It’s not Christmas Eve without our sfinci (Sicilian fried dough). These leavened fried dough balls are delicious savory or sweet! 
What are Sfinci (Sicilian Fried Dough)?
Sfinci, a Sicilian specialty, are leavened fried dough balls traditionally served on Christmas Eve. We also refer to them as crispeddi in my family and some may call them zeppole. My nonna served them with Baccala alla ghiotta, a salt cod dish with potatoes, tomatoes and olives for dinner each Christmas Eve.
The dough for making sfinci is quite plain and therefore you can flavor your sfinci in several ways, both sweet and savoury! My personal favorite are sfinci stufffed with ricotta and prosciutto cotto, as shown below. Take a look further in this post for instructions on how to make these delicious savory sfinci!
So where did this strange word sfinci come from? I am not certain however a while ago I came across a recipe for ‘sfendg’ in a middle eastern cookbook. Sfendg also consist of leavened dough shaped into rings and fried. This makes sense as we know that Sicily was occupied by Arabs several centuries ago. I’m always fascinated about the origins of my favorite foods!
Observations of my mother making sfinci:
I watched my mother prepare herself for making sfinci. She took a lemon half to the sink and proceeded to scrub her hands and wrists thoroughly, explaining that she always disinfects her hands this way before preparing dough. She then reached over to a clean dish towel to dry her hands. It was not unlike watching a surgeon preparing for surgery!
She prepared the dough in no time, vigorously mixing it with her hands in circular movements. A mixer will not do as you would not be able to “feel” when the dough is ready. Actually, it’s more like a very thick batter than a dough.
She then placed the dough to rise in the same way I’ve watched her prepare bread during my childhood. That is covered with several wool blankets (not used for any other purpose but this) so that it may be completely free of any draft. This is a technique that my nonna used back in Sicily.
And then the waiting period began. After 3 hours of rest, I was sure the sfinci were ready to be fried up, but I was wrong. An hour later my mother lifted the blankets to reveal the dough bubbling right before my eyes. I then understood that had we begun frying the batter earlier, the result would have been dense, less fluffy sfinci. A true lesson in patience!
Now, let me show you step by step how to make sfinci. You’ll find the complete detailed recipe card at the end of this post.
How to make Sfinci (Sicilian Fried Dough):
Prepare the yeast:
In a small sauce pan, warm 2 1/2 cups of water until lukewarm. Pour 1/2 cup water into a small bowl and stir in sugar. Pour the yeast over the water and let stand 10 minutes until foamy.
For the dough:
Pour the remaining 2 cups water in a large bowl. Stir in the yeast mixture. Add flour and salt and using your hand, stir the mixture vigorously in a circular motion. Continue stirring this way for about 5 minutes until you have a thick, smooth dough.
Cover well, using blankets if you wish, and place in a warm, draft free place in your kitchen. Let sit for 4 hours. An unlit oven with the light turned on is a good option. The dough is ready when bubbles form on the surface and it has at least doubled in size.
Fry the sfinci:
Fill a heavy bottomed sauce pan half way with vegetable oil. Slowly heat the vegetable oil. In order to test if it is hot enough, take a small piece of the sfinci dough and drop it in the oil. If it immediately begins to sizzle, the oil is ready.
Drop tablespoonfuls of dough into the hot oil. As you can see my mother uses her finger to scrape the dough from the spoon. I opted to use 2 spoons!
They immediately puff up into these oddly shaped dough balls.
Flip them over to ensure that both sides are golden brown. Remove the sfinci with a slotted spoon and place on a dish covered with paper towels to absorb the excess oil. Serve hot.
Sweet and savoury sfinci variations:
- Sfinci right out of the oil are also delicious lightly sprinkled with granulated sugar and cinnamon.
- Sfinci stuffed with prosciutto cotto (cooked ham) and ricotta: Preparing stuffed sfinci can be quite the sticky process. If you attempt to do so, I recommend you prepare a few before your oil is ready. Approximately twice the amount of batter normally used for sfinci (2 spoonfuls) is placed on a well floured surface. I watched my mother carefully flatten this incredible sticky dough, using more flour as needed, into a rectangular shape. Place half a slice of ham on the dough and top with about a tablespoon of ricotta. Roll the dough over the filling. It will resemble a lumpy, oddly shaped sticky mess but don’t worry, it will puff up nicely in the oil.
- Sfinci stuffed with anchovies: stir anchovy fillets (as many as you like) in the leavened dough and proceed to fry the sfinci.
- Sfinci with raisins: stir raisins into the leavened dough and proceed to fry as indicated in the recipe.
