# Pastiera napoletana Neapolitan Easter tart of wheat, ricotta and orange-flower water. Napoli, Campania. Desserts (Dolci). > Naples' Easter tart: a lard shortcrust filled with wheat cooked slowly in milk, ricotta, eggs, candied fruit and orange-flower water under a lattice of pastry strips, one of Campania's listed traditional foods. - Level of proof: Documented tradition (Tradizione documentata). A regional tradition documented in cookbooks and local practice, with no single official text. - Sources checked: 2026-11-02 - Published: 2026-11-02 - Page: https://nonnario.com/recipes/pastiera-napoletana/ ## In short - A lard shortcrust filled with wheat cooked in milk, ricotta, sugar, eggs, candied fruit, cinnamon and orange-flower water. - The wheat is cooked the day before, on low heat for hours, until it is creamy and the grains are soft. - A lattice of 2 cm pastry strips that leaves lozenges on top; baked slowly at 150 °C until a toothpick comes out dry. - Baked, cooled and served in its low tin: it is too fragile to turn out. - Rested at least a night before it is eaten, and dusted with icing sugar. Also called: pastiera, pastiere, pastiera di grano, Neapolitan Easter pie, Neapolitan wheat and ricotta tart. ## Where it comes from Pastiera is the Easter tart of Naples, made in the days before the feast in the low tin pans it is baked, served and even sold in. A legend gives it to the siren Parthenope: the people of the gulf brought her flour, ricotta, eggs, wheat cooked in milk, orange-flower water, spices and sugar, and the gods mixed them into the first pastiera. Its written history begins with the poet Jacopo Sannazaro, who praised the golden colour of pastiere; Antonio Latini, a cook from the Marche who worked in Naples, wrote down a first, mostly savoury recipe in 1692; Vincenzo Corrado described a tart of wheat cooked in broth with lard and orange-flower water in 1773; and Ippolito Cavalcanti's cookbook in Neapolitan dialect of 1837 settled the balance of its ingredients. Tradition credits today's version to the nuns of the convent of San Gregorio Armeno. Campania lists it among its traditional food products. There is no official recipe, and every family keeps its own proportions. We compared six sources and publish the most widely recognised version. They agree on a shortcrust made with lard, wheat cooked in milk, ricotta, eggs, orange-flower water and candied fruit, a lattice of strips that leaves lozenges, and icing sugar once it has cooled; they differ on whole or separated eggs, on lard in the filling and on the oven, from 150 °C to 180 °C. By custom, still followed across Italy, it is baked by Holy Thursday or Good Friday and eaten on Easter Sunday, resting for days at room temperature. (Because it is made with ricotta, eggs and milk, the food-safety reference we follow recommends putting it in the fridge within 2 hours of baking and eating it within 3 days of cooking the wheat; the plan gives the days for both.) - Defined by: Neapolitan tradition - Reference: Compared across 6 sources, listed below; this page publishes the most widely recognised version. ## Sources - [Accademia Italiana della Cucina: pastiera as made in Naples, from its recipe collection (Italian)](https://accademia1953.it/it/ricette/ricetta/pastiera) - [Regione Campania, Assessorato Agricoltura: the pastiera among Campania's traditional food products (PAT) (Italian)](https://agricoltura.regione.campania.it/Tipici/tradizionali/pastiera.htm) - [Accademia Italiana della Cucina: a history of the pastiera by Giancarlo Saran, Civiltà della Tavola no. 349, June 2022 (Italian)](https://accademiaitalianadellacucina.it/sites/default/files/allegati/CDT_349_giu_2022.pdf) - [Il Cucchiaio d'Argento: pastiera napoletana, a recipe for 8–10 (Italian)](https://www.cucchiaio.it/ricetta/ricetta-pastiera-napoletana/) - [La Cucina Italiana: pastiera napoletana, a recipe for 10 (Italian)](https://www.lacucinaitaliana.it/ricetta/dolci-e-dessert/pastiera-napoletana-2/) - [USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service: Leftovers and Food Safety (archived copy of 29 May 