12 Italian Dinners for a Regular Tuesday
Twelve Italian dinners grouped by course — pasta, meat and chicken, vegetable-forward — with cost per serving, protein, and cook time for each.
Italian home cooking is not the restaurant version: it's three or four ingredients, one pan, and about half an hour. The expensive-sounding parts — the long braises, the stuffed pastas — are Sunday food. What Italians actually eat on a weeknight is closer to what's below.
Anychef catalog data: 86 Italian dinners in our library at a median $2.20 a serving and 35 minutes, with 30 of them under $2 — tied with Mexican as the cheapest cuisine in the catalog, and cheaper than the American median of $2.40. Grouped by course.
Pasta night
1. Spaghetti Meat Sauce
35g protein580 cal$2.00/serving45 min
Long-simmered ground beef and tomato sauce that coats every strand of spaghetti, richer and deeper-flavored by day three.
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2. One Pot Chicken Parmesan Pasta
45g protein640 cal$2.60/serving35 min
Juicy chicken, marinara, and penne cooked together in a single pot, then blanketed with melted mozzarella and crispy crumbs.
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3. Pasta Fagioli Soup
27g protein420 cal$1.70/serving45 min
A hearty tomato broth thick with beef, white beans, and small pasta, the cozy soup that eats like a meal.
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4. Lasagna Bolognese
42g protein620 cal$2.70/serving90 min
Layers of rich meat sauce, creamy béchamel, and pasta noodles, a classic that tastes even better reheated as flavors meld.
View the full recipe →Chicken, meatballs, and pork
5. Turkey Bolognese
36g protein380 cal$2.00/serving40 min
Silky ground turkey simmered with tomatoes, garlic, and herbs until rich and deeply flavored, ready to coat your favorite pasta.
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6. Chicken Cacciatore
42g protein460 cal$2.50/serving75 min
Hunter-style chicken braised in the oven with tomatoes, peppers, and mushrooms until fall-apart tender.
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7. Turkey Meatball Subs
36g protein420 cal$2.20/serving35 min
Tender meatballs simmered in marinara, piled into crusty subs and topped with melted mozzarella for the ultimate comfort sandwich.
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8. Chicken Broccoli Ziti
42g protein640 cal$2.60/serving35 min
The Boston pizzeria staple of juicy chicken, tender broccoli, and ziti tossed in garlicky parmesan butter sauce.
View the full recipe →Vegetable-forward and the rest
9. Homemade Cheese Pizza
22g protein560 cal$1.30/serving85 min
Golden bubbly cheese over sweet tomato sauce on a crust you made yourself, simple pizza perfection.
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10. Three Cheese Calzone
27g protein600 cal$1.60/serving35 min
Ricotta, mozzarella, and parmesan melted together inside a crackly golden crust, pure cheesy comfort.
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11. Crispy Tortilla Pizza
16g protein380 cal$1.00/serving15 min
A shatteringly thin cracker-crisp crust from a plain tortilla, topped with bubbling cheese and sweet cherry tomatoes.
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12. Pepperoni Calzone
30g protein690 cal$2.00/serving40 min
A golden pocket of dough stuffed with molten mozzarella, ricotta, and pepperoni, served with warm marinara for dunking.
View the full recipe →Keep going
Every recipe above comes from the Anychef library of 1,700+ recipes, each with cost per serving and full macros — browse every Italian recipe and all pasta recipes. Or skip the browsing entirely: scan your fridge with the Anychef app and get recipes built from what you already have, macros and grocery list included.
