Seriously Delicious Italian Recipes You Haven't Heard Of Before

Pretty much anyone can name some of the most iconic Italian dishes out there, whether those dishes are pizza, pasta with Bolognese sauce, carbonara, risotto, ragù, lasagna, or whatever else falls under the purview of Italian and Italian-American food. Most people can cook at least a few of them, too, making these meals dinnertime staples. But that's only the tip of the iceberg. The truth is that Italy is a country with a truly diverse and storied culinary tradition. In fact, it's home to countless recipes and dishes, each varying from region to region, town to town, and even home to home.

So don't start feeling bad if there are a few Italian dishes that you've never heard of, given the vast food universe out there. Still, just in case you are tired of rustling up a pizza or a lasagna for the thousandth time — even when you've mastered eating spaghetti like a real Italian – we've got this list of some of the most delicious and intriguing Italian recipes you may not already know. 

These are recipes that aren't quite as well-known as the tried and tested classics, at least not in most non-Italian kitchens. Each of these meals will make for a handy addition to your recipe book, to be sure. If nothing else, they should mix things up a little the next time you're craving a real taste of Italy.

More of a condiment than a full dish, giardiniera comes in two varieties in the United States. First, there's the Chicago-derived sandwich topping made with finely-chopped vegetables and olive oil, according to Kitchn. Then, there's the bona fide Italian style, made with vegetables pickled in vinegar. In Italy, it's sometimes known as verdure sottaceto, which essentially means "pickled vegetables". 

Our giardiniera recipe is kind of a mish-mash of the two main styles. The vegetables are cut fairly large, like in the Italian variant. It includes olive oil, too, like the Italian-American version of giardiniera that you might find in the Windy City. It also brings a unique twist to the table, in that the vegetables are cooked in that vinegar brine rather than being marinated raw. The benefit to this method is that you can rustle up a batch in around 15 minutes, rather than having to dedicate many hours to let the mix sit around and pickle. 

Use this giardiniera as a topping condiment like the Chicagoans do, or add it to your antipasto plate, alongside cured meats, cheeses, and olives, like Italians often choose to do. It really is the best of both worlds.

If you feel like something a little more coastal than usual, you can't do a whole lot better than our recipe for cioppino. Cioppino is a kind of seafood soup, cooked in fennel and tomato-infused broth. We're cheating a little bit by including it here, though, since it actually originated in 19th century San Francisco, which you may already know is in California and far away from Italy. 

Then again, as San Francisco Travel reports, cioppino was first developed by Italian-American fishermen working near San Francisco, so don't completely dismiss its pedigree. One taste of this dish, and you'll see that it has a pretty good Italian-inspired flavor, even if it is admittedly an American recipe.

Made with white fish, mussels, clams, and shrimp, the addition of fennel and white wine to the tomato broth will give it a hugely welcome flavor boost, while the fresh fish, parsley, and garlic should imbue the whole thing with a genuine taste of the Mediterranean, despite having been developed over 6,000 miles away. So, is this actually Italian? Kind of. It's more Italian-American than anything. But is it delicious either way? You betcha.