Panelle (Sicilian chickpea fritters) are a typical Sicilian street food. These crispy little bites made with chickpea flour are exceptionally delicious served in a panino and drizzled with fresh lemon juice.
Panelle or Sicilian chickpea fritters are a popular street food typically found in Palermo, Sicily. Freshly fried, hot, crisp panelle are delicious served as an appetizer. However, during my last trip to Sicily my family and I had a chance to sample them in sandwiches (called pane e panelle) in a crusty bun at a food truck just outside the Riserva Naturale dello Zingaro (check out that post here).
I learned from the vendor that freshly squeezed lemon juice over the panelle is a must, and he was so right! Lemon juice brightens up the flavor of panelle and since then I always serve mine with a wedge of lemon.
This delicious vegetarian snack basically consists of chickpea flour stirred into water and boiled (just like polenta), then spread out in a thin layer on a baking sheet. Once cooled, cut the panelle into squares or rectangles and fry until golden and crisp. They could not be any easier to make!
Where can I find chickpea flour?
Thankfully chickpea flour is widely available in most grocery stores and so I was able to recreate this dish easily. Chickpea flour is usually found in the same section as dried packaged legumes, such as chickpeas and other beans. You may also find it in the ethnic food section of your grocery store.
Chickpea flour is available for purchase on Amazon. See link at the bottom of this post for details. 
The following are step by step instructions with images to guide you through this recipe. Scroll to the end of this post for the complete printable recipe card.
Step by Step Instructions
All you need is chickpea flour, water, salt and parsley as well as vegetable or canola oil for frying.
The first step in making panelle is similar to the process of making polenta. The only difference is that with polenta the water comes to a boil before stirring in the cornmeal. With panelle, the chickpea flour, salt and water are whisked together in a sauce pan before placed on the stove.
Whisk the mixture constantly on medium high until you have a smooth and thick consistency. When it is ready, the mixture will pull away from the sides of the sauce pan. This will take about 5 minutes.
When it is ready, stir in fresh chopped parsley and quickly spread the mixture on a parchment covered baking sheet with a spatula, as shown below. Place in the refrigerator and let cool completely before frying, about an hour.
Cut the cooled panelle into squares or rectangles.
Fill a large shallow skillet with canola oil to the depth of about 1/2 inch. Without overcrowding the pan, fry panelle 2-3 minutes on one side, until crisp and golden, then flip and fry the opposite side 2-3 minutes more. Transfer to a paper towel covered dish to absorb excess oil. Sprinkle lightly with salt.
To serve
Panelle are best served piping hot out of the oil or they can be warmed in the oven just before serving. Serve as antipasto or a simple lunch stuffed inside a panino with a drizzle of lemon juice. 
Check out my web story on how to make panelle!
Tips
- Spread the chickpea mixture using an offset spatula on the prepared baking sheet quickly before it begins to set.
- Do not overcrowd the pan when frying. Fry 3-4 at a time for best results.
- Panelle can be fried ahead of time (the same day) and kept warm in the oven before serving.
- Panelle are best enjoyed the day they are prepared as they tend to lose their crisp texture with time.
Let me know how much you enjoyed panelle by posting your photos on Facebook or Instagram and tagging me with @mangiabedda or #mangiabedda. Feel free to pin the recipe for later. Buon appetito!
Here are more delicious Sicilian street food recipes for you to check out!
- Sicilian Rosticceria Small Bites
- The Best Sicilian Arancini
- Pitoni Messinese (Sicilian fried calzone)
- Focaccia Messinese
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups chickpea flour
- 3 cups water
- 1 teaspoon coarse sea salt or kosher salt
- 2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
- Vegetable or canola oil for frying
Instructions
- Place the chickpea flour, water, and salt in a medium sized sauce pan and whisk until smooth. Set over medium heat, and whisk constantly as the mixture slowly heats. Cook and keep whisking, scraping the bottom and sides of the pan frequently, until the mixture is smooth, thick and starts to pull away from the sides of the pan, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in the parsley.
- Pour the mixture onto a parchment covered baking sheet (approximately 12” x 15”) and spread it quickly with a spatula, before it cools and sets, so it fills the pan in an even layer, about ¼ inch thick. Let cool in the refrigerator for approximately an hour, until completely firm.
- Once cooled, cut into squares with a sharp knife. Carefully lift the cut pieces from the pan with a spatula or your hands.
