Mix up your taco Tuesday routine with this super simple Italian version of nachos with herbed ricotta and homemade pita.
A Different Kind of Nachos
We aren’t talking your typical tortilla chips, salsa, and liquid cheese. This still hits all your nacho cravings but with all the best Italian flavors. Make it as an appetizer for a crowd or indulge in it as your whole meal – no judgment.
The Elements of Italian Nachos
Let’s build these from the bottom. Ready? Swap out the tortilla chips for pita chips. There’s some great ones out there – salted or seasoned. If you’re feeling ambitious, I’m sharing our favorite homemade soft pita bread for dipping. I promise it’s easy if you use this Easy No-Knead Artisan Bread dough recipe! Nash helped me roll these out in just a few minutes this weekend. It didn’t take long, we got some quality time together on a lazy Saturday, and he takes so much pride in what he makes in the kitchen – it’s a great meal to get your kiddos involved!
This dough mat is the best thing to keep my counter relatively clean and helps when you need to measure a pie crust – and it’s oven-safe! It’s one of my favorite kitchen gifts! You can find a similar one here. Wet down your counter first to keep it from slipping too. Boom! What a hack, right?
Next, instead of that “plastic cheese” (as Nash likes to call it), we’re topping our pita with a quick homemade tomato sauce with Italian sausage. And what’s better than a nacho bar, am I right? Everyone gets exactly what they want with some delicious cheese choices, peppers, and olives.
Did somebody say “cheese?”
You can never have enough cheese, and even though these Italian nachos aren’t drowning in it, we aren’t holding back on the cheese, honest. I absolutely LOVE ricotta cheese. I bet even if you think you aren’t familiar with ricotta, you are. It’s the cheese traditionally served in lasagna and also in cannolis. How can a cheese be so versatile to go in a main dish as well as in the dessert to follow? That’s the magic of ricotta.
It’s so mild it’s like a blank canvas. For these, instead of adding a dollop of sour cream like with Mexican nachos, I’m adding a generous scoop of herbed ricotta that you can whip up in 2 minutes.
Personalize your Italian nachos
Now comes the fun part. What does your favorite pasta dish have in it? In the sauce? Start listing those things, and you’ve got a good start to your nacho toppings. We like to use a variety of olives and peppers and cheeses. Green olives, black olives, Kalamata olives, banana peppers, pepperoncinis, Calabrian peppers (my personal fave, but a bit spicy!), goat cheese, mozzarella, Parmesan. The list could go on and on – have fun with it! (The next time I make these I’ll probably make some Alfredo sauce to drizzle over the top too. Yum!)
Ingredients for the Italian Nachos sauce:
- 16 oz. ground Italian sausage
- 2 Tbs. garlic powder
- ¼ cup red wine
- 16 oz. crushed tomatoes
- 8 oz. tomato sauce
- 3 tsp. each dried basil, oregano, parsley
- 2 tsp. fennel seed
- 1 tsp. each salt and pepper
Ingredients for the Herbed Ricotta:
- 6 oz. Ricotta cheese
- ½ tsp. each basil, oregano, parsley, salt and pepper
Ingredients for Homemade Pita:
- dough from Easy No-Knead Artisan Bread
- 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
- ½ tsp. each dried basil, oregano, parsley, salt, pepper, rosemary, (crushed red pepper optional)
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Italian Nachos with Herbed Ricotta and Homemade Pita
Ingredients
- 16 oz. ground Italian sausage
- 2 Tbs. garlic powder
- ¼ cup red wine
- 16 oz. crushed tomatoes
- 8 oz. tomato sauce
- 3 tsp. each dried basil oregano, parsley
- 2 tsp. Fennel seed
- 1 tsp. each salt and pepper
- 6 oz. Ricotta cheese
- ½ tsp. each basil oregano, parsley, salt and pepper
- ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
- ½ tsp. each basil oregano, parsley, salt, pepper, rosemary, (crushed red pepper optional)
- Additional toppings: goat cheese shredded mozzarella or Parmesan, green olives, black olives, Kalamata olives, Calabrian peppers, banana peppers, pepperoncinis
- pita chips
Instructions
- Brown the Italian sausage in a saute pan on medium-high heat. Liberally sprinkle the garlic powder on it as it cooks. Once cooked through, add the red wine and deglaze the pan, allowing the alcohol to cook out for a few minutes. Add both the crushed tomatoes and tomato sauce and 3 teaspoons each of all the spices. Turn the heat down to medium-low and let it simmer until heated through.
- While your sauce is simmering, you can mix up the herbed Ricotta. Mix the Ricotta and ½ teaspoon each of all the spices and set aside until you’re ready to assemble your nachos.
- For the pita, preheat the oven to 500 degrees, take out a lemon-sized ball of dough and place on a floured surface. Sprinkle the dough with enough flour to keep it from sticking as you roll it out. Roll the dough out to ⅛ inch thick and set on a baking sheet with parchment paper. Do this until you have the desired amount of pita bread rolled out.
- Pour the olive oil and ½ teaspoon of each of the spices in a bowl and stir. Take a spoonful of the herbed oil and spread over each piece of pita bread. Place the pita in the preheated oven and bake until browned – about 6-8 minutes.
- Assemble your Italian nachos with pita chips on the bottom or your soft pita bread on the side for dipping.