Maltese Cuisine
Maltese cooking is island food with Sicilian, North African and British influences, built on bread, rabbit, fish, capers and slow-cooked tomato sauces.
Bakeries, rabbit pots and the fish market
From pastizzi eaten warm from the bakery bag to rabbit braised in wine on a Sunday, lampuki pie in autumn and a Gozo platter of cheeselets and bigilla, the Maltese table follows the seasons and the islands' long ties with Sicily and North Africa.
Popular Maltese Dishes
Aljotta
A light, garlic-led Maltese fish soup with tomato and herbs, made when the catch is plentiful. Found at seaside restaurants and in family kitchens.
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Bigilla
A thick Maltese paste of broad beans and garlic, served with crusty bread and olive oil as a starter or bar snack. Vegan and found on most food shop counters.
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Bragioli (Beef Olives)
Maltese beef olives: thin slices of beef rolled around a savoury stuffing and braised until tender. A family Sunday dish, served with potatoes or with the sauce on pasta.
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Ftira
Malta's flattened sourdough bread, shaped by hand and filled with tomato, olive oil, tuna, capers and olives. Inscribed by UNESCO as intangible cultural heritage in 2020.
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Gbejniet (Gozo Cheeselets)
Gozo's small round cheeses, usually made from sheep's milk and eaten fresh, dried, or peppered and preserved. A staple of Maltese platters, soups and pies.
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Imqaret
Pastries filled with dates and deep-fried until crisp. A favourite street sweet at Maltese village feasts, best eaten hot.
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Explore by Category
Antipasti & Cheese
The start of a Maltese meal: broad bean bigilla, kapunata and the small Gozitan cheeses called gbejniet, served with crusty bread.
Fish & Seafood
Dishes built on the local catch, from the garlicky fish soup aljotta to the lampuki pie of late summer and autumn.
Mains
Slow-cooked family dishes such as rabbit stew, beef olives and the macaroni pie timpana, the food of Sundays and special occasions.
Street Food & Bread
Malta's everyday bites: flaky pastizzi from the pastizzeria and ftira, the hand-shaped sourdough bread on UNESCO's heritage list.
Sweets
Deep-fried date pastries from the village festa and the honey rings of a Maltese Christmas.
Every dish we cover is in the dishes library, with what goes into it and where it is served.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which traditional Maltese dish should I try?
Stuffat tal-fenek, rabbit slowly braised with wine, tomatoes, garlic and bay, is a traditional Maltese dish. A fenkata menu can serve spaghetti with rabbit sauce first, then the rabbit itself with potatoes. A big shared rabbit meal is called a fenkata.
Is Maltese food spicy?
Not usually. Maltese cooking leans on garlic, tomato, olive oil, capers, mint and fennel rather than chilli heat. Bigilla, the broad-bean dip, and some versions of the pea filling in pastizzi can carry a little warmth, but most dishes are savoury and mild.
What do people drink in Malta: Kinnie, Cisk or local wine?
Kinnie is the local soft drink, bitter-sweet and flavoured with orange and aromatic herbs, made by Farsons since the 1950s. The same brewery makes Cisk, a local lager. Malta and Gozo also produce wine from local grapes such as Gellewza and Girgentina, which you can taste at the islands' wineries.
Can vegetarians and vegans eat well in Malta?
Vegetarians can. Pastizzi come with ricotta or with mushy peas, ftira can be ordered without tuna, and kapunata, bigilla and Gozo cheeselets (gbejniet) need no meat. Vegans should skip the ricotta and cheese, check whether pastry is made with butter or lard, and say clearly what they do not eat when ordering.