Ritterhude (Northern Low Saxon: Hu’e) is a municipality in the district of Osterholz, in Lower Saxony, Germany.

The natural landscape is characterized by extended fens, the alluvial wetlands and marshes of the Hamme River and the Wümme River lowlands together with the glacially formed landscape Geest with typically sandy and loamy soils.

The three large villages, Ritterhude (8.300 inhabitants), Platjenwerbe (2.500), and Ihlpohl (2.200) are direct suburbs of the city of Bremen, while the three small villages Lesumstotel (900 inhabitants), Stendorf (600), and Werschenrege (400) are somewhat further away in the north of the municipality.

The castle 'Huda' was used in 1309 to protect the passage over the Hamme River at the 'Heerweg' from Hamburg to Bremen.

In 1648, the Prince-Archbishopric was transformed into the Duchy of Bremen, which was first ruled in personal union by the Swedish and, from 1715 onwards, by the Hanoverian Crown.