Weeknight Italian Recipes for the Nonna in All of Us

Chicken Scarpariello — Kristina Vanni/Eric Kleinberg

Italian cuisine is full of sleeper hits: recipes with very few ingredients that come together very quickly, but that are absolutely full of flavor and personality. Whether it's crafting a creamy sauce with just pasta water and cheese, or using toasted breadcrumbs and anchovies to bring big, meaty flavor to a meatless dish, Italy has mastered the art of calling unassuming ingredients into service to create dishes that taste for all the world like they took the better part of the day to make.

01 of 10

Easy Chicken Parmesan

The Spruce / Julia Hartbeck

This recipe takes chicken parm out of the Sunday supper realm and brings it solidly into weeknight territory with store-bought sauce and seasoned breadcrumbs. Just add a big green salad, a pot of spaghetti, and a glass of red wine and visualize sitting at your favorite red sauce joint.

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02 of 10

Pasta Carbonara

The Spruce Eats / Cara Cormack

A creamy pasta dish that contains no cream, carbonara is almost shockingly simple, but this is one of those classics that exemplifies the simple brilliance of Italian cooking. With just a few pantry ingredients, you can make a restaurant-worthy main dish in under half an hour. Just don't forget to be generous with the black pepper.

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03 of 10

Orecchiette With Sausage and Broccoli Rabe

The Spruce Eats / Maxwell Cozzi

Broccoli rabe is an underappreciated vegetable that brings a subtly bitter bite to this pasta dish. The key is to blanch the broccoli rabe to temper the bitterness, which also ensures it's cooked perfectly. Use a high quality sausage here, as its flavor really carries the dish.

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04 of 10

Pasta Alfredo

The Spruce Eats / Diana Chistruga

Jarred alfredo sauce is ubiquitous in supermarkets, but making the real thing at home is so easy (and far silkier) that once you learn how to do it you'll never go back. The combination of starchy pasta water, butter, and Parmigiano Reggiano (get the real deal for this recipe—it's worth it) creates a sauce that enrobes the pasta beautifully.

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05 of 10

Pasta With Breadcrumbs and Anchovies

The Spruce Eats / Maxwell Cozzi

Rustic, homemade breadcrumbs are central to this simple pasta recipe. If you don't feel like making them yourself, you can use panko instead. Just make sure to toast the panko well in the oil. Even if you don't think anchovies are your thing, I encourage you to give this recipe a try. The anchovies melt into the oil and provide a salty umami backbone that doesn't read as "fishy" at all.

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06 of 10

Chicken Scarpariello

Kristina Vanni/Eric Kleinberg

Peppedew peppers and their brine are the "secret" ingredients in this braised chicken dish. Because the braising liquid is so flavorful, you'll want to serve it with plenty of crusty Italian bread to soak up all that goodness.

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07 of 10

Cacio e Pepe

The Spruce Eats / Photographer: Fred Hardy, Food Stylist: Emily Nabors Hall, Prop Stylist: Christina Daley

Sometimes the simplest-seeming dishes can be the trickiest ones to get right. But this cacio e pepe recipe uses an easy technique to guarantee success: a pecorino paste made with cheese, butter, black pepper, and pasta water that prevents lumps and clumps from forming.

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08 of 10

Calabrian Chili Pasta

The Spruce Eats / Leah Maroney

Calabrian chiles are small spicy peppers salted and packed in oil or ground into a paste (you can find Calabrian chile paste very affordably at Trader Joe's), and in this recipe they're used to punch up the flavor of a very simple tomato sauce. The sauce isn't very spicy, but pepperheads can always add more pepper paste at the table to taste.

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09 of 10

Pasta Arrabiata

The Spruce Eats / Christine Ma

Arrabiata means "angry" in Italian, and while it's certainly a spicy sauce, you won't be mad at all once you take a bite. Keep in mind that you can adjust the amount of pepper flakes to suit your preference, so don't be scared off if spicy food isn't your favorite. At heart, this dish is just a simple tomato sauce with a little attitude.

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10 of 10

Mushroom Risotto

The Spruce Eats / Cara Cormack

Earthy mushrooms are the crowning glory of this simple risotto. This is going to be controversial, but my favorite thing about making risotto is having to stand and stir the pot for half an hour, no distractions. I welcome you to put on a favorite playlist, sip a glass of wine, and lose yourself in thought. Think of it as a micro-vacation.

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