
It’s been quite a while since I’ve shared any recipes from Sicily, hasn’t it? I learned this Zucca Gialla in Agrodolce, or Pumpkin in Sweet and Sour Sauce, in a cooking class I took from my friends Alberto and Liliana in Catania. In the version I learned, the pumpkin slices were sauteed in olive oil rather than grilled, but I decided to put my own twist on it today!
I’m wondering if there are any people out there who bought a few sugar pumpkins this year with the intention of finally making homemade pumpkin puree for their Thanksgiving pies. I did. And no, I never got around to baking those pumpkin pies from scratch. But this recipe is so delicious and so simple to make, I’m not regretting it all!
I have the original recipe somewhere around here, along with the other recipes I learned from Alberto and Liliana. But I just didn’t feel like digging through my (still unpacked) boxes in the office. So you’re getting my improvised and Americanized version of Zucca Gialla in Agrodolce. I do remember hearing that the old Sicilian way to serve this dish is with thinly sliced raw garlic and chopped fresh mint adorning each slice of pumpkin. I didn’t do that, but feel free to try it!

For those of you who don’t live in San Diego, land of year-round grilling, you may revert to the original recipe and brown the pumpkin slices in olive oil rather than cooking them on the grill. You could even throw a smashed clove of garlic into the oil to flavor it while it’s heating. Just remove the garlic before adding the pumpkin so it doesn’t burn. Brown the pumpkin slices in batches over medium heat, adding olive oil as needed, then remove them to a serving platter. Drizzle with the sweet and sour sauce before serving.

Zucca Gialla in Agrodolce (Sweet and Sour Grilled Pumpkin)
1 – 1 1/2 pounds sugar pumpkin*
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 clove garlic, pressed or minced
kosher salt
3 tablespoons wine vinegar (red or white)
3 tablespoons white sugar
chopped fresh mint or parsley (optional)
thinly sliced garlic (optional)
1. Prepare coals or preheat your gas grill. Cut Pumpkin in half, scrape out seeds and membrane. Peel each half and cut into 1/4-1/2 inch slices.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together olive oil, one clove of minced garlic, and a generous pinch of kosher salt. Add pumpkin slices and toss well to coat.
3. Grill pumpkin slices over medium to medium-heat for a few minutes on each side or until just tender. Watch closely and don’t let them burn. Remove grilled pumpkin to a serving platter.
4. In a small saucepan, mix vinegar, sugar, and any garlic oil left in the bowl. Cook until sugar is dissolved and mixture thickens just slightly. Drizzle sweet and sour sauce over the pumpkin on the serving platter. Garnish with fresh chopped mint or parsley and thin slices of raw garlic if desired.
Recipe Notes: *If you can’t find sugar pumpkins, try substituting butternut squash or acorn squash. If you decide to saute the pumpkin slices rather than grill them, start with two tablespoons of oil in the pan, and add more as needed. When all the slices have been cooked, add the vinegar and sugar to the remaining olive oil in the pan and heat until sugar is dissolved and sauce thickens just a bit. Serving the pumpkin with thinly sliced fresh garlic and fresh chopped mint is traditional. I prefer to skip the raw garlic and serve it with either fresh chopped mint or parsley.
Yield: four servings.

This sugar pumpkin was intended for a pie, but we're happy he ended up on the grill instead!

Cut the pumpkin in half and scrape out the insides. Save the seeds for roasting if you're into that kind of thing!

I find that a vegetable peeler works very well for peeling pumpkins (and butternut squash).

Cut the pumpkin into slices that are between 1/4 and 1/2 inch thick. They don't have to be perfectly uniform.

The whole process only takes a few minutes!

Toss the pumpkin with olive oil, garlic, and salt until well coated.

Grill pumpkin over direct medium heat for a few minutes on each side.

To get decent grill marks when using a gas grill, make sure you preheat the grill while you are preparing the pumpkin.
Related Recipes:
Around the Web:
- Grilled Kabocha Pumpkin and Asian Pear Salad from Fresh Approach Cooking
- Toasted Pumpkin Seeds from Simply Recipes
- Thai-Spiced Pumpkin Soup from 101 Cookbooks






