12 Pasta Recipes from Calabria. (2024)


12 Authentic Pasta Recipes from Calabria.

These 12 pasta recipes from Calabria are just a taste of what this Southern Italian region has to offer. Calabrian cuisine is based on traditional dishes made with locally produced or grown foods. It’s hearty and rich and full of authentic Mediterranean flavours!

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Since spending some time in Calabria last year, I’m totally in love with the region and the food! We ate so well both on the coast and in the mountains. The Calabrians make and cultivate a lot of great foods and produce. I guess the most well-known are sweet Tropea red onions, olive oil, cacciocavallo cheese, Sila potatoes and the soft spicy sausage, nduja.

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However, there’s so much more! And when it comes to pasta, there are some amazing dishes! Why not bring a taste of Calabria to your table with some of these 12 pasta recipes.

Click the recipe name to go to the recipe post and instructions.

Some info about Calabrian Nduja.

One of the most popular ingredients in pasta recipes from Calabria is nduja. For those who don’t know it, nduja is a soft, spicy, spreadable sausage/salami. It’s made with pork meat (typically from the throat, underbelly, head and shoulder), a bit of fat, salt and a lot of peperoncino (Italian red chilli pepper).

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Nduja is one of the most well-known, if not the most famous, of Calabrian salumi. Nowadays you can find it for sale both online and in Italian specialty shops. There are also companies producing it in USA and UK.

12 pasta recipes from Calabria - meat.

Pasta with Nduja.

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This is the simplest and most traditional pasta with Nduja recipe. The sauce is basically a homemade tomato sauce with nduja melted into it. The more nduja you put, the spicier it becomes. Calabrians make this dish with fileja, a traditional and ancient type of flour and water pasta. However, you can use any short pasta or even spaghetti.

Organic wholewheat pasta with nduja and mushrooms.

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Mushrooms are a popular and delicious choice to pair with nduja. Traditionally, the mushrooms would be foraged or dried porcini. Calabria’s mountains are full of forests where a large selection of wild mushrooms grow. I used fresh champignons and pioppini (poplar mushrooms). But, you can use any of your favourite mushrooms.

Fileja pasta alla Silana.

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Pasta alla Silana is one of the most well-known Calabrian pasta dishes. It comes from the mountainous Sila region. This very filling and hearty recipe is full of typical Sila foods. It is actually a pretty popular recipe in other parts of Italy and Calabria, so there are some slightly different versions. However, the main ingredients are mostly the same, tomatoes, sausage, guanciale, porcini mushrooms, caciocavallo cheese, peperoncino and pecorino.

Calabrian baked pasta with meatballs.

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Known as pasta ‘mbruscinata’ or pasta chijna in the local dialect, this rich and wholesome Calabrian baked pasta with meatballs is a traditional dish for Sundays, holidays and family occasions. Although Italians would traditionally eat this pasta bake as a first course (primo), it’s so loaded with delicious local foods and ingredients that it makes a substantial main course too.

Pasta with Tropea onions and lardo.

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Pasta alla Toranese is a tasty Calabrian dish made with Tropea onions and lardo (not lard). This recipe comes from the town of Torano Castello in Cosenza Province, Calabria. It is super simple with only 3 main ingredients; Italian lardo, Tropea onions and pecorino cheese. So full of Calabrian flavour and easy to make!

Ditaloni with purple cauliflower and pancetta.

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I loved the idea of this Calabrian ditaloni with purple cauliflower because it looked so pretty in the pictures I found when I first came across the recipe. But it’s not just a pretty plate of pasta! It’s very tasty too!

12 pasta recipes from Calabria - vegetarian/meatless

Click the recipe name to go to the post and recipe instructions.

Fileja Tropeana.

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Fileja Tropeana has a colourful and fragrant sauce of summer vegetables; zucchini, eggplant, tomatoes and Calabria’s famous red Tropea onion. There’s also some peperoncino (red chili pepper) which gives this dish a bit of a kick!Of course, you can use other sweet red onions instead and your favourite short pasta.

Calabrian ricotta balls in tomato sauce.

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Ricotta balls in tomato sauce is a Calabrian recipe that originated among the region’s poorer farming and peasant population, particularly in the mountainous Sila area. Like so many of Italy’s traditional recipes, this is a combination of simple staple ingredients. The delicious ricotta balls are easy to make and you then cook them in a tomato sauce and serve over pasta.

Elicoidali with Tropea onions.

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An easy but flavourful pasta recipe made with Calabrian red Tropea onions, white wine and Pecorino. Perfect for anyone who loves the combination of cheese and onions!

Long fusilli with pesto Calabrese.

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Here’s a recipe to spice up your pesto life. Pesto Calabrese is a cold creamy sauce made from tomatoes, red bell peppers and ricotta. It’s very aromatic and slightly or very spicy, depending on your preferences, because of the addition of Calabria’s famous peperoncino (red chili pepper).

Homemade lagane with chickpeas.

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Made with traditional flour and water pasta this nutritious vegan/vegetarian recipe is probably one of the oldest known pasta recipes. Versions of it were eaten by the Ancient Romans! It’s easy to make and, of course, you can use other types of pasta instead.