Tips and suggestions:
- Keep leftover sfinci refrigerated for up to 3 days.
- Reheat leftover sfinci in a 350F oven until warmed through and crisp, about 10 minutes.
- Sfinci can be frozen. To defrost, wrap in foil and place in a 350F oven until hot.
It would not be Christmas Eve without sfinci on the table. Truly a tradition worth preserving and passing on! If you give this recipe a try, please tag me with #mangiabedda on Instagram so I can see your sfinci. Buon appetito!
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups water
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1 (8 grams) envelope dry yeast
- 4 cups all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- vegetable oil, for frying (canola oil will do)
Instructions
Prepare the dough:
- In a small sauce pan, warm until lukewarm. Pour 1/2 cup of the water into a small bowl and stir in sugar. Pour the yeast over the water and let stand 10 minutes.
- Pour the remaining 2 cups water in a large bowl. Stir in the yeast mixture. Add the flour and salt and using your hand, stir the mixture vigorously in a circular motion. Continue stirring this way for about 5 minutes until you have a thick, smooth dough.
- Cover well, using blankets if you wish, and place in a warm, draft free location in your kitchen. Let sit for 4 hours. Your unlit oven with the light on is a good option. The dough is ready when bubbles form on the surface and it has at least doubled in size.
For frying:
- Fill a heavy bottomed sauce pan half way with vegetable oil. Slowly heat the vegetable oil on medium high heat. In order to test if it is hot enough, take a small piece of the sfinci dough and drop it in the oil. If it immediately begins to sizzle, the oil is ready.
- Use a tablespoon or soup spoon to drop the dough into the hot oil, scraping off the spoon with your finger or another spoon. Do not overcrowd your pan. After about 1 1/2 minutes, carefully turn the sfinci over to brown the opposite side.
- When they are a light golden color, remove the sfinci with a slotted spoon and place on a dish covered with paper towels to absorb the excess oil.
- Serve hot.
Notes
- Just fried sfinci are also delicious lightly sprinkled with granulated sugar.
- Sfinci stuffed with prosciutto cotto (cooked ham) and ricotta: Preparing the stuffed sfinci can be quite the sticky process! If you attempt to do so, I recommend you prepare a few before your oil is heated. Approximately twice the amount of batter normally used for sfinci is placed on a well floured surface. I watched my mother carefully flatten this incredible sticky dough, using more flour as needed, into a rectangular shape. Place half a slice of ham on the dough and top with about a tablespoon of ricotta. The dough is then rolled over the filling. It will resemble a lumpy, oddly shaped sticky mess but don't worry as it will puff up nicely in the oil.
- Sfinci stuffed with anchovies: stir anchovy fillets (as many as you like) in the leavened dough and proceed to fry the sfinci.
- Sfinci with raisins: stir raisins into the leavened dough and proceed to fry as indicated in the recipe.
- Reheat leftover sfinci in a 350F oven until warmed through and crisp.
- Sfinci can be frozen. To defrost, wrap in foil and place in a 350F oven until hot.
- Please note that the nutritional information provided is approximate and based on one single sfinci without sugar or other ingredient added. This may vary according to the exact size of the sfinci.
This is so similar to “Puff Puff” from my childhood home in northern Nigeria. The Arab influence there is strong, and it seems likely the two recipes share origins! Puff Puff, is dropped into the hot oil by hand, with a twist of the wrist, so the dough has a fat teardrop shape. We love them rolled in cinnamon sugar or confectioners sugar…
Hi Lisa, never heard them called “puff puff” before but it is certainly fitting! Your recipe sounds exactly the same and since there is a strong Arab influence on Sicilian cooking it doesn’t surprise me at all. Thanks for sharing this!
Thank you, thank you, thank you. When I was just a little guy, probably 8 or 9, I remember my mom making this with raisins and sugar. I am now in my 72nd year. I have searched for years for this recipe because I couldn’t remember the name and my mom passed on years ago. My work is now done and will be making Sfinci towards the end of the week. I cannot wait. wonderful taste again.
Hello John, you are welcome! It’s not Christmas without sfinci at our house. And there are numerous variations of sfinci that include raisins, as you mentioned, as well as savory versions that add anchovies. You can definitely personalize the recipe to your taste. I do hope you enjoy them and Merry Christmas to you and yours!
My mother would put little bits of cotton balls in a few of the piti’s (that’s what we called them). And it was a big laugh when someone got a cotton ball.
My oldest brother John would never let on that he got one though, he just swallowed it. We would figure out that he got one and made a big joke out of it. I miss my brother so much but the memories are priceless ❤️
That is so funny Rita, I have never heard of this! Priceless memories indeed!
