Italian Meat Recipes from Meatballs to Classic Tuscany Roast Lamb

Bistecca alla FiorentinaSee our best Italian meat recipes! These dishes are authentic Italian recipes for you to try. Why don't you share a recipe with us, in return, on our Travel Italy Grapevine website?

Everyone loves meatballs, and of course a good Italian meatball recipe is hard to find! Look no further as we have what we consider the best Italian meatball recipe there is to offer, along with other equally delicious Italian meat recipes.  See what else we have to offer below, and please feel free to contribute your own favourite Italian meat dishes here. All you have to do is type, and if you have a picture of your favourite recipe, so much the better.

Beef, veal, pork, chicken and lamb are all common meats that are eaten in Italy. However, you will also see rabbit, duck and other game, just as guinea fowl, pigeon and wild boar being offered on the menu. However, Italians don't eat a great deal of meat, by comparison to other European nations and this is one of the reasons why their Mediterranean diet is considered so healthy.

And of course, they don't waste anything in Italian meat recipes. So you will find that Italians also eat a lot of offal; brains, chicken livers appear on crostini and sheep's pluck, or tripe, is eaten everywhere.

By far veal is the most popular meat in Italy, and it is eaten in every region. Vitello di Latte is a very calf that has been slaughtered, and is the most expensive. It is mainly produced in Lombardy and Piedmont.

Lamb features in southern Italian meat recipes, as well as inland in the Tuscan and Umbrian regions. It is also a popular meat in Lazio. The youngest and most tender lamb is known as abbacchio. On Easter Sunday, roast lamb is a traditional dish in many Italian households.

Bistecca alla Fiorentina is probably the most well-known of Italian meat dishes, a dish from Tuscany. See our page on Authentic Italian Top Dishes with pictures and recipes.

I have spoken about Italian food and its regional dishes before. So have a read and learn more about the food and wine from this country. 

I am a busy mother and wife, I really don't have time to stand in the kitchen all day. This next meat dish is just one of those dishes I look for as it ticks all the right boxes. It is uncomplicated, quick to make, and delicious.

Italian Cooking Recipes for Meat

ITALIAN MEAT RECIPES - Scaloppine al Marsala (Veal Steaks in a Marsala Sauce)

4 veal steaks

salt and pepper

flour to dredge

30 g butter

1/3 cup Marsala wine

1 chicken stock cube

1/2 cup water

Season the veal with salt and pepper and dredge in the flour. Shake off any excess flour and set aside.

Heat the butter in a frying pan over a medium heat. Do not burn the butter. Add the oil. Cook the veal steaks for 2-3 minutes a side or until cooked and remove from the pan and keep warm.

Pour off the oil and butter from the pan and add the Marsala wine, crumbled stock cube and half of the water. Bring to the boil for 2 minutes, scraping any sediments off the bottom of the pan.

Return the veal to the pan, cover with a lid and turn the plate down to low. Simmer for 10 minutes, turning the steaks over once, half-way through.

Remove steaks from pan, and keep warm. Add the rest of the water to the sauce and bring to the boil again. Cook sauce until it is thick and shiny. Spoon over veal and serve with vegetables or a salad of your choice.

ITALIAN MEAT RECIPES - FRIED SWEETBREADS, CROQUETTES, LIVER, ETC. (Fritto Misto alla Romana)

Golden Bread, Brains, Sweetbreads, Croquettes of Chicken and Veal and Eggs, Calf's Liver and Pumpkin--all these different ingredients should be fried each in its own manner as follows, a small quantity of each, and served all together on one platter with slices of lemon.

ITALIAN MEAT RECIPES - SWEETBREAD RECIPE

Parboil the sweetbreads, then cook them with one tablespoon of butter and one tablespoon of stock. When cooked cut them into smallish pieces, season with pepper, chopped-up parsley, and one tablespoon of lemon, then roll them in flour; dip into egg and fry.

ITALIAN MEAT RECIPES - FRIED BRAINS RECIPE

Take one lamb's brain, or one-half of a calf's brain, put it in a saucepan with cold water, change the water from time to time for a couple of hours, until the brains are thoroughly cleansed. Then put them in another saucepan with fresh water, and with several pieces of onion, a little salt, a little vinegar (one tablespoon to each brain), and some parsley stems.

As soon as the water boils, take the saucepan off, remove the brains, and put them onto a napkin. Cut them into four pieces, put these pieces onto a plate, and season with a little olive-oil, some lemon juice, and chopped parsley. When you are ready to fry, roll in flour, dip in egg, and fry the brain over a moderate fire for seven or eight minutes in olive-oil, lard, or butter.

ITALIAN MEAT RECIPES - FRIED CALF'S LIVER  RECIPE

Remove the skin, and cut into slices large but thin, roll in flour, dip in egg, and fry in boiling lard, allowing them to remain in the frying-pan only a couple of minutes; then drain on a napkin, sprinkle on a little salt, and serve.


ITALIAN MEAT RECIPES - LITTLE FILETS "ALLA NAPOLITANA" RECIPE

Butter well a frying-pan, and sprinkle over the bottom a piece of lean ham (raw if possible) chopped up fine.

Then a layer of mushrooms chopped fine, then a layer of minced parsley. The bottom of the pan should be entirely covered with these three ingredients.

Then from a filet of beef cut some little slices, about one-half an inch thick and round in shape.

Put these in the frying-pan, one piece near the other, so the bottom shall be covered. Sprinkle on salt and pepper, and put it over a medium heat. When the filets are cooked on one side, turn them over on the other, but with care, so the ingredients at the bottom of the pan will stick to the meat.

