This Zucchini Ricotta Galette is made with a creamy three-cheese filling and an incredibly easy buttery pastry made from scratch. While this galette looks gorgeous, it requires just 15 minutes of prep! Perfect for your busy weeknights.
Close your eyes, take a bite of this cheesy galette, and you’ll be transported to a cafe in France with the warm wind blowing through your hair. Have I sold you on this recipe yet? I love making galettes. They’re so simple to make, plus you just can’t beat those fresh flavors.
While it may be tempting to grab some homemade pie crust as a shortcut to make this recipe, I highly recommend making my homemade galette pastry dough. The lemon and sour cream create a perfect tangy pairing with that creamy ricotta filling.
What is a galette?
This French specialty is actually quite a broad term. It simply refers to a flat round pie made with a flaky pastry. It can be filled with both sweet and savory ingredients.
Many times you’ll see fresh fruits in the center of these beautiful and rustic pies. Today I’ve created a savory version loaded with 3 types of cheese! I guarantee this will be a winner at your house.
Ingredients
I used a homemade pastry for this recipe, but you can use pie crust if you’re crunched for time. If you can, however, this tangy and easy homemade pastry will really take your galette to the next level.
Keep scrolling down to the recipe card for a list of FULL ingredient amounts and instructions or click the “Jump to Recipe” button at the top of the page!
For the pastry:
- Flour – All-purpose flour works best. You can mix in some whole wheat flour as well.
- Salt – Season to taste.
- Butter – We want nice and cold butter to create flaky pockets in the pastry. Lard or shortening will work as well, but not margarine.
- Sour cream – Greek yogurt can be substituted.
- Lemon juice – I always like to use freshly squeezed!
- Ice water
For the filling:
- Zucchini – Use 1 large or 2 small zucchinis.
- Olive oil – Avocado, safflower, sunflower, or vegetable oils will work.
- Garlic – You can use more or less garlic as you prefer.
- Ricotta – Mascarpone would be great as well. You can use cream cheese, but keep in mind it is thicker and has a saltier, stronger flavor.
- Parmesan cheese – Grana Padano will work too. Want it cheesier? Add more than what’s called for!
- Mozzarella – Cheddar or Monterey Jack are great stretchy cheeses to use as well.
- Basil – I used dried basil but you can use fresh if you have it handy.
- Egg yolk – The yolk will be brushed on the pastry before baking to make it beautiful and glossy. You can use milk instead.
What else can I add to my zucchini galette?
This can be a great opportunity to clean out some ingredients from you fridge! You can also top your galette with fresh peppery greens like arugula after it’s done baking. Drizzle with a good quality olive oil, a balsamic glaze, or some freshly cracked pepper!
- Tomato slices
- Fresh herbs such as rosemary, thyme, or oregano.
- Mushrooms
- Onions or leeks
- Ground meats or sausage, fully cooked
How to make zucchini ricotta galette
- Make the pastry: Mix the flour and salt in a bowl. Add the butter pieces to the bowl. Use a pastry blender or two knives to cut and mix the butter into the flour until pea-sized pieces form. Mix the sour cream, lemon juice, and water in a separate bowl. Add this mixture to the flour and combine with your hands or a wooden spoon; don’t over-work the dough. Form the shaggy dough into a ball, cover with plastic, and refrigerate.
- Prep the filling: Place the zucchini slices on paper towel, sprinkle salt over them, and let them sit for 30 minutes, then pat off excess moisture. Mix the cheeses and basil together, then mix the olive oil and garlic in a separate small bowl. Add 1 tsp of your garlic oil to the cheese mixture, season with salt and pepper, and mix well.
- Assemble the galette: Preheat the oven to 400F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Roll the pastry dough to a 12-14″ round. Spread the cheese mixture over the pastry, leaving a 2″ border. Arrange the zucchini slices over the cheese mixture. Drizzle the remaining garlic oil over the zucchini. Fold the border over the filling leaving the center open. Brush the crust with egg yolk, then bake for 45 minutes, or until golden brown.
