Spicy Meatball Pizza with Ricotta
This meatball pizza recipe rivals all the best pizza shops, and it’s so easy to make at home. It even uses frozen meatballs, so you don’t need to worry about making them from scratch! Creamy ricotta cheese and spicy cherry peppers take this pizza to new heights.
What you’ll love about this recipe:
- Convenience Meets Gourmet: Store-bought pizza dough and frozen meatballs cut corners without cutting flavor.
- Customizable Heat: Whether you like it mildly warm or tongue-tingling hot, this pizza caters to every level of spice enthusiast.
- Ready in 20 Minutes: Faster than delivery, and so much more delicious!
The Easy Meatball Pizza You’ve Been Dreaming Of
Meatballs are one of my favorite pizza toppings, but I don’t order meatball pizza very often because pizza shop meatballs can be so hit or miss.
And I don’t usually make it at home because homemade meatballs are kind of a pain to make.
But in my recent quest to come up with creative and delicious recipes using frozen meatballs, I started to wonder if you can use frozen meatballs on homemade pizza.
It turns out that not only can you, but you absolutely should! This meatball and ricotta pizza is one of the best pizzas I’ve had in a long, long time. It almost didn’t seem fair for it to taste as good as it did given how easy it was to make!
You don’t need a fancy pizza oven or any special equipment either, just some basic ingredients and a big appetite. You’ll definitely want to give this meatball pizza recipe a go for your next pizza night!
What you’ll need to make it
Pizza dough. Look for fresh dough in the refrigerated section or frozen dough thats sold in a ball (not a flattened tube). If you ask nicely, a lot of pizza shops will also sell you dough that you can refrigerate or freeze at home. Note that if you’re using frozen dough, you’ll need to move it to the fridge the day before you plan to cook so it has time to defrost.
Frozen meatballs. No need to thaw them! By now you know I love the Wellsley Farms Italinan-Style Meatballs from BJs and I always have a huge bag of them in my freezer.
Pizza sauce. My go-to for homemade pizza is dom pepinos pizza sauce, sold in cans. It has a deliciously sweet tomato flavor and a great consistency thats saucy enough without being too saucy. Other options are using canned crushed tomatoes with basil or your favorite marinara.
Part-skim ricotta cheese. I adore the flavor of creamy ricotta cheese on pizza! For the best results, use part skim ricotta. Whole milk ricotta melts too much and leaves the top of the pizza too milky.
Low-moisture mozzarella cheese. If you’re looking for that great mozzarella stretch when you bite into a slice, use low moisture mozzarella. It’s what pizzarias use and it really makes a difference! It melts beautifully, even when you buy it already shredded like I did here.
Pickled cherry peppers. These add a great pop of flavor to your pie! Just add a few so the meatballs are the real star. If you don’t like heat, leave them off. You can also swap them out for thinly sliced red onion, which adds a similar bright acidity.
How To Make pizza with frozen meatballs
Assembling this pizza is pretty staright-forward, but the order y9ou add the ingredients does make a difference.
Start by shaping your dough right on your baking sheet. This is easiest if you pull it out of the fridge an hour or so before you start cooking. Cold dough can still be shaped, but it will need a little more work since it will want to shrink back into it’s ball shape. Stretch the dough as thinly as you can. In the images above, you can see the size of my 1 pound ball of pizza dough on a standard size sheet pan.
Once the dough is shaped, pick it up and put oit back down a few times to make sure it isn’t stuck to the pan. This will make it easier to serve after it’s baked.
Add a thin layer of sauce, leaving some uncovered dough around the edges to form your crust. It’s ok if the sauce doesn’t fully cover the dough, go ahead and let some peek through!
Sprinkle the mozzarella evenly over the sauce, then top with the meatballs and cherry peppers.
Finally, drop heaping teaspoons full of ricotta in the empty space between the other toppings. Try to space the toppings evenly so each slice gets a little of everything.
Lastly, add dried Italian seasoning or crushed red pepper flakes if you like before popping the pan into your preheated oven.
Frequently asked questions
Absolutely! If you have the time to make it, homemade dough is great. But don’t turn your nose up at store-bought dough. My favorite brands are Pede, Portland Pie Company, and Whole Foods. Just stay away from Pillsbury or any other dough that’s sold in a tube or a shelf-stable “shell.”
How do I store leftovers?
Wrap slices individually and refrigerate for up to 3 days. Reheat in a preheated oven or air fryer at 375°F for the best results.
Nope! Add as many or as few as you like, even if that means adding none at all. If you leave them off, I recommend adding sliced red onion (before baking) or fresh basil (after baking) to help balance the heavier flavor of the meatballs and cheese.
Nope! Add them right from the freezer!
Yup! You don’t have to, but it’s not a problem if you do.
Check the crust. It should be light in weight and golden brown in color and should lift from the pan easily. The cheese should be melted and bubby but appear slightly dry.
Other recipes you might like:
- Classic Sweet and Sour Meatballs
- How to Make Swedish Meatballs with Frozen Meatballs
- Air Fryer Chicken Parmesan
- Easy Bruschetta Pasta
Spicy Meatball Pizza with Ricotta
Ingredients
- 1 pound refrigerated pizza dough preferably at room temperature
- 1 cup pizza sauce
- 6 ounces shredded low-moisture part-skim mozzarella cheese (about 1 ½ cups)
- 10 frozen meatballs
- 4-8 slices pickled cherry peppers
- ¼ cup part-skim ricotta cheese
- ½ teaspoon dry Italian seasoning
- ¼-½ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes if desired
Instructions
- Heat your oven to 500℉.
- Place the pizza dough on the center of a baking sheet. Using clean hand. poke and stretch the dough into a large round, about ¼-inch thick. Gently lift the dough to make sure it isn't stuck to the pan.
- Spread the sauce in a thin layer of the pizza dough, leaving a 1-inch border around the outer edge.
- Cover the sauce evenly with shredded mozzarella cheese.
- Arrange the meatballs and cherry peppers on the pizza, distributing them evenly so there's some of both on every slice.
- Use a teaspoon to drop the ricotta cheese onto the pizza in between the meatballs.
- Sprinkle the pizza with Italian seasoning and crushed red peppers, if desired.
- Bake for 9 minutes. Use a spatula to gently press on each meatball, flattening it slightly. This will help them adhere to the pizza, make it easier to eat, and give them more surface area to crisp up.
- Bake an additional 3-5 minutes, until the crust if deep golden brown and the cheese is melted and bubbling but appears slightly dry.
- Let the pizza sit for a minute or two before slicing.