Thank you Nadia, I’ve been looking for the same recipe that was as close to my mothers (That she got from her mother) that my family made at Christmas time every year. All I remember is it had something to do with yeast and a big bowl sitting on top of the refrigerator with a wet towel on top for a few hours. I think this is the one. The only difference is we sprinkled it them with powdered sugar
Hello John, I chuckled to hear about your memory of witnessing the bowl topped with a towel! You may definitely sprinkle them with powdered sugar instead of granulated as my mom does. I actually enjoy them as is without any sugar as well. Hope you get to try the recipe! Thank you for your comment!
Oh my gosh, I just found your site. I am so delighted. I am a nonna and have been one for about 30 years now. I can see in my mind’s eye, my nonna frying these up for me. The taste, I can still remember they were so light and fluffy. My nonna just didn’t wait for holidays she made them whenever I went to visit her. So now I am going to make them for my grandkids. I pray I can make my nonna proud and they taste as lovely as I remember.
Hello Sharyn, I’m so glad to hear that you found my website! These sfinci are a must on Christmas Eve at our house, we all look forward to them. But of course, why wait until Christmas Eve! I do hope your grandchildren enjoy them as well. Thanks for your comment!
My Grandmother and Mother would make these to put in Wedding Soup
That’s very interesting, I have never heard of sfinci added to soup before! Do they not become soggy in the broth?
Hello,
I remember those my grand mother and also my mother made different variations the one I liked most was with salted anchovies on San Martino day. I think it was a family tradition to have sfingi on San Martino.
Hi Giuseppe, in my family they have always been a Christmas Eve tradition. My mom has told me of this variation of anchovies but since my family is not a fan she has always left them out!
Hello from Philippines:) I wanna ask if I would only use 1 cup of flour what would be the measurements of other ingredients? Thank you! I’m new in this kind of stuff.
Hello Ceej, I have never tried making such a small batch but if you’d like to try I would suggest you use 1/2 cup plus 2 tbsp of water; 1/4 tsp salt; 1/2 tsp yeast; 1 cup flour and 1/4 tsp salt. Please let me know how they turn out!
Hi Nadia! I have so many fond memories of the Sicilian recipes you post. I have a handwritten recipe from my Sicilian grandmother called “sfingi” which was a sweet fried rice ball that had saffron. Of course, there are no exact measurements but I remember making them with her. She used day old white rice which she put through an old meat grinder. She then made a batter which we fried into balls and dusted with powder sugar. They were devine! Have you ever seen a recipe for this? Buon Anno!
Hi! I have indeed come across this type of sfingi with rice, usually referred to as “sfinci di riso”. You can google this and find lots of recipes. I have actually never tasted these before, I’m guessing they’re a tradition from another province in Sicily. Something I should add on my to do list. Thanks for your question and Buon Anno to you and yours!
My family (from Nocera Inferiore, just outside Napoli) would make these every Christmas and cover them in honey with a bit of orange zest grated into it, like strufoli. You just heat the honey in a frying pan until it bubbles, and then coat the fried dough in it. I’ll also add some Frangelico for a bit of extra depth, and top with those multicolored nonpareils we Italians love so much. It’s delicious! They disappear in seconds. I like them better than strufoli, which are a pain to make and get SO hard once the honey is on.
Hello Amanda, I have definitely heard of covering these in honey. My mother actually enjoys her with a dusting of granulated sugar. Instead we cover our pignolata with honey and the multicolored sprinkles as you mentioned. There’s no doubt anything fried and smothered in sugar is definitely tasty! Thanks for your comment!
My grandmother use to make these in Palermo. I lost the recipe. thank you
Hi Sherri, I’m so glad you found the recipe. I hope you are able to recreate them just as your nonna used to make! Thanks for your comment!
My Nonna made something like this on Christmas Eve. She called it shoosh. I don’t know if I’m saying it right. We never got a recipe from her because she never had recipes. You. Just had to watch her. It was always the plain fried dough. Or she did put something Savory in it. And that I always thought was a type of vegetable. Why I want to say cauliflower, but I don’t know. Could this be the same Recipe. He was abruzzese.
Hi Concetta, I can’t quite guess what “shoosh” is. Another one of those dialect words that’s hard to understand! Yes, I understand how hard it is to get exact recipes and so that’s why I’m taking the time to measure out each ingredient as my mother prepares a recipe. I prefer my sfinci plain, however some people add anchovies to theirs. My mom likes hers with a sprinkling of sugar after they’re out of the fryer. We also make a non-leavened version with cauliflower which we call “crispeddi”. You can find that recipe on my blog as well. Thanks for your comment!