- To fry the panelle, pour enough canola oil into a wide heavy skillet to cover the bottom to a depth of 1/2 inch, and set over medium heat. When the oil is hot, fry the panelle about 3 minutes, until the underside is crisp and golden, then flip and brown the other side about 2-3 minutes more.
- Place the panelle on paper towels to drain excess oil. Drizzle lightly with salt and serve hot. The panelle may also be served in a panino.
Notes
- Spread the chickpea mixture using an offset spatula on the prepared baking sheet quickly before it begins to set.
- Do not overcrowd the pan when frying. Fry 3-4 at a time for best results.
- Panelle can be fried ahead of time (the same day) and kept warm in the oven before serving.
- Panelle are best enjoyed the day they are prepared as they tend to lose their crisp texture with time.
Nutrition
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Nadia, my family and I have fallen in love with this recipe. We used to get pennelle sandwiches at one of our favorite Italian delis until they went out of business. One thing though: I think we might be doing something wrong.
Every time we make this recipe it takes us 40 minutes to stir the mixture until it is thick enough to put into the fridge. I tried to do it for less one time and the pieces didn’t stay together.
Hello Nicole, I’m thrilled to hear your family enjoys panelle! As for the cooking time, it’s really hard for me to say why that would be the case. Perhaps it is the brand of chickpea flour you are using that takes longer to cook? In my past experience, if I spread out my chickpea mixture too thin the pieces did not hold up while frying and fell apart. But this was a question of how thin I spread it out and not how long I cooked it for. Sorry I could not be more helpful!
I have made these many times…or tried to! This is the first time they worked and…wow! Here’s what I did: I did make them thicker than usual, and chilled them. They were pretty damp when I took them out of the fridge, so I put them in the oven on the Bread Proof setting, which is 100 deg F. They were still wet on the bottom, so I flipped them over (the sheet fell apart a bit) using a cake turner and put them back in at 200 deg F. THEN, when they were pretty dry on the top and the bottom, I fried them. And they were delicious. They did not fall apart in the oil. They got nice and crispy. My family loved them. I served them with caponata and it felt like I was back in Sicily.
Hello Ellen, so glad to hear you succeeded. Indeed you have to make sure the mixture is not spread too thin otherwise they fall apart during frying! Thank you for sharing your tips!
113 calories for how much?
Hello Dianna, this would be for one piece. I used a 12 x 15 inch sized pan and cut 15 pieces of panelle. Therefore this calorie count is per individual piece of panelle. Hope this helps!
I am glad to have found your recipe. I grew up with an Italian family who made these at the holidays (which I helped) the mixture was placed on wood blocks about 3 x 4 inches to dry and then pan fried for breakfast. We would sprinkle powdered sugar on them or spread with homemade jams or a dash of honey.. They are so delicious. I must admit I have never had them except for breakfast but I am looking forward to trying them again for other mealtimes or as snacks. Thanks for posting the recipe.
Hi Claudia, that’s very interesting! I have never heard of this method of drying it but I’m sure it works! I enjoyed them in Sicily as an appetizer or in a panino for lunch and they are amazing served both ways. Hope you enjoy this recipe!
Great recipe, just like being back in Palermo! Had to pop to the health food shop to get the chickpea flour as the supermarket doesn’t stock it but well worth the trip! That hint of lemon got me thinking about using the panelle as a vegan substitute for fish and chips – going to try again with some nori folded in with the parsley!
Hi James, so glad to hear that you enjoyed this easy recipe! Indeed, the hint of lemon makes quite a difference and I agree it can be a great vegan fish and chips! Enjoy!
Oh we shall 🙂
Did experience some crumbling mentioned in another comment when I fried the other half of the batch the following day but I strongly suspect my oil was too hot and I wasn’t patient enough to let it cool! Still tasted lovely though!
Would someone tell me if I can bake these?
Hello Ellen, although I must admit I have never tried baking them myself I have heard they can be brushed with oil and baked. I would go for a high temperature of 400 degrees F if I were to try. If you do give it a try please let me know how they turn out!
