Sicily is full of amazing destinations, from cities like Catania and Siracusa in the east to Trapani and Marsala in the west; from the Greek temples and ancient ruins of the countryside to coastal destinations. And the food of Sicily is as enticing and varied as the vast, culturally rich island itself; so large that it’s almost hard to believe it’s considered a region of Italy rather than an entire sub-continent.
Sicilian cuisine benefits from the amazingly high quality of produce, seafood, and other products that the terroir allows for – even in the winter, markets are bursting with life and color thanks to the mild climate, and every town leads you through its streets with the smell of almonds or citrus peel or the undeniably comforting fried sweet dough.
Sicilian street food is universally beloved beyond Palermo, and traditional dishes that differ from area to area often reflect the foreign influences in Sicily throughout history: Arab, Greek, Spanish, and even French. To make sure you’re experiencing a wide range of the island’s various sub-regional specialties, follow this food guide for some of the best Sicilian dishes:
Pesto alla Trapanese: Cantina Siciliana, Trapani
Sicily is home to several types of pesto that will make you forget all about the green alla genovese style – including pesto alla trapanese from Trapani, also known as pesto rosso. Tomatoes are the star ingredient here, blended with Sicilian almonds, garlic, olive oil, and cheese (and still, basil!), resulting in a light red-colored pesto bursting with tomato flavor. It’s most often tossed with busiate, an especially charming Sicilian pasta with long, twisted strands. You can find pesto alla trapenese throughout Sicily, but why wouldn’t you get it in Trapani? Head to Cantina Siciliana for a classic one.
Couscous di Pesce: Le Lumie, Marsala
Sicily’s proximity to Tunisia means that their cultures, peoples, and cuisines have mingled in many ways throughout history, and one of the ingredients in Sicily that most exemplifies this relationship is couscous. Couscous (or cuscusu in dialect) first arrived from Tunisia through the Sicilian Canal, landing on the west coast in Marsala and Trapani, and while it certainly is ubiquitous in Sicily today couscous still holds a special place in the cuisine of Trapani in particular. Try the traditional couscous di pesce – couscous served with (more “with” than “in”) fish broth and local seafood – at Le Lumie restaurant in Marsala, where fruits of the sea are given particularly special treatment.
LISTEN: To our podcast on Magical Marsala – The sweet taste of Sicilian wine.
Pasta al Pistacchio: Taverna Giudecca, Ortigia (Siracusa)
It won’t take you long to discover that Sicily is obsessed with pistachios, and rightly so – they are one of the best things the island’s soil produces. Pasta al pistacchio can be interpreted in various ways, but order it in a place that really cares about the ingredient (authentic pistachio pesto is the yard stick) rather than the unfortunate growing number of businesses that are catering to the pasta’s Instagram popularity (which tend to use cheap, store-bought versions of pistachio “sauce”). Enter: Taverna Giudecca in Ortigia, the island-neighborhood of Siracusa. Located in the old Jewish quarter, Taverna Giudecca makes what should become the officially codified version of pasta al pistacchio with the beloved nut featured in three forms: busiate pasta made from a pistachio-infused dough, appropriately chunky pistachio pesto, and chopped pistacchi on top.
Cannolo Siciliano: Antica Dolceria Bonajuto, Modica
Once you’ve eaten a cannolo siciliano (or, many cannoli, if we’re being realistic), it will be hard to go back to any other kind. That’s partly because of the quality of Sicilian ricotta that mere mortal ricotta can’t quite reach, but also ideally because when you’re eating cannoli in Sicily they should be filled-to-order; don’t settle for a cannolo that’s been sitting around already stuffed with ricotta for hours, which for one thing makes the shell lose some of its crispiness. Even better if the shell is house-made by the pasticceria at hand, and freshly fried (ever so slightly warm is a good clue).
Antica Dolceria Bonajuto in Modica checks all of these boxes – the fact that Modica is also the epicenter of Sicily’s artisanal, bean-to-bar chocolate production is a bonus. If you order a cannolo al cioccolato, it might easily become the best one you ever eat; but there are other cannolo flavors too, and plenty of Bonajuto’s chocolates to try separately.
Arancine: Arancineria, Modica
After (or more wisely, before) grazing your way through all of the chocolate and cannoli in Modica, get your savory fix at Arancineria (at Corso Umberto I), a fast-casual spot devoted to, of course, arancine (the feminine plural, on this side of Sicily). Though arancine are everywhere on the island (see also our Palermo food guide), they might be their absolute best selves at Arancineria: a heavenly balance of crispy, delicate, and flavorful, without any of the possible failings that sometimes befall the arancini in the frying process. Flavors like norma (tomato and eggplant, like the pasta of the same name), sautéed spinach, and prosciutto and mozzarella are among several options here, besides the traditional ragù-filled arancina; wash them down with one of the excellent fruit sodas – another Sicilian tradition – on offer too.
