These 15 Italian recipes are way better than your local takeout joint

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Whether you’re Italian or not, chances are you love eating Italian food. The good news is that you don’t have to blow your budget ordering in for your local takeout joint. Instead, try one of these 15 at-home Italian recipes and impress the heck out of your friends and family.

Close-up of homemade focaccia bread topped with cherry tomatoes and herbs, baked to a golden brown.
Easy Tomato Focaccia. Photo credit: Bagels and Lasagna.

Easy Pasta Puttanesca

A pan full of spaghetti and tomatoes on a tablecloth.
Easy Pasta Puttanesca. Photo credit: Bagels and Lasagna.

Pasta Puttanesca is a classic Italian quick sauce that may be the fastest pasta dish you’ll ever make. It is ideal for busy nights when you want a hearty Italian meal that doesn’t require a lot of effort.
Get the Recipe: Easy Pasta Puttanesca

Crock Pot Copycat Olive Garden Chicken Alfredo with Tortellini

Close-up of tortellini pasta cooking in a creamy yellow sauce with pieces of chicken, stirred by a wooden spoon.
Crock Pot Copycat Olive Garden Chicken Alfredo with Tortellini. Photo credit: Bagels and Lasagna.

When I made this Crock Pot Copycat Olive Garden Chicken Alfredo with Tortellini, I cooked the chicken thighs in the alfredo sauce first, using evaporated milk. Then I added heavy cream and, finally, the tortellini, turning this into a delicious, easy one-pot meal that tastes just like the restaurant.
Get the Recipe: Crock Pot Copycat Olive Garden Chicken Alfredo with Tortellini

Risotto Shrimp Scampi

A bowl of creamy risotto with shrimp, topped with green herbs, and a spoon resting on the side.
Risotto Shrimp Scampi. Photo credit: Bagels and Lasagna.

Risotto shrimp scampi combines two classic Italian dishes. It is a great go-to dish when we are having guests. With only a handful of ingredients, it’s easy to keep things on hand. And, if you have the risotto premade, it cooks up quickly.
Get the Recipe: Risotto Shrimp Scampi

Goat Cheese Focaccia with Dates

A close-up of freshly baked focaccia topped with rosemary, caramelized onions, and cheese.
Goat Cheese Focaccia with Dates. Photo credit: Bagels and Lasagna.

Focaccia bread with goat cheese and dates makes a great brunch dish or hors d’oeuvre course. This is our go-to recipe for a potluck when we want to bring something more than just a cheese platter or vegetables and dip.
Get the Recipe: Goat Cheese Focaccia with Dates

Easy Tomato Focaccia

Freshly baked focaccia with cherry tomatoes and herbs in a rectangular baking dish.
Easy Tomato Focaccia. Photo credit: Bagels and Lasagna.

I love focaccia and I love pizza. So what could be better than tuning my focaccia into a puffy, delectable pizza-like creation with this Easy Tomato Focaccia Bread recipe. It feels like a gourmet version of the cafeteria pizza of my childhood. It’s nostalgic, but tastes so much better.
Get the Recipe: Easy Tomato Focaccia

Goat Cheese Pizza Sauce

A hand holding a slice of freshly baked pizza with cheese stretching between the slice and the rest of the pizza.
Goat Cheese Pizza Sauce. Photo credit: Bagels and Lasagna.

Add a pop of unexpected but delicious flavor to your pizza sauce by blending in goat cheese, yes, goat cheese. You may not think this combo will work but your tastebuds will tell you otherwise.
Get the Recipe: Goat Cheese Pizza Sauce

Easy Cold Pasta Salad with Italian Dressing

A white bowl filled with tri-color rotini pasta, cherry tomatoes, cucumber chunks, and feta cheese on a red-and-white checkered tablecloth.
Easy Cold Pasta Salad with Italian Dressing. Photo credit: Bagels and Lasagna.