When the filets are cooked on both sides, squeeze on the juice of half a lemon, and add a little meat stock. Put the filets on a platter, and pour over them their sauce, and serve with croutons (fried bread).

ITALIAN MEAT RECIPES - INVOLTINI OF BEEF "ALLA SICILIANA" RECIPE

Take three-quarters of a pound of beef, two ounces of ham, one tablespoon of butter (or one-half tablespoon of lard), some bread, some parsley, and a piece of onion.

Chop up the onion fine and put it in a saucepan with the butter (or lard). When it is colored, put in the parsley and the ham cut up into little pieces, at the same time add the bread cut up into three or four small dice, salt, pepper, and a dash of nutmeg. Mix all together well.

Cut the meat into six slices, pound them to flatten out; salt slightly, and when the other ingredients are cooked, put a portion on each slice of meat. Then roll up the meat like sausages, put them on skewers, alternating with a piece of fried bread of the same size. Butter well, roll in fresh bread crumbs, and broil on the gridiron over a slow fire. These are nice served with salad.

ITALIAN MEAT RECIPES - POLPETTONE "ALLA NAPOLITANA" RECIPE

Take three-quarters of a pound of lean beef without skin or bones from the rump-steak, flatten it out with a knife in a manner to widen it without tearing the meat. Salt and pepper it.

Then take one and one-half ounces of ham, fat and lean, and chop it up fine with a little piece of onion, some parsley, and some thyme, then add twice its volume of fresh bread crumbs (which have been dipped in water and squeezed out). When the bread has been well mixed add the yolk of one egg and mix again well, spread this mixture all over the surface of the beef, leveling it off with a knife. Then sprinkle on a few raisins, and then roll up the meat like a cigar, but bigger in the middle than at the ends.

Tie it up then, crosswise and lengthwise, and brown it in a saucepan with a little lard and some ham. As soon as it colors add some chopped-up pieces of onion, celery, carrot, and one clove.

When these vegetables are cooked add several pieces of tomato, and let the meat simmer for about two hours, basting it now andthen. When the meat is cooked remove the string, place the polpettone on a platter, strain the sauce through a sieve, pour it over the meat, and serve.

ITALIAN MEAT RECIPES - BOCCONCINI RECIPE

Cut up the meat, lamb, veal, mutton, or fresh pork into pieces about two inches wide. Sprinkle on salt and pepper and put them aside. Then cut an equal number of pieces of bread about one-half inch thick, and a little bit bigger then the pieces of meat. Next cut pieces of ham, fat and lean, the same size as the pieces of meat, but double the number.

Then take a skewer (or two if one is not sufficient), and put on it first a piece of bread, then a piece of ham, then a leaf of sage, then one of the pieces of meat, then another leaf of sage, then the ham, then the bread, and so on in this order, having always the meat between two leaves of sage, two slices of ham, and two pieces of
bread.

Coat everything well, and especially the bread, with olive-oil or melted butter, and then broil them over a hot fire for a good one-quarter of an hour, turning them constantly until they are colored a golden brown and are crisp. If preferred, these can be cooked in the oven. Put them on several wooden skewers, and lay them in a pan and cook until brown and crisp. Serve with lettuce salad.

ITALIAN MEAT RECIPES - MEAT WITH RIBBON MACARONI RECIPE

Take a piece of ham fat, one finger high and four fingers wide, chop up fine with a piece of onion, piece of celery, piece of carrot, and put into a saucepan. Take three-quarters of a pound of meat, either lamb, veal, beef, or fresh pork, cut it into several pieces, salt and pepper it, and put a pinch of allspice, then put it into the saucepan; cook it until it is well colored, then add two tablespoons of red or white wine. When it is absorbed add one tablespoon of tomato paste, dissolved in water, or tomato sauce of fresh tomatoes (recipe Italian Tomato Sauce No. 1). Cook over a moderate fire, one hour longer if the meat is veal or lamb, and one and one-half hours to two hours for pork or beef, adding water if necessary.

This meat can be served with Ribbon Macaroni. Put the meat in the middle, the macaroni around it, and the sauce over all, adding two tablespoons of grated Parmesan cheese to the macaroni after it is boiled, and mixing well before putting it on the platter. Sprinkle on a little more cheese before carrying to the table.

This Italian meat recipe can be made equally well with left-over meats of any kind, turkey being especially good served this way.

 Come and leave your own favourite Italian meat recipes below.

Do you Have a Great Italian Meat Recipe to Share?

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Name of Recipe

What Other Visitors Have Said about these Italian Meat Recipes

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Tuscan Casserole (Spezzatino Toscana)  Not rated yet
1 kg stewing beef / veal
1/2 cup all purpose flour
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
1 tablespoon sage, finely chopped
1 tablespoon rosemary, finely chopped
...

Tuscan Roast Lamb (Agenello al Forno)  Not rated yet
1 kg leg or shoulder of lamb
3 cloves garlic, each sliced into 3
1 tablespoon chopped rosemary
125 ml white wine vinegar
salt and pepper to taste
125 ...

Best Italian Meatball Recipe  Not rated yet
Spaghetti with Meatballs - Spaghetti con le Polpette

This Italian Meatball Recipe serves 6 and is delicious!

1 potato, sliced
400 g minced steak
...

See our other pages on Regional Food & Wine in Italy:

Piedmont Food & Wine

 I hope that you will go to our other pages and send us your favourite  Italian cooking recipes to share with the rest of our readers. No skill is needed other than just typing into the appropriate boxes.
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Regions of Italy

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Dolomites, ItalyNorthern Italy

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