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Food and family just go together. These Italian dinner recipes will get you well on your way to planning one epic night!
Italian Dinner Brings Family Together!
What better way to party than Italian style?! That usually means LOTS of delicious foods, often several courses, and plenty of fun and laughter. Now that’s a fabulous dinner spread! I’ve gathered my favorite Italian dinner recipes. Buon Appetito!!
- For Italian dinner tips & tricks, scroll to the bottom of this post!
More Collections:
Best Italian Dinner Recipes
Check out our other posts to find Italian Appetizers, Italian Sides, and Italian desserts such as Panna Cotta and Italian Cookies to round out your Italian feast.
Enjoy these classics!
1 Kid-Friendly Spaghetti
Kid-Friendly Spaghetti
Total Time: 50 minutes
Recipe Video
Our favorite spaghetti is kid-friendly and simple with a delicious homemade sauce making it the perfect family dinner recipe!
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2 Easy Alfredo Recipe
Easy Alfredo Recipe
Total Time: 35 minutes
Recipe Video
This easy fettuccine alfredo is rich, creamy, and made in minutes with just a few simple ingredients—perfect for busy weeknights!4o
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3 Chicken Alfredo Pizza Recipe
Chicken Alfredo Pizza Recipe
Total Time: 20 minutes
This Delicious Chicken Alfredo Pizza is made with a homemade pizza crust, homemade white sauce and is topped with chicken and spinach.
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4 Easy Lasagna Recipe
Easy Lasagna Recipe
Total Time: 1 hour 10 minutes
Recipe Video
Our family's favorite lasagna recipe – not only because it's delicious but because it's so EASY! With beef, Italian sausage, three cheeses, and tons of seasonings, you know this recipe is going to be a hit!
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5 Italian Pork Chops Recipe
Italian Pork Chops Recipe
Total Time: 25 minutes
These Italian Pork Chops require just a few ingredients and are baked in the oven with loads of veggies. Have it ready and on the table in just 30 minutes!
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6 Italian Sausage Pasta
Italian Sausage Pasta
Total Time: 20 minutes
Recipe Video
Easy cheesy Italian sausage pasta is creamy, delicious, and perfectly spiced. It's a family favorite ready in only 20 minutes!
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7 Chicken Piccata Recipe
Chicken Piccata Recipe
Total Time: 25 minutes
With surprisingly few ingredients, this best chicken piccata recipe is bright, flavorful, and ready in under 30 minutes!
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8 White Sauce Penna Pasta
White Sauce Penna Pasta
Total Time: 15 minutes
Recipe Video
This incredibly easy white sauce penne pasta is packed with deliciously cheesy flavor, loved by all, and on the table in only 20 minutes!
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9 Baked Chicken Parmesan Recipe
Baked Chicken Parmesan Recipe
Total Time: 35 minutes
Recipe Video
Baked chicken parmesan is one of the easiest dinner ideas you'll ever try!! It's covered with melted cheese and great served over pasta!
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10 Chicken Scallopini Recipe
Chicken Scallopini Recipe
Total Time: 35 minutes
Recipe Video
This Chicken Scallopini is a delicious dish of crusted chicken over lemon butter pasta. The combo is irresistible and beyond delicious!
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Easy Italian Dinner Recipes
Need even more Italian recipes? I have plenty of easy dinner ideas, perfect for your next dinner spread!
11 Chicken Manicotti Recipe
Chicken Manicotti Recipe
Total Time: 43 minutes
These manicotti shells are stuffed with a cheesy chicken mixture, and topped with tasty marinara!
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12 Pasta Carbonara Recipe
Pasta Carbonara Recipe
Total Time: 25 minutes
Pasta carbonara is a creamy and deliciously flavorful pasta dish that is on the table in under 30 minutes!
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13 Easy Baked Ziti
Easy Baked Ziti
Total Time: 55 minutes
Recipe Video
Easy baked ziti recipe is a meaty baked pasta smothered in a cream cheese tomato sauce. It's ready in 30 minutes and feeds a crowd!
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14 Crockpot Spaghetti Recipe
Crockpot Spaghetti Recipe
Total Time: 8 hours 10 minutes
Recipe Video
Crockpot spaghetti is prepped in minutes and cooked low-and-slow for an easy homemade dinner any night of the week!
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15 Margherita Pizza Recipe
Margherita Pizza Recipe
Total Time: 23 minutes
Recipe Video
Margherita pizza stars fresh basil, mozzarella cheese, and the best ripe tomatoes. It's simple, delicious, and light.