This looks like a recipe my mother had but she called it saples. Flour, yeast, shorting , salt, warm water and deep fried sprinkled with powder sugar and dipped in honey a Christmas Eve and Good Friday tradition.
Hello Vicki, there are definitely lots of variations to this recipe. My mother also likes to sprinkle her freshly fried sfinci with grantulated sugar for a sweet treat. We also make something called pignolata which is drenched in honey, however pignolata is not made with a leavened dough as sfinci are. Thanks for stopping b my blog!
Nadia
I loved seeing your recipe with exact measurements. My mother did everything by eye and used specific cups in her kitchen to measure. If they break we are done. My brother sister and I made sfingi for Christmas and they were very greasy , I believe this was because we didn’t let the dough sit and rise for 4 hours. We only waited an hour. Can you provide the recipe with Baccala in the sfingi?
Hello Liz, thank you for your comment! My mother does the exact same thing and that’s why I’ve been taking the time to stop her and measure all the ingredients. Yes, it is important to let them rise properly in order to have the right airy texture when they are fried. I have not tried making them with the baccala or anchovies inside. But if I had to try, I would add chunks of cooked baccala to the dough prior to frying them. Hope this helps!
My family also made a Christmas Eve bread dough, deep fried. I notice our recipe has a small potato for ingredients. The name I always heard was courdores. Can’t seem to find anything on the internet. Spelling could be wrong. We are from the Calabria area. May try a small batch soon.
Hello Margie, sfinci can be made with or without potatoes. The name you mentioned (courdores) reminds me of what we call cuddure which is the braided Easter bread with eggs nestled into the dough (which you’ll also find on my blog). I also recently posted a recipe for potato sfinci (https://www.mangiabedda.com/potato-sfinci-for-san-martino/) which is the sweet version of these sfinci which my mom makes on Christmas Eve. Hope this helps and thank you for your comment!
Great recipe, thank you!
Excellent so glad you enjoyed them!
Nadia, we call these zepoli and, yes, always on Christmas Eve, usually dusted with confectioner’s sugar. And yes, once in a while stuffed with anchovies too. Mama from Naples, Papa from Reggio, Calabria, so I’m guessing the influence may have come from Calabria … although I’m almost sure most Italians make zepoli or something similar. Your recipe is a God send since when I make them it’s a matter of guessing since, like your mom, mind never used recipes and cooked everything by feel. Thank you so much for sharing.
I’ve noticed that some people call them zeppole. My mom also calls them crispeddi. It’s an easy recipe and you can have them either sweet or savory. I particularly love them stuffed with ricotta, then again I love anything with ricotta! Thanks Anna!
my grandparents came to america around 1900. My grandfather was from Sicily.
and my Grandmother was from southern italy. Both grandparents never passed down Italian recipes or traditions to their 5 children. So needless to say their child were also left out in the cold. But the one thing I remember is the SFINCI. Golden brown with sugar (no powdered). If I remember correctly my family made sfinci with pizza dough. But I am going to use your recipe, it does bring back so many sweet, sweet memories. thank you
Hi Sharyn, it’s unfortunate that your grandparents weren’t able to pass on any of the traditional recipes. This is exactly why I started this blog, so that I may preserve these precious recipes before they are lost to us. My mom also enjoys sprinkling some of her sfinci in sugar when they come out of the fryer. My mom’s dough resembles that of a pizza dough, in fact the ingredients are exactly the same. Hope you enjoy this recipe Sharyn and thanks for your lovely comment!
Truely enjoyed your article on sfinci. My father was born in Sicily and we make those little Italian donuts for Christmas also, they are delicious. I’m gonna look forward to other recipes from you.
Thank you so much, Patricia Ventimiglia Mason.
Hi Patricia, I”m so glad you enjoyed it! Yes sfinci are definitely delicious, and so addictive! Thanks for taking the time to write to me!
Would love some traditional Sicilian recipes since my grandfather passed and we don’t have many
Hello Yvonne, you can find typically sicilian recipes on my blog by selecting the “sicilian recipes” category in my recipe directory. I hope that helps! Was there a specific recipe you were looking for that I might be able to help you with?
They look so good Nadia! In all italian homes there is a lot of deep frying going on for Christmas. We had our share too 😉 . I’d love to have some sfinci right now, with sugar on top, like your mom likes them!
Thanks so much Nicoletta! My favorite are the ricotta stuffed ones. Can’t wait until
Christmas Eve!
Yummy!!