Sicilian Food: What You Absolutely Have to Eat (and Drink)

Sicilian Specialties You Absolutely Have to Try

Sicily has a seriously impressive range of traditional dishes, and there are even differences between the island’s various provinces.

You’ll find Arab influences especially along the northwest coast, while the southeast tends to cook with typically Greek ingredients.

And it’s not just restaurants where you can eat incredibly well — the streets are just as good. Sicily has a really strong street food culture that you won’t want to miss.

Vegetarian, vegan, fish lover, meat lover — honestly, Sicily has you covered no matter what you’re into.

Even though regional differences exist, some dishes show up again and again. They’re simply Sicilian through and through. Here are the ones you absolutely have to try:

Pasta con le Sarde

Pasta con le Sarde is the Sicilian pasta dish par excellence. It features ribbon noodles cooked in water flavored with wild fennel.

The pasta (spaghetti or bucatini) is then combined with capers, fresh sardines, raisins, anchovies, pine nuts, and grated almonds.

Pasta alla Carrettiera

Another thoroughly typical Sicilian dish — and a great one for vegetarians — is Pasta alla Carrettiera. It’s ribbon noodles or lumache (snail-shaped pasta) with a sauce of raw tomatoes, olive oil, garlic, and basil. Sometimes grated sheep’s cheese is added as well.

Pasta alla Norma

You’ll find this dish in every Sicilian restaurant too. Pasta alla Norma is macaroni pasta with tomato sauce, fried eggplant, salted ricotta, and fresh basil. Simple, classic, delicious.

Involtini di Pesce Spada

These are small, breaded swordfish rolls on skewers, either fried or baked, with a filling of tomatoes, green olives, capers, and basil. They’re usually served as a second course. Highly recommended!

Couscous Trapani-Style

As the name suggests, this dish is typical of the province of Trapani — but you can actually find it all along Sicily’s coastlines. It’s couscous prepared with fresh Mediterranean fish, and it’s seriously good.

Caponata

A simpler dish you’ll find everywhere is caponata — a mix of vegetables pickled in a sweet-and-sour tomato sauce.

Eggplant and tomatoes are the standard ingredients, but depending on the region, it may also include spinach, Brussels sprouts, or bell peppers. You’ll usually get caponata as a side dish or appetizer.

Street Food in Sicily

Street food in Sicily dates back to Roman times and isn’t just a quick bite — it’s a genuine lifestyle. It’s so deeply rooted in Sicilian culture that typical street food snacks can even be found on the menus of the finest restaurants.

Sicilian street food is hearty, smells incredible from yards away, and is wildly popular. Don’t skip it. Here’s what you’ll find at every street food stand on the island:

Arancini

The number one street food in all of Sicily is arancini. These are hand-sized fried rice balls with various fillings — ham and mozzarella, or ground meat and peas, for example.

Arancini are street food at heart, but because they’re so popular, most restaurants serve them as an appetizer too.

Panelle

Another classic street food also served in restaurants is panelle — small, fried flatbreads made from chickpea flour. They’re among the oldest foods in Sicilian street food culture, originally invented by the Arabs.

Crocché

If you want something a bit simpler, there are also perfectly good potato croquettes, known in Sicilian as crocché or cazzilli. You’ll often find them tucked into a bread roll alongside panelle.

Pani ca meusa

Pani ca meusa is Sicilian dialect for “pane con la milza” — roughly, “spleen sandwich.” Yes, it’s more of an acquired taste, but it’s a true delicacy and very popular locally.

You get a sesame roll with fried beef spleen, a squeeze of lemon, and your choice of melted sheep’s cheese or ricotta.

Polpo bollito

Polpo bollito is boiled octopus, cut into small pieces and served with a squeeze of lemon and parsley.

Traditionally it was served only as street food, but today you’ll also find it on many restaurant menus throughout the region.

Sicilian Desserts and Sweet Treats

As if all of that weren’t enough, Sicily is the region in Italy with the best desserts. In Sicilian bars, mountains of cream-filled croissants, marzipan pastries, and cannoli are piled high.

