Everyone Should Order These 25 Italian Dishes At Least Once

When it comes to ethnic cuisine, Italian food remains one of the most popular choices among Americans. Some Italian recipes, like eggplant Parmesan, lasagna, and pizza, will never go out of style. That said, there is a world of other dishes that you might be missing out on if you don't know what to look for.

Italy is not a monolith when it comes to its cuisine; it is a diverse country with regional cuisines that are known for featuring distinct local ingredients and culinary methods. As a chef with a background in anthropology who has spent quite a bit of time travelling across Italy, I can speak from experience when I say there are some Italian dishes that everyone should order at least once in their lifetime.

Once you have eaten arancini di riso, you will be smitten. These fried rice balls filled with cheese, meat, or vegetables, are crisp on the outside and pillowy on the inside. Typically made from arborio rice cooked with saffron, arancini get their unique texture from a batter made from water, egg, and flour, known as pastella.

Born in Sicily, the term "arancini" translates to "little oranges," which speaks to the shape and color of these fritter-like rice balls. Inspired by similar dishes made from lamb across the Arab world, these rice balls emerged in the 10th century, where they became an easy and portable food for Emperor Frederick II to bring along on a hunting trip.

When it comes to simplicity, a classic cacio e pepe may seem a relatively painless dish to execute. But, if you look a little further into the intricacies of this recipe, it becomes apparent that it requires impeccable technique to make.

Though stories differ, what is certain is that this is a dish of Roman origin. It likely appeared during the 1800s, when pasta became more mainstream. It requires a quality long noodle, like spaghetti or its eggy cousin, tonnarelli, cacio, or a sheep's milk cheese, like pecorino, and pepe, or pepper. These are fused together with starchy, hot pasta water to create an emulsification that enrobes the pasta in a velvety sauce.

As its name suggests, osso buco alla Milanese is a dish that hails from the Lombardy region of Northern Italy, specifically its capital city, Milan. The dish likely emerged in the homes and kitchens of wealthy Italians, who could afford expensive veal shanks. It was a popular winter recipe, being rich and filling.

The classic recipe should be made from a veal shank carefully stewed in a combination of what Italians call "odori" or a mix of carrots, celery, and onions. These are augmented with tomatoes, white wine, and broth to create a velvety sauce. Classic osso buco is served over a saffron-rich Milanese risotto and garnished with gremolata.

When it comes to unexpected and intriguing midnight snacks that are beloved by celebrity chefs and laypeople alike, one that may surprise you is Bagna Cauda. This dip, whose name translates to "hot bath," is a specialty of the Piedmont region of Northwestern Italy. It is frequently served as a delicacy during Christmas and New Year's, along with crudités and bread for dipping.

The classic iteration of this sauce is made from anchovies steeped in red wine and cooked with copious quantities of garlic until rendered into a salty, umami-rich spread. Other varieties may include heavy cream, truffles, toasted nuts, or walnut oil in place of olive oil.

Agnolotti del plin is a dish that can be attributed to Langhe and Monferrato, an area of the lower Piedmont flanked by the River Po and the Ligurian Apennines. This area, which has been recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is known for its viniculture and for these little folded ravioli that were historically made from leftover roasted meat.

The name is derived from the local dialect and refers to both the ring-like shape of the pasta and the fact that its edges are pinched together to seal them, or "fare del plin." The doughy egg noodle is stuffed with braised beef, veal, or pork and served in a brown butter sauce.

A pot roast by any name is an inexpensive way to satiate healthy appetites. Italy's version, stracotto di Manzo, is no exception. Translated to "overcooked," this is a dish that hails from Central Italy, specifically the region known as Emiglia-Romagna. It is common, rustic, peasant fare that is designed to be slow-cooked to perfection.

The key to this recipe is the cut of meat used, which is frequently a chuck roast, brisket, or any other that benefits from time to break down those connective tissues. The other stars of the show are the sofrito, or aromatics, and a dry red wine, like a Sangiovese, which not only lends flavor to the dish, but helps tenderize the meat.

When it comes to meat, few Italian steaks are as bougie as a bistecca alla Fiorentina. This Tuscan steak originated during the reign of the Medici family, from the 15th to 18th centuries, where it was a common feature during the Festa di San Lorenzo, or Feast of Saint Lawrence.

Made from a thick-cut steak sourced from the iconic Chianina breed of cattle, this meat is a cross between a T-bone and a porterhouse, with a slightly larger filet mignon. It is typically dry-aged and simply prepared with some olive oil, salt, pepper, and herbs. The finished steak should be medium-rare and carved to perfection for sharing.

While most people are familiar with the Italian potato dumplings known as gnocchi, its lesser-known cousin, gnudi, are a delightful alternative. Gnudi are distinct from ravioli, too, in that they are essentially like the filling of the latter, but without the pasta layer. This accounts for its name, which translates to "naked."

Gnudi are a classic taste of Tuscany — rich and satisfying, yet simple to make. They are formed from ricotta cheese, which is often augmented with spinach, then dredged in semolina flour and boiled. These are typically served with a brown butter or a fresh, delicate tomato sauce that doesn't overwhelm the dumplings.

