Four Cheese Pizza with Caramelized Onions
on Oct 06, 2019, Updated Aug 01, 2024
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This homemade pizza recipe is topped with a ricotta blend, three more cheeses and a tangle of deeply flavored sauteed onions.
When I was making this I found myself humming. And whispering to myself, “Oh, this is going to be so, so, so good.” I mean really when you start any recipe with the notion of four cheeses things are already just starting to look good, right?
Four Cheese Pizza with Caramelized Onions: This homemade pizza recipe is topped with a ricotta blend, three more cheeses, and sauteed onions.
Caramelized Onions
And I hope you are with me with I say that the words “caramelized onions” are two of the most beautiful words in the English language. As well as one of the most delicious and versatile foods/ingredients/condiments/building blocks ev-ah.
And they can be made ahead of time, which is smart planning. If you have the extra onions and the inclination, double the caramelized onion part of this recipe, and then you can use them all week long in all kinds of ways: atop a burger, in a grilled cheese sandwich or quesadillas, piled onto a grilled chicken breast or steak or pork chop.
Making Pizza at Home
But let’s go back to our pizza, shall we? Ah yes, four cheeses plus caramelized onions. The bottom layer is a creamy ricotta spiked with some crushed anchovies and fresh oregano. Then a combo of melty grated fontina and delicate fresh mozzarella is sprinkled over, those sultry onions are spread on top, and a final layer of grated cheese tops the whole thing. So, it’s a white pizza, and none of us missed the sauce for a moment.
If you make the caramelized onions ahead of time, and have the ricotta mixed up and the grated cheeses ready to go, you can assemble the pizza in 5 minutes, and bake it for about 25, and have dinner on the table in about ½ an hour.
What to Serve With Four Cheese Pizza
This pizza would make a terrific main dish, paired up with a big green salad. But I feel like I will be putting it into play as an appetizer even more often, cutting it into small squares and serving them with cocktails before a meal. It’s best hot or warm. But you know I had a big honking piece for breakfast the day after I made it, straight from the fridge. There is no pizza shaming in our house, no wrong place or time or temperature to eat pizza.
More Easy Pizza and Flatbread Recipes
- Pizza Quattro Stagioni
- Blue Cheese, Radicchio, Onion, and Honey Flatbread Strips
- Mexican Pizza with Avocado Crema
- Clam Pizza
- Tomato Pie Pizza
- Greek Salad Pizza
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Four Cheese Pizza with Caramelized Onions
Ingredients
For the Caramelized Onions
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
- 3 large yellow onions about 1 1/2 pounds halved lengthwise, and thinly sliced
- ½ teaspoon Kosher salt
- freshly ground black pepper to taste
- ½ teaspoon sugar
- 1 cup fresh ricotta preferably whole milk
- ½ cup finely grated Grana Padano cheese
- 2 teaspoons minced fresh oregano or 1 teaspoon dried
- 2 anchovies rinsed and very finely minced into almost a paste (optional)
- freshly ground black pepper to taste
- 1 pound pizza dough, or 1 package refrigerated pizza dough
- 2 cups grated fresh mozzarella
- 1 cup grated Fontina Cheese
- Snipped chives to serve, optional
Instructions
- In a large skillet, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the onions and salt and pepper if using, and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened and just beginning to brown about 30 minutes.
- Add the sugar, reduce the heat to medium low, and cook, stirring frequently, for another 20 minutes, until the onions are soft and nicely browned. Keep a close eye on the heat, and lower it a bit if the onions on the bottom of the pan starts to burn. If the onions start to stick you can add a tablespoon or two of water and give it a stir; repeat as needed. Taste and adjust the seasonings. Let cool slightly.
- Preheat oven to 425°F. Blend the ricotta, Grana Padano, oregano, anchovies and pepper together in a medium bowl. Press the dough out into a rectangle, letting it rest between shaping. or, unroll the pizza dough right on its parchment paper onto a rimmed baking sheet. Spread the ricotta mixture over the dough, leaving a ½-inch border.
- Sprinkle half of the grated mozzarella and half of the grated fontina evenly over the ricotta. Spread the caramelized onions evenly over the cheese, then sprinkle the rest of the grated mozzarella and fontina over the onions. Bake until the edges of the crust golden brown and when a spatula is slid under the tart it lifts up firmly, about 22 to 26 minutes.
- Distribute the chives over the pizza, if desired. Serve warm or at room temperature, cut into squares.