And that’s not even mentioning the pastry shops — it’s worth stepping inside just to admire the works of art made from marzipan, fruit, and chocolate.

Cassata

The most famous Sicilian cake is the cassata, which also comes in small individual portions at many bars. You’ll recognize it immediately — it’s made with bright green almond dough, decorated with candied fruit and filled with ricotta.

Cannolo

Another dessert you’ll find in every bar and restaurant in Sicily is cannoli. These are crispy pastry tubes filled with ricotta cream, chocolate chips, and candied cherries or orange peel.

You can occasionally find them in the US too, but in Sicily it’s a completely different taste experience. My absolute top pick!

Frutta di Martorana

With these little marzipan fruits, you eat with your eyes first. In pastry shop windows, you’ll spot mountains of tiny apples, peaches, bananas, and other fruits — but they’re not real. They’re made of colorful marzipan, and they look so convincingly like the real thing, it’s almost impossible to tell them apart.

Granita

A glass of granita is an absolute must on a stroll through downtown Palermo. Granita is like a slushie, but far more intense in flavor and much creamier.

The original Sicilian recipe is a closely guarded secret passed down for generations. It’s usually available in fruit flavors, sometimes also in coffee.

Ice Cream

Sicilian ice cream is probably the best in all of Italy. The ingredients are simply incredibly fresh and full of flavor.

A very Sicilian thing is the ice cream burger, available at just about every gelateria on the island. Your chosen flavors of ice cream are placed inside sweet, thick bread — brioche. Sicilians also love to eat brioche for breakfast in summer.

Drinks in Sicily

Sicily doesn’t just deliver on food — there are some fantastic drinks here too. Both alcoholic and non-alcoholic, there are a few you really shouldn’t leave without trying.

Sicilian Wine

Sicily produces some excellent wines, especially reds. But the island is particularly famous for its fortified wines — with an alcohol content of between 15 and 22 percent. These are the quintessentially Sicilian wines you’ll find in every restaurant:

• Marsala: Marsala is an internationally known fortified wine from the region around the city of Marsala on the west coast. It’s dark and thick, and because of its high alcohol content it’s served in small liqueur glasses after the meal.
• Nero d’Avola: Nero d’Avola is the Sicilian red wine par excellence, exported all over the world. It originally comes from the region around Noto and Syracuse, though today it’s grown throughout all of Sicily.
• Grillo: Grillo is one of the few white wines from Sicily, grown mainly in the western part of the island between Marsala and Trapani. It’s a dry white wine with 13 percent alcohol content.

Beer in Sicily

Sicily’s climate isn’t suited to growing hops, so beer isn’t a traditional drink here. That said, younger Sicilians enjoy it, and there are plenty of bars and pubs in the cities where you can get all the international and Italian beers you’d expect.

There are also a handful of small craft breweries, especially in Palermo, run by the younger generation. They’re very experimental, and some of the house-brewed beers are really great.

Our tip for a brewery visit in Palermo: Ballarak at Via Castrofilippo 20. Great beer and food!

The Italian beer company Birra Moretti has created a Sicilian version of its beers: Birra Moretti alla Siciliana. It’s brewed with the zagara blossom — the flower of the orange tree — giving it a slightly floral, orange-tinged taste.

Limoncello

Also very popular in Sicily is the lemon liqueur limoncello. You’ll find it on just about every menu, usually served after the meal.

Interestingly, whole lemons aren’t actually used in limoncello — only the yellow part of the peel goes into the liqueur.

Non-Alcoholic Drinks

Given the abundance of fruit grown all across Sicily, fruit juices here are naturally something special.

At bars and breakfast spots, you can always order a freshly squeezed juice or smoothie made from a variety of fruits.

At weekly markets, there are always stands selling exclusively fresh juices. The following are traditionally Sicilian:

• Freshly squeezed orange juice: As you travel through Sicily, you’ll keep spotting huge plantations of small, evergreen trees. Those are Sicily’s orange trees — the island’s most popular fruit. Sicilian oranges come in many varieties, from deep blood red to near-violet to very pale yellow. A glass of freshly squeezed orange juice is simply a must.
• Almond milk: Almond milk is a staple in every Sicilian household, especially in summer. Almonds are an ingredient found in many Sicilian dishes and desserts anyway. It’s super refreshing in high temperatures, and you can order it at any bar.

