Impress your family and friends with this simple and tasty Italian torta recipe. Made with spinach, ricotta, sausage, and a double pie crust, it is perfect for brunch, lunch, or a main dish!
What is an Italian Torta?
An Italian torta can be a cake, a pie or a tart and the fillings can be savory or sweet. This one is basically a pie and it is savory. An example of a sweet one is my chocolate torta.
This torta is much like a spinach and ricotta pie (a savory ricotta pie) but with the addition of delicious Italian sausage. Instead of the sausage being whole like when you cook Italian sausage in the oven, it is taken out of the casing and browned before going into the torta.
It is loaded with flavor and perfect for entertaining or family meals. It is also so easy to make.
This torta is one of my husband's and son's favorites and a dish that I have fond memories of growing up since my family made this often. It was a weekend kind of meal that was made early in the day and everyone could grab a slice when they were hungry.
I will show you how to make this at home so you can enjoy it with your family too.
Ingredients and Substitutions
Here is what you will need (full recipe below):
- Pie Crust (all-purpose, flour, butter, sour cream vinegar sugar, and salt): I have included my pie crust recipe for this torta below. It is the same one I use for my easy ricotta pie and creamy custard pie and it is very strong and can hold the dense filling without getting soggy or falling apart.
- Ground Italian sausage: Cooked and cooled. Just like I recommend with my baked Italian sausage recipe, feel free to use sweet, mild or spicy sausage.
- Shredded Mozzarella: Only use shredded since fresh has too much moisture for the pie.
- Whole milk ricotta cheese: I prefer whole milk ricotta for the flavor but you can also use low fat.
- Frozen chopped spinach: You need a lot and frozen thawed spinach is easiest for that. The spinach will be squeezed so the excess moisture is drained.
- Milk: Just a little to thin out the mixture.
- Eggs: large eggs work best.
- Seasonings: This is garlic powder and salt.
How to Make Italian Torta With Spinach, Ricotta and Sausage
- Prepare Pie Crust: Make the crust by pulsing cold butter, sour cream, vinegar, salt, and sugar in a food processor until the butter is the size of peas. Chill the dough then roll out one of the pie crusts and place it into a pie pan or large tart pan.
- Thaw And Drain Frozen Spinach: Press out as much liquid as possible.
- Brown Italian sausage: Make sure to cool completely before adding it to the egg mixture.
- Mix Ingredients: In a large bowl, mix or whisk the eggs, cheeses, and seasonings then add in the browned-up sausage and spinach and mix again.
- Fill: Add the filling to the pie pan.
- Make Lattice Top: Roll and cut the second pie crust into 1-inch thick strips then make the lattice pie crust top. If you need help with this part, I like to use this lattice pie crust tutorial.
- Bake: Brush on Egg Wash then place in a pre-heated oven and bake for one hour or until set in the center and golden brown on the outside.
- Cool: Once the torta is out of the oven, let it cool for about 25 minutes before serving.
Recipe Tips
- Make sure to drain the spinach well! I like to press the spinach through a fine sieve about 5-6 times to get as much moisture out of the spinach as possible. This will prevent the crust from getting soggy.
- Pre-cook and cool the Italian sausage: You want the sausage pre-cooked before going into the filling. Also make sure it is cooled so it does not cook the eggs.
- Don't skip the egg wash: This is what gives the lattice top its pretty golden color.
- Skip the lattice top and just top with a sheet of pie crust: If you don't want to make a lattice top, feel free to top the torta with a whole rolled-out pie crust, Just cut a few slits in it to allow the steam to escape.
Is A Tart Pan Or Pie Pan Best For This Torta
This savory pie can be made in a pie pan or a large tart pan. In the pictures you see, I have made it in a large 11-inch tart pan. Here is what to expect when you use these:
- Large tart pan: I do like using this because it has a removable outside ring that allows the beautiful crust to be visible after baking. If you use a tart pan, make sure it is a large one about 11 inches in diameter. This will give you a baked torta that is about 1 ½ inches high.
