New year’s eve menu: all sicilian food traditions for the last of the year

How to end the year in the best way? Obviously, with a mouth-watering New Year’s Eve menu, rich in appetizers, first courses and side dishes just like the Sicilian tradition!

If you are getting ready to prepare the New Year’s eve menu to surprise friends and relatives with tasty dishes, in this article you will find many ideas to make your table truly memorable. From meat to fish, up to the vegetarian menu to satisfy all palates (even the most difficult) and bring to the table the joy of the holidays even on New Year’s Eve.

There is no room for renunciation: let’s discover together the Sicilian New Year’s food traditions!

Typical sicilian menu: from appetizers to dessert

If one thinks about New Year’s Eve dinner in Sicily, great dishes such as caponata, frittata with ricotta, baked anelletti and platters of local cheeses and cold cuts come to mind. And cannot miss lentils which can be tasted just at the stroke of midnight as a wish for a new year under the sign of professional success, prosperity and economic well-being.

Well yes, even if your belly will be full, it’s worth finding some more room for lentils. You never know! But the specialties of the typical Sicilian menu are really numerous, so let’s not waste any more time and review the best and easiest recipes to prepare for New Year’s Eve.

New Year’s Eve Menu: appetizers for a great start

It’s time to start dancing with the first courses. Needless to say, especially during the holidays, appetizers are a great opportunity to test the level of resistance of your guests. Some will start to desist, but the most daring will appreciate every single course!

For your New Year’s menu you can serve simpler appetizers together with more substantial traditional Sicilian dishes. From mozzarelline to seasoned olives, from fried caciocavallo cheese to dried tomatoes in oil and Nebrodi pork salami.

You can make canapés with salmon and pistachios and serve small portions of couscous with fish Trapani style. To be on the safe side, you can bring to the table Sicilian street food dishes such as arancine “accarne” or with butter, panelle and crocché, but also meatballs of sardines, artichokes stuffed Sicilian style, ‘mpanata of cod, swordfish carpaccio and caponata.

Pasta dishes for the New Year menu

Diet can wait. After all, much better to enjoy every single bite of this New Year’s Eve menu, right? The dinner continues with Sicilian pasta dishes and many delicious traditional recipes.

If you have opted for a fish-based menu, there are many delicious first courses to serve to your gourmet guests, such as fresh pasta with tuna ragu, spaghetti with anchovies and breadcrumbs or pasta with scampi and pistachios. Another typical Sicilian winter dish to warm the belly and the heart of your guests, is the fish soup with scorpion fish or lambuca (called matalotta).

If you are oriented for a meat-based menu, instead, you can go on the safe side by serving the classic baked anelletti or a good dish of penne with meat sauce that, although it is a typical Bolognese dish, has become one of the most popular dishes in Sicily, especially with typical local meats.

For vegetable lovers, there are very tasty and inviting dishes that can, moreover, be prepared in a simple and fast way, such as eggplant rolls on a base of spaghetti with sauce and pasta with zucchini pesto and ricotta cheese. Simple, but really delicious!

Main courses: classic sicilian dishes

The Sicilian New Year’s Eve menu also includes main courses with sides. Don’t let the guests who decide to go out of the picture condition you, because the second course is another ace up your sleeve to make your New Year’s menu truly unforgettable.

The choice is wide and there are many recipes that can suit you, regardless of whether you decide to prepare a menu of fish, meat or vegetables.

Among the main dishes and Sicilian fish specialties, to be served on the table for New Year’s Eve dinner, there are Syracuse style baccalà fish, baked sea bream (bream in foil), swordfish meatballs, swordfish rolls and calamari in batter (fried squids and cuttlefishes).

Undoubtedly, the typical dishes of the Christmas dinner are the Sicilian falsomagro and the pot roasted lacerto with a side of peas. But if you chose to serve a meat menu, you have a wide choice of options such as baked pork stuffed with spinach and pecorino cheese and Sicilian rolls or skewers.

For your vegetable menu and to avoid further burdening your guests with meat dishes, you can serve delicious eggplant rolls or grilled eggplant topped with oil and garlic.

Accompany your main courses with vegetable sides such as sweet and sour grilled peppers and sweet and sour pumpkin or serve a light orange, fennel and olive salad or a tasty Pantelleria-style salad!

Dessert to end the New Year’s Eve dinner

You’ve surprised your guests with truly delicious traditional Sicilian dishes. Now, you can’t miss a dessert that will leave its mark on this last day of the year!

The Sicilian dessert menu is extensive and you have a wide selection of sweets and pastries to choose from. You can opt for the most classic and typical Sicilian desserts, such as Sicilian cassata, traditional or oven baked cassata, and Sicilian cannoli.

But if you prefer to serve a lighter and fresher dessert, why not propose a watermelon pudding or a tasty Bronte pistachio mousse?

Whatever your Sicilian themed New Year’s Eve menu choice is, we are sure it will be the perfect conclusion to this year! All you have to do is choose your favorite Sicilian dishes and start creating your Sicilian-style menu.

Clara Amico

A full-time content creator. I create text that Google likes, but mostly people like.