How Do People Eat in Sicily?

In Sicily, eating isn’t simply about satisfying hunger. Eating here is a genuine ritual.

Every meal consists of several courses. Even at a simple weekday lunch, Sicilians would never have just a single plate of pasta — there must be at least an appetizer or a small dessert as well.

When you sit down in a restaurant and look at the menu, it’s always organized as follows:

Antipasti

First come the antipasti — the appetizers. These might be small portions of pickled vegetables, cold cuts with various cheeses, small bites of fish, or mini street food portions like arancini or panelle. For Sicilians, the appetizer is simply part of the meal and is almost always ordered when dining out.

Primi

Then comes the primo — the first course. This is always a plate of pasta, gnocchi, or risotto. The list of first courses is usually quite long, because there are simply an incredible number of pasta dishes in Sicily.

Secondi

If you still have room after the antipasto and the primo, the secondo — the second course — comes next. This is usually a fish or meat dish, or something vegetarian like an omelet.

If you want a side dish, look under the “Contorno” section, because sides are always ordered separately. These are typically cooked vegetables or salad.

Dolci

Last comes the dolce — dessert. You always have the choice between fresh fruit, ice cream, or traditional desserts like tiramisù, cannoli, or sorbet.

It all wraps up with an espresso and, for those who want it, a small glass of liqueur — both said to help with digestion.

Don’t worry — Sicilians don’t normally order all of this. Usually it’s just an antipasto and a primo, or an antipasto and a secondo with a side dish.

Unless, of course, it’s a holiday. Then these lunches or dinners can last several hours, with multiple variations of each course.

And if you’re ever invited to a Sicilian wedding or Christmas celebration, you should probably stop eating a few days beforehand!

Meal Times in Sicily

In Sicily — and really across all of Italy — people eat later than most visitors are used to. If you head to a restaurant at 7 PM, you’ll probably be eating practically alone.

Dinner in Sicily doesn’t start until 8:30 PM at the earliest, and in summer it can be as late as 9:00 PM. How do they manage until then?

They get through it with “merenda” — a small snack time between 4:00 and 6:00 PM, often spent at a street food stand with an arancino or a slice of pizza.

Lunchtime, on the other hand, is more familiar: between 1:00 and 2:30 PM. That’s also when restaurants are at their busiest.

What Are the Food Prices Like in Sicily?

As everywhere, restaurants in touristy areas of Sicily tend to be pricier. Breakfast on the Cathedral Square in Palermo will cost more than at a spot a few steps away on a side street.

There are also price differences between regions. The east coast, which is very popular with tourists, is more expensive for lunch or dinner than, say, the south or west coast, where fewer tourists venture.

Generally speaking, though, compared to other European destinations, food in Sicily is quite affordable.

Here are some typical prices for touristy areas like the historic centers of Palermo or Syracuse. Off the beaten path, things can be even cheaper.

• A bottle of water at a kiosk: 1 euro
• Cappuccino: 1.50 to 2 euros
• Cream-filled croissant: 1 to 1.50 euros
• Arancino at a street food stand: 1.50 euros. A glass of beer: 3 to 4 euros
• Lunch or dinner at a local restaurant: 15 to 20 euros per person
• Lunch or dinner at a street food stand: 4 to 10 euros per person

Our tip: You’ll save the most by shopping at a supermarket or a weekly market — or by eating there. Weekly markets have plenty of food stalls where you can get various plates of pasta or meat and fish dishes at very low prices.

Has all of this given you a serious appetite for Sicilian food? Great! Then you have two options:

Option 1: Book a flight to Sicily and try all the delicacies right on the spot. Make sure to check out our hotel tips for Sicily and our general travel tips for Sicily beforehand.

Option 2: Bring Sicilian cuisine right into your own home and try your hand at it yourself. We recommend the wonderful Sicilian cookbook by Andreas Hoppe.

Whichever you choose, you really can’t go wrong.