A wide shallow bowl of Sicilian caponata, glossy cubes of eggplant with celery, green olives, capers and torn basil, a few caperberries on the rim

Caponata: The Sicilian Sweet-and-Sour That Explains Capers

September 25, 2026

Caponata is a Sicilian eggplant dish dressed in agrodolce, a sweet-and-sour seasoning. Here that means vinegar and sugar cooked together into a glaze. It is the recipe to learn first if you want to know what a caper is for. The eggplant is soft and rich and the glaze is sweet and sharp, a pairing that would turn cloying on its own. The capers break that up. Every few bites one of them brings a burst of salt and a green, mustardy bite, and the dish comes back into balance. That bite comes from glucosinolates, the same family of compounds behind mustard's heat. When the tissue is damaged, they break down into sharp mustard oils. In one study of wild capers from Turkey, a single glucosinolate, glucocapparin, made up about 90 percent of the total in the buds and young shoots. The capers guide explains the plant. This recipe shows what that bite does on a plate.

Two things decide whether caponata works. The first is how the capers are prepared, because salt-packed, brined and oil-packed capers each need different handling. The second is timing: the capers go in at the end, so each one stays whole and distinct.

Ingredients, for six

900 g (2 lb) globe eggplant, cut into 2 cm (3/4 in) cubes
1 1/2 teaspoons fine sea salt, divided, plus more to taste
1/2 cup (120 ml) extra virgin olive oil, divided
1 medium red onion, diced
3 inner celery ribs with leaves, sliced 1 cm (1/2 in) thick
3/4 cup (180 ml) tomato passata
3 tablespoons capers (see the chart below for how to prepare each kind)
12 green olives, pitted and halved
1/3 cup (80 ml) red wine vinegar
1 1/2 tablespoons (20 g) sugar
2 tablespoons pine nuts, toasted (optional)
A handful of basil leaves, torn
Freshly ground black pepper
Caperberries, to serve (optional)

Preparing the capers

Form	What to do	Why
Salt-packed	Soak in cool water for 20 minutes, change the water once, drain	The coarse salt that cures them has to come off, or the dish ends up oversalted
Brined	Drain and rinse under the tap	Rinsing takes the harsh edge off the vinegar brine so it does not compete with the agrodolce
Oil-packed	Drain; keep the oil for the pan	They are already gentle, and the oil carries their flavor

Whichever form you use, taste one before cooking. If it still makes you wince, soak or rinse it again. Small capers spread evenly through the dish. Larger ones give fewer, bigger bursts. Both work.

Method

Prepare the capers. Treat them according to the chart above, drain, and set aside.
Salt the eggplant. Toss the cubes with 1 teaspoon of the salt and leave them in a colander for 30 minutes. Pat dry. Salting pulls water out of the eggplant and collapses the air pockets in its flesh, so it soaks up less oil.
Brown the eggplant. Heat 1/4 cup of the oil in a wide skillet over medium-high heat. Brown the eggplant in two batches, turning, until golden and soft all the way through, 8 to 10 minutes per batch. A crowded pan steams the eggplant instead of browning it. Transfer to a plate.
Cook the onion and celery. Lower the heat to medium, add the remaining oil and the onion, and cook 5 minutes until soft. Add the celery and cook 5 minutes more. Pull it while it is tender but still crisp, because its crunch is one of the textures the dish needs.
Add the tomato. Stir in the passata and the remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt. Simmer 5 minutes, until thick.
Make the agrodolce. Add the vinegar and sugar and stir. Simmer about 2 minutes, until the sharp smell of vinegar softens. Taste the glaze. It should be clearly sweet and clearly sour, a little too strong on both counts, because the eggplant will soften it.
Fold in the capers and olives. Add the capers, olives and eggplant. Fold gently so the eggplant keeps its shape, and simmer 5 minutes so it takes up the glaze. Season with pepper. The capers go in this late on purpose: they heat through and stay whole, and each one still tastes like a caper.
Rest, then finish. Take the pan off the heat and let the caponata cool to room temperature, at least an hour, ideally overnight in the fridge. Taste again before serving. If it seems flat, add a teaspoon of vinegar. If it seems harsh, add a pinch of sugar. Scatter with basil and pine nuts and serve at room temperature with bread, with caperberries on the side.

Why it went wrong

Symptom	Cause	Fix
Too salty	The salt-packed capers were not soaked, or the salt in the olives and capers was not allowed for	Soak the capers and taste one before they go in. Add salt last, after tasting
Cloying, one-note sweet	Too few capers, or the vinegar was cooked off too long	Fold in another spoonful of prepared capers and a teaspoon of vinegar off the heat
Greasy, eggplant heavy with oil	The eggplant was not salted and dried, or the pan was crowded	Salt, drain and pat dry. Brown in batches in a hot pan
Mushy, a stew rather than a salad	Too much stirring, or the celery was cooked soft	Fold, do not stir. Pull the celery while it still has crunch
Capers lost in the mix	They went in with the tomato and simmered too long	Add them with the olives in the last 5 minutes

Notes and variations

Salt-packed capers from Pantelleria. Capers from Pantelleria, the island off Sicily's southwest coast in the province of Trapani, have been protected as Cappero di Pantelleria IGP since 1996. Under the rules, the flower buds of a local Capparis spinosa cultivar are layered with coarse sea salt and turned every day through two ten-day saltings. Capers cured this way are the ones that most need the soak.

Caperberries are the fruit that forms if the bud is left to flower. They are larger, with a crunch of small seeds, and they go on the side rather than into the pot. Halve a few onto the plate with bread. Olives: a firm, buttery green olive holds its shape in the glaze. The olives guide covers the options. An anchovy variation: press two fillets into the oil with the onion until they dissolve, which deepens the savory base. It is not the classic caponata, but it is a good pantry one. The anchovies guide has more. Keeping: store it covered in the fridge and bring it back to room temperature before serving.

In Denver. At 5,280 feet, water boils at about 202°F instead of 212°F, and the dry air can make liquids evaporate faster. The simmering steps may run faster: the passata can thicken and the agrodolce reduce sooner than the times above suggest, so start checking the glaze early and keep a splash of water nearby. The altitude guide has the full adjustments.

Caravaglio capers in olive oil (shop Caravaglio capers in olive oil) and Capezzana extra virgin olive oil (shop Capezzana extra virgin olive oil) are at 263 Josephine Street in Cherry Creek, Denver, and ship nationwide from theambrosianpantry.com.