The Atlas · Nº 44 ·Malta

Most Popular Maltese Food

Maltese food is a Mediterranean crossroads on a small island: flaky pastizzi bought hot on the street, octopus stewed slow in red wine, rabbit cooked down for a village feast. Centuries of Arab, Sicilian, and British rule all left a mark, and the cooking still turns on the church calendar and its festas.

53 dishes ranked·0 in the global top 1,000 ·312 diner ratings·Best rank Nº 1,701

Plate I — The Origins

Fig. 1 Where 53 ranked maltese dishes were born. Dish origin

Drag to pan · Double-click or +/− to zoom · Select a marker for its entry

The Signature Dishes

The twelve highest-ranked Maltese dishes, by global position.

Pudina tal-ħobż, dessert from Malta
Plate IIDessert · Malta

1 Nº 1,701 worldwide

Pudina tal-ħobż

Dessert · Pudina tal-hobz

A thrifty Maltese bread pudding that turns stale ħobż into dessert, soaking it with egg, cocoa, dried fruit, and nuts, then baking it firm under orange zest and warm spice. A relic of British rule on the island, it is the sort of homely sweet made to waste nothing.

★ 3.9|100% positive |6 ratings

G
Plate IIICookie · Malta

2 Nº 3,221 worldwide

Għadam tal-mejtin

Cookie

Bone-shaped cookies baked for All Souls' Day, a shortcrust shell wrapped around a sweet almond filling and glazed pale on top. The name means bones of the dead, and Maltese families have long set them out to mark the day in early November.

★ 3.8|100% positive |2 ratings

S

3SfineġNº 3,345

Snack · Also Fritters

Craggy yeast fritters fried until deep golden, sometimes studded with anchovy for a salty bite. Cheap, hot, and eaten out of hand, they turn up around Maltese feast days and village festas, the kind of snack sold from a stall in the square.

★ 3.8|2 ratings

Imqarrun il-forn, casserole from Malta

4Imqarrun il-fornNº 3,521

Casserole · Also Imqarrun fil-forn

A baked pasta casserole of penne or rigatoni bound with a rich meat and tomato sauce, egg, and cheese, then oven-set until it can be cut into squares. Inherited from nearby Sicily, it has become Sunday-lunch and leftovers food across Malta, as good cold as it is hot.

★ 3.8|12 ratings

P

5Pork and Potato Casserole (Tal-majjal u patata)Nº 3,668

Casserole

Cubes of pork and potato baked together with onion, garlic, and a lick of chili and fennel seed until the edges crisp and the kitchen fills with the smell. Plain, filling island home cooking, it is the sort of one-tin dinner that needs little more than bread alongside.

★ 3.7|1 ratings

K

6Klamari mimlijaNº 3,792

Squid Dish

Whole squid stuffed with a mix of breadcrumbs, ricotta, chopped tentacles, olives, and herbs, then braised in tomato or baked until tender. A Mediterranean island's special-occasion dish, it turns up on the Maltese table at Christmas and on Fridays.

★ 3.7|1 ratings

Pastizz, savory pastry from Malta

7PastizzNº 4,264

Savory Pastry

Malta's national snack: a diamond of flaky, many-layered pastry filled classically with either ricotta or mushy peas, eaten hot from a pastizzeria. Cheap and everywhere, washed down with tea or a beer, it is the first thing anyone tells you to try on the island.

★ 3.7|55 ratings

Kwareżimal, cookie from Malta

8KwareżimalNº 4,586

Cookie · Also Maltese Lenten Cookies

A Lenten almond cookie, chewy and dense from ground almonds, cocoa, and citrus, brushed with honey and scattered with more almonds while warm. The name comes from quaresima, the forty days of Lent, when eggless and butterless sweets like this were allowed.

★ 3.7|4 ratings

Stuffat tal-qarnit, stew from Malta

9Stuffat tal-qarnitNº 4,642

Stew

Octopus simmered slow in red wine and tomato with olives, capers, garlic, and onion until the sauce turns deep and savory. A Maltese Sunday classic, it is ladled over pasta or eaten with bread and a glass of the same wine that went into the pot.

★ 3.7|5 ratings

Galletti, snack from Malta

10GallettiNº 4,725

Snack · Also Water Crackers

Hard, brittle water crackers, thin and crisp, sometimes flecked with caraway or sesame. They are the base of a classic Maltese snack, topped with peppery ġbejniet cheese, tomato paste, and olives, or just handed round with drinks.

★ 3.7|7 ratings

Prinjolata, cake from Malta

11PrinjolataNº 4,754

Cake

Carnival brings the prinjolata, a dome of sponge, glacé cherries, and candied peel coated in cream and showered with pine nuts and chocolate. It appears only in the weeks before Ash Wednesday, and its name comes from prinjol, the Maltese for pine nut.

★ 3.7|8 ratings

Ftira tar-Randan, bread from Malta

12Ftira tar-RandanNº 4,784

Bread

Simple fried rounds of yeasted, olive-oil dough, cooked golden in a pan and drizzled warm with honey. Its name marks it as a bread of Randan, the Maltese Lent, a plain sweet bite for the fasting weeks before Easter.

★ 3.7|9 ratings

The Departments

Every Maltese dish in our ranking, grouped the way you'd order them.

The Complete Ledger

All 53 Maltese dishes in the world ranking. Every entry, leaf by leaf.

