Italian Recipes & Food Ideas

You won’t be able to resist.

What can’t cabbage do?

They bake in half the time as the classic.

The key to a really good pizza is, of course, the crust. I make pizza at home at least once a week, so you can be sure this recipe comes to you after years of very meticulous kitchen testing! (Totally new to making pizza? Check out our absolute beginner’s guide to pizza making, too!)Also, the fact that this dough comes together in just a few minutes and doesn’t need time to rise means that you can have pizza for dinner any night of the week.

This is the ultimate pasta dish.

It all starts with store-bought gnocchi.

Bonus: It's super easy.

You might adore Olive Garden for the unlimited salad and garlic breadsticks (our copycat recipe is seriously legit!) or the ultra-comforting creamy pastas, but for me, it’s all about the luxuriously creamy chicken gnocchi soup. Just thinking about it, I can smell the herb and black pepper-flecked broth and feel the warm, satisfying comfort it brings to my belly.

It’s our classic for a reason.

Struffoli is not only a fun word to say. The classic Italian dessert, also known as Italian Honey Balls, is a festive that’s traditionally served during Christmas time, just like panettone, pizzelle, and pignoli. Tiny balls of dough are fried until golden-brown. Crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside, they’re then tossed in a sticky-sweet honey syrup and decorated with rainbow sprinkles.

It has taken me far too long to discover how amazing — and how astoundingly easy — it is to make my own limoncello. I had this hazy idea that limoncello must be a closely guarded secret kept by a sect of weathered Italian grandfathers with wooly driving caps and secretive, knowing smiles. Just me? Well, it turns out all you need to make truly incredible limoncello are some good lemons, a bottle of stiff vodka, and just a little patience.

Italian sausage is one of my favorite proteins. It packs a lot of flavor, and yet it still manages to pair well with just about anything. Whether you like yours sweet, spicy, or mild, there are plenty of things you can make at home with it. Of course there’s pasta, which is usually the first thing that comes to mind when people think about Italian sausage, but that’s really just the beginning. Soups, casseroles, and sheet pan dinners are all great ways to turn sausage into a meal.

A faster way to make the classic.

Grab your sheet pan.

The sauce is everything.

It's unreal.

Bonus: It's ready in 30 minutes.

These are simple classics to memorize.

A big casserole dish filled with baked pasta is the easiest (and tastiest) way to feed all of your family and friends.

I think we can all agree — there are few things more wonderful in this life than a giant bowl of pasta for dinner.

No knead, no problem.

Classic comfort food at its very best.

It tastes like a big hug.

It's basically grown-up mac and cheese and we're good with that.

Spoiler: The noodle hack is a total game-changer.

Gremolata is one of those things where the whole is definitely greater than the sum of its parts. Sprinkled over any number of dishes, it will make every mouthful pop with its bright, fresh flavors. Gremolata is so simple that you barely need a recipe, but here’s one all the same, just to get you started.

It's the fastest, fanciest dinner around.

Learn how to make old-school meatballs just like an Italian nonna.

Trust us: This is best (and easiest!) thing you'll cook in your Instant Pot this year.

Plus, you'll have enough leftovers for days.

The white wine sauce is everything.

You'll immediately notice the difference.

Only three ingredients!

An egg-powered vehicle for leftovers.

You've never seen gnocchi like this before.

This light skillet pasta is bursting with lemony flavor.

It's what comfort food dreams are made of.

No espresso machine required!

Everything you love about the classic, but even more comforting — and way, way easier.

There's kale in it to make you feel wholesome, and cheese and white wine to make you feel indulgent.

The first thing I ever cooked for my wife, Grace, were these meatballs

Everything is done in the same skillet in this recipe — easy cooking and easy cleanup.

Make it once and eat all week.

It's all wrapped up in an easy Dijon vinaigrette.

Raise you hand if you agree that every night should be pasta night.

Memorize this recipe and ditch delivery.

They're stuffed with fresh herbs and two kinds of cheese.

Creamy, tangy, no-cook panna cotta is perfect no matter the season.

Want to make pasta, but lack the motivation to do all that mixing and kneading by hand? No problem. If you have a food processor, you can have a batch of pasta dough ready in about two minutes flat. The fast-working action of the food processor blade mixes those eggs into the flour faster than your fingers ever could — and gives the dough a good kneading at the same time. The resulting dough is soft and supple.

It's slow-simmered and meat-packed.

It's bright, fresh, and a breeze to whip together.

Of course Ina has the smartest way to make lasagna ahead!

It's a fraction of the cost of guanciale or pancetta.

It's a classic frittata meets French onion soup mash-up that is dressed to impress.

This creamy, comforting dish is calling your name.

I’ve been craving a nice, hearty risotto so I’ve decided it would be a good time to make this type of dish during cold months. I had it in my mind that I wanted to make something with mushrooms and leeks. I wanted it to be savory and woodsy, encompassing the flavors of fall. I have a collection of nice dried mushrooms waiting to be used; some chanterelles picked by friends, and some dried porcinis that I picked with my mushroom picking club.

Toss it on a grain bowl, salad, or even over pasta all week long.

The citrusy flavor is unreal.

Aperol spritz, but make it punch!