One of the hallmark ingredients of the Mediterranean diet is eggplant, which is prominently featured in this dish of Sicilian origin. While the precise origin story varies, what is accepted is that this dish gets its name from Catanese composer Vincenzo Bellini's iconic opera by the same name, which premiered in 1831.

The dish features fried Italian eggplant combined with tomatoes, fresh basil, and pungent ricotta salata cheese. Unlike many eggplant-focused dishes, this vegetable is not pre-salted to prevent the absorption of excess oil. This sponge-like quality of the eggplant is what helps to produce the luxurious sauce that encases the pasta noodles in the finished dish.

If the sight of spaghetti that is jet black in hue scares you, this might not be the dish for you. That said, if you want to indulge in something truly unique, you absolutely must try a classic recipe for spaghetti al nero di seppia.

The unusual color of this pasta is attributable to cuttlefish ink, a common by-product of the fishing trade in Sicily. Fishermen seeking to make the most of their catch figured out that not only is the ink edible, it has a remarkable flavor and striking color that produces pasta that will tint your mouth and tongue while making your tummy happy. This pasta is best served with a light, buttery sauce and fresh seafood, where its ocean-y flavor can be highlighted.

As its name suggests, this pasta dish of Sicilian origin takes advantage of the bounty of the Mediterranean sea in the form of fresh or canned sardines. Though the origin story of this dish is hazy, its fusion of sweet and savory ingredients suggests a link to the culinary traditions of North Africa.

Characteristic ingredients include wild fennel, alliums, raisins or currants, saffron, pine nuts, toasted breadcrumbs, and anchovies, which give the entire dish a salty bite. The vessel for this is often a tubular pasta, like bucatini, that creates little pockets for the sauce to nestle into. The whole thing is a symphony of flavors and textures that highlight the best of what Sicily has to offer.

If you are hunting for an Italian version of chicken noodle soup, brodo di pollo con pastina is the dish for you. This soul-comforting food is as simple as it is flavorful. It features pastina or "small pasta," which are petite noodles ranging in size from 1 to 2 millimeters. These are often an Italian child's introduction to pasta because of their diminutive proportions. One of the most common of these is acini di pepe, which has a shape and size similar to large couscous.

This pasta is cooked together with shredded chicken, vegetables, tomato paste, and garlic before getting served with freshly grated parmesan cheese. While it might not be fancy, it is a dish that is sure to feel nostalgic, even if you didn't grow up in Italy.

Stanley Tucci claims that spaghetti alla Nerano is one of the best things he has ever eaten, and it is easy to see why. Though seemingly simplistic, containing just spaghetti, fried zucchini, and buttery provolone cheese, this is a dish that requires some know-how to execute to perfection. The fried zucchini and melted cheese enrobe the pasta, creating a luxurious mouthfeel unlike anything else.

This dish hails from Nerano, a small village along the Amalfi coast in the Campania region of Southwestern Italy. It was the brainchild of the Restaurant Maria Grazia, where it first appeared in 1952. It can still be enjoyed there today, though it has since been recreated by many Italian restaurants.

Pasta alla Gricia is one of the four traditional pastas of Rome, which is rounded out by classics like amatriciana, cacio e pepe, and carbonara. It is a dish that is beloved for its simplicity and for featuring ingredients that are considered quintessentially Roman.

The basic ingredients include the pasta, black pepper, Pecorino Romano cheese, and guanciale. These are all fused together with starchy pasta water, which gives the dish a velvety texture. While the pasta can be spaghetti, rigatoni, or tonnarelli, one ingredient that is non-negotiable is the guanciale, which is a cured meat made from fatty pork jowl. When rendered, its flavor is sweeter and it has a more delicate texture than bacon.

The term "pizzoccheri" refers to a type of noodle and a dish that originated in the Lombardy region of Northern Italy, more specifically the Valtellina valley, which is located right at the base of the Alps. This dish can be traced back to 1550, when it was often served as rustic fare designed to fuel peasants through long, cold winters.

At the heart of this dish is the pasta, which is made from predominantly buckwheat flour combined with trace amounts of white flour. These thick, flat noodles are cooked together with hardy vegetables, like savoy cabbage and potatoes, garlic, butter, and Valtellina Casera cheese, which is a sweet, semi-hard, cow's milk variety from the region that enjoys PDO status.

When it comes to reducing waste, using up leftovers is a great way to go. Ribollita is the Tuscan exemplar of this. Translated to "reboiled," ribollita evolved as a poor man's dish; it was a means of repurposing day-old minestrone and served with a hunk of bread for dipping.

Today's iteration is made from cavolo nero, or Tuscan, kale, which is more delicate and mild flavored than its curly leaf cousin, bread, sofrito, white beans, and tomatoes. Stale, crusty bread is the key to this dish, as it helps to absorb the broth without disintegrating, creating the perfect stew-like, stick-to-your-ribs texture.

While caviar is a bougie delicacy, another kind of fish roe is the star of this dish, namely bottarga. Bottarga are salted and cured fish roe that are sourced from Sardinian grey mullet or Sicilian bluefin tuna. In keeping with a centuries-old tradition, the roe sacs are harvested, salted, and air-dried until solid before they are encased in beeswax or vacuum-sealed for long-term preservation.