This turned out perfectly! You mentioned it on Twitter earlier and I knew it would be amazing. I used my cute little pumpkins, but am thinking butternut squash could be good, too? Wonderful recipe!
5:10 pm Nov 24th, 2008WOW! I think I would love this, might even have to mill it for Abby!
6:33 pm Nov 24th, 2008This looks really amazing! I just cooked buttercup squash for the first time today and I’m thinking it would be great for this recipe. It’s a little sweeter than butternut, but very tasty!
9:01 pm Nov 24th, 2008Another gorgeous dish that sounds irresistible! I love your idea of grilling the pumpkin. So California- by way of Italy. So, when I can I come over?
9:11 pm Nov 24th, 2008I was just looking at my grill, as it snowed and wondering why we hadn’t put it away for the winter. Now I know, I was meant to grill pumpkins!
9:16 pm Nov 24th, 2008This sounds really interesting. I don’t always love cooked pumpkin (I inherited that anti-yam gene) but I’m definitely going to give this a shot. Thanks!
10:03 pm Nov 24th, 2008My sugar pumpkin are all gone already this year, but it would be nice to do this w/ butternut squash as you suggested. Never had thought to put winter squash on the grill!
11:21 pm Nov 24th, 2008Yum! I’ll be arriving in Sicily for 10 days this Thursday I can’t wait for the fabulous eating. I’m curious about the cooking class you took? Do you have any more information on it? Thanks!
1:10 am Nov 25th, 2008Oops, one more thing. Your photos are fantastic. You should submit some to the ThinkSicily photo contest. I think today is the last day. The prize is a case of Sicilian Wine!! Ciao, Karen
1:12 am Nov 25th, 2008oooh, i love the sound of this! i love the tang of vinegar and i’m sure it’s wonderful on squash!
1:01 pm Nov 25th, 2008This sounds delish…I have 2 small pumpkins left from my garden and
3:54 pm Nov 25th, 2008I am going to use one for this recipe.
Wonderful images as well…
Happy Thanksgiving, Nicole…! ! !
I’ve had sweet grilled pumpkin, but never sweet sour, this sounds wonderful!
4:34 am Nov 26th, 2008WOW! This is amazing! I actually have one small pumpkin in my fridge so I’m surely gonn a try this recipe. This is the first time I see pumpkin cooked like this!
10:33 am Nov 26th, 2008Really love the play on sweet and sour, Nicole.
8:47 am Dec 7th, 2008[...] From Pinch My Salt: Sweet & Sour Grilled Pumpkin [...]
11:01 pm May 1st, 2009Perfect recipe! It is just my kind of food too!
6:22 pm Oct 28th, 2009[...] Pinch My Salt Search and Make: Sweet and Sour Grilled Pumpkin Recipe [...]
9:19 am Nov 5th, 2009[...] With a vegetable peeler remove skin. I learned this nice little trick from Nicole from Pinch My Salt. [...]
8:51 pm Nov 16th, 2009[...] came home and my roommate had made the most delicious recipe from a cooking blog we read- Pinch My Salt. I loved this squash recipe because squash is a great source of potassium with WAY less sugar [...]
11:58 pm Jan 27th, 2010[...] Sweet and Sour Grilled Pumpkin [...]
8:24 am Jul 21st, 2010Hi! I am doing a blog with different pumpkin recipes everyday until Thanksgiving. I would love to do this recipe. Do you mind if I link to it and publish my version of it?
5:20 pm Oct 14th, 2010everythingpumpkinexceptthepie.blogspot.com
[...] slices of peeled sugar pumpkins that had been coated in olive oil, salt, and garlic. While the pumpkin was grilling away, I prepared a simple sauce of equal parts white sugar and red wine vinegar (I [...]
8:27 pm Oct 16th, 2010[...] Sweet & Sour Grilled Pumpkin (OMG!): http://pinchmysalt.com/2008/11/24/sweet-and-sour-grilled-pumpkin-recipe/ [...]
9:49 pm Oct 27th, 2010hi, pinch;
a foodie here: love it all, especially mediterranean, italian in particular. cooking, internet, manhattan , theatre, architecture, music, biking (to a degree: minor leg prob.) are some of the things i enjoy.
it’s halloween time, ergo bought 2 big sugar pumpkins for display, and eventual cooking. when i saw your recipe for grilled pumpkin sicilian style, i copied it for making it in the future. i especially noted you use of garlic: one of my favorite foods of all time.
i’ll let you know how it turns out. (i thought of a sprinkle of pumpkin spices to maybe liven it up, but will try it first without).
enjoy the san diego weather, and your grill, one of which i also have.
thanks,
9:25 am Oct 31st, 2010chris
[...] Pumpkins are part of the squash fam and are usually bright orange, and what’s so cool about nature is that just from the color, it’s a dead giveaway of the antioxidant it’s full of; the same ones as carrots and sweet potatoes… For you non-nutrition nerds, that orange-y pigment is from beta-carotene, a precursor to vitamin A and essential for vision, immune system, and healthy skin. Pumpkins are also rich in another antioxidant called beta-cryptoxanthin – yeah, say THAT five times fast – that may significantly reduce one’s risk of lung cancer. (Sweet and Sour Grilled Pumpkin @ Pinch My Salt) [...]
7:51 pm Feb 27th, 2011[...] came home and my roommate had made the most delicious recipe from a cooking blog we read- Pinch My Salt. I loved this squash recipe because squash is a great source of potassium with WAY less sugar [...]
5:26 pm Apr 7th, 2011thank’s a lot for this great post
8:01 am Apr 14th, 2011thank’s a lot for this great post really is give a big step
11:50 am Apr 21st, 2011[...] “Sweet and Sour Grilled Pumpkin Recipe” from Pinch My Salt [...]
1:55 pm Oct 25th, 2011[...] Halloween is a good night to grill pumpkins. Pumpkin, or any kind of squash, goes great with a nice, spicy sausage. There’s a good step-by-step pumpkin recipe on Pinch My Salt. [...]
12:05 pm Oct 27th, 2011[...] Sicilian recipe for Sweet & Sour Grilled Pumpkin from PinchMySalt.com not only yields fragrant sweet yet savory side dish but can also be made both indoors and outside [...]
8:19 am Nov 1st, 2011[...] Sweet and Sour Grilled Pumpkin [...]
2:09 pm Nov 11th, 2011[...] Sweet and Sour Grilled Pumpkin Recipe – Pinch My Salt chopped fresh mint or parsley (optional) thinly sliced garlic (optional) 3 tablespoons white sugar 1. Prepare coals or preheat your gas grill. Cut Pumpkin in half, scrape out seeds and membrane. [...]
5:14 am Mar 26th, 2012This was an absolutely perfect recipe. It came out just as you described. Thank you so much.
2:35 pm Jul 7th, 2012You article is well written. I enjoy reading your blog.
12:04 am Feb 1st, 2013