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16 Sun Dried Tomato Pasta Recipe
Sun Dried Tomato Pasta Recipe
Total Time: 25 minutes
A copycat version of Cheesecake Factory’s Sun-Dried Tomato Fettuccine recipe. This flavorful and creamy dish is filled with chunks of chicken, garlic, whipping cream, spinach and sweet sun-dried tomatoes. It’s not only delicious but is a great way to change up the classic fettuccine recipe.
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17 Easy Eggplant Parmesan Recipe
Easy Eggplant Parmesan Recipe
Total Time: 1 hour 40 minutes
Recipe Video
Easy eggplant parmesan is hearty, cheesy, and delicious. This meatless dish is sure to make the dinner-time rotation.
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18 Baked Spaghetti Recipe
Baked Spaghetti Recipe
Total Time: 40 minutes
Recipe Video
This cheesy baked spaghetti is filling and flavorful. It's a simple dinner recipe the entire family will love!
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19 Artichoke Pizza
Artichoke Pizza
Total Time: 21 minutes
Recipe Video
Artichoke pizza is so cheesy and delicious, with a unique combination of flavors it's perfect for your next pizza night!
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20 Spaghetti Aglio e Olio Recipe
Spaghetti Aglio e Olio Recipe
Total Time: 20 minutes
Spaghetti Aglio e Olio is one of the easiest pasta dishes you can make! It uses only 6 ingredients and takes less than 30 minutes to make!
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21 Pesto Gnocchi Recipe
Pesto Gnocchi Recipe
Total Time: 20 minutes
This bright and fresh pesto gnocchi will become your go-to summer meal. It's bold, full of flavor, and so delicious!
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22 Healthy Chicken Parmesan Recipe
Healthy Chicken Parmesan Recipe
Total Time: 45 minutes
This "Skinny" healthy Chicken Parmesan has all the tasty goodness of the classic meal, without the extra calories!
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23 Italian Wedding Soup
Italian Wedding Soup
Total Time: 35 minutes
Recipe Video
This hearty and flavorful Italian wedding soup simmers up in 30 minutes with just a few simple ingredients.
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24 Chicken Penne Pasta
Chicken Penne Pasta
Total Time: 30 minutes
Recipe Video
Creamy, cheesy, and ready in 30 minutes, this classic chicken penne pasta is the ultimate weeknight comfort food.
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25 Pesto Pasta
Pesto Pasta
Total Time: 15 minutes
This one-pan pesto pasta tosses penne in a creamy pesto sauce bursting with Parmesan cheese for a quick and satisfying weeknight meal.
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26 Caprese Pizza Recipe
Caprese Pizza Recipe
Total Time: 16 minutes
This delicious Caprese Flatbread Pizza is filled with mozzarella, tomato, basil, and topped with a balsamic glaze. It's quick and easy to make, and tastes just like the recipe at Disney World!!
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27 Chicken Orzo Recipe
Chicken Orzo Recipe
Total Time: 30 minutes
This Creamy Chicken Orzo is made with simple ingredients and can be on your table in 30 minutes. It's a meal the whole family will love!
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28 Baked Pesto Chicken Recipe
Baked Pesto Chicken Recipe
Total Time: 45 minutes
Recipe Video
This Baked Pesto Chicken takes just minutes to prep, is simple, tasty, and the perfect meal to add to your dinner rotation.
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29 Chicken Alfredo Recipe
Chicken Alfredo Recipe
Total Time: 40 minutes
Recipe Video
Simple Chicken Alfredo pasta is a go-to dinner with creamy sauce and sautéed chicken. It's a one-pot meal that the whole family will enjoy!
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30 Bruschetta Chicken Pasta Recipe
Bruschetta Chicken Pasta Recipe
Total Time: 25 minutes
Easy and flavorful Bruschetta Chicken Pasta is a hot pasta dish filled with all the flavors of classic bruschetta—chicken, tomatoes, basil, and mozzarella.
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31 Crockpot Lasagna Recipe
Crockpot Lasagna Recipe
Total Time: 4 hours 55 minutes
Recipe Video
This delicious crockpot lasagna recipe is just like the classic everyone loves, but made simpler in the slow cooker.
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More Italian Dinner Ideas
Meatballs in tomato sauce, spaghetti carbonara, and risotto are Italian classics, along with these additional favorites.
32 Bruschetta Chicken Recipe
Bruschetta Chicken Recipe
Total Time: 4 hours 45 minutes
Baked Bruschetta Chicken is marinated in Italian dressing and topped with cheese. It is simple and delicious!!
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33 Italian Meatball Recipe
Italian Meatball Recipe
Total Time: 1 hour 48 minutes
Recipe Video
This homemade Italian meatball recipe is sure to rival your favorite Italian restaurant. They are juicy, soft, and full of flavor!
