizza is baking to keep the pizza from getting soggy. You would need about 1 pound of fresh spinach to equal ½ cup wilted spinach. And you will still need to drain off the excess liquid well from the sauteed spinach.
Carolyn
I always have mixed frozen drained and squeezed spinach, white cheddar with garlic Alfredo sauce and topped with more white cheddar. Works for us. Just mixed as I saw it worked out.
Kristen Chidsey
Sounds like a great idea! I personally am not a huge fan of jarred Alfredo sauce, but if you like it, this a great hack.
Lauri
I made this tonight tastes similar bro the frozen Paul Newman one.i was out of cottage cheese and had no ricotta so I sub with sour cream.yummy.i used jiffy pizza crust and added pepperoni and turkey slices .
Cindy
I made this tonight and it was WONDERFUL! I will definitely be making it again and again and again!
Kristen Chidsey
YAY! So happy to hear that you enjoyed Cindy!
Tammy
Absolutely delicious!!!
Kristen Chidsey
Wonderful Tammy! Thanks for leaving a review!
Deborah Atkins
This pizza was outstanding. We eat a vegan diet so I simply substituted cashew ricotta and Violife shredded mozzarella and added a few sliced grape tomatoes (for color contrast) and we enjoyed a fantastic meal.
Thanks for the yummy recipe.
Kristen Chidsey
Oh, I love the substitutions you made! Thank you for sharing!
Kimberly Kearns
Made this pizza as per recipe and it will definitely become our “go to” … thank you for your work Kristen….Bravo! Plus, spinach is the #1 Power Food 2021!! Just delicious flavors!!
Mitch
This was my first attempt ever making pizza (Hot Pockets are all the cooking I have ever done, lol), and it turned out great! I cannot believe how delicious this is.
Kristen Chidsey
I am so glad you enjoyed Mitch--and way to break out of your comfort zone 😉
Kristen Snow
Hi, I just doubled this recipe on top of two large store bought naan breads. also, I used wilted fresh spinach and topped them off with torn prosciutto. I baked them for 10 minutes at 400 degrees. delicious! my husband "does not like" white pizza but he gobbled these up. thank you!
Kristen Chidsey
YAY!!! I am so glad you and your husband both enjoyed!
Frankie
I made it! It is delicious! Thank you!