The Best Food in Sicily: 18 Dishes to Try on Your Next Trip

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Each region of Italy has its own distinctive cuisine, and food in Sicily is especially full of surprises.

Bread is topped with sesame seeds, couscous is found next to pasta on menus, raisins turn up in spaghetti, and gelato is eaten stuffed in a brioche bun—for breakfast.

It’s no wonder that traditional Sicilian food feels different from what you find further north. The island is closer to Tunis than to Rome and has absorbed influences from its many invaders including the Greeks, Arabs, Normans, and Spanish.

Unsurprisingly for an island, fish features heavily on the typical Sicilian menu, and we didn’t find it as vegetarian-friendly as Puglia, our favourite Italian region for eating.

We always managed to find something on menus, though, often involving melanzana (aubergine/eggplant). Vegans will have to ask for the pasta dishes without cheese. 

If you have a sweet tooth, you’ll be spoilt in Sicily. Sicilians pride themselves on their sweet decadent pastries, then there are refreshing granite from local lemons and mulberry fruits, and creamy gelato from pistachios grown on the island.

These Sicilian dishes were our favourites from our seven weeks in Sicily and include snacks, pasta, desserts, and drinks.

At the bottom of the post, you’ll find our Sicily restaurant recommendations. 

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Video: Tips for Eating in Italy

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1) Pane con Panelle

Pane con panelle, a vegetarian Sicilian street food snack in Palermo
Eating in Sicily often involves a quick snack from the street like the vegetarian-friendly pane con panelle

Sicilian street food is popular in Palermo but most of it is not vegetarian-friendly (think spleen and sheep’s intestines). One thing we could indulge in was panelle or chickpea fritters.

We often ate these delicious melt in the mouth fried snacks as an antipasto (starter) in restaurants or as pane con panelle on the street stuffed in a sesame seed roll.

We found good versions in the Ballaro market and at Franco u’ Vastiddaro near Piazza Marina where we enjoyed the Triplo with panelle, potato croquettes, and aubergine.

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2) Pane Cunzato

Pane cunzato

We ate pane cunzato at the legendary Da Alfredo’s cafe in Lingua village on the gorgeous Salina island. These open top sandwiches are huge (more than enough for two to share) and we opted for the misto without tuna.

The bread base was overflowing with cherry and sun-dried tomatoes, marinated aubergine, capers, olives, mozzarella, and lots of olive oil.

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3) Arancini

Arancini

Arancini are the most famous Sicilian snack. These deep-fried rice balls are often filled with meat, but you can also find them with vegetarian fillings.

We enjoyed them stuffed with mozzarella and caper pesto and Alla Norma (with aubergine, tomato and ricotta) on Salina.

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4) Caponata

Caponata

Caponata is a very typical Sicilian antipasto found on most menus. It’s a deliciously tangy, sweet and sour mix of fried aubergine, tomatoes, capers, and vinegar, usually served at room temperature. Perfect for vegetarians and vegans in Sicily.

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5) Sicilian Antipasti Buffet at Zia Pina

Antipasti buffet Zia Pina

Eating at Zia Pina is a classic Palermo experience. This simple restaurant near Vucciria market has paper tablecloths, no menu, and the “bread basket” consists of a whole sesame baguette plonked on the table.

The huge antipasti buffet is the highlight. Even skipping all the seafood we had a variety of vegetables, cheeses, and salads to choose from, especially aubergine in many forms—grilled, stuffed, cooked in tomatoes, and topped with breadcrumbs.

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6) Parmigiana di Melanzane

Parmigiana di Melanzana


My favourite Italian dish parmigiana di melanzane, layers of baked aubergine, tomato sauce and cheese, is popular all over Italy, but apparently originates in Sicily (although Naples also claims it as their own).

Don’t miss this classic Sicilian dish. 

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7) Pasta alla Norma

Pasta alla Norma

Pasta alla Norma is the most common vegetarian dish on Sicilian menus. It’s a tomato and aubergine sauce topped with ricotta salata.

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8) Busiate alla Trapanese

Busiate Pesto Trapanese

Another wonderful vegetarian pasta dish is with pesto Trapanese from the city of Trapani.

