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Easy Italian recipes

Name: Easy Italian recipes
Cuisine: Italian

Enjoy la dolce vita from your own home with some of our favourite recipes, from homemade pasta and pizza to antipasti ideas and a decadent semifreddo

Published: June 9, 2021 at 4:50 pm

Looking for Italian recipes? Try our ideas and twists here then check out the best Italian starters and best Italian desserts.

Create your own ultimate Italian feast. Start with easy antipasti ideas, including burrata and a summer antipasti board. We have plenty of primi dishes to choose from… think ricotta gnudi and squash gnocchi, posh pasta dishes (including how to make past from scratch) and easy pizza ideas. Italian dishes for main course include Italian sausages with polenta, easy agrodolce chicken and Italian baked meatballs. Finish with some fab Italian dessert ideas such as Italian lemon cake, homemade gelato and affogato.

Tuck into your Italian food and escape to Italy virtually with our foodie road trip in Sardinia.

Not spotted your favourite Italian dish? Do you know an awesome Italian chef or food writer that you’d like to see featured here? Email us or contact us on social media at @olivemagazine to let us know!

Easy Italian recipes

Italian antipasti ideas

Grilled peaches with burrata

Juicy peaches give a sweet contrast to creamy burrata and salty serrano ham in this showstopping summer salad.

A grey plate topped with green leaves, orange peaches and a ball of white cheese

Grilled vegetable antipasti

Kick off a classic Italian meal with these gorgeous grilled veggies. Serve with fresh focaccia, olives and cured meats for an impressive spread.

Burrata bruschetta

Make this posh bruschetta from London’s Mortimer House restaurant for a pretty Italian dish to serve as a dinner party starter.

Italian-style flatbread with pear, walnut and gorgonzola

The combination of gorgonzola, pears and walnuts is usually found in a salad but works brilliantly on this molten cheesy bread. It’s great hot but equally good for lunchboxes the day after.

Italian Flatbread Recipe with Pear, Walnut and Gorgonzola

Figs with Grana Padano and pink peppercorn dressing

Adding finely grated Grana Padano to the dressing gives a creamy but piquant contrast to the sweet figs for a vibrant starter.

Quick Figs with Cheese Recipe and Peppercorn Dressing

’Nduja arancini

Try this crunchy arancini with punchy ‘nduja, Grano Padano and saffron. This easy yet impressive recipe comes from Italian restaurant Bancone in Covent Garden.

Rosemary and olive oil focaccia

Check out our simple focaccia with rosemary and olive oil. This incredibly moreish bread recipe is easy to make and the perfect side with any starter.

Focaccia Bread Recipe With Rosemary and Olive Oil

Italian pasta dishes

From homemade pasta skills to easy midweek ideas, try our Italian pasta dishes. We have plenty more pasta ideas, from vegetarian pasta recipes to posh pasta recipes for a dinner party and our quick and easy pasta dishes.

Spinach, mascarpone and ham hock rotolo

Spirals of salty ham hock, creamy mascarpone and spinach create this showstopping pasta bake.

Find more flavoursome ham hock recipes, from risottos to salads.

Spinach Rotolo Recipe with Ham Hock and Mascarpone

Prawn orecchiette with roasted-shell olive oil

Check out our easy orecchiette recipe with large juicy prawns and punchy chilli. Impress with this simple yet flavour-packed pasta recipe this weekend.

Casarecce with raw tomato sauce

This vegan casarecce is super simple and only takes 15 minutes to make. Casarecce is a twisted short pasta that retains a good bite, perfect for this dish.

Vegan Casarecce Pasta With Raw Tomato Sauce

Spaghetti alle vongole with samphire

Spaghetti alle vongole with clams makes a classic Italian supper. The clams are cooked in dry white wine, which combined with the natural clam juice and samphire make a lovely rich sauce for the pasta.

Spaghetti Alle Vongole Recipe With Samphire

White lasagne

White lasagne, like white pizza, doesn’t contain tomato sauce but is still rich and savoury. This version with porcini and pancetta is a bit posher than the usual. Look for high-welfare or rose veal mince. We have loads of lasagne recipes here, from classic lasagne to posh porcini lasagne.

