Polydish city guide

Best Frittella (doughnut) in Chicago

“Yeast-risen fried pastries served during Carnival with fillings of pastry cream, zabaione, or chocolate custard.”

Frittella (doughnut)

What the real thing tastes like

Frittella (pl.: frittelle) is a type of Italian fried doughnut made from dough, typically with raisins, orange peels, or lemon peel in them. They are eaten in and around the Friuli-Venezia Giulia and Veneto regions; however, frittelle originated around the Giuliani areas of Trieste and Venice. Many variations are common, including custard and chocolate fillings. They are fried in oil until golden brown and sprinkled with sugar. Frittelle are included in the British Museum Cookbook by Michelle Berriedale-Johnson and a book about Venice from 1879. They are known as frìtołe in Venetian and frittelle or frittole in Italian. Similar to bomboloni, frìtołe are round, yeast-risen fried pastries, and are served only during Carnival in a number of different forms, including frìtołe veneziane, which are unfilled and have pine nuts and raisins stirred into the dough, and several filled varieties. Fillings include pastry cream, zabaione, and occasionally less common fillings such as apple or choco

0 voices, one story

Frittelle are Italian fried doughnuts born in the borderlands where Trieste and Venice meet—golden, puffy pastries studded with raisins, citrus peel, or pine nuts, then dusted with sugar. Yeast-risen and versatile, they shift between regions and seasons: in Venetian Carnival they appear in countless forms, some plain and studded, others cradling pastry cream or zabaione. What begins as a simple fried dough becomes a small archive of Italian regional identity, claimed by Friuli, Veneto, and even Apulia under different names.

Order it here when it has

  • documented in 19th-century Venice sources
  • multiple filled and unfilled varieties
  • distinctive regional names across Italian regions

Walk away when you see

    Restaurant-level rankings for Chicago land as the Polydish review engine processes this city's reviews. Explore the dish itself while you wait —

    Frittella (doughnut) on Polydish →