Thanks for this recipe! I’ve been craving panelle for several years. When staying with family in Sicily some years ago, I went with my cousin to a funeral in Palermo. Because it was Sicily, we waited about five hours for the body to arrive. It was at a church on the site of a cemetery, so we didn’t want to leave to get something to eat in case we missed the funeral. The mass etc. took over an hour. We were very hungry because we had had an early breakfast and nothing else to eat. As we were leaving, a food truck appeared and we managed to get the last panelle sandwiches. It was like eating ambrosia, the food of the gods. I’m looking forward to trying this tomorrow!!
Hi Dolores, indeed Sicily has the best food trucks! I enjoyed the best pane e panelle sandwich last time I was there 2 years ago from a food truck by the sea. It doesn’t get better than that! And yet it’s such a simple recipe. Hope you enjoy them!
Hi Nadia, These were fantastic!!! Thanks again!
Hi Dolores, so glad you enjoyed them! Thanks for sharing with me!
Are there different grades of chickpea flour? My aunt and I both tried to make panelle many years ago and failed. We bought the flour from King Arthur flour online. Cornmeal for polenta is coarse and gritty. The chickpea flour we bought, looked like tan colored all purpose flour. All looked OK, but when we added the batter to the oil instead of frying like a pancake it started to dissolve in the oil. Our only thought is perhaps there is a different grade of chickpea flour that more closely resembles cornmeal instead of all purpose flour?
Hello Steve, the chickpea flour that I purchase from my local Italian grocery store is also quite fine and not course like cornmeal. One thing I did learn when I first tried making panelle is that the batter can not be spread too thin. In my trials before succeeding at making panelle I noticed when it was spread too thin it did tend to fall apart when frying. Hope this helps and thanks for your comment!
This sounds’ like a great companion for my friend pinot grigio. Will try tomorrow for lunch. Will make a nice start to a little antipasto; my favortie food group.
Sounds like a good pairing to me, hope you enjoyed them!
Grillo goes much much better with panelle than pinot 😉
I was introduced when I was 12 and my first trip to Partinico. Its a small town just outside of Palermo.
Now I’m 56 and I still love them.
Hello Salvatore, I first tried panelle in Palermo 4 years ago and fell in love with them too. Thanks for stopping by my blog!
Perfect ratio flour to water…I have tried to make Panelle many times and I am not always successful
This recipe is a keeper
Gracie molto Nadia
Hi Giosi, so glad you enjoyed them. Thanks so much for sharing this with me!
Hi, this might be too late, but a secret of panelle is to cook them, spread, cut flip them and let them dry.
If there is too much moisture, it will dissolve into the oil.
Also panelle must be deep fried not shallow fry.
Hi Allegra, so if I understood correctly you let the squares dry out before frying? I’m curious, for how long do you dry them? Thanks for your comment!
I would say at least an hour on a rack or until it doesn’t feel wet anymore.
It will help creating a very crispy shell, soft inside and crunchy corners.
Sounds good to me!
Its never too late for good tip on panelle!! Ive just made them and before frying, i dried them in the open oven on the fan with 60 deg C. Came out amazing, so crispy! Kids dived into 29 of them and i was lucky to try last 30th piece 😉
Its a shame, i cant post photos here, because these look beautiful…
Hello Tomasz, it’s always great to have readers share their tips. Drying them out in the oven sounds interesting, I’ll have to give it a try. Thanks!
Came perfect using this recipe. Actually my 12 years old was doing them and we ve just finished – like in palermo!
Hello Tomasz, thanks for sharing this with me. I’m glad to hear you enjoyed this recipe!
I was SO excited to make these after having them out at a restaurant. I was very disappointed with this recipe. They don’t keep their form and just crumble into crispy crumbs once they hit the oil. I almost got one to work and then when I carefully flipped it, it too crumbled after a short period of time. If you wait to flip it, it crumbles but if you don’t wait it doesn’t cook?? I honestly just stopped after the third or fourth try because it was so frustrating and I was throwing everything away. We tried adjusting the temperature, only doing one at a time, even mashing them into balls when the patties wouldn’t work. 🙁 To no avail.
Hello Tiffany, I’m so sorry to hear that your panelle did not turn out well. I assure you that my recipes are tested more than once before being posted. Of course, I was not there to see exactly what happened but if I may, I’d like to give you a few tips that may be of help. I’m wondering if perhaps your batter was spread out too thin on your baking sheet. I have noticed that if it is too thin, the panelle may break apart. Also, be sure to let the mixture cool completely before cutting into squares for frying. I hope these tips are helpful and once again, I’m sorry the recipe did not work for you.