Lamb, pea and wild garlic lasagne

Mitshel Ibrahim, head chef of Venetian-styled restaurant Ombra, shares his showstopping lamb, peas and wild garlic lasagne, perfect for a lazy weekend project or Italian dinner party.

Grating parmesan over a plate of lasagne

Trofie al pesto

Using fresh, homemade pesto, this quick to make pasta dish is ready in 20 minutes. A fast and easy weekday meal that all the family will love.

Pizza recipes

It doesn’t get much more Italian than pizza! Here is a selection of our favourite pizza recipes.

Sicilian-style aubergine pizzas

These super-easy Sicilian aubergine pizzas are a great twist on a family favourite. They use crème fraîche instead of a tomato base, charred aubergines, sultanas and pesto, with rocket and pine nuts for a bit of extra crunch.

No-knead pizza with Italian sausage, fennel and burrata

This recipe for no-knead pizza is a bit of a leap of faith, but once you get used to the dough it’s a great method to have up your sleeve.

No-Knead Pizza Dough Recipe with Sausage, Fennel and Burrata

Pizza bianca with smoked salmon and spring onions

Try this delicious pizza bianca (with a creamy white base rather than tomato sauce). Spring onion, rocket and smoked salmon mean this pizza is piled high with fresh summery flavours.

Double cheese and mushroom calzones

A twist on a pizza for two. Bread mixes make calzone easy and this version is packed full of Italian favourites like mushrooms, mozzarella, parmesan and chilli.

Other Italian primi dishes

From gnudi to gnocchi, panzanella to pasta, here are our favourite primi recipes.

Fried gnocchi with broad beans, parma ham, ricotta and sage

This combo of cool lemony ricotta and crisp golden fried gnocchi is an absolute winner.

Pan Fried Gnocchi Recipe with Broad Beans, Parma Ham and Ricotta

Ricotta gnudi with sage butter

These delicate, light-as-air ricotta dumplings will work perfectly as long as you follow the rules. Don’t be tempted to skip the draining or overnight coating time as these are both essential to the gnudi holding their shape.

Broad bean and mint panzanella with burrata

This recipe makes a great spring salad, packed with lots of tangy flavours from anchovies and capers as well as creamy burrata and fresh broad beans.

Puntarelle salad with anchovies and capers

If you’re looking for a green salad to add to your Italian spread, try this super-fresh puntarelle, anchovies and caper salad from Ombra restaurant’s Mitshel Ibrahim. It’s also perfect as a side to lasagne.

Italian main course ideas

From fresh fish with almond dressing to Italian sausages and family-style meatball ideas, try our best Italian main meals here.

Cacciucco (Tuscan fish stew)

Cacciucco is a fish stew from Livorno, a port on the coast of Tuscany, and it should contain five types of seafood. This recipe comes from Caldesi in Campagna, an Italian restaurant in Bray.

Italian sausage and veg tray roast

This easy recipe is ideal when you’re short on time. Just bung it all in the oven and you have yourself a hearty and healthy springtime meal.

Braised Italian sausages with cheesy polenta

Italian-style sausages with streaky bacon, herbs and a splash of red wine. Serve with some cheesy polenta for extra flavour and you’ve got a quick and easy midweek meal for all the family.

Chicken with agrodolce sauce

Agrodolce means ‘sweet and sour’ in Italian. This dish cooks thin escalopes of chicken in a tomato, onion and red wine vinegar sauce for a punchy low-fat dish.

Aubergine parmigiana

This Italian classic of layers of tomato sauce, aubergine and parmesan, is simple to make and is good for entertaining or for family meals.

Italian baked meatballs

Meatballs baked in rich tomato sauce with a melting mozzarella topping – this recipe is all about comfort food. It’s also perfect for freezing, making it a great option for when you don’t want to cook mid-week.

Italian desserts

Try our Italian dessert recipes, from summery Amalfi lemon cake to rich semifreddo, we’ve got lots of treats to end your Italian meal. More Italian dessert recipes here.