Pastizzi

Economic context

Pastizzi survive economically on volume and speed rather than on cheap ingredients alone: pastizzerias sell them around the clock at a low unit price, which is precisely what keeps a puff-pastry-and-ricotta or split-pea snack a routine coffee-break habit rather than an occasional treat.

Source: World Bank / FAO, Food Prices for Nutrition database (Cost and Affordability of a Healthy Diet) v4.0, 2024 data, CC BY 4.0, DOI 10.57966/41AN-KY81. Retrieved 29 July 2026. This figure describes the cost of a healthy diet in Malta generally — it is not a costing of this specific recipe.

History

Pastizzi are small Maltese flaky pastries shaped like diamonds or shells, filled mainly in two ways: with seasoned fresh ricotta, or with split peas cooked into a spiced puree. Their dough, worked and folded many times over with lard or fat, puffs up and turns crisp when baked, in thin, flaky layers.

Sold in pastizzerias, those typically Maltese shops often open twenty-four hours a day, pastizzi traditionally accompany a coffee or tea grabbed on the go, at any hour of the day or night. A snack so woven into daily Maltese life that it’s hard to imagine the archipelago without it.

Ingredients — serves 6 (about 12 pieces)

• 300 g (10.5 oz) puff pastry (homemade or store-bought)
• 250 g (8.8 oz) fresh ricotta
• 1 egg
• 200 g (7 oz) cooked and mashed split peas
• 1 onion, chopped
• Parsley, salt, pepper

Step-by-step pastizzi recipe

1. Cook the split peas in water until tender, then drain and roughly mash them with the sautéed onion.
2. Mix the ricotta with the egg, parsley, salt and pepper for the second filling.
3. Roll the puff pastry thinly and cut it into squares or rectangles.
4. Place a spoonful of filling (ricotta or split peas) in the center of each square.
5. Fold the pastry, pinching the edges to form the characteristic diamond-shaped shell.
6. Bake in a hot oven until the pastizzi are well golden and puffed, about 25 minutes.

Cooking method

Technique: repeated folding of the dough to create multiple flaky layers, baked in a very hot oven for a dry, crisp pastry.

Traditional equipment: deck oven of Maltese pastizzerias, metal baking sheets.

Tips: pastizzi are ready when the pastry is golden and crisp, with no pale or soggy patches.

Nutrition, per serving

Calculated from the raw ingredient quantities above (both fillings combined), divided by six servings, about two pieces each.

Most of the fat here comes from the laminated puff pastry itself rather than from either filling — ricotta is a relatively light cheese, and split peas carry almost no fat at all, so the pastry’s repeated butter-and-fold layers do most of the work behind the 25 g of fat per serving.

Who this dish suits

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