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34 Homemade Lasagna Recipe
Homemade Lasagna Recipe
Total Time: 3 hours 30 minutes
Recipe Video
This BEST Homemade Lasagna is rich and cheesy and packed with meat. Create perfect layered lasagna with these easy-to-follow steps!
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35 Pepperoni Pizza Recipe
Pepperoni Pizza Recipe
Total Time: 1 hour 5 minutes
Recipe Video
This homemade pepperoni pizza recipe is wonderfully crispy and delicious every time. Achieve the perfect slice right at home!
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36 Healthy Chicken Piccata Recipe
Healthy Chicken Piccata Recipe
Total Time: 40 minutes
This "Skinny" Chicken Piccata is easy enough to make on a busy weeknight but also fancy enough to make when you have company over! Plus it's a healthy version, which makes it even better!
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37 Chicken Alfredo Stuffed Shells Recipe
Chicken Alfredo Stuffed Shells Recipe
Total Time: 50 minutes
Spinach and Chicken Stuffed Shells are creamy, cheesy, and smothered in a rich homemade Alfredo sauce. They're so good, even the kids won't mind the spinach!
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38 Sausage and Potatoes Recipe
Sausage and Potatoes Recipe
Total Time: 50 minutes
This hearty Italian Sausage and Potatoes bake deliciously savor and filling! It is simple, easy, and loaded with flavor.
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39 Chicken Cacciatore Recipe
Chicken Cacciatore Recipe
Total Time: 1 hour
Enjoy a lean version of your favorite ‘hunter-style’ chicken in this Chicken Cacciatore with mushrooms, onions, and red bell pepper.
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40 Chicken Parmigiana Recipe
Chicken Parmigiana Recipe
Total Time: 37 minutes
Tasty chicken parmigiana is hearty and filling crispy chicken a top a bed of pasta covered in a rich homemade tomato sauce.
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41 Spinach Lasagna Rolls Recipe
Spinach Lasagna Rolls Recipe
Total Time: 45 minutes
Recipe Video
Spinach Lasagna Rolls are everything you love about lasagna, but EASIER! Individual portions make a great lunch or weeknight dinner.
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42 Chicken Lasagna
Chicken Lasagna
Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
Recipe Video
Creamy chicken lasagna is a tasty twist on a classic. With homemade white sauce, spinach, and chicken, it's always a hit!
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43 Stuffed Chicken Parmesan Recipe
Stuffed Chicken Parmesan Recipe
Total Time: 40 minutes
Recipe Video
Chicken breasts stuffed with spinach and cheese, coated in ritz crackers and topped with marinara and mozzarella cheese, it will be a family favorite!
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Minestrone Soup Recipe
This Minestrone Soup is not only delicious and comforting, but it's also really nutritious! It makes a hearty meal or side.
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FAQS
Tips for Cooking Italian?
- Quality ingredients create much better Italian dishes.
- Using fresh herbs makes a huge difference. In general, 1 teaspoon of dried herbs = 1 tablespoon of fresh herbs. Fresh basil, parsley, oregano, rosemary, mint, and thyme will all grow in your kitchen, can’t get any fresher than that!
- Quality cheese. Parmesan cheese, mozzarella, and ricotta are other ingredients you should invest in. Avoid pre-shredded packaged cheese.
- Taste as you go. Add seasoning according to taste rather than an allotted amount. Give enough time for simmering for flavors to incorporate before adding more.
Pasta Tips?
- Don’t overcook your pasta. Al dente is usually the preferred cook.
- Don’t discard the pasta water. The starchy leftover water can be used to thicken sauces.
- Sauces. Another key to perfect pasta is to learn which pasta goes best with the dish.
- Light sauces. Thin long noodles like spaghetti, angel hair, capellini, and spaghettini.
- Creamy hearty sauces. Flat long noodles like fettuccine, linguine, tagliatelle, pappardelle, and lasagna noodles as well as short-shaped pasta like farfalle (bow tie), conchiglie, fusilli, gemelli, orecchiette, rotelle (wagon wheel), rotini, cavatelli and campanelle.
- Light fluid sauces. Long tube noodles like perciatelli and bucatini.
- Soups, salads, casseroles, and pasta dishes. Short tube pasta like penne, rigatoni, ziti, cavatappi, and campanelle.
- Creamier bakes, soups, and pasta salads. Small tube pasta like macaroni and ditalini.
For More Italian Dinner Recipes:
Homemade Lasagna
3 hrs 30 mins
Pasta Carbonara
25 mins
Parmesan Chicken Manicotti
43 mins
Chicken Scallopini
35 mins
