The Best Authentic Recipes from Giada in Italy

A rich mixture of eggs and nutty Parmesan cheese turns into a silky sauce for this speedy pasta, balanced with salty prosciutto and sweet sauteed shallots.

No longer is asparagus just a side dish. When you top it with a fried egg, it can be enjoyed for breakfast, lunch or even a simple dinner!

If you've never made pizza dough from scratch, Giada's easy recipe is an ideal place to start. It's made with only five everyday ingredients.

Not just for topping your pasta, ricotta can be sweet too. Here Giada mixes the creamy cheese with cinnamon and sugar, then spreads it on toasted bread and finishes it with chocolate for an extra-special dessert.

Tomatoes and strawberries might seem like an unlikely match, but trust Giada when she says they work well together, especially when you get your hands on summer’s best sweet, juicy tomatoes.

Let the tomato sauce chill for a while so that the flavors have a chance to combine, which will ultimately give you a more delicious pizza.

Zabaglione is a light Italian custard, and Giada spikes hers with limoncello, a sweet Italian liqueur. It’s the ideal way to finish a slice of rich pound cake.

This super-easy appetizer is best served with veggies and toasted bread for dipping. All it takes is 10 minutes and a food processor!

Similar to an Eton mess, which is a British dessert with strawberries and cream, Giada’s recipe celebrates the flavors of a Torrone, a popular Italian candy bar. There’s plenty of sweet marshmallow creme, crunchy almonds and dark chocolate.

This summery citrus slushy is topped off with a little prosecco to give it a sparkling finish.

"The finished soup should be silky and thickened," Giada notes of this comforting recipe, which gets its hearty texture from a base of bread. As they cooks with the tomatoes and broth, the bread cubes absorb moisture and become deeply flavored.

It's all about the filling in these impressive cannoli. Chocolate whipped cream and amaretto-spiked ricotta come together to create the ultimate better-together mixture.

Sweet fruit-and-nut bread takes the place of the usual cookies in these four-ingredient treats. The slices are smeared with chocolate-hazelnut spread before sandwiching a filling of candy-studded ice cream.

Quickly grilling the melon boosts the natural sweetness of the fruit. Giada turns the cantaloupe into a savory salad by tossing it with fresh cherry tomatoes, mint and chile paste.

Not only does Giada's cheesy pasta sauce boast the earthy taste of Chianti wine, but the noodles themselves are flavored too. Giada boils the pasta in a wine-water mixture, which delivers both taste and color to the spaghetti.

Traditional affogatos feature gelato or ice cream with a shot of espresso, but Giada skips the coffee in flavor of warm, cinnamon-spiced red wine, which pairs well with a scoop of rich vanilla ice cream.

Ready to eat in just 10 minutes, this cool dip is the ultimate in last-minute appetizers. Giada likes to serve it with raw veggies and crunchy bread for easy dunking.

Laced with nutty Parmesan and flecked with fresh crab, these breaded rice balls are quickly fried until crispy on the outside and creamy inside.

This is the soup recipe you didn't know you've been missing. The deeply savory prosciutto-based broth is simmered with fragrant thyme and a Parmesan rind, which imparts salty, nutty flavor as it cooks. In place of the usual noodles, there's chewy farro, an authentic Italian grain. Don't opt out of making the Parmesan crisps — those golden, crispy rounds that adorn each bowl —  as they pack a serious punch of both texture and taste.

When you think there's no time to make a side dish, look to Giada's 15-minute mushrooms. These earthy beauties are quickly cooked then tossed with a few ready-to-go mix-ins: chewy dried cranberries, crunchy walnuts and peppery arugula. 

Not just for savory bruschetta, toasted slices of bread can become dessert too. Giada sprinkles ciabatta with sugar before caramelizing the bread, and after that, it's all about the toppings. A smear of ricotta delivers creamy richness, while fresh berries provide a bright bite.