This typical Sicilian food is made with fresh tomatoes, almonds, garlic and basil, and is usually served with busiate, a long twisty fresh pasta from the area.

This version at Caupona Taverna di Sicilia in Trapani was topped with breadcrumbs and grilled aubergine.

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9) Pasta cu Maccu

Pasta cu Maccu

Pasta cu Maccu is Sicilian dialect for fava bean puree with pasta. It’s a hearty dish that we ate at our favourite restaurant in Palermo, Trattoria Altri Tempi.

You are automatically signed up for a tasting menu (we didn’t realise this on our first visit), so wine and water are unlimited, an array of starters, dessert, and digestivi are brought out, and you choose your main course from the menu. It’s excellent value.

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10) Pasta Chi Vruoccoli Arriminata

Pasta chi Vruoccoli Arriminata

Another dish we ate at Altri Tempi was this thick spaghetti with a hollow middle served with mashed cauliflower, raisins, and breadcrumbs.

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11) Spaghetti with Capers

Spaghetti with tomato and capers

Capers are grown on the island of Salina so they feature heavily on the menu there.

We ate them made into a pesto with mint, parsley and pecorino cheese, and with a simple tomato sauce at A’Lumeredda in Malfa.

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12) Cannoli

Cannolo

Cannoli are the most well known Sicilian dessert. Flaky pastry tubes are filled with creamy sweet ricotta and often studded with chocolate chips and dried fruit.

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13) Cassata

Cassata

We didn’t try cassata until one of our last days in Sicily as the bright green mounds didn’t look very appetising, but they are surprisingly tasty.

This super sweet dessert consists of sponge cake moistened with liqueur, ricotta, and candied fruit covered in green marzipan and icing.

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14) Frutta Martorana

Frutta martorana

You see these marzipan sweets in pastry shops all over Sicily moulded into brightly coloured fruit shapes. They look too plastic to eat but were actually soft and aromatic.

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15) Gelato in Brioche

Gelato in brioche

Food in Sicily can be rather decadent and no more so than when it comes to the traditional Sicilian breakfast—gelato!

Gelato in Sicily is served in cones or stuffed in large sweet brioche buns and often eaten for breakfast in the hot summer months.

My favourite gelato flavour in Sicily was pistachio and our most frequent gelato stop was Cafe Spinnato in Palermo.

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16) Granita

A refreshing sorbet-like mix of ice, fruit and sugar. In Sicily it’s thicker than elsewhere in Italy so is eaten with a spoon rather than drunk through a straw.

I liked the lemon and black mulberry (gelsi) flavours.

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17) Malvasia Wine

Malvasia and almond pastries

Malvasia is a sweet honey-like dessert wine made on Salina in the Aeolian Islands. It’s particularly good with simple almond pastries.

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18) Digestivo

Digestivi at Altri Tempi, Palermo

Sicilians like to end a meal with a digestivo liqueur to help aid digestion.

We were surprised at Trattoria Altri Tempi in Palermo when at the end of the meal they placed bottles of their homemade fennel, bay leaf, and lemon digestivi on the table for us to help ourselves. The perfect way to end the meal.

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Best Restaurants in Sicily

These are the places we recommend to try Sicilian cuisine on the island. 

The Best Restaurants in Palermo

  • Trattoria Altri Tempi, Via Sammartino 65, Palermo – Go hungry as you’ll be served lots of food and drinks with their fixed menu.
  • Franco u’ Vastiddaru, Via Vittorio Emanuele 102 (near Piazza Marina), Palermo – Variety of panelle sandwiches.
  • Zia Pina, Via Cassari 69, Palermo – Go for the extensive Sicilian antipasti buffet.
  • Antico Caffe Spinnato, Via Principe di Belmonte 111, Palermo – Delicious pastries and gelato.

Trapani

  • Caupona Taverna di Sicilia, Via San Francesco D’Assisi (Piazza Purgatorio), Trapani – Excellent, slightly upmarket food on a quiet street across from a church.

