Definition of ridge regression $$min_\beta||y-X\beta||_2^2+\lambda||\beta||_2^2, \lambda\ge0$$ you can prove a function is strictly convex if the 2nd derivative is strictly greater than 0 thus [![enter image description here][1]][1] [1]: https://i.sstatic.net/j2Ebw.png But unfortunately I don't know if this is sufficient proof as it's possible for $X^TX$ to be negative and $\lambda$ can be 0. Unless I'm missing something.