How to serve
Savory galette is, essentially, France’s answer to pizza. It’s a wonderful meal all on its own. You can serve it for brunch, lunch, or dinner! If you want a bit more sustenance, you can serve this ricotta zucchini galette as a side to your favorite mains. Give some of these recipes a try!
- Baked Chicken Breast
- Beef Tenderloin
- Balsamic Pork Loin
- Baked Chicken Thighs
- Honey Mustard Glazed Chicken
- Honey Garlic Pork Loin
- Beef Bourguignon
How to store
Galette is best enjoyed freshly baked. If you end up with leftovers, wrap them well with plastic or store the slices in an airtight container. This zucchini galette tastes just as delicious cold as it does hot! You can zap it in the microwave or toast it up in the oven, but I like to just pull a piece straight from the fridge and enjoy.
If you want to make a few galettes and freeze some for later, I would freeze them un-baked. Wrap them well with plastic and a layer of foil. They’ll last 3 months frozen. Take the galette out of the freezer, brush with egg yolk, and bake at 375F for about 1 hour, or until golden brown.
Did you love this recipe: Try these:
- Rustic Fig Galette
- Easy Quiche Recipe
- Steak and Mushroom Pie
- Lahmacun
- Chicken Pot Pie
- Plum Galette
- Mini Blueberry Galettes
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Zucchini Ricotta Galette
Equipment
Ingredients
For Pastry
- 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour chilled in the freezer for 30 minutes
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 8 tbsp butter cold unsalted, cut into pieces and chill again (1 stick)
- 1/4 cup sour cream
- 2 tsp lemon juice fresh
- 1/4 cup ice water
Filling
- 1 large zucchini or 2 smaller ones, sliced into 1/4 inch thick rounds
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp garlic minced, roasted, fresh works as well
- 1/2 cup ricotta cheese
- 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese grated
- 1/4 cup mozzarella mozzarella
- 1 tsp basil dried
- 1 egg yolk for brushing
Instructions
- Make pastry dough: Add the flour and salt to a large bowl and slightly whisk. Cut the butter in pieces and add to the bowl. Using a pastry cutter or two knives cut but butter in until the mixture resembles coarse meal. In a small bowl, whisk together the sour cream, lemon juice and water and add this to the butter-flour mixture. Using a wooden spoon or your fingers, mix in the liquid until large lumps form. Pat the lumps into a ball; do not overwork the dough. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.
- Prep zucchini: Cut zucchini into thin slices and place over paper towels, sprinkle some salt over the slices and let sit for 30 min so the paper towels soak up all the water.
- Prep the cheese: Mix the ricotta cheese, mozzarella cheese, Parmesan cheese and basil. In a small bowl, whisk the olive oil and the garlic together and add 1 teaspoon of the garlicky olive oil to the bowl with the cheeses and season with salt and pepper to taste and mix well.
- Preheat oven to 400 F degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Assemble galette: On a floured work surface, roll the dough out into a 12-14 inch round. Transfer to prepared baking sheet. Spread the ricotta mixture evenly over the bottom of the galette dough, leaving a 2-inch border. Shingle the zucchini attractively on top of the ricotta starting at the outside edge. Drizzle the remaining tablespoon of the garlic and olive oil mixture evenly over the zucchini. Fold the border over the filling, pleating the edge to make it fit. The center will be open. Brush crust with egg yolk.
- Bake: Bake for about 45 minutes or until golden brown.
Recipe Notes
- Wrap leftover galette with plastic or store the slices in an airtight container. This zucchini galette tastes just as delicious cold as it does hot! You can zap it in the microwave or toast it up in the oven, but I like to just pull a piece straight from the fridge and enjoy.
