16 Classic Italian Pasta Recipes Everyone Should Know How to Make (2024)

FAQs

What are 4 famous Italian pasta dishes? ›

There are four classic Roman pasta dishes: cacio e pepe, carbonara, amatriciana, and alla gricia. Each one is a variation on the other — alla gricia is cacio e pepe plus guanciale, carbonara is gricia plus egg, and so on. These four dishes are famous in all of Italian cooking, not just in Rome.

Barilla Pasta is Italy's largest dry pasta brand and dominates the European and American markets. With a long-standing reputation as one of the best Italian pasta brands in the United States, Barilla's products are made with high-protein durum wheat flour, ensuring top quality.

Carbonara. The Carbonara we know today is made by tossing spaghetti with guanciale (cured pork jowl), egg yolks, and Pecorino Romano cheese. Despite its simplicity, this dish remains one of Rome and the world's favourites. There are a lot of questions about Carbonara when you first start making it.

You see, in Italy, Parmesan cheese is reserved for pasta dishes with tomato-based sauces, cream sauces, and meat-based dishes. Adding Parmesan cheese to a seafood-based dish, like spaghetti with clams, is a big no-no. It's like adding ketchup to a steak or pineapple on a pizza – it just doesn't belong!

Etymology. Spaghetti is the plural form of the Italian word spaghetto, which is a diminutive of spago, meaning 'thin string' or 'twine'.

Other sweet options include maritozzi, the famous Italian sweet bread often found in Rome, or biscotti to go with your coffee. A healthy Italian breakfast might consist of some bread, butter, jam, some yogurt, and fruit. Italians also eat muesli and cereal in the mornings with yogurt or milk.

To be sure that your pasta is cooked correctly, it is enough to follow a few, simple rules. To begin with, you should keep in mind the right quantities. In Italy, the golden rule for cooking pasta is 1, 10, 100 or 1 liter of water, 10 grams of salt for every 100 grams of pasta.

We reached out to pasta pros to settle the boiling question once and for all. Turns out, your oil is better used to flavor your finished dish, not to add into the water when it's still cooking.

Spaghetti Bolognese

What is known in some parts of the world as “Spag Bol” doesn't exist in Italy because there it's served with tagliatelle rather than spaghetti. The mayor of Bologna even started a campaign to dispel the myth of Spaghetti Bolognese.

What is the healthiest pasta to eat? ›

Whole-Wheat Pasta

Also called whole-grain pasta, this type of pasta keeps the bran, endosperm, and germ of the grain together. It's filled with fiber, vitamins, and minerals. This helps you feel full longer and keeps your blood sugar from spiking.

Z for Ziti

Ziti is a short, tubular pasta originated in the Southern Italy. Traditionally, people break the pasta before cooking and it is usually served at weddings or holidays. ZIti goes well with tomato sauces, mozzarella cheese or au gratin.

There are four great Roman pastas, all connected: Gricia, Cacio e Pepe, Carbonara, and Amatriciana. They each play off of the others and reveal different sides to the same concept.