Healthy Italian Recipes

The brightness of basil pesto is a nice match for the buttery flavor of salmon in this quick and healthy dinner recipe. Refrigerated pesto, found near fresh sauces and salsas at most stores, is prettier and has a better taste than jarred varieties.

This load-and-go slow-cooker chicken recipe is perfect for a busy weeknight dinner. Serve this Tuscan-inspired dish with crusty bread, a glass of Chianti and a salad.

This garden-fresh tomato sauce is a delicious way to use summer-ripe tomatoes. Or freeze whole tomatoes and make this sauce later on in the winter. Just remove the cores and freeze them whole. Then, turn your frozen tomatoes into a garden-fresh sauce any time of the year. For pizza sauce: In Step 2, cook until thickened to about the consistency of pizza sauce, 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Remove from the heat, transfer to a blender, add 2 tablespoons tomato paste and blend until smooth.

Avocados add a silky consistency and cheese-like richness to this dairy-free pesto recipe. Toss it with pasta, spread it on baguette slices to make bruschetta, or use it for a healthy mayo substitute on your sandwich.

This creamy tortellini and vegetable pasta is a real crowd pleaser. To make it even quicker, use frozen chopped vegetables instead of fresh. Serve with: A green salad and whole-grain baguette.

In this low-carb spaghetti squash lasagna recipe, garlicky broccolini, spaghetti squash and cheese are combined for a healthy take on a favorite casserole. This bakes right in the squash shells for a fun presentation. Serve with a big Caesar salad and some warm and crusty whole-grain bread.

Ripe tomato and fresh basil give this quick recipe tons of flavor. Serve this healthy pasta dinner with crusty garlic bread and steamed green beans.

Bright-green Castelvetrano olives hail from Sicily and have a buttery flavor and meaty texture that pair perfectly with the Italian seasoning and salty capers in this one-skillet chicken dinner. Look for them on your supermarket olive bar or in jars with Italian ingredients.

These soft Italian lemon drop cookies feature both sweet and tangy flavors thanks to plenty of fresh lemon juice and a powdered sugar glaze. These easy cookies are perfect with tea and coffee and will make a great addition to your holiday cookie platter.

Artichoke hearts, olives and a splash of red-wine vinegar give this ultra-quick, healthy vegetarian gnocchi recipe pizzazz. For an additional hit of Mediterranean flavor, try topping with feta cheese.

A frittata, as a flat omelet is known in Italy, can be filled with a variety of vegetables and cheeses and makes a great impromptu brunch dish or supper. In this version, fresh mint and basil brighten the mild taste of zucchini. If you prefer, use feta or ricotta salata in place of the goat cheese.

Here's a creative way to use leftover cooked spaghetti: try mixing it with eggs for a filling Italian omelet. If you don't want to buy separate bunches of fresh herbs, look for an Italian blend package that may contain some of each or use one-third the amount of dried.

This easy grilled pork loin recipe served with a white bean puree gets a pop of fresh flavor from the lemony, fresh herb vinaigrette. Make it a complete healthy dinner with steamed green beans and a green salad tossed with Italian dressing.

This recipe for garden-fresh pizza sauce makes a batch large enough to top several pizzas. You can make it right now with fresh tomatoes, but if you have a bumper crop or just want to buy a lot of in-season tomatoes and put them up for another day, canning is not your only option: try freezing them. Just remove the cores and freeze them whole. Then, turn your frozen tomatoes into pizza sauce any time of the year.

Traditionally, this Italian pasta recipe combines pasta and pesto with potatoes and green beans. In our recipe for Spaghetti Genovese we give pesto a nutritional boost by adding spinach and toss it all together with fiber-rich whole-wheat pasta for a warm, comforting weeknight meal. Serve with escarole and radicchio salad.

Think portion control with these individual lasagna roll-ups. Leftovers are great for lunch the next day.

Sure, the slow cooker's great for stews and soups, but it also happens to make a mean lasagna! In this ingenious slow-cooker recipe, all you have to do is chop your veggies, then layer the ingredients (raw) into the crockpot. Serve with: Garlic bread and a green salad.

This Italian-inspired take on an American casserole is about as tasty as a one-dish meal can get.

This retro dish will please kids and adults alike.

In this one-skillet supper, we toss dark leafy greens, diced tomatoes and white beans with gnocchi and top it all with gooey mozzarella. Serve with a mixed green salad with vinaigrette.

Make no mistake, this healthy pizza recipe is all about the mushrooms; lemon oil and arugula add just enough citrus and spiciness to accent without overwhelming. To that end, Sardinian or Tuscan Pecorino cheese (milder than Pecorino Romano) is called for, but other mellow grating cheeses, such as Parmigiano-Reggiano, will work.

The brightness of basil pesto is a nice match for the buttery flavor of salmon in this quick and healthy dinner recipe. Refrigerated pesto, found near fresh sauces and salsas at most stores, is prettier and has a better taste than jarred.

This healthy broccoli rabe and turkey sausage lasagna recipe has plenty of vegetables and goes light on sausage, so it's lower in fat and calories than traditional lasagna recipes. The recipe makes enough for two 8-by-8-inch casseroles (four servings each)--have one for dinner tonight and freeze the other for a night when you don't have time to make dinner. Or, feel free to make one larger lasagna (in a 9-by-13-inch pan) instead of two smaller ones; just increase the cooking time a bit for the larger pan size.

This saucy one-skillet chicken dish is full of tomatoes, spinach, olives and capers. Try Kalamata olives in place of the green Sicilians or a combination of both. Serve over whole-wheat egg noodles with a mixed green salad on the side.