Many Italian families have a history of serving this sweet rice pie as dessert on Easter. But I make this version more frequently than that since it’s so excellent.
| Prep Time: | 50 mins |
| Cook Time: | 1 hr 30 mins |
| Total Time: | 2 hrs 20 mins |
| Servings: | 16 |
| Yield: | 2 to 10 – inch pies |
Ingredients
- 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- ¼ cup butter
- ½ cup white sugar
- 3 eggs
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup water
- ½ cup uncooked white rice
- 1 quart milk
- 1 (15 ounce) container ricotta cheese
- 1 ½ cups white sugar
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon grated lemon zest
- 6 eggs
Instructions
- Stir the flour and baking powder together in a bowl; set aside. In a second large bowl, cream the butter and 1/2 cup sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in 3 eggs, one at a time, and stir in the vanilla. Gradually beat in the flour mixture to make a soft dough. Divide the dough in half and shape into two balls. Working on a lightly floured surface, roll out each ball to fit two 10 inch pie plates. Line the pie plates with the crust, and refrigerate until needed.
- Bring the water to a boil in a saucepan, and stir in the rice. Reduce the heat to medium-low, cover, and cook for 20 minutes. Stir in the milk. Continue cooking, stirring frequently, until the mixture thickens. Set aside to cool.
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
- Meanwhile, beat the ricotta cheese, 1 1/2 cups sugar, lemon juice, lemon zest, and 6 eggs together in a mixing bowl until smooth and frothy. Stir in the cooled rice mixture until evenly blended. Pour into the pie shells.
- Bake pies in preheated oven until the filling is set and tops are golden brown, about 90 minutes. Cool on racks.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 323 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 49 g |
| Cholesterol | 125 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 1 g |
| Protein | 11 g |
| Saturated Fat | 5 g |
| Sodium | 182 mg |
| Sugars | 28 g |
| Fat | 9 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
I used a ready-made pie crust and reduced the milk to three cups instead of four. It came out great! Loved it!
I use 2 cups cream rather than 4 cups milk, and no crust. I prefer orange rather than the lemon. And I substituted (cooked) Acini di Pepe pasta for the rice. Yummy!!
First of all, I used white rice already made at the Chinese take out. I also cut down on the milk and sugar and did not use a crust. Just mixed it all, added some golden raisins and poured it into a greased 10 x 10 corning ware. Oh, so good.
This recipe was phenomenal and as close to being from Italy as you can get this side of the Atlantic. My Nonni, who came to the US during WWII, passed away a few years ago after being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. With her went many recipes including her Rice Pie. I found this recipe and last night I gave it a whirl, altering it only by using orange versus lemon and having to cook the rice a second time with whole milk instead of skim. Using her traditional pie plate, which looks more like a hammered tin bowl with straight sides, this double recipe made one pie. According to the recipe, you leave the pie open faced; her’s was covered, so the extra dough was put to use. An hour into cooking, the crust was golden brown and to prevent the burning that many others have complained about, I covered the edge with a paper ring. Out of the oven, the pie smelt “right” and tasted exactly as they remembered. It was creamy and set up perfectly on the first try (my father warned Nonni threw out many of hers due to the center being runny). The crust was a great consistency and paired well with the filling.
Wonderful recipe! Simple and full of old world tradition – adding a lttle Ammaretto is a nice touch too.
I made this for the first time today, it took a longer to make than on the recipe but well worth the time. Only thing 1 quart of milk is too much espically if you are using that little rice. I cut it down to 2 cups of milk and it worked great. This tasted just like my mom use to make it brought back a lot of memories. Thans for the recipe.
Didn’t care for crust at all – very thick and dry. Crust did not burn because I covered it during baking. The filling is tasty but also a bit dry, and I cooked the pies 10 minutes less than recipe stated. I will continue to look for a different recipe.
It did take a long time to make in the kitchen. It didn’t really take too long to prepare, but it took a long time to bake in the oven. But, it was delicious! I will be making this again.
I have not finished this recipe yet. The prep time lists 30 minutes. I have been preparing this for over an hour. The rice is still not thickened. If I had known, it would not have been a choice for me. Back to my old Italian Rice Cake. I am sure it will taste great, as I have been cooking for a very long time–but too much time in the kitchen. I will probably use the crust recipe though. Very easy to make.
My husband and I fell in love with an store bought Italian Rice pie when we lived in NJ. I found this recipe and decided to surprise my husband with it for Easter. It was a hit! I didn’t make the pie crust this time, but will defintely give it a try. While the recipe turned out great, I would like to suggest that a time frame be put in Step 2. The recipe reads “until mixture thickens.” Not having cooked a recipe like this before, I had no idea how long to cook it. A time frame would have been helpful, as a guide at least. But this is a new family favorite, sure to grace our table time and again.
I first want to say that there is no way this recipe takes 30 minutes to prepare…more like 3 hours!! It is still in the oven; it’s only been in the oven for an hour and the crust has already burned. Perhaps the people who have had great success with this recipe know what to do so that their crust is not burning and hopefully can share with the rest of us I had to take them out and try and wrap foil aroung the crust to pretect it but that is no easy task when something has already been baking for an hour. I guess protect it from the get-go?I also want to note that once the milk goes in with the rice it takes at least 30 minutes if not a bit more for it to thicken enough for use. I hope it tastes better than it looks right now.
Well, it’s finally in the oven. It looks a little thin despite following the recipe, hopefully it does thicken. I was very confused by the sugar and the eggs – because I didn’t see the 3 eggs listed, both the crust and the filling ended up with 6 eggs each! I didn’t want to guess after I’d already done the crust so I added 6 eggs to the filling too. I’m just hoping this cooks up right after all the work I put into it.
Great pie – love that it makes two at once! One question – the ingredients list for the crust calls for 1/4 cup sugar, but the directions refer to 1/2 cup. I found the 1/4 cup to be fine, but just wanted to check and ask which is correct?
This pie was delicious! I had some trouble with the dough since it was my first time. I will definately make this a new Easter tradition.
My mom used to bake this every year for Easter. She passed away 25 years ago, and when me and my husband made this Italian Rice Pie the other day, the whole house had that wonderful smell of my mom baking. Unfortunately, Mom wrote her recipes in Italian and I could never get it right… until now. Thanks! BTW, loved the pie and it’s even tastier the next day!
Absolutely delicious. I LOVED it. I did add a 1/4 cup more rice to the recipe because I love it in puddings and pies. This pie is just the perfect amount of sweet and I love the smooth, creamy consitency of the ricotta cheese. THis is an inexpensive recipe to make and very easy. I will make this often. yum!
I have been looking for this simple rice pie recipe for years. It is delicious. I didn’t have the grated lemon zest but it turned out exactly the way I remember by grandmother’s did. Thank you for posting this.
I made this recipe and I had the smae issues with the crust burning. I bought a “pie kit” and used the rim protectors included in the box. But I think it is because of the amount of sugar in the crust as well as the filling having to bake so long. Maybe a cup less of milk.
The pie was excellent, but the crust burned. Why?