2025)](https://web.archive.org/web/20250529160018/https://www.fsis.usda.gov/food-safety/safe-food-handling-and-preparation/food-safety-basics/leftovers-and-food-safety) ## Ingredients Makes one pastiera in a tin 28 cm across and 4 cm deep, for 10: 10 servings, in metric units. ### For the pastry (for each pastiera, not scaled with servings) - 400 g white flour (farina bianca) (plain soft wheat flour, such as tipo 00) - 200 g sugar - 200 g lard (strutto) (cool but soft enough to work) - 4 egg yolks (keep 3 of the whites for the filling) - lemon zest, grated (from an unwaxed lemon; the zest of about 1 lemon) - lard, for greasing the tin (a little) ### For the wheat (for each pastiera, not scaled with servings) - 230 g soaked wheat (grano bagnato) (wheat berries already soaked, as sold for pastiera; or dry wheat berries soaked at home (see the plan)) - 600 ml milk (plus a little more, hot, only if the milk is absorbed before the grains are soft) - 2 knobs of lard (about 15 g each) - 1½ tbsp sugar - 1½ sachets of vanillin (Italian sachets of about 0.5 g) - ½ orange, the peel only (in wide strips, without the white pith) ### For the filling (for each pastiera, not scaled with servings) - 320 g ricotta (firm and well drained; cow's or sheep's milk) - 230 g sugar - 4 egg yolks - 3 egg whites (from the eggs whose yolks went into the pastry) - 2 vials of orange-flower water (fialette) (the second only if the filling needs it) - 100 g candied fruit (usually citron and orange; candied pumpkin (zuccata) too, if you find it) - ground cinnamon (to taste, about a pinch) ### To finish (for each pastiera, not scaled with servings) - icing sugar, for dusting ## Equipment - Heavy-based saucepan of about 2 l, with a lid, and a wooden spoon - Shallow container with a lid, for cooling the wheat - Large bowl, a sieve and a flexible spatula, for the filling - Clean bowl and an electric whisk, for the egg whites - Rolling pin, greaseproof paper, a ruler and a sharp knife - A ruoto: a very low iron or tinned-steel pastry tin 28 cm across and 4 cm deep (or a loose-bottomed tin of the same size) - A wooden toothpick or skewer, and a wire rack - Fine sieve, for the icing sugar ## Method Hands-on 1 h 18 min, cooking 3 h 50 min, 4 days from start to table. Two days of work, then three or more days of rest. The day before: 2–3 hours of slow cooking for the wheat, mostly unattended, then cool it and put it in the fridge overnight. On baking day: about 15 minutes for the pastry and an hour's rest in the fridge, about an hour to make the filling, line the tin and lay the lattice, 1½–2 hours in the oven and 1½–2 hours of cooling; then it rests, wrapped, at room temperature for three or more days, and improves. By custom it is baked by Holy Thursday or Good Friday and eaten on Easter Sunday. (The food-safety reference we follow recommends putting it in the fridge within 2 hours of baking and eating it within 3 days of cooking the wheat: for Easter Sunday, cook the wheat on Holy Thursday and bake it on Good Friday.) If you can buy only dry wheat berries, begin three days before the wheat is cooked: soak about 160 g in plenty of cold water, in a cool place, for 72 hours, changing the water twice a day, and weigh out 230 g once soaked. ### The day before: the wheat 1. **Weigh and rinse the wheat** (Hands-on 3 min). Weigh 230 g of soaked wheat, rinse it in a sieve under cold water and drain it. Check: The grains are plump and whole, with no sour smell. Tip: These quantities are for soaked raw wheat. Dry wheat berries must be soaked first, for 72 hours (see the plan). Jarred cooked wheat is not a like-for-like swap for these amounts. 2. **Put the wheat on with the milk** (Hands-on 8–10 min; heat: medium-low). Put the wheat in the saucepan with the 600 ml of milk, the 2 knobs of lard, 1½ tablespoons of sugar, 1½ sachets of vanillin and the peel of half an orange. Bring it slowly to a simmer over medium-low heat, stirring. Check: Small bubbles break at the edge of the pan; the lard has melted. 