Insalata di Finocchio e Arancie: I Banchi, Ragusa
Winter in Sicily brings citrus, which brightens up the (very mild) Sicilian winters with seemingly infinite varieties that are so mind-blowingly sweet and delicious that they beg the question of whether the juice is simply the nectar of the gods.
But oranges, for one, are not only enjoyed in sweet ways in Sicilian cooking; insalata di finocchio e arancie (fennel and orange salad) is almost as ubiquitous as the fruit itself at local markets in January, and it’s a lovely palate-cleansing showcase of seasonal produce: thinly sliced fennel, round slices of orange, olives, and sometimes red onion, all drizzled lightly in olive oil. The salad is so ubiquitous that it sadly can be relegated to a less than special place on certain menus, a sort of throwaway offering that is merely checking the restaurant’s boxes of must-have dishes rather than being paid much attention in composition.
At I Banchi in Ragusa – like Modica, a beautiful town in Sicily’s southeast Baroque corridor – the culinary professionals at the bakery-meets-café-meets-restaurant care about not only sourcing the best ingredients possible, but also giving insalata di finocchio e arancie – and several salads! – their due course in terms of flavor and presentation.
Caponata: Scirocco, Catania
Caponata is one of the most delicious examples of Italians’ philosophy for cooking vegetables – cooking them for so long that the flavor has no choice but to be coaxed out to the maximum, and seasoning them simply. In caponata, eggplant is considered the star, but it wouldn’t get its burst of flavor without help from tomatoes, olives, capers, garlic, and even onion and celery, all cooked together into a juicy, colorful, saucy dip (or spread-like sauce, however you want to look at it).
Caponata is meant to have an element of agrodolce – a sweet-and-sour flavor – so traditionally, vinegar and a touch of sugar are stirred into the mixture too. Usually served as an antipasto, caponata is perfect with Sicilian sesame seed-crusted bread.
Every now and then you’ll come across a Sicilian caponata that features fish; some theories say that the original recipe used to feature fish as the primary ingredient, and that eggplant was substituted in later to make the dish more frugal. At Scirocco, a street food counter in Catania, the caponata di pesce spada (swordfish) is partly a nod to this history and also in keeping with Scirocco’s fish-forward menu – its neighbor is the city’s fish market.
EXPLORE: Catania’s markets in our guide to Things to do in Catania.
Granita: Pasticceria Artale, Ortigia (Siracusa)
Good granita abounds in Sicily, but superior granita is worth seeking out. One source is Pasticceria Artale in Ortigia, which as a top pasticceria also has rather superior brioche for your granita dipping purposes. This is a good place to remind oneself that granita in Sicily is, in fact, a breakfast matter – almost obligatorily.
The mandorla and pistacchio flavors reign supreme, but do also try the classic but elusive granita di ricotta, which could only be as delicious as it is in such a ricotta-revering island; the granita di caffè to do double duty as your morning coffee; and the the gelso nero (mulberry) for the most typical fruit version.
You can get two flavors at once, for maximum sampling, though it wouldn’t be a bad idea to go to Artale multiple times anyway. While you’re there, try Artale’s delicious traditional cookies and pastries – again, anything almond-flavored is a good rule to live by in these parts.
Typical Sicilian Sweets: Le Angeliche Dolci al Volo, Palermo
Pantelleria, one of Sicily’s several surrounding islands, is home to an intricate, delicate-but-decadent dessert called the bacio di Pantelleria or bacio pantesco – a Pantelleria “kiss”. It looks somewhat like a sandwich cookie that got blown up to three times its size, with crispy, sort of daisy-shaped wafers that are lightly fried before being filled with sweetened, whipped ricotta (Sicily’s favorite addition to desserts).
Though it is rare to find them outside of Pantelleria, which is an amazing island to travel to (a 45-minute flight from Palermo to the southern island – which is in fact closer to Tunisia than to Sicily – gets you there easily), you can fortunately find baci panteschi in Palermo at Le Angeliche Dolci al Volo, a bakery offshoot of the women-run Le Angeliche restaurant. It’s the perfect place for dessert after (or breakfast before) exploring the Mercato di Capo down the street.
The baci are just one example of the bakery’s devotion to making historic, hyper-local, sometimes North African-influenced pastries from Sicily’s other cities and regions, such as the city of Erice’s genovese (a shortcrust turnover filled with either lemon custard or pistacchio cream), sfincia (a fried sweet dough with citrus-infused pastry cream), and the testa di Turco from Scicli (“Turk’s head” pastry, a spirally bignè named for its turban-like shape, filled either with ricotta or pastry cream).
Even though an ideal trip to Sicily should include multiple destinations such as these, Le Angeliche is a welcome (sweet) source for tasting your way through Sicily’s various sub-regional specialties.
DISCOVER: The Best things to do in Palermo.
Lydia O’Brien is cookbook editor, writer, and recipe tester based in Italy. She has lived in Rome, Florence, and Siena and spent a summer cooking at an agriturismo in Tuscany, after leaving the full-time publishing world in New York. Originally from Washington, D.C., she has a degree in English literature and spent a university semester in Rome studying food and art history.
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