Nutrition Information:
Recipe adapted from Smitten Kitchen
This is a great recipe! It has everything you need nutritionally for a meal. It’s elegant, delicious, and for most guests it is a dish they have never had before so it impressive! I wanted something different to take to a family reunion. It was a hit! It is very good at room temp and traveled well. It is a beautiful presentation for a fancy luncheon with a light salad and Chardonnay.
Made this for dinner this evening, it turned out wonderful. Thank you for the great directions on the pastry. Surprise! I can make pastry following your instruction :). Added some roasted red pepper and caramelized onion – and a few cherry tomatoes – Thank you!
Practise makes perfect, you’ll be a pastry master in no time! We’re glad the galette turned out for you.
I made changes to the recipe – added pesto to the ricotta and lightly grilled some red pepper to give the “pie” more color and flavor. This recipe could be a nice springboard for other creative ideas – add pancetta? add mushrooms? the sky is the limit!
I made this tonight. ..amazing! The only thing that I did different was use fresh basil instead of dried and sprinkled a little more cheese & basil on top for the last 10 minutes. I will definitely be making this again. Beautiful and delicious, it would be a great take along dish to bring to get togethers & good use of the abundant garden zuchinni!
I’m glad you liked it 🙂
This looks yummy. Can you please tell me how many grams are in a stick of butter. I’m from the UK and our butter comes in larger blocks. Thank you.
Hi Karen. There 113 grams in a stick of butter. 🙂
I see it says to refrigerate the dough for an hour but if I make the dough in the afternoon and refrigerate it a few hours until I’m ready to make the dish in the evening would that be ok or would it dry it out? Thanks!
Yep it would be fine, I even made the dough the day before. 🙂
Great, I was about to ask if it can be refrigerated overnight. 👍🏼 This is so good, I’ve made it a few times before. I’m going to make it again for a brunch with my cousins.
Yes, for sure it can. You can heat it up the next day in the oven for about 10 minutes, so it’s nice and warm again.
This was so good!!!! I made my own Ricotta cheese and used cheddar cheese!!!! The dough is so easy and super delish. I want to try and make a pie with fruits using that dough.
Oh it’s wonderful, I made the peach galette with that dough and it was amazing.
I made a plum and peaches pie… it was so good (with vanilla ice cream). I also made pasties using this dough and my husband LOVED it! (he gave me a 10 out of 10)…. The dough is a keeper!
Wow this is such a beautiful galette! I love the zucchini and all that yummy cheese. The pastry couldn’t be more perfectly browned!
Thank you! 🙂
This is absolutely beautiful! Love the trio of cheeses. You’re very talented!
Thanks Mimi.
Holy heck, Jo! This looks so beyond delicious! I love ricotta! So much so, it would probably make even zucchini amazing! And then there is that crust! Oh, the crust!
I’ll have to give that dough recipe a try! I always use store bought dough because I never have the patients to make it myself. Yours sounds awesome and simple though : )
Oh it is, I’ve made this with puff pastry before and I have to tell you I love this homemade dough a lot more. I can’t wait to make a peach galette with it!
When I roast garlic it becomes a paste. How do you roast minced garlic? And can you roast it and store it? Freezer, frig? I love the flavor but don’t think ahead or have time on a busy day . This looks yummy! Thanks
Well you roast the garlic first, then you mince it, and it is like a paste. I bought a small jar of already roasted minced garlic, just easier. However fresh garlic works just as well.
Oh yes you can refrigerate it, or freeze, both work.
I am smitten with the photo. It is so appetizing and well flat out sunny. Five minutes to put it together? I don’t know about that. But I am willing to spend a little more time if it takes me longer. What a golden cheerful dish—–with ricotta, which I crave and zucchini–yum and a flakey crust—be still my heart.
Oh I hope you try it Carol, it’s so good.
This is a beautiful tart and that pastry dough sounds amazing! I love that you used three cheeses – when it comes to cheese, the more the better!
Absolutely! There’s no such thing as too much cheese in my book!
This is the kind of stuff my dreams are made of! Absolutely yummy looking. : D