3. **Cook it slowly, for hours** (Cooking 2–3 h; heat: lowest, lid ajar). Turn the heat to the lowest setting, set the lid ajar and cook for 2–3 hours, stirring every 10–15 minutes and scraping the bottom, until the mixture is creamy and the grains are soft. Check: A grain pressed between two fingers squashes easily, with no hard core; the milk has almost all been absorbed into a thick cream that coats the spoon. Tip: The milk catches easily on the bottom: if you smell scorching, do not scrape the burnt layer into the rest; move the wheat to a clean pan and go on more gently. Tip: If the milk is going fast, close the lid. If it has all been absorbed before the grains are soft, add a few spoonfuls of hot milk at a time and go on cooking until they are. 4. **Cool it and refrigerate it overnight** (Rest 8 h; 4 °C). Take out the orange peel. Spread the wheat in the shallow container and let it cool, then cover it and put it in the fridge within 2 hours of taking it off the heat. Leave it there until the next day. Check: Cold right through and set into a thick cream. Tip: A shallow layer, no more than about 5 cm deep, cools quickly enough to be in the fridge inside the 2 hours. ### Baking day: the pastry 5. **Make the pastry** (Hands-on 10 min). Rub the 400 g of flour, the 200 g of sugar and the 200 g of lard together with your fingertips until they look like coarse crumbs. Add the grated lemon zest and the 4 yolks and gather it all quickly into a ball, without kneading more than needed. Check: A smooth, firm dough with no dry flour left in the bowl; it holds together when pressed. Tip: Keep the whites in a covered bowl in the fridge: 3 of them go into the filling. Tip: The dough is short and rather dry. If it will not hold together at all, work in a teaspoon or two of cold water, no more. Tip: Overworking warms the lard and makes the pastry tough: stop as soon as it comes together. 6. **Rest the pastry** (Rest 1 h; 4 °C). Flatten the ball into a disc, wrap it in cling film and leave it in the fridge for at least 1 hour. Check: Firm and cool, but it still yields to a fingertip. Tip: Leave the wheat in the fridge meanwhile: it comes out only when it goes into the filling. 7. **Dice the candied fruit** (Hands-on 5 min). Cut the 100 g of candied fruit into small pieces, about 5 mm. Check: Small, even pieces, none stuck together in clumps. ### The filling 8. **Heat the oven** (Cooking 20 min; 150 °C). Heat the oven to 150 °C, conventional (no fan), with a shelf in the middle. Tip: An oven thermometer is worth it: the low, even heat is what sets the filling without splitting it. 9. **Work the ricotta with the sugar** (Hands-on 5 min). Push the 320 g of ricotta through the sieve into the large bowl and work it with the 230 g of sugar until smooth and creamy. Check: No lumps of ricotta; the cream is soft and glossy. Tip: If the ricotta is watery, drain it in a sieve in the fridge for a few hours first: a wet ricotta makes a loose filling. 10. **Add the yolks, one at a time** (Hands-on 3 min). Add the 4 yolks one at a time, mixing each in completely before the next. Check: Smooth and evenly yellow, with no streaks. 11. **Flavour it** (Hands-on 1 min). Mix in one vial of orange-flower water and the cinnamon. Check: The scent of orange flowers is clear when you smell the bowl. 12. **Add the wheat and the candied fruit** (Hands-on 3 min). Add the cold wheat and the diced candied fruit and mix well. Check: The wheat is spread evenly through the cream, with no firm lumps of it left. Tip: Break up the cold wheat with the spatula as you mix: it sets firm in the fridge. ### Lining the tin 13. **Grease the tin** (Hands-on 2 min). Grease the ruoto, base and sides, with a little lard. Check: A thin, even film everywhere, into the corner. 