If you are about to visit Italy’s heel and eager to find out what to eat in Puglia, you’ve come to the right place.
It’s easy to say that ‘you love Italian food’, but each Italian region should be celebrated for its local delicacies, and Puglia is no different.
Its cuisine is evidently a combination of land and sea, with lots of vegetables and seafood, and many dishes were considered peasant food when they were originally created.
All in all, there’s no shortage of foods and drinks to try, whether they’re famous throughout the region or traditional to a certain area, so let’s get started with this Puglia food guide and bucket list!
*I try to keep the information on this blog as updated as possible, but I still recommend consulting the latest prices, opening hours, and other details on the official website of each site, hotel, and tour, as well as checking the updated public transport routes and timetables. I share my personal experience and cannot guarantee yours.
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Highly-Rated Food Tours and Experiences in Puglia
If you’re also looking to book some foodie experiences in Puglia, these are highly-rated ones:
- Bari street food tour (Bari is such a great street food hotspot)
- Polignano a Mare street food tour with wine
- Lecce street food tour
- Wine tasting with local appetizers at a vineyard near Martina Franca
- Cheese tour and tastings at an authentic Apulian Masseria
What to Eat in Puglia, Italy
Orecchiette Pasta With Cime di Rapa (Broccoli Rabe)
Orecchiette (translating to ‘little ears’) is, without a doubt, Puglia’s most iconic pasta shape, and it doesn’t get any more famous than the dish where you have it with broccoli rabe/rapini, a leafy green grown especially in the regions of Puglia and Campania.
Note 1: The sauce sometimes contains anchovies, so it’s not always vegetarian.
Note 2: When I had it in southern Puglia (as opposed to the Bari area), the Orecchiette pasta was made from whole-wheat flour.
Spaghetti all’Assassina
Typical of the city of Bari, this is a very unusual pasta dish in the way it’s made. If a non-Italian came up with its recipe, nonnas across Italy would have been completely outraged.
It was invented at a restaurant called Al Sorso Preferito in the 1960′, although sources had me a bit confused as to how – one says it was an accident while another says it was created for two customers from northern Italy. Either way, I’m glad it was a success.
What’s unique about it is that the pasta is placed raw in a spicy tomato sauce until slightly burnt, and then a broth of water and tomato paste is added gradually (like in a risotto) until it’s perfectly cooked.
How charred and spicy it will be when you actually try it depends on the restaurant you pick.
I loved La Baresana and Urban (the latter mainly focuses on Spaghetti all’Assassina and offers lots of versions, but I loved the classic one with an addition of stracciatella cheese that balances the spiciness).
Riso, Patate e Cozze (Also Called Tiella Barese)
Named after the pan it’s cooked in (or at least the one it was originally cooked in), Tiella, this unexpected yet utterly delicious baked dish consists of rice, potatoes, and mussels.
While I refuse to compare it to paella, its creation does have Spanish influences (from when they ruled southern Italy in the 16th century).
It’s a testimony to the Italians’ ability to transform humble ingredients into something delicious and showcases the blend between Puglia’s agricultural fields and coastline, farmers and fishermen.
Panzerotti
Similar in shape to a calzone, this heavenly fried dough is filled with tomatoes/tomato sauce and mozzarella.
Focaccia Barese
Topped with cherry tomatoes (and usually olives), this focaccia is not an ordinary one because mashed potatoes are incorporated into its dough.
Sgagliozze
This famous street food in Bari seems quite unusual because polenta is a more common ingredient in northern Italy, but in Puglia’s capital, it’s used to make deep-fried polenta squares.
The mixture seems to be completely unseasoned, and only once the squares are fried and crispy are they topped with some salt. To me, they actually tasted like popcorn.
Fave e Cicoria
A total farmers’ dish, fava bean/broad bean puree with sautéed chicory (usually served with some kind of toasted bread) is humble yet delicious.
Rustico Leccese
Rustico is a flaky puff pastry filled with bechamel, tomato sauce, and mozzarella (YUM).
Much of Puglia’s cuisine is all about peasant food, but this pastry from Lecce was most likely created sometime in the 18th or 19th century for the aristocrats of the city, showcasing French influences.
Ciceri e Tria
Traditional to the Salento Peninsula, this might be the simplest pasta dish on the planet, consisting of pasta, chickpeas, and fried pasta on top.
I don’t know how they do it, but even with just a couple of ingredients, you get something comforting you’d want to eat on a chilly evening.
It’s worth adding that this is very different than pasta e ceci (pasta with chickpeas), which is more stew-like.
Puccia Salentina
You’ll often see the word ‘Puccia‘ attached to photos of sandwiches with cheeses, vegetables, cold cuts, and whatnot (as they’re a very popular street food), while it’s actually the name of the type of bread used to make them, typical to Salento.
Frisa Salentina (or Frise/Frisella)
With a centuries-old history, this twice-baked bread was made to last a long time (for example, for when the crusaders went on journeys to the Holy Land) and become soft when soaked in water.
It is usually topped with olive oil, tomatoes, salt, and oregano. Again, super simple yet utterly delicious.
Pasticciotto
As a full-time carb addict with a sweet tooth, I loved trying pasticciotto, an oval-shaped sweet pie filled with pastry cream.
Other than this classic version (which was usually my favorite), you can also savor other fillings like chocolate or pistachio.
And although pasticciotto originates in Salento, you’ll find it in bakeries and cafes all across the region.
Taralli
After you eat something sweet, you need a salty snack, right? That’s when you need to nibble on a few taralli – small, crunchy, ring-shaped crackers/breadsticks/bagels.
Caffe Leccese
I’m not keen on sweetness in my coffee, but caffe Leccese just works, made with espresso, ice, and almond milk/syrup.
Cheeses
Stracciatella (fine strips of mozzarella mixed with fresh cream) and burrata (mozzarella filled with stracciatella) are probably my favorite cheeses, and knowing they originate in Puglia made me even more excited about visiting the region.
Other cheeses to try in Puglia include Caciocavallo, Scamorza, Canestrato, and Cacioricotta.
Wines
Did you know that Puglia is Italy’s second-largest wine-producing region? That’s right!
It is especially famous for Primitivo and Negroamaro, but you could also try Nero di Troia, Salice Salentino, Bombino Bianco, and Primitivo Rosato.
Olive Oil
Puglia is also Italy’s biggest olive oil-producing region, with the Ostuni area being one of the most famous and offering tours and tastings. Dive a little deeper here.
Other Things to Try
If you’re looking for a few more foods to add to your Puglia bucket list, try an octopus sandwich in Bari, Altamura bread, cavatelli pasta with seafood, cozze alla Tarantina, and cozze gratinate alla Salentina.
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- Puglia in March
- Puglia in May
- Puglia without a car
- Hidden gems in Puglia
- Day trips from Bari
- Is Bari worth visiting?
- 2 days in Bari
- Things to do in Bari
- Where to stay in Bari
- Hidden gems in southern Italy
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