Missing those snacks that you had on your last trip to Italy? Or perhaps, you just want to relive the experience? Then you are in luck — check out this list of Best Italian Street Food recipes and start preparing your ingredients!
What is Italian street food?
Every region in Italy has its specialty when it comes to street food — and as typical with Italian cuisine, it is always linked to the region’s local ingredients.
One thing is true across all regions, though; street food refers to authentic, rustic Italian dishes that can be bought from kiosks or food trucks and can be enjoyed on the go.
Now you can prepare all these in the comfort of your home.
Take your pick from the list of recipes below, give them a try and let me know what’s your favorite!
CHECK OUT MY COMPLETE ITALIAN CUISINE SERIES!
- Authentic Italian Cookie Recipes
- 20+ Easy Italian Desserts & Pastries Recipes
- Classic Italian Appetizers
- Traditional Italian Recipes: Regional Italian Dishes
- Authentic Italian Bread Recipes
Jump to:
North Italy
Venice, Veneto
Mini Meatballs (Polpettine di Carne)
Yep, these are smaller meatballs — in a skewer.
Admittedly, compared to the rest of the traditional dishes on the list, polpettine di carne is the easiest to eat while walking.
Oh! And absolutely delicious, even without a glass of Amarone or Bardolino. 😉
Central Italy
Rimini, Emilia-Romagna
This no-yeast flatbread is commonly available in the entire Emilia-Romagna region but ubiquitous in Rimini — hard to miss all those kiosks near the beach that sells piadina to locals and tourists.
Piadina Romagnola is typically served as sandwiches, with cheese, some vegetables, prosciutto or mortadella, or even Nutella!
South Italy
Napoli, Campania
Polpette di Melanzane (Neapolitan Eggplant Meatballs)
You can call polpette di melanzane as vegetarian meatballs.
The ingredients for this popular Italian snack are the same as the mini meatballs above, except replace the ground meat with drained roasted eggplant.
These eggplant balls are excellent with or without any sauce, just sprinkle some salt, and you’re good to go.
Be careful, though; it’s extremely hot when fresh out of the pan.
Lecce, Apulia
Rustico Leccese (Tomato and Mozzarella Pastry)
While some might argue that you should enjoy rustico Leccese while sitting down, it is an excellent snack-on-the-go.
These tomato and mozzarella pastries are generally available between breakfast and lunch — and made of puff pastry, filled with tomato sauce, mozzarella, and bechamel sauce.
The filling will be oozing out if you are not quick enough to take another bite. 🙂
To complete your Lecce experience, you can end your snack with a glass of Caffe Leccese!
Palermo, Sicilia
Panelle (Sicilian Chickpea Fritters)
Made of chickpea flour, this authentic Italian snack requires some patience to prepare.
It’s because you need to wait for the chickpea dough to cool before you cut them into chickpea fritters for frying — generally at least an hour.
But trust me, the wait is certainly worth it.
Almost every city in Sicily cuts panelle in different shapes — Palermo usually serves them in a rectangular shape. In contrast, these triangular chickpea fritters are my favorite from the eastern part of the island.
Do you want some bread with it? No problem, you can even prepare a panelle sandwich!
Catania, Sicilia
You better double the recipe next time you are cooking risotto to try this authentic recipe.
Yep, authentic arancini Siciliani are made from cold, leftover risotto — with ragu in the center, and then fried to perfection. Just heavenly. 🙂
Did not find your favorite on the list? Don’t worry about it; I am regularly updating this post so you can all try them at home.
I mean, I haven’t even included popular snacks from Rome yet?! Stay tuned!
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