14. **Roll out two thirds of the pastry** (Hands-on 8 min). Cut off two thirds of the pastry and roll it out between two sheets of greaseproof paper to about 2 mm thick, into a disc about 38 cm across. Keep the other third in the fridge. Check: Even all over, about 2 mm, and wide enough to cover the base and the sides of the tin. Tip: If it cracks or sticks, it is too cold or too warm: let it soften a few minutes, or chill it for 10 minutes, and go on. 15. **Line the tin** (Hands-on 5 min). Peel off the top sheet, turn the pastry into the tin, peel off the second sheet and press the pastry gently into the corner and up the sides. Trim it level with the rim and add the trimmings to the pastry kept for the strips. Check: No holes or thin patches; the pastry reaches the rim all round. Tip: Patch any tear with a scrap of pastry pressed well in: the filling is loose and finds every gap. ### The whites and the lattice 16. **Whip the whites** (Hands-on 4 min). Whip the 3 egg whites in the clean bowl to stiff peaks. Check: The peaks stand up straight when the whisk is lifted, and the whites do not slide when the bowl is tipped. Tip: Bowl and whisk must be clean and dry, with no trace of yolk or fat, or the whites will not stiffen. 17. **Fold in the whites and taste the scent** (Hands-on 3 min). Fold the whites into the filling with the spatula, turning it over from the bottom upwards. When it is all combined, smell it: if the orange-flower scent is faint, add the second vial. Check: No streaks of white left; the filling is light and soft, and smells clearly of orange flowers. Tip: Be generous rather than mean: part of the scent fades in the oven. 18. **Fill the case** (Hands-on 2 min). Pour the filling into the lined tin and level the top with the spatula. Check: A flat surface, with the filling a little below the rim of the pastry. 19. **Roll out the rest of the pastry on paper** (Hands-on 5 min). On a sheet of greaseproof paper, roll the remaining pastry into a rectangle as long as the tin is wide, 28 cm, about 3 mm thick. With a knife, mark it along its length into strips 2 cm wide. Check: At least six strips, each 2 cm wide and 28 cm long. 20. **Cut the strips with their paper** (Hands-on 2 min). Cut along the marks right through the paper, so that each strip of pastry lies on its own strip of paper. Check: Each strip lifts cleanly on its paper without breaking. 21. **Lay the central strip** (Hands-on 1 min). Lift one strip, turn it over, pastry side down, and lay it across the centre of the tart, where it is widest. Peel the paper off gently. Check: The strip lies straight across the middle, unbroken. Tip: Peel the paper back low and slowly along the strip, holding the pastry down with a finger. 22. **Lay two more strips beside it** (Hands-on 2 min). Lay a second and a third strip the same way, parallel to the first, one on each side of it, 3 cm away. Check: Three parallel strips with even 3 cm gaps. 23. **Lay three strips across** (Hands-on 3 min). Lay three more strips the same way across the first three, at a slant, the central one first, so that the lattice leaves lozenges of filling uncovered. Trim the ends level with the rim and press them on to the edge of the pastry case. Check: A lattice of six strips with diamond-shaped gaps, every end sealed to the rim. ### Baking 24. **Bake slowly** (Cooking 1 h 30 min to 2 h; 150 °C). Bake on the middle shelf at 150 °C until a toothpick pushed into the filling comes out dry and the pastry is golden, about 1½–2 hours. Check: A toothpick pushed into the filling between the strips comes out dry; the strips and the rim are an even golden colour; the filling has set and trembles only slightly when the tin is nudged. Tip: Test first at 1½ hours, then every 10 minutes. Tip: If the pastry colours well before the filling is set, lay a sheet of foil loosely over the top. ### Cooling, resting and serving 25. **Cool it in the tin** (Rest 1 h 30 min to 2 h). Set the tin on the wire rack and leave the pastiera to cool at room temperature. Do not try to turn it out. Check: The tin is no longer warm to the touch. Tip: It is fragile and is served from its tin: turned out, it would break. 26. **Rest it, wrapped, for days** (Rest 3 days). Wrap the pastiera, still in its tin, and leave it at room temperature for three or more days: it improves as it rests. By custom it is baked by Holy Thursday or Good Friday and eaten on Easter Sunday. (The food-safety reference we follow recommends putting it in the fridge, wrapped, within 2 hours of taking it out of the oven, and eating it within 3 days of cooking the wheat, the day before baking included: for Easter Sunday, cook the wheat on Holy Thursday and bake it on Good Friday.) Check: Firm right through; the flavours have blended. Tip: Kept in the fridge, it needs at least a night there for the flavours to blend. 