- Pie pan: If you want to use a pie pan, this also works. Because pie dishes are a bit smaller in diameter, the height of the torta will be about 2 inches or so.
Use what you have and it will be delicious.
Recipe Faqs
No. The filling for this torta is very thick and not liquidy so it is not necessary to pre-bake the crust.
Yes. This torta reheats beautifully so you can make it ahead of time and reheat it in a preheated 350-degree oven until warm in the center.
I do not recommend freezing the torta since it has eggs in it.
Storing Leftovers And Re-Heating
I love to have this savory ricotta pie for leftovers. To store it, allow it to cool then place it on a plate and cover it with plastic wrap or aluminum foil. Refrigerate for up to 3 days.
To reheat the torta, place it on a sheet pan then place it in a preheated 350-degree oven for about 10-20 minutes. If the pie crust is browning too much, just cover it with aluminum foil while reheating.
More Ricotta Recipes You Will Love
Italian Torta With Spinach, Ricotta and Sausage
Equipment
- 11-inch tart pan or pie pan
Ingredients
- 2 pie crusts recipe below or store-bought pie crust.
- 1 lb Ground Italian Sausage cooked and cooled
- ⅔ cup ricotta Whole milk ricotta
- 8 ounces Thawed Chopped Frozen Spinach Drained well
- 6 ounces Shredded Mozzarella cheese
- 5 Large Eggs for filling
- 1 Egg yolk for egg wash
- ⅛ cup Whole milk
- ⅛ teaspoon Garlic powder
- ⅛ teaspoon Kosher salt
Pie Crust (makes 3 discs of dough or 3 pie crusts)
- 4 cups All purpose flour
- 1 ½ cups cold unsalted butter cut into cubes
- 1 egg beaten
- ½ cup ice water
- 3 tablespoon sour cream
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
Making the pie crust
- Make the pie crust by adding flour, sugar, and salt and pulsing until combined.4 cups All purpose flour, 1 tablespoon sugar, 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- Now add the butter and pulse until the butter is the size of small peas.1 ½ cups cold unsalted butter
- In a small bowl, whisk the egg, water, vinegar and sour cream.1 egg, ½ cup ice water, 3 tablespoon sour cream, 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- Pour this mixture into the food processor with the flour and butter mixture and pulse until combined.
- Dump out onto a lightly floured surface and press together. Divide dough into three even sections.
- Form each section into a disc then wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
Making the filling
- Brown the sausage then set aside to cool.1 lb Ground Italian Sausage
- Place the thawed spinach in a fine mesh sieve then press out the liquid. Keep pressing out the liquid until very little is left.8 ounces Thawed Chopped Frozen Spinach
- In a large bowl, mix the eggs, cheeses, milk and seasonings and mix well.⅔ cup ricotta, 6 ounces Shredded Mozzarella cheese, 5 Large Eggs, ⅛ teaspoon Garlic powder, ⅛ teaspoon Kosher salt, ⅛ cup Whole milk
- Now add in the browned-up sausage and drained spinach and mix again.
- Set aside.
Assembling the torta
- Roll out one pie crust to about 14 inches in diameter and place it into a pie pan or large tart pan making sure it is pressed down and the edges are crimped then refrigerate until ready.
- Roll out the second pie crust to about 10 inches in diameter and ⅛ inch thick. Cut into 1-inch thick strips.
- Remove the pie pan from the fridge and add the filling to the pie pan.
- Add lattice strips to the top of the pie. Once the strips are added to the top, press them into the crimped edge of the pie crust. If you need help with laying lattice pie strips, I like to use this lattice pie crust tutorial.
- Brush egg yolk over the lattice strips.1 Egg yolk
- Place the pie plate onto a large sheet pan and place in the preheated oven on the middle rack and bake for about 1 hour if using a pie plate or 30 minutes if using a tart pan. The torta is done baking when the center is set and the top is golden brown.
- Once the torta is out of the oven, let it cool for about 25 minutes before serving.
Meg says
Thank you for sharing this recipe