Cuisine · Italy

Italian cooking

Pasta, risotto, pizza, slow-braised meats. The grammar of Italian cooking: few ingredients, cooked with more respect than any of them asked for.

All ⏱Under 30 min ⏱Under 60 min 🥬Vegetarian 🌱Vegan

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🇮🇹ItalyMedium

Cereal and Pasta Dishes

Pasta alla Puttanesca

A bold, briny Neapolitan pasta sauce built entirely from pantry staples: anchovies, olives, capers, garlic, and canned tomatoes. The name translates roughly as 'in the manner of a prostitute' — the exact origin is disputed but the dish is genuinely Neapolitan, from the Spanish Quarter, and dates to at least the mid-20th century. What makes it work is the combination of four distinct salty elements — the anchovy dissolves into the oil, the capers add a floral brine, the olives add a fruity richness, the tomato provides acidity — and none of them taste quite right alone, but together they produce something complex and deeply savory in under twenty minutes. Do not worry about the anchovies: they disappear completely into the oil and leave no fishy taste. Only their umami remains.

25 min490 kcal4 serves

⚡Quick🌶️Spicy

★4.8

🇮🇹ItalyAdvanced

Cereal and Pasta Dishes

Pasta Primavera

Pasta Primavera is a popular American dish inspired by Italian traditions, created in the 1970s at Le Cirque restaurant in New York City. Light and fresh, perfect for spring and summer.

30 min430 kcal4 serves

🌿Vegetarian⚡Quick💪High protein

★4.9

🇮🇹ItalyMedium

Cereal and Pasta Dishes

Penne alla Vodka

Penne in a creamy tomato sauce with pancetta, vodka, and a hit of chilli. The sauce is the color of a sunset — somewhere between deep red and pale pink — and the texture is what happens when heavy cream meets a reduced tomato base: thick, glossy, and rich enough that the pasta takes on its own weight. Penne alla vodka became a cult dish in Italy in the 1980s and hit American restaurant menus shortly after. Its origins are genuinely disputed between Rome, Bologna, and New York. What nobody disputes is that it works: the vodka doesn't add alcohol flavor (it mostly cooks off) but it unlocks aroma compounds in the tomato that neither water nor oil can dissolve, making the sauce smell and taste more intensely of tomato than a standard tomato cream sauce.

30 min620 kcal4 serves

⚡Quick🌶️Spicy

★4.9

🇮🇹ItalyMedium

Cereal and Pasta Dishes

Penne in Tomato Sauce

Penne in tomato sauce is a versatile dish that can be either a simple everyday dinner or the basis for more complex variations with the addition of meat, seafood or vegetables.

33 min580 kcal4 serves

🌿Vegetarian⚡Quick🌶️Spicy

★4.5

🇮🇹ItalyEasy

Sauces and Dips

Pesto

Pine nuts and garlic pounded with fresh basil, sharp Pecorino, and fruity olive oil into a vivid green sauce. Made properly in a mortar, the texture stays slightly coarse and the basil flavor stays bright, not bruised.

18 min570 kcal4 serves

🌿Vegetarian⚡Quick🥑Keto

★4.7

🇮🇹ItalyMedium

Sweet Dishes

Pistachio Cream Tart

A buttery shortcrust pastry case filled with pistachio pastry cream and topped with whipped cream, crushed pistachios and a drizzle of pistachio cream. The pastry cream is the main event — dense, sweet and deeply nutty. Bake the shell ahead, fill when cool.

55 min460 kcal8 serves

🌿Vegetarian

★4.9

🇮🇹ItalyMedium

Sweet Dishes

Pistachio Tiramisu

Classic tiramisu where pistachio cream is folded into the mascarpone filling, and the espresso is replaced with a sweetened condensed milk and pistachio mixture. No cocoa on top — crushed pistachios instead. Pale green, nutty, and easier to make than it looks.

35 min490 kcal8 serves

🌿Vegetarian

★4.9

🇮🇹ItalyAdvanced

Flour and Confectionery Products

Pizza

Pizza is one of the most popular dishes in the world, originating from Italy. It consists of a dough base, tomato sauce, cheese and a variety of toppings.

90 min680 kcal4 serves

💪High protein

★4.4

🇮🇹ItalyMedium

Cereal and Pasta Dishes

Risotto

Risotto is a classic Italian dish — creamy rice cooked with broth until soft, with a variety of optional ingredients such as mushrooms, seafood, vegetables, meat and cheese. Suitable for a vegetarian diet if using vegetable broth.

38 min355 kcal4 serves

💪High protein🥑Keto

★4.6

🇮🇹ItalyMedium

Cereal and Pasta Dishes

Sausage and Pea Pasta

Italian pork sausages browned until the fat renders and the casing crisps, then simmered in a quick tomato-cream sauce with peas and finished with parmesan. This is the kind of pasta that feels like a restaurant dish but comes together in under 30 minutes on a weeknight. Rigatoni's ridged tubes hold the sauce inside and out — every forkful pulls a bit of everything.

30 min690 kcal4 serves

⚡Quick🌶️Spicy

★4.6

🇮🇹ItalyMedium

Sweet Dishes

Savillum (Ancient Roman Cheesecake)

The oldest cheesecake recipe in the world — preserved in Cato the Elder's De Agri Cultura (160 BC). Just 4 ingredients: ricotta, flour, honey, one egg. Baked 45 minutes, glazed hot with honey and poppy seeds. A sweet glimpse into ancient Roman daily life.

60 min295 kcal8 serves

🌿Vegetarian💪High protein

★4.5

🇮🇹ItalyEasy

Sweet Dishes

Semifreddo

Semifreddo is an Italian frozen dessert whose name literally means 'semi-cold'. It has a more delicate, creamy texture than regular gelato and is often served at Italian holiday tables.

25 min190 kcal8 serves

🌿Vegetarian⚡Quick🌾Gluten-free

★4.8

Nearby flavors

Four kitchens with overlapping ingredients and similar rhythms to Italian cooking.

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