12 pasta recipes from Calabria - fish

Pasta with black olive pesto and tuna.

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I’m always on the lookout for tasty pasta recipes which work well as salads too and don’t take long to make. This recipe for pasta with black olive pesto and tuna from Calabria ticked all the boxes. It takes no time at all to make, it’s very tasty and can be eaten warm or as a salad!

More recipes you may like:

  • Pasta recipes from Sicily
  • Pasta Recipes from Rome and Lazio
  • Pasta Recipes from Naples
  • Pasta recipes from Marche
  • Pasta Recipes from Trentino-Alto Adige
  • Pasta Recipes from Piemonte

If you do try any of these 12 pasta recipes from Calabria, I’d love to hear what you think.Please write a comment here on the blog or post a comment onthe Pasta Project Facebook page.

Your feedback means a lot to me!

Buon Appetito!

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12 Pasta Recipes from Calabria. (2024)

FAQs

What is the most popular pasta in Calabria? ›

Fileja pasta alla Silana.

Pasta alla Silana is one of the most well-known Calabrian pasta dishes. It comes from the mountainous Sila region. This very filling and hearty recipe is full of typical Sila foods.

What is the most famous dish in Calabria? ›

'Nduja. There's perhaps no single ingredient that better represents Calabria than 'nduja. This fiery, salty, funky, and buttery pork salume is so integral to the local cuisine that there's a huge annual festival devoted to it.

What is the national dish of Calabria? ›

'Nduja: One of Calabria's most famous and beloved foods! The unique soft, spreadable spicy sausage really brings the heat, thanks to its blend of local chili peppers found in the dish. We love it on crispy bread and fresh pasta.

Are there 600 types of pasta? ›

There are over 600 different pasta shapes, each with a useful purpose. Long pasta, short pasta, stuffed pasta, pasta for soups- the uses for pasta are endless! Some pasta shapes and sizes are better suited for holding sauces in the ridges, while others are much better for baked dishes.

What do calabrians eat for breakfast? ›

A Calabrian breakfast can be quite hardcore first thing in the morning – murseddu is a shell of leavened bread, the soft dough moved then mixed with entrails, liver, pancetta, salt pork, and salami served with a hot chilli sauce.

What foods are from Calabria Italy? ›

Beyond Tropea: How to Live Calabria like a Local
  • 'Nduja.
  • Morzello.
  • Pasta Ca Muddica Atturrata.
  • Fileja.
  • Frisella. Cedro.
Mar 24, 2024

What cheese is from Calabria? ›

Pecorino Crotonese cheese is exclusively produced with milk of Calabrian sheep of 'Gentile' breed, one of the big autochthonous ovine Italian breeds with a low fat content. It is one of the most valued dairy products of Calabria.

What do you call someone from Calabria? ›

The nationality is also taken from the adjective, so a person from Calabria (male or female) would be a Calabrese (Italian) or Calabrian (English). In its plural form, the e changes to an i, thus, the Calabrian people would be Calabresi and Calabrian wines, vini calabresi.

What dessert is Calabria known for? ›

Pitta 'mpigliata-Calabrian Fruit and Nut Pastry, a traditional Christmas dessert from Calabria, mostly found in the Calabrian province of Cosenza. Strips of an olive oil and white wine pastry are filled with walnuts, raisins, orange zest, warm spices and doused with honey.

What is the red onion in Calabria Italy? ›

Likely the most famous onion of Italy, Tropea's red onion (cipolla rossa di Tropea) is a common sight in Calabria – strung outside shops, adorning doorways and piled high on market stalls and produce trucks by the side of the road.

What makes Calabria special? ›

The colours of the sea, sandy shores alternating with rocky coastlines, small villages, wild nature, evidence of ancient origins and the intense flavours of the local cuisine make Calabria a special destination in every season.

What is the national animal of Calabria? ›

Italy
CountryNational animalPicture
CalabriaVitulia or BruttiumBull (Bos taurus)
CampaniaCampania Felix and SamniumMediterranean Italian buffalo (Bubalus bubalis)
IrpiniaIrpinian wolf (Canis lupus italicus)
Benevento and CaudiniaCalydonian boar (Sus scrofa)
41 more rows

What is the food culture in Calabria? ›

Staples of Calabrian Cuisine

Bread is central to Calabrian eating, with Pitta, a soft, round loaf, gracing tables daily. And, of course, pasta is a staple, so try hand-rolled Fileja to experience Calabrian pasta at its best. The Ionian and Tyrrhenian seas provide a bounty that runs through Calabrian cuisine.

Are there over 300 types of pasta? ›

Probably invented by the Chinese and brought to Europe by Marco Polo, pasta is obtained from the processing of a few simple ingredients: semolina, water and a small amount of salt. If you're wondering how many types of pasta there are, the answer is over 300.

How many types of pasta are there in total? ›

Well, whilst it's true that there are around 350 different types, it's a little known fact that each shape and style is best suited to specific types of Italian cuisine.

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