Traditional Sicilian caponata with fried eggplant, celery, tomatoes, green olives, and capers, finished with vinegar and sugar.
Wash the eggplant, remove the stems, and cut into cubes about 2–2.5 cm (0.8–1 in) in size. Place in a colander, sprinkle with coarse salt, and leave to drain for about 1 hour. Rinse thoroughly under running water, then dry very well with kitchen paper.
Trim the celery, remove any tough strings, and cut into small pieces. Blanch in boiling water for 2–3 minutes, then drain and set aside.
Meanwhile, rinse the capers thoroughly to remove the excess salt, halve the olives, finely slice the onion, and cut the tomatoes into small pieces. If using the pine nuts, toast them for a few minutes in a dry pan, taking care not to let them become too dark.
Heat plenty of peanut oil to approximately 175°C (350°F). If you do not have a thermometer, dip the tip of a wooden skewer or the handle of a wooden spoon into the oil. When small bubbles immediately form around the wood, the oil is ready for frying.
Fry the eggplant in small batches so the temperature of the oil does not drop too much. Once golden, remove with a slotted spoon and transfer to paper towels to drain the excess oil.
Heat 30 ml (2 tbsp) extra virgin olive oil in a large pan. Add the onion and cook gently until softened without letting it brown. Add the tomatoes and cook over medium-low heat until they soften and form a rustic sauce, stirring occasionally.
Add the blanched celery, green olives, and desalted capers to the tomatoes. Stir and cook gently for a few minutes. Do not add salt at this stage: the olives and capers may already provide enough saltiness.
Mix 50 ml (3.5 tbsp) white wine vinegar with 40 g (3 tbsp) granulated sugar in a small bowl until the sugar has dissolved. Pour the mixture into the pan, increase the heat slightly, and let the sharp vinegar aroma mellow for a few moments.
Add the fried eggplant and stir gently to coat it in the sauce without breaking up the pieces. Cook for another 2–3 minutes, then taste and add fine salt only if needed.
Turn off the heat and add the fresh basil and, if using them, the toasted pine nuts. Stir gently, transfer the caponata to a serving dish or container, and leave it to cool and rest before serving.
Servings 4
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily value may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.
For caponata, choose fresh, firm eggplants with few seeds that will hold their shape during frying. Long purple eggplants are an excellent choice, but they are not essential. In this recipe, we salt the eggplant before frying, a step also found in the traditional PAT (Traditional Agri-Food Products) preparation. Modern eggplants do not always require salting to remove bitterness, but the process also helps draw out some of their moisture. After salting, rinse them and, most importantly, dry them very thoroughly before frying.
For good results, keep the frying oil at around 175°C (350°F) and fry the eggplant in small batches. If the temperature drops too much, the eggplant tends to absorb more oil. If you do not have a thermometer, dip the tip of a wooden skewer or the handle of a wooden spoon into the oil. When small bubbles immediately form around the wood, you can start frying.
Be careful with the salt. Green olives and capers are naturally salty, and their intensity varies from one product to another. Rinse the capers thoroughly to remove the excess salt and do not salt the sauce while it cooks. Taste the caponata at the end and add salt only if necessary. You can also adjust the sweet and sour balance slightly to taste, but the vinegar and sugar should remain balanced without overwhelming the vegetables.
Caponata is at its best after it has had some time to rest, allowing the tomatoes, sweet and sour sauce, olives, and capers to mingle with the eggplant. Let it cool completely and serve at room temperature. You can also prepare it in advance; the flavors will be even more integrated the following day.
Store the caponata in the refrigerator in a tightly sealed container for up to 3 days. Let it return to room temperature before serving. It can be frozen, but we do not recommend it: after thawing, the eggplant tends to become softer and lose some of its texture.
There is no single version of caponata in Sicily. Some ingredients, and sometimes the preparation itself, change from one part of the island to another. For this recipe, we use the traditional eggplant caponata of western Sicily as our reference, recognized among the PAT (Traditional Agri-Food Products) of the Sicilian Region.
Its foundation is the same one you will find in our recipe: eggplant, celery, tomatoes, onion, green olives, and capers, with vinegar and sugar providing the characteristic sweet and sour balance.
Travel to another part of Sicily and the caponata can change. Look further back in time and something else becomes clear: the word caponata has not always referred to the eggplant dish we know today.
So where does the name come from? And how did we arrive at today's Sicilian caponata?
We followed the traces left in dictionaries, cookbooks, and Sicilian sources. What emerges is a history that is less straightforward than it might seem, and one that also helps explain the different versions prepared across the island.
👉 Sicilian Caponata: History, Origins of the Name and Regional Variations