Giada Swears By These 8 Superfood Ingredients for Italian Cooking

In her new cookbook Super-Italian, Giada shines the spotlight on the superfoods that are nature-made to help us feel our best. Italy is home to dozens of uniquely nutritious traditional foods that just happen to taste incredible, from luscious olives to fragrant herbs. Trust us: It’s easy to eat healthfully when your raw ingredients are this delicious!  

Here, we’ve collected eight of Giada’s favorite superfood ingredients that just happen to be pantry staples. Keep your shelves stocked with these simple ingredients and you’ll always be just a few minutes away from a healthy, feel-good meal. And to see her full list of superfood ingredients, order Super-Italian now! 

1. Olives and Olive Oil 

Olives and the oil we get when they’re pressed are full of good fats, especially oleic acid, which helps lower bad LDL cholesterol in the body and can boost fat loss. They’re a good source of antioxidants that lower inflammation and help your body’s clean-up crew to recover from stress and pollution. Italy is home to dozens of native olive varieties, from tiny taggiascas to extra-big bella di cerignolas. Each is uniquely delicious and worth a try!  

USE IT: Is there anything olive oil can’t do? Giada even uses our extra virgin olive oil as a facial cleanser! Use mild olive oils for cooking and baking and sharper, more strongly flavored oils for salads, dressing grilled meats and fish, and drizzling over cooked dishes as a finishing touch. 

2. Small Fish 

In contrast to American favorites like salmon and shrimp, Italians love small, oily fish like sardines, anchovies, and mackerel and eat them often, especially in the South. Intensely flavorful, these little fish also happen to be more nutritionally dense than their larger cousins. They’re more sustainable than bigger fish and, because they spend less time in the ocean, are less exposed to heavy metals and other pollutants in the water. They’re high in omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids, protein, and calcium. 

USE IT: Anchovies, especially, are a great flavor building block in dressings, stews, and pastas. Try colatura di alici, a traditional Italian fish sauce, to get even more powerful flavor from these little fish.  

3. Garlic 

One of the earliest plants known to be used as medicine, garlic contains more than 200 phytochemicals that make it powerfully good for you. It’s a known anti-cancer, anti-inflammatory, antifungal, antimicrobial, antidiabetic, and more. Some people find it hard to digest, but if it doesn’t bother your system, eat up! It has healing properties and aids digestion.  

USE IT: Giada prefers to season with garlic by smashing the whole peeled cloves to release their oils and using them to infuse their flavor into a dish, then discarding the cloves rather than eating a big bite of garlic. Skip that step by buying a high-quality garlic-infused olive oil that you can drizzle wherever, whenever. 

4. Capers 

The tiny buds from the caper bush are at once vegetal, briny, and earthy. These tiny dynamos are considered a good source of antioxidants, as well as nutrients like vitamin K, B vitamins, minerals like iron and calcium, and chemicals that help regulate blood sugar. In Italy, the best capers are grown on the tiny island of Pantelleria, where the larger fruits of the bush, also known as caper berries, as well as the leaves are also used to season food. 

USE IT: Italians love to use capers to add a pop of salty flavor to dishes like pasta puttanesca. Salt-cured capers need to be rinsed before use or they will be too overpowering, but the flavor is very pure and they have a crisp, firm texture. Brine-cured capers are less intense and a little softer, but you can use the brine to flavor sauces and dressings. 

5. Chiles 

Chiles elevate sensation like nothing else, opening our taste buds (and sinuses!) and causing a physical reaction. Many of the benefits of chiles can be traced to their high concentration of capsaicin, the compound that gives them their heat and has been proven to fight heart disease and cancer and boost metabolism. Their generous concentration of antioxidants like vitamin C makes them immunity boosters. 

USE IT: Giada’s spicy go-to is Calabrian chili paste, which adds a fruity sweetness along with the heat. It’s a vibrant condiment on eggs, sandwiches, pizza, and more and is the star of Giada’s Calabrian chili pasta. 

6. Tomatoes

Fresh, dried, canned, or pureed, tomatoes are the backbone of so many foods we equate with Italian cooking—pretty amazing considering they are not even native to Europe and didn’t find their way into Italian kitchens until a few centuries ago. Tomatoes of all kinds have a decent amount of fiber and are a good source of vitamins A and C. They are a particularly good source of lutein, an antioxidant thought to help prevent cancer, as well as lycopene and beta-carotene.

USE IT: At once sharp and sweet, tomatoes add brightness, depth, and umami to just about every kind of dish, from sauces to salads. When it’s not the peak of summer, look to good canned Italian tomatoes to get your flavor fix. 

7. Vinegar 

Italians use a range of vinegars in their cooking, from the relatively mild, sweet tang of balsamic and white wine vinegars to stronger, more rustic red wine vinegars. In addition to being a preservative, vinegar has antifungal and antibacterial properties. Naturally fermented vinegars like true balsamic from Modena are great for digestion and immunity, too. Many Italians swear by taking a spoonful of balsamic straight as a health tonic every day! 

USE IT: Like a squeeze of citrus, a dash of vinegar brings out flavor. The next time you think your food needs salt, try adding a hit of acid first. You’ll see how it wakes up heavy, hearty dishes like meat stews and salads of sturdy greens. 

8. Herbs 

The aroma of a dish is a huge part of its appeal, and nothing adds more enticing aroma than herbs, whether fresh or dried. Benefits vary from one variety to another, but all herbs are low in calories, high in fiber, and universal flavor enhancers. Some, like parsley, have a nice amount of vitamins A, C, and K as well as iron, and basil is full of antioxidants; both can be added to salads as a green. Mint and oregano are thought to have antimicrobial properties. 

USE IT: Basil is probably the herb most associated with Italian cooking, but a wide variety of herbs are native to this part of the Mediterranean. Depending on where you are in Italy, you’ll come across different blends of locally grown herbs used to flavor meats and fish; Giada’s Tuscan Herb Blend is a warm blend of rosemary, fennel, thyme, and sage.