Alcamo

  • Agriturismo Tarantola, near Alcamo – You can stay the night at this farm or book in advance for wine tasting and a delicious meal.

Salina, Aeolian Islands

  • Da Alfredo’s, Lingua, Salina – The place to go for pane cunzato and granite.
  • A’Lumeredda, Via San Lorenzo 11, Malfa – Our favourite restaurant in this little village.

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Sicily Food Tours

One of the best ways to learn about Sicilian cuisine is to take a food tour like the following:

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More Sicily Tips

I hope this post has helped you learn more about what to eat in Sicily. Leave a comment below and share your favourite Sicilian dishes.

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All the best food to eat in Sicily, Italy | where to eat in sicily

19 Comments

  1. Is there a way to get rid of the DO NOT SELL OR SHARE MY INFI tag? It makes it very difficult to read everyone es blogs or articles!!

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    • We are required to show it to California residents by law, but we have changed the location so it shouldn’t interrupt the content now. Thanks for letting us know!

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  2. Great job guys..
    But you missing a lot of information regarding the street food in palermo. Sometimes like pulpu..stigioli .vasteddri and there is more..

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  3. I am Sicilian but have never visited the Western Part of the Island (actually, I am only somewhat familiar with the Eastern Part of the Island – I was born in the Siracusa province). I enjoyed reading about your trip and will most likely go there next year. However, I take exception to the “vegetable” part. Where I grew up, the cuisine is mostly vegetables, pasta, legumes, fish, meat. Vegetables are bought fresh and cooked the same day. Depending on the season, certain vegetables abound. La minestra, which is a standard pranzo/cena dish, includes usually a legume, a vegetable and some pasta. You can’t eat any healthier than that. Suffice to say, every town in Sicily has its food specialty. I am not terribly fond of gelato, but I love granita and have it every morning for breakfast with a brioche. My favorite is the lemon kind. I am waiting for americans to discover it, just as they have discovered in the last 30 years or so many of the wonderful Sicilian/Italian foods/specialties.

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  4. I just love Italian food :) Everything looks so delicious, especially Gelato in Brioche and Pasta alla Norma. I can’t wait to go to Sicily to try these yummy meals.

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  5. Have to thank you guys for mentioning the gelato in the brioche otherwise we might’ve missed it at Spinnato! We were going there anyways today for gelato, but when I was researching other foodie picks, I ran across your post so I made sure to order it. That was a fantastic find!

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  6. So happy to have found your blog again – finally, food posts I can really enjoy as a vegetarian! The Pane Cunzato in particular looks amazing.

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  7. The arancini look delicious…have to try it next time I’m there, and I’m an antipasti freak. I love all the little tastes. Gorgeous pictures; it’s making me hungry!

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  8. My stomach is crumbling right now! So many great dishes. I would love to try Pane Cunzato one day, it looks so delicious. I’m pretty surprised as I though Sicilian cuisine is much healthier :).

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  9. Everything looks so delicious! How did eating in Sicily compare to Slovenia? I still can’t stop thinking about the food in your Slovenia post =)

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  10. OMG I feel like I’m getting fatter just LOOKING at those amazing photos. But I imagine things are made fresh, not packed with preservatives like the food back home (in the U.S. at least). Is it possible to eat pasta 24/7 and stay thin? How do the gorgeous Italian women do it?

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    • Oh yes, everything is fresh. Italians do seem to eat pasta every day and stay thin, not quite sure how. Everything in moderation I guess!

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  11. The arriminata looks so odd: I can honestly say I’ve never considered mashing cauliflower (and I thought I’d cooked some pretty weird things). Otherwise, this all looks quite lovely, though I think I’d definitely prefer the stuff on offer in Puglia, based on your pictures.

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    • It did taste better than it looks/sounds. We preferred Puglian food as well. We found it easier to find vegetarian food in Puglia as fish really dominated in Sicily. That said, we always eat well in Italy, and it probably doesn’t help that these aren’t my best photos- almost all of them are taken with the iPhone 5.

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  12. Arincini has been a favourite of mine for a long while. But I have never heard of Pane Cunzato before. That looks beyond delicious, and frighteningly/amazingly filling,.

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