This dish is made by combining olive oil, garlic, and red pepper flakes with breadcrumbs and grated bottarga to produce a salty, umami-rich, funky-flavored sauce. This is gently tossed over spaghetti noodles along with some pasta water, which helps to give it some creaminess and dilutes the pungency of the roe.

Anyone who has seen the movie "Big Night" will be familiar with the showcase dish served at the end of the famed dinner — timpano. Timpano, or timballo, can best be described as a tour of Italian cuisine in pie delivery format.

Translated to "drum," this is a dish with different permutations across the country. Its most characteristic iteration typically includes tubular pasta, meatballs, salami, sausage, cheese, hard-boiled eggs, and tomato sauce. These are delicately layered into a pastry crust and then baked. When served, the dish is nothing short of show-stopping in presentation, with each layer of ingredients fused together with the gloriously flaky crust.

Sarde alla beccafico is a dish that originated as a play on a recipe made by wealthy Sicilians, namely beccafichi, or a type of garden warbler that preferred ripe figs as a staple of their diet. Since peasants could not afford to consume these small birds, they took inspiration from the dish by stuffing plentiful sardines with sweeter ingredients, similar to those eaten by the beccafichi.

The recipe features hefty sardines that are stuffed with a mixture of breadcrumbs, raisins, pine nuts, cheese, parsley, lemon juice, and olive oil. These are baked together with orange slices and bay leaves for an aromatic and flavorful dish that is as unique as it is tasty.

Baccalà, or salt cod, may not be an Italian invention, but it has certainly been elevated to a delicacy there. The tradition of drying and curing fish is one that developed in Nordic countries, but slowly traveled to Italy during the Middle Ages, where it was adopted and became central to festivities, including meals served during Lent and the Christmas Eve Feast of the Seven Fishes.

The version characteristic of Naples fuses the flaky, umami-rich fish with capers, olives, and a tangy tomato sauce for a rich dish worthy of any celebration. Because the baccalà is so salty, it is frequently soaked for a long period of time to help mitigate this salinity.

Carciofo alla giudia is a dish that speaks to the cultural, ethnic, and religious diversity that makes Italy so fascinating. It is a recipe that hails from the Quartiere Ebraico, or Hebrew Quarter, of Rome. This Jewish Ghetto was formed by Pope Paul IV in the 16th century to restrict and isolate Jews. It became a thriving culture with its own distinctive culinary traditions.

One of the most popular dishes to emerge from this dark period are these fried artichokes, which happen to be a favorite of actor Stanley Tucci. The recipe is simple. Roman artichokes are cleaned and submerged in lemon-infused water before getting fried. They are delicately seasoned with salt and pepper for a simple, yet flavorful appetizer.

Classically, meat and fish were never combined in recipes. That all changed in the 19th century, when Italian and French chefs alike observed the notable similarities between veal and tuna. These were combined and in 1862, the first recipe for this dish appeared in a cookbook by Angelo Dubini. It has since become a staple dish of the Piedmont in Northern Italy and is frequently served during the summer, particularly on Assumption Day.

The dish features roasted veal topped with a sauce made from tuna, anchovies, capers, and olive oil augmented with lemon juice, and mayonnaise. This recipe is generally served chilled, not hot.

Often referred to as "gnocchetti sardi" or "little Sardinian gnocchi," malloreddus are a type of pasta that closely resemble a dumpling in form, though they couldn't be more different in flavor or texture. Unlike gnocchi, they are made from semolina flour, water, salt, and saffron, which gives them a distinctive color.

Though this pasta can be served with a number of distinct sauces, a popular one is to prepare it Campidanese-style, or with a type of sausage ragu made with tomatoes, basil, and saffron. This specialty is typically topped with grated Pecorino Romano cheese, preferably one of Sardinian origin, which tends to be more moist and sweeter than domestically-produced ones.

If we judged the authenticity of an Italian pastry by how hard it is to spell, sfogliatella would win, hands down. This popular dessert was invented in the 1600s by the nuns who were cloistered in the convent of Santa Rosa in Conca dei Marini, which was located on the Amalfi coast.

The name aptly translates to "layers" or "leaves," owing to its unique texture. It has since evolved to have two varieties: frolla (smooth) and riccia (curly). Both are filled with a custard-like center made from ricotta that is scented with vanilla, citrus, and cinnamon. The former features a more basic shortcrust-like dough, while the latter is a more classic laminated dough.

Named for its distinctive folding technique, which resembles an ear of corn, culurgiones are one of the many popular agnolotti, or stuffed pasta, varieties across Italy. They hail from the Ogliastra region in Sardinia and have enjoyed IGP (Protected Geographical Identification) status since 2015.

Though there are a number of different varieties of culurgiones, the classic dumpling is filled with potatoes, cheese, oil, garlic, and mint. The characteristic cheese used is a type of local pecorino named fiscidu, which is quite salty. These dumplings are often served with a simple tomato-based sauce.