Last Updated on 16 July 2024
As in all of Sicily, the dishes are the result of the intertwining and influence of numerous cultures and peoples who have colonized the island over the centuries. If you’re wondering what to eat in Sicily, you’re on the right page, here you’ll find a list of typical Sicilian dishes and products you absolutely must try. These are specialties that you can find a bit all over the island, while at the bottom of the article you will find links to discover the typical dishes of the various provinces, which you can hardly try without going there.
Typical Sicilian dishes and products – Appetizers / Side dishes
- Baked ricotta, salted or fresh
- Provola
- Red Pecorino
- Caciocavallo
- Bronte pistachio
- Various salami
- Hops
- Roast Chestnuts
- Candied almonds
- Trapani sea salt
- Bluefin tuna
- Olive oil
- Olives
- Fresh / wild vegetables
- Pachino tomatoes
- caponata
- Products in oil
- Orange salad
- Pistachio cream
- Pistachio pesto
- Eggplant parmigiana
- Raw anchovies with lemon
- Snails
- Vegetables in batter
- Roasted eggplant
- Zibibbo wine from Pantelleria
Curiosities about zibibbo wine: It is a white grape variety originating from Egypt, imported by the Arabs to Pantelleria during the colonization of Sicily. The word zibibbo comes from the Arabic zabib, which means raisins or raisins. It is still grown in Pantelleria and produces a characteristic sweet, fragrant and very alcoholic wine.
Typical Sicilian dishes and products – Street food
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- Pani cunzatu
- arancini
- Cast out
- Spring onion
- Small pizzas
- Diner in general
Typical Sicilian dishes and products – First courses
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- Pasta with sardines
- Macaroni with sauce
- Pasta alla norma
- Spaghetti with sea urchins
- Baked pasta
- Risotto with mushrooms
- Pasta with cuttlefish ink
- Rice timbale
- Pasta with pistachio pesto
- Pasta and fasola
Typical Sicilian dishes and products – Second courses
- Normal or seasoned sausage
- Wrapped with meat stuffed in various ways, with cheese, pistachio, ham etc.
- Fake slim
- Roasted rabbit
- Swordfish rolls
- Swordfish
- Crabs
- Red shrimp of Mazara
- Pescestocco
- Sardinian meatballs
- Boiled octopus
- Sarde A Beccafico
- Eggplant rolls
- Red tuna
Typical Sicilian dishes and products – Fruit
The most typical fruit is certainly the prickly pear , imported by the Aztecs and which today grows spontaneously in all coastal areas. However, thanks to the Mediterranean climate you will find many other types of fresh fruit in Sicily.
Typical Sicilian dishes and products – Sweets
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- Cannolo
- Granite
- Cassatelle
- Cassata
- Modica chocolate
- Fruit pastries
- Almond paste
- Martorana fruit
- Nougat
- Brioscia, often accompanied with granita
- Mustazzola
- Homemade ice cream
Curiosities about Mustazzola – According to many traditions, the name derives from the main ingredient: must, from the Latin “mustum”. The first evidence of the Mostaccioli ancestors dates back to Roman times. These sweets, in fact, were offered to guests upon departure. The “mustaceans” make their appearance in Cato’s “De Agricoltura”, which accurately describes the preparation: “you soak a bushel of flour with the must, add anise, cumin, two pounds of fat, a pound of cheese and some bark laurel, when you have kneaded and given the right shape, cook over bay leaves ”.
Curiosities about ice cream: It seems that the ice cream has Sicilian origins. In fact, during the Arab domination, it was customary to mix the snow of Etna with sugar cane and fruit juice to obtain the “sharab”, sorbet. Around 1600 the Sicilian Francesco Procopio dei Coltelli opened the first café in Paris, the Procope café, in France. He modified the sorbet machine he owned, giving rise to the first version of modern ice cream.
Typical Sicilian dishes and products from the various provinces
After having generally discovered the typical Sicilian dishes and products, below you will find dishes and typical products of the various provinces.
What to eat at:
- Catania and surroundings
- Palermo and surroundings
- Trapani and surroundings
- Ragusa and surroundings
- Messina and surroundings
- Caltanissetta and surroundings
- Syracuse and surroundings
- Agrigento and surroundings
- Enna and surroundings