53 entries
  1. 1,701 Pudina tal-ħobż Dessert Malta ★ 3.9
  2. 3,221 G Għadam tal-mejtin Cookie Malta ★ 3.8
  3. 3,345 S Sfineġ Snack Malta ★ 3.8
  4. 3,521 Imqarrun il-forn Casserole Malta ★ 3.8
  5. 3,668 P Pork and Potato Casserole (Tal-majjal u patata) Casserole Malta ★ 3.7
  6. 3,792 K Klamari mimlija Squid Dish Malta ★ 3.7
  7. 4,264 Pastizz Savory Pastry Malta ★ 3.7
  8. 4,586 Kwareżimal Cookie Malta ★ 3.7
  9. 4,642 Stuffat tal-qarnit Stew Malta ★ 3.7
  10. 4,725 Galletti Snack Malta ★ 3.7
  11. 4,754 Prinjolata Cake Malta ★ 3.7
  12. 4,784 Ftira tar-Randan Bread Malta ★ 3.7
  13. 4,903 Balbuljata Egg Dish Malta ★ 3.7
  14. 5,081 Imqaret Sweet Pastry Malta ★ 3.6
  15. 5,438 G Grilled Marinated Tuna Steaks (Tonn mixwi) Saltwater Fish Dish Malta ★ 3.6
  16. 5,462 M Maltese Whitebait Fritters (Pulpetti tal-makku) Saltwater Fish Dish Malta ★ 3.6
  17. 5,486 Pasta Omelet (Froġa tat-tarja) Egg Dish Malta ★ 3.6
  18. 5,518 Q Quarnita-bit-tewm Octopus Dish Malta ★ 3.6
  19. 5,522 Grilled Swordfish (Pixxispad mixwi) Saltwater Fish Dish Malta ★ 3.6
  20. 5,556 Kawlata Soup Malta ★ 3.6
  21. 6,094 Qagħaq tal-għasel Sweet Pastry Malta ★ 3.6
  22. 6,134 Figolla Cookie Malta ★ 3.6
  23. 6,294 Fenek moqli Rabbit Dish Malta ★ 3.5
  24. 6,314 S Spaghetti with Octopus Sauce (Spagetti biz-zalza tal-qarnit) Pasta Malta ★ 3.5
  25. 6,322 F Fażola bajda bit-tewm u t-tursin Appetizer Malta ★ 3.5
  26. 6,406 T Torta tal-irkotta Savory Pie Malta ★ 3.5
  27. 6,506 Timpana Casserole Malta ★ 3.5
  28. 6,594 Patata L-Forn Potato Dish Malta ★ 3.5
  29. 6,752 Ħobż tal-Malti Sourdough Bread Qormi ★ 3.5
  30. 7,121 Ħobż biż-żejt Sandwich Malta ★ 3.4
  31. 7,288 Fenkata Stew Malta ★ 3.4
  32. 7,388 Bigilla Dip Malta ★ 3.4
  33. 7,439 L Laħam taż-żiemel Stew Malta ★ 3.4
  34. 7,941 Aljotta Fish Soup Malta ★ 3.3
  35. 7,976 Ross il-forn Rice Dish Malta ★ 3.2
  36. 7,984 Kusksu Vegetable Soup Malta ★ 3.2
  37. 7,986 Ħ Ħelwa tat-tork Dessert Malta ★ 3.2
  38. 8,263 Bebbux Appetizer Malta ★ 3.1
  39. 8,339 T Torta tal-lampuki Savory Pie Malta
  40. 8,385 Soppa tal-armla Vegetable Soup Malta
  41. 8,919 Q Qagħqa tal-appostli Bread Malta
  42. 9,871 B Bżar mimli Appetizer Malta
  43. 9,873 Ħ Ħobża ta' San Martin Sweet Bread Malta
  44. 9,898 Ottijiet Cookie Malta
  45. 9,977 F Falda mimlija Meat Dish Malta
  46. 10,054 B Bebbux bl-aljoli Snail Dish Malta
  47. 10,100 B Brunġiel mimli Vegetable Dish Malta
  48. 10,194 Q Qagħaq tal-ħmira Bread Malta
  49. 10,228 I Insalata tal-bakkaljaw Salad Malta
  50. 10,262 Ż Żebbuġ mimli Snack Malta
  51. 10,366 B Bebbux mimli Pasta Malta
  52. 10,479 Q Qaqoċċ mimli Vegetable Dish Malta
  53. 10,648 F Ful bit-tewm Stew Malta
Leaf 1 of 2

Gazetteer

A Regional Tour of Maltese Food

Where Malta's ranked dishes were born, and what to order there.

Questions, Answered

Maltese food, frequently asked. Answered from the data.

What is the most popular Maltese food?
On our map the best-ranked Maltese dish is Pudina tal-ħobż, a spiced bread pudding, though it is a close-run thing on a small island. By ratings the clear favorite is the Pastizz, Malta's flaky ricotta or pea pastry, followed by the crusty Ħobż tal-Malti and the rabbit feast Fenkata.
What food is Malta known for?
Flaky pastizzi and slow island stews. The Pastizz is the everyday icon, but Malta's kitchen leans on Mediterranean staples: octopus stewed in red wine and tomato as Stuffat tal-qarnit, and hearty bakes like the Sicilian-descended pasta casserole Imqarrun il-forn. All 8 Maltese soups & stews →
What is Malta's national dish?
Two dishes share the honor. Fenkata, a communal feast of rabbit stewed in wine and garlic then served over spaghetti, is the deeper tradition, tied to village celebrations. The Pastizz, Malta's flaky filled pastry, is the everyday national snack you will actually see on every corner.
What is the most famous Maltese seafood dish?
Octopus leads the way. Stuffat tal-qarnit, a red-wine octopus stew, is the island classic, while Klamari mimlija, squid stuffed with ricotta, breadcrumbs, and herbs, comes out for Christmas and Friday tables. Fresh lampuki, the local dorado, is baked into a savory pie in late summer. All 5 Maltese seafood dishes →