27. **Dust it and serve** (Hands-on 3 min). Just before the pastiera goes to the table, sift icing sugar over the top, then cut it in its tin into 10 slices. Check: The sugar sits white on the lattice. Tip: If it has been in the fridge, take it out about an hour before serving, and put what is left back in the fridge, covered, no more than 2 hours after you took it out (about an hour after serving). ## Good to know - When: Easter. It is made a few days ahead, no later than Holy Thursday or Good Friday, so that it rests and its flavours blend. ([source](https://agricoltura.regione.campania.it/Tipici/tradizionali/pastiera.htm)) - Keeping: Wrapped, at room temperature, it improves over three or more days. (The food-safety reference we follow recommends the fridge within 2 hours of baking, wrapped, and eating it within 3 days of cooking the wheat, the day before baking included: for Easter Sunday, the wheat on Holy Thursday and the bake on Good Friday.) ([source](https://accademia1953.it/it/ricette/ricetta/pastiera)) - Variant: Pastiera di riso (pastiero): Made with rice in place of the wheat, in the province of Salerno. ([source](https://accademiaitalianadellacucina.it/sites/default/files/allegati/CDT_349_giu_2022.pdf)) - Variant: Pastiera salata: A savoury pastiera with cured meats and cheese, an old version kept in the province of Caserta. ([source](https://accademiaitalianadellacucina.it/sites/default/files/allegati/CDT_349_giu_2022.pdf)) - Variant: Pastiera di ferellini: Made with ferellini, thin capellini of long pasta, at Torre del Greco. ([source](https://accademiaitalianadellacucina.it/sites/default/files/allegati/CDT_349_giu_2022.pdf)) - Variant: With a smooth filling: The filling blended to a smooth cream instead of keeping the whole grains and the pieces of candied fruit. ([source](https://www.cucchiaio.it/ricetta/ricetta-pastiera-napoletana/)) ## Common mistakes - Hurrying the wheat: it needs hours on the lowest heat to turn creamy, and grains that are hard in the pan stay hard in the tart. - Adding warm wheat to the filling: cook it the day before and use it cold. - Stirring the whipped whites in hard: fold them from the bottom up, or the filling loses its lightness. - A hot oven: at 150 °C the filling sets slowly and stays moist; a hot oven splits it and browns the pastry before the centre is done. - Turning it out of the tin: it breaks. Bake it, cool it and serve it in the same tin. - Serving it the day it is baked: it needs to rest so that its flavours blend. By custom it is baked by Holy Thursday or Good Friday for Easter Sunday, and it improves over three or more days, wrapped, at room temperature. (The food-safety reference we follow recommends the fridge within 2 hours of baking, and eating it within 3 days of cooking the wheat.) ## Cooking it outside Italy - Grano bagnato is raw wheat already soaked, sold in Naples before Easter, and this page's quantities are for it. Where only dry wheat berries are sold, soak them first for 72 hours (see the plan). Jarred cooked wheat (grano cotto) is not a like-for-like swap for these amounts. - Strutto is pure rendered pork lard; in the UK and the US, buy plain lard. - Italian orange-flower water often comes in small vials (fialette). With bottled orange-flower water, whose strength varies, add it a teaspoon at a time and smell the filling as the recipe says. - Vanillin comes in small Italian sachets; outside Italy, the seeds of a vanilla pod are used in pastiera too: about half a pod. - Without a ruoto, use a loose-bottomed tart tin or a springform 28 cm across, filled only to 4 cm deep, and serve it on the tin's base. --- From Nonnario, the documented recipes of Italy: https://nonnario.com/recipes/pastiera-napoletana/. Cite the recipe's page and the month its sources were checked; for the official text itself, cite the document listed under its sources. Licence: CC BY-NC 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/).