17 Italian Appetizers to Add to Your Rotation

In a perfect world, we might all find ourselves on a hilltop in Italy, the breeze just so as we pop the cork on a bottle of prosecco (or Lambrusco—are we in the north in this fantasy?). But for the next best thing, look to Italy for inspiration when you want an easy and delicious app, for the appealing way that just a few ingredients can be assembled into something so wonderful and simple. It’s the food equivalent of, “oh, this old thing I found in the back of my closet?” when you know you’ve nailed your outfit just right. From antipasti and bruschetta to gorgeous seafood options, we’ve rounded up everything form classic Italian appetizers to inspired bites—that everyone will devour in about due minuti. When you’re talking about flavors like these, you kind of can’t go wrong.

For a beautiful summery treat, it’s hard to top delicate zucchini flowers stuffed with a creamy filling and then lightly fried until crisp and golden. Try to find a good-quality whole-milk ricotta from an Italian deli or specialty food store. The upgrade is worth it here.

It’s truly a labor of love to make arancini, Sicilian-style rice balls that require making risotto, then rolling into balls and stuffing with goodies like prosciutto or cheese, then deep-frying. Here, we remove one obstacle to making them—well, all the time. Instead of frying, fill an air-fryer basket with those golden balls and treat yourself to those irresistible bites whenever you have leftover risotto.

It’s not so much a recipe as a formula—and one that always works, at that. Some exquisite store-bought cured meats and excellent cheeses, rounded out with bread, crackers, nuts, and if you have the time, some fabulous homemade spreads and go-withs. It can start any kind of party, from a backyard barbecue or picnic to a fancy wedding shower or dinner party.

Stuff an artichoke? Why yes, you can actually make this insanely delicious vegetable even more irresistible by stuffing it with a very savory filling. Eating is a full experience—alternate scraping the meaty outer leaves with your teeth with scooping into that filling, which not only contains olives, capers, tomatoes and Parmesan, but which soaks up the artichoke’s juices and tons—tons!—of flavor.

Prosciutto and melon is perhaps one of the most iconic and elegant Italian appetizers, served at the table to be eaten with a knife and fork. But how to translate those simple flavors to something that can be eaten more casually? Here, they are bite-size, the better to be popped at whim while sipping a Campari and soda, and given an extra bit of oomph with some shrimp. This is an ideal appetizer, since it really does best assembled ahead and chilled until go-time.

Leave it to Valerie Bertinelli to make the easiest “pizza” imaginable that still incorporates two important Italian veggies—spinach and mushrooms. Crescent dough means that this pie can be made almost at a moment’s notice, and it works well as a main course in addition to being a drama-free app.

Blurring the lines between traditional Italian and Italian-American is clams oreganata. Though stuffed and baked or broiled seafood are found all over the old country, a passion in midcentury for stuffed clams in Italian-American restaurants, from clams oreganata to Clams Casino, means that this dish is firmly in the American canon as well. Does it really matter? That zesty, chewy filling and crunchy topping is always just right. Here, Geoffrey Zakarian takes it global, punching up its kick with harissa and its umami with miso.

Tomato bruschetta is quite possibly one of the easiest appetizers of all time. It can be as simple as olive oil-drizzled bread that’s toasted and rubbed with fresh garlic or something with more components, like this version that’s topped with a mix of fresh tomatoes and basil. Either way, it’s ready in a matter of minutes—and for almost no work at all.

Grandma Guarnaschelli doesn’t play, and neither does this lasagna. You won’t find unusual ingredients here, but Guarnaschelli proportions the dish for a (generous) appetizer size, and, in a small square baking dish, it maximizes those toasty edge pieces that everyone will arm-wrestle for.

Ohhh, stuffed mushrooms. Is there ever a wrong time for them? The do require some futzing around—which is why being served stuffed mushrooms is always such a treat. Here, they are so savory with Italian sausage and enhanced with that anise-essence of fennel, which also ensures that the filling stays moist. A crown of toasted cheese, brightened up with fresh parsley and briny green olives, does not go amiss.

Italians are genius at making even the most elemental foods taste special—like all the things done with old bread, from grilled bruschetta to little rich crostini toasts. A tapenade like this one, from Ree Drummond, is always at the ready for those simple, bread-centric feasts. This one will also be a great base for a quick pasta—that is, if you have any left over.

In America, we have mozzarella sticks, but their ancestor is arguably this Italian grilled cheese sandwich, stuffed with mozzarella and given extra crunch with a breadcrumb coating. Made famous worldwide by a scene of a small boy navigating tangles of cheese while eating one in The Bicycle Thief, it became a staple in Italian-American restaurants in the latter half of the last century as well. We have to admit, it is like a mozzarella stick that’s gone to graduate school.

Cheese, glorious cheese! Whether it’s because you have vegetarians coming, or because cheese is just so darn worth celebrating, a cheese board full of some of the best Italy has to offer—smoked mozzarella, truffled pecorino, taleggio and Gorgonzola—is reason enough to celebrate!

A very modern innovation based on flavors that have stood the test of time: These bite-size “meat bowls” are what happen when you envision a meatball, but make it stuffed. Fashion the meat into tiny bowls in a muffin tin, then fill with ooey-gooey mozzarella and marinara sauce and bake. They may not technically be Italian, but they sure make you feel as loved as any Italian food does.

So simple and so tasty, sweet fig and creamy, salty blue cheese marry along with the crunch of buttery bruschetta beneath. Heed the warning of one reviewer who found that even making 100 pieces of this was not enough—they will disappear quickly!