We love pasta but not hot pasta during hot weather. The simplest way to satisfy that pasta craving was creating a cold pasta salad, which, in the winter, can be served as a side instead of the main course.
Get the Recipe: Easy Cold Pasta Salad with Italian Dressing

Copycat Olive Garden Chicken Alfredo Fettuccine

A close-up of fettuccine Alfredo topped with grilled chicken pieces, garnished with parsley. Breadstick visible in the background.
Copycat Olive Garden Chicken Alfredo Fettucine. Photo credit: Bagels and Lasagna.

This Copycat Olive Garden Chicken Fettuccine Alfredo is such a delicious, quick and easy dinner. It features seasoned chicken that you serve on top of fettuccine noodles. Everything is tossed with a luscious alfredo sauce.
Get the Recipe: Copycat Olive Garden Chicken Alfredo Fettucine

Sourdough Pizza Dough

Sliced gourmet pizza with arugula and balsamic glaze on a wooden board.
Sourdough Pizza Dough. Photo credit: Bagels and Lasagna.

If you’ve never tried working with sourdough pizza dough, make trying this recipe a priority. Sourdough gives your pizza an extra bite, in a good way, and makes the chewiest, most delicious crust ever.
Get the Recipe: Sourdough Pizza Dough

Italian Sausage and Pepper Pasta in One Pot

A close-up of creamy macaroni and cheese garnished with parsley.
Italian Sausage and Pepper Pasta in One Pot. Photo credit: Bagels and Lasagna.

This sausage and pepper pasta dish is a hearty, one-dish dinner that allows you to get supper on the table in under 30 minutes. Plus, the pasta and sauce hit all the right notes for a comforting Italian meal.
Get the Recipe: Italian Sausage and Pepper Pasta in One Pot

30-Minute Creamy Chicken Corn and Pasta

Creamy Chicken And Corn Pasta closeup partial of finished dish cropped horizontal.
30-Minute Creamy Chicken Corn and Pasta. Photo credit: Bagels and Lasagna.

This Creamy Chicken Corn and Pasta recipe is so easy to make and so delicious to eat. Bowtie pasta complements the seasoned chicken chunks. Also, it’s topped with bacon. Bacon makes everything better.
Get the Recipe: 30-Minute Creamy Chicken Corn and Pasta

Shrimp Scampi Over Linguine

A hand holding a fork twirls spaghetti with shrimp in a white bowl, with a glass of white wine in the background on a wooden table.
Shrimp Scampi Over Linguine. Photo credit: Bagels and Lasagna.

This classic Italian dish is quick and impressive. It works as an easy meal at home or an impressive dish to serve to guests. You can use leftover shrimp from another meal and simply boil a pot of linguine to serve with it.
Get the Recipe: Shrimp Scampi Over Linguine

Fast No Rise Pizza Dough

A ladle pours tomato sauce onto an uncooked pizza dough placed on a round black pan.
Fast No Rise Pizza Dough. Photo credit: Bagels and Lasagna.

This fast, no rise pizza dough does not need any rise time. Simply mix, shape, add sauce, cheese and toppings. Then bake. In no time, you are sitting down to a piping hot slice of homemade pizza. Chef’s kiss.
Get the Recipe: Fast No Rise Pizza Dough

Copycat Trader Joe’s Arancini Rice Balls

A person pulling apart a gooey, cheese-filled arancini with more of the fried rice balls and sauce in the background.
Copycat Trader Joe’s Arancini Rice Balls. Photo credit: Bagels and Lasagna.

Arancini are cheese-filled fried risotto balls. Trader Joe’s used to sell them but no more. So we created this copycat recipe that makes for great appetizers or as a hearty side for a meat or poultry dish.
Get the Recipe: Copycat Trader Joe’s Arancini Rice Balls

Easy Shrimp Scampi

A blue bowl filled with shrimp and rice, topped with green herbs, with a metal spoon in the bowl.
Easy Shrimp Scampi. Photo credit: Bagels and Lasagna.

Shrimp scampi is a quick and easy meal that will certainly impress your guests. With minimal prep time, it lets you serve up a meal that many will think came from a restaurant.
Get the Recipe: Easy Shrimp Scampi

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