Walk past any village bar or hole-in-the-wall snack shop in Malta and you’ll catch the smell before you see them: hot pastry, a faint tang of cheese, something faintly spiced. Pastizzi (the singular is pastizz) are small, diamond-shaped savoury pastries, and they are as central to daily life here as coffee is in Italy. If you’re visiting Malta and you haven’t eaten one yet, that’s the first thing to fix.
A pastry with a long past
The exact origins of pastizzi are hard to pin down. The earliest documented mention dates to the 16th century, when the Order of St. John ruled Malta, though the pastry itself is almost certainly older. Historians trace the flaky dough to Arab influence, while the ricotta filling reflects Malta’s southern Italian culinary connections. In a single bite, you get a rough map of everyone who has ever occupied this island.
By the mid-20th century, pastizzi had become a staple of Maltese daily life, eaten at breakfast, as a mid-morning snack, or late at night after a night out. That hasn’t changed. You’ll find them at the airport, on the Gozo ferry, and at pastizzerias (pastry shops) in practically every town on the island.
Ricotta or peas? The great debate
There are two classic fillings, and most Maltese have a strong opinion about which is better.
- Irkotta (ricotta): made from sheep’s milk, mixed with egg and parsley, then baked inside the flaky pastry. Mild, creamy, and slightly salty. These are folded down the middle, giving them a distinctive ridge.
- Pizelli (mushy peas): not simply mashed peas, but a seasoned mixture traditionally flavoured with curry powder – a spice introduced through British trade routes. Pea pastizzi are folded at the side, so you can tell them apart at a glance.
The curry-spiced pea filling surprises a lot of visitors, but it makes sense once you know Malta’s history. The curried mushy pea filling is one of the clearest remaining influences of British occupation on Maltese food.
Traditional vs modern fillings
The two classics still dominate, but pastizzerias have expanded their repertoire. You’ll now find chicken pastizzi, sausage rolls, and various closed pies sitting alongside the originals. There are also qassatat: a larger, pie-like variation made with shortcrust pastry, available with ricotta, mushy peas, or a spinach filling.
Another hot topic is the vegan version of the pastizz, which Sphinx pastizzeria is working on. We’ll reserve judgement until we’ve tried it.
A Nutella version can be found occasionally, but in general the wild flavours have not caught on. The Maltese are attached to the original.
How pastizzi are made
The dough is the hard part. Skilled bakers employ a process of stretching, folding, and layering pastry with fat to create the signature flakiness – a technique similar to Greek phyllo pastry. Traditional pastizzi were made with lard; modern versions often use butter or margarine. Getting it thin enough without tearing takes practice, and the kitchen temperature matters too – if it’s too warm, the fat melts before the pastry is shaped.
Local ingredients make a difference. Irkotta in Malta is made from the whey of sheep’s milk, which gives it a slightly sharper, more savoury flavour than the supermarket ricotta most visitors will know at home. Fresh parsley and egg are folded through before the filling goes in.
If you’d like to try making them yourself, Michela runs a pastizzi-making workshop from her cooking studio in Birkirkara. It’s a hands-on session that covers the dough, the filling, and the folding – and then you get to eat what you make.
Pastizzi beyond Malta
Maltese immigrant communities have taken pastizzi with them wherever they’ve settled. Maltese immigrants who established pastizzerias in Melbourne in the 1950s and in Birmingham and London in the 1960s found that their customers took to the pastries immediately. In Australia in particular, pastizzi became the food of Maltese clubs and community gatherings, produced in home kitchens and sold from trays when dedicated shops were hard to come by.
Acquiring pastizzi has not always been easy in the diaspora, which has often resulted in pastizzi-making operations out of Maltese homes or a few dedicated shops or local clubs. Today they’re more widely available, including frozen versions ready to bake at home – but nothing quite competes with eating one fresh from the oven, standing at a counter in Malta.
Where to find them
Anywhere, essentially. Pastizzerias are in every town. Serkin in Rabat is one of the most famous, open almost around the clock. Valletta has several good options along the main streets.
Order them fresh and eat them hot. That’s the only rule.
Staying in Malta and want to explore local food culture? Our apartments in Valletta & Birkirkara put you within easy reach of the island’s best pastizzerias – and a lot more besides.