10 Dishes You Must Try in Sicily

Don’t leave the Italian island without tasting these delicious examples of its melting-pot culture.

Separated from the Italian mainland by just two miles at its closest point, Sicily’s food culture is a world apart from the rest of Southern Italy. Thanks to its placement in the Mediterranean between North Africa and Europe, the island of Sicily was a target for conquest by a number of empires over the centuries, including the Greeks, Byzantines, Arabs, Austrians, and, of course, Italians. Every culture that spent time on the island left behind traces of their own art, architecture, and cuisine, all of which combined into a truly special melting-pot culture that’s uniquely Sicilian.

Some of Sicily’s most beloved local produce, including almonds, pistachios, rice, and oranges, was brought over from North Africa and the Middle East by the Arabs. Others, like tomatoes and chilis, arrived from North America via Southern Italy. Powerful seasonings like capers, olives, saffron and spice are everywhere, used to turn the simple ingredients accessible to the island’s working poor into powerhouses of flavor and enjoyment. You’ll eat well wherever you are in Sicily!

When you visit Sicily, these are the 10 most popular local dishes you absolutely have to taste:

Caponata

Brought to the island by Arab sailors around the 9th century CE, eggplants thrive in Sicily’s sweltering summers and quickly became a staple crop. In caponata, they undergo yet another melting-pot moment, transforming the Spanish word caponada, for a local fish cooked in a sweet-and-sour sauce. Sicilians who couldn’t afford fish swapped in meaty eggplant, creating an irresistibly tangy vegetable relish with tomatoes, capers, and olives. 

Swordfish Involtini 

As might be expected on an island surrounded by the Mediterranean, seafood plays a big part in Sicily’s cuisine, from the local gambero rosso (red shrimp) to sardines, calamari, tuna, and more. One of the most common seafood dishes you’ll see is swordfish involtini, where the firm, meaty fish is rolled around a flavorful filling of breadcrumbs, garlic, raisins, and capers and then grilled or pan-fried. It’s a characteristically bold version of what’s sometimes called braciole in other parts of the country, using a little bit of a pricy ingredient—in this case the fish—with a more affordable filling.

Pesto alla trapanese

Though pesto’s origins lie in the northern Italian city of Genoa, it was brought south by Genoese sailors on their way to trade with other Mediterranean countries. Pesto’s simple formula of basil, pine nuts, and cheese was adapted by Sicilians to use the ingredients they had in abundance; in the town of Trapani, it was almonds, tomatoes, and sheep’s-milk pecorino cheese. Today, you’ll find pasta tossed with this flavorful pesto all over the island.

Granita and brioche

A quintessentially Sicilian breakfast is the cool combination of icy granita and a sweet brioche bun. Italians generally don’t eat much for breakfast; you’ll usually see locals stopping in at their neighborhood caffès for a quick cappuccino and cornetto. But in sunny Sicily, they add granita, a refreshing water-based frozen dessert, to the combination known in the local dialect as granita câ brioscia. Almond is a classic granita flavor, as is zingy lemon, both made with the best Sicilian products—but if you’re in Messina, make sure you try the local coffee granita in mezza con panna, where the icy treat is topped with a mound of whipped cream.

Arancini

Another dish that owes its origin to the Arab rule of Sicily in the 9th and 10th centuries, these fried, stuffed rice balls began as a popular banquet dish of saffron-scented rice topped with meat, vegetables, and herbs, eaten by hand. To feed hungry travelers and tradespeople, the rice was eventually wrapped around the meat or vegetables, breaded, and fried for a portable meal about the size and color of an orange, thus the name: “little orange.” One quirk of Sicily’s hyper-local culture is that if you’re on the western side of the island, you’ll see it referred to as arancina, while on the eastern side it’s arancino!

Cannoli

Possibly Sicily’s most popular contribution to the Italian culinary canon, cannoli are a favorite sweet treat around the country—and in the U.S., too! They were once only made by Sicilian nuns, who would sell them during the pre-Lent carnival period. Today, you’ll find the crisp pastry rolls filled with a sweet ricotta-based cream in most Sicilian bakeries, usually capped off with crunchy chopped pistachios or candied fruit like cherries or orange peel. 

Pasta alla norma

Who is Norma? She’s the creation of Catanian composer Vincenzo Bellini, whose tragic opera Norma was popular in the 19th century—so popular, in fact, that when local writer Nino Martoglio tasted this pasta in tomato sauce with fried eggplant and ricotta salata cheese, he exclaimed, “That’s a real Norma!” meaning the chef had a hit on his hands. Pasta alla Norma has been beloved across Sicily ever since, making rich use of the eggplants that thrive on the island.

Panelle

These savory fried rectangles or wedges made with chickpea flour are a popular street food in Palermo, where they’re often sandwiched inside a roll to make a more filling snack (that also happens to be completely vegan!). Chickpeas made their way to the island from the Middle East, and panelle bear a resemblance to other chickpea-based dishes from that region like falafel. In Sicily, though, the chickpea flour is first boiled with water, like polenta, then cooled and cut into pieces to be quickly fried.

Cassata

Sicily’s other iconic dessert is also based on sweet ricotta and candied fruit, though it’s about as far from crisp, bite-sized cannoli as you can get in every other way. This layered, elaborately decorated dessert is made of light, fluffy sponge cake soaked in liqueur layered with a sweet ricotta cream. It’s covered with a thin layer of marzipan made with the island’s famous almonds, and adorned with candied cherries and citrus peel. Note: In Palermo, you’ll find a local variation called cassata al forno, which has a tart-like crust surrounding the ricotta filling and baked all together.

Sfincione

Somewhere between pizza and focaccia, sfincione is a uniquely Sicilian flatbread with a fluffy crumb. It’s topped with a rich tomato sauce loaded with caramelized onions and anchovies and dusted with salty pecorino cheese creating an umami powerhouse out of a few inexpensive ingredients. Like Roman pizza, sfincione is baked in enormous rectangles and sold by the piece; it’s often enjoyed around the end of the year as a Christmas or New Year’s treat, though you’ll find it in Sicilian bakeries all year round.