23 Italian Dinner Recipes in 30 Minutes

November 05, 2020

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Make a delicious, Italian-inspired dinner with these healthy recipes. These recipes take classic Italian flavors like bruschetta, caprese and more, and put a fun twist on them. Each dinner also takes 30 minutes or less to make, which is perfect for weeknights. Recipes like Shrimp Scampi and Chicken & Mushroom Marsala are satisfying and flavorful.

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Bruschetta Chicken Pasta

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This healthy chicken pasta recipe is jazzed up with traditional bruschetta toppers, including cherry tomatoes, garlic and basil. Multicolored cherry tomatoes look pretty, but you can use all one color of tomato too. Either way, you've got an easy weeknight dinner that's ready in 25 minutes. We've called for spaghettini (thin spaghetti) in this recipe, but feel free to use your favorite shape of pasta.

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Easy Italian Wedding Soup

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Forget the marble-size meatballs you find in many versions of this soup. In this easy recipe, they're full-size, full-flavored and plenty filling.

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Grilled Chicken Breasts with Tomato-Caper Sauce

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This healthy grilled chicken breast recipe--a twist on chicken piccata--features a creamy white-wine-and-caper pan sauce that gets a burst of summer flavor from fresh grape tomatoes and basil. Pounding the chicken prior to grilling ensures even cooking and makes this easy dinner even faster. The piccata sauce would also be great with shrimp, firm white fish or pork.

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Caprese Turkey Burgers

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If you're a fan of caprese salads, you'll love this healthy turkey burger recipe. The patties are seasoned with Italian spices, then topped with juicy tomatoes drizzled with balsamic, fresh basil and fresh mozzarella. We've doubled down on the basil in this recipe by mixing it into the mayo and using whole leaves to top the burger, but if you prefer less basil flavor, you can swap out the basil leaves for spinach or arugula. Serve this summery burger with a simple side salad for a healthy dinner that's full of fresh flavors.

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One-Pot Tomato Basil Pasta

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This one-pot pasta with tangy tomato-basil sauce is a simple, fast and easy weeknight dinner. All of your ingredients go into one pot, and with a bit of stirring and about 25 minutes of cook time, you'll have a healthy dinner the whole family will enjoy.

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Spaghetti & Chicken Meatballs with No-Cook Tomato Sauce

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This crowd-pleasing and easy dinner recipe takes just 20 minutes to make, start to finish, so it's perfect for weeknights! When tomatoes are at their in-season best, just a quick chop and a few ingredients are all you need to make a spaghetti sauce in minutes. Store-bought chicken meatballs keep the low-effort theme going all the way to the table.

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Shrimp Scampi

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Shrimp scampi is a favorite dish at many Italian restaurants but our version takes just 20 minutes to prepare, so it's perfect for a weeknight dinner at home. Large shrimp are cooked with garlic and then served over linguine pasta with a buttery-wine sauce--it's so good your family may think you ordered takeout!

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Chicken-&-Mushroom Marsala

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For the best flavor in this classic one-pan chicken dinner recipe use real Marsala wine, not the cooking-wine kind. Serve with mashed potatoes.

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Whole-Grain Spaghetti with Italian Turkey Sausage, Arugula & Balsamic Tomato Sauce

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Total happiness in a bowl: pasta, sausage, tomatoes and herbs. The tomatoes get sweet and tender and turn into sauce with the stock and the pasta. Without ever adding any butter, the spaghetti sauce is rich and silky. Adding the herbs at the end gives the dish a fresh pop of color and flavor. This is one healthy pasta recipe we can definitely get behind!

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Cacio e Pepe Pasta with Peas

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The sauce for this pasta dish is just cheese and pepper (aka cacio e pepe in Italian). Try this with kids as a simple yet sophisticated alternative to standard mac and cheese. Lots of black pepper adds a touch of heat, priming picky palates for spicier food.

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Minestrone with Italian Sausage & Pesto

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With two convenience foods--precooked chicken sausage and refrigerated basil pesto--you can turn ordinary canned minestrone soup into a lunch or dinner that's satisfying and unique. While scanning the canned soup aisle, look for healthy soups that contain less than 450 mg sodium and more than 3 g fiber per 1-cup serving.

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Italian Penne with Tuna

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Need a quick pasta dish that's flavorful and colorful? This penne pasta dinner-for-two combines leeks, baby spinach, tuna and sun-dried tomatoes--and it's ready in just 20 minutes!

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Shrimp Oreganata Cauliflower Gnocchi

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This cauliflower gnocchi dinner is ready in just minutes on busy nights. A simple flavor-packed sauce marries the tender pasta with cooked shrimp. If you don't eat shrimp, use rotisserie chicken instead.

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Easy Pea & Spinach Carbonara

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Fresh pasta cooks up faster than dried, making it a must-have for fast weeknight dinners like this luscious yet healthy meal. Eggs are the base of the creamy sauce. They don't get fully cooked, so use pasteurized-in-the-shell eggs if you prefer.

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Chicken Parmesan with Broccolini

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This delicious Chicken Parmesan dinner for two is ready in just 30 minutes!

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White Bean-Sausage Soup

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Make this heart-healthy main-dish white bean and sausage soup with fresh onions. If you're really pressed for time, look for frozen chopped onions, which can be added to soups and stews in seconds.

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Chicken Pesto Pasta with Asparagus

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This healthy chicken pesto pasta is easy to make thanks to convenience ingredients like rotisserie chicken and store-bought pesto. The addition of fresh asparagus--which is cooked in the same pot as the pasta--brightens up the look and the flavors of this family-friendly and easy one-pot dinner. Fresh basil, if you have it on hand, is a nice finishing touch.

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Quick Shrimp Puttanesca

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Because refrigerated fresh pasta cooks much faster than dried pasta, this Italian pasta dish will be on the table lickety-split! Puttanesca, traditionally made with tomatoes, olives, capers, anchovies and garlic, gets a makeover with shrimp for extra protein and artichoke hearts to boost the vegetable servings (and the fiber!). If you can't find frozen artichoke hearts, sub in drained canned artichoke hearts.

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Cauliflower Gnocchi Carbonara

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Frozen cauliflower gnocchi is a time-saving, low-carb convenience food that works perfectly as a base for creamy, comforting carbonara.

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Chicken Florentine

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Classic chicken Florentine--creamy spinach served atop sautéed chicken cutlets--is a fast and easy meal. To keep calories lower, this recipe uses cornstarch to thicken the cream instead of cheese. This chicken recipe is simple enough for weekdays but also elegant enough for a dinner party.

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Hot Italian Beef Salad

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Steak slices and sweet pepper strips are quickly stir-fried and tossed with fat-free Italian salad dressing in this satisfying 20-minute dinner. It's a quick-and-easy option for any weeknight!

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Spaghetti Squash Shrimp Scampi

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Give buttery shrimp scampi a healthy update with delicately sweet spaghetti squash. The parsley-flecked squash "noodles" slash calories, add fiber and leave this classic dish still plenty decadent.

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Red Pepper-Basil Raviolettis

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Ready in under 30 minutes, this weeknight meal will be a new family favorite.

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