# Frittata
A **frittata** is an Italian egg dish in which beaten eggs and other ingredients such as vegetables, cheese, herbs, meat, or pasta are cooked together as a flat, unfolded omelette, usually started in a skillet and finished by turning, baking, or a short time under a broiler. The name derives from *friggere*, the Italian verb meaning "to fry," and the word entered English between 1930 and 1935 from Italian *fritto*, "fried."[1](https://www.foodnetwork.com/how-to/packages/food-network-essentials/what-is-a-frittata) • [2](https://www.collinsdictionary.com/us/dictionary/english/frittata) [The Italian](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-italian) dictionary of Treccani defines it as a dish of whisked or beaten eggs thrown into a pan with boiling oil or butter until they set, often mixed, before or during cooking, with vegetables or other ingredients such as artichokes, spinach, asparagus, zucchini, ham, or cheese.[3](https://www.treccani.it/vocabolario/frittata/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Origin | Italian; the word comes from *friggere*, "to fry," and entered English between 1930 and 1935[1](https://www.foodnetwork.com/how-to/packages/food-network-essentials/what-is-a-frittata) • [2](https://www.collinsdictionary.com/us/dictionary/english/frittata) |
| Form | A flat, round, unfolded omelette cooked as a whole and cut into wedges or pieces[4](https://centsforcookery.com/omelette-vs-frittata/) • [5](https://vitrinelinguistique.oqlf.gouv.qc.ca/fiche-gdt/fiche/26502379/frittata) |
| Cooking | Started on the stovetop and finished in the oven or under the broiler, or cooked on both sides entirely in the pan[1](https://www.foodnetwork.com/how-to/packages/food-network-essentials/what-is-a-frittata) • [6](https://www.lacucinaitaliana.it/tutorial/i-consigli/differenza-tra-omelette-e-frittata/) |
| Fillings | Vegetables, cheese, herbs, ham, meat, and sometimes pasta or potatoes, mixed into the eggs[3](https://www.treccani.it/vocabolario/frittata/) • [5](https://vitrinelinguistique.oqlf.gouv.qc.ca/fiche-gdt/fiche/26502379/frittata) |
| Dairy | Egg only, sometimes with a splash of milk; quiche by contrast has a custardy filling with much more dairy and a crust[7](https://www.foodrepublic.com/1819524/how-frittat-different-from-quiche/) |
| Serving | Served hot, warm, or at room temperature, cut into wedges; often eaten warm in pieces[4](https://centsforcookery.com/omelette-vs-frittata/) • [5](https://vitrinelinguistique.oqlf.gouv.qc.ca/fiche-gdt/fiche/26502379/frittata) |
## How a frittata is made
The defining steps differ from a French omelette at nearly every point. In the Italian preparation, the eggs are beaten only briefly, just enough to combine the yolks and whites with a fork without making a homogeneous mixture, while omelette eggs are whipped with a whisk to incorporate air so they puff as they cook.[6](https://www.lacucinaitaliana.it/tutorial/i-consigli/differenza-tra-omelette-e-frittata/) An Italian recipe typically uses eggs, Parmesan, a little milk, salt, and pepper, with vegetables, cheeses, or herbs added afterward.[6](https://www.lacucinaitaliana.it/tutorial/i-consigli/differenza-tra-omelette-e-frittata/)
**Cooking the top.** Two finishing methods are both well attested. La Cucina Italiana describes the frittata as cooked on both sides, in a pan with little oil or in the oven, while the omelette must stay creamier and cooks only on the base, leaving the center soft.[6](https://www.lacucinaitaliana.it/tutorial/i-consigli/differenza-tra-omelette-e-frittata/) A stovetop technique for flipping is to slide the half-cooked frittata onto a flat plate slightly larger than the pan, invert it, and return it to cook the other side.[8](https://www.library.pima.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2021/08/Everyday-Gourmet-Cooking-with-Vegetables-9275.pdf) A common alternative, described by [Food Network](https://www.edgepedia.org/food-network), cooks the whisked egg mixture with vegetables in a skillet on the stovetop, then finishes it in the oven or under the broiler until lightly golden brown.[1](https://www.foodnetwork.com/how-to/packages/food-network-essentials/what-is-a-frittata) Either way, the result is a firmer, more structured dish than a folded omelette, with enough body to be sliced.[4](https://centsforcookery.com/omelette-vs-frittata/)
## Frittata, omelette, tortilla, and quiche
The frittata belongs to a family of flat egg dishes whose members are easy to confuse and best told apart by several characteristics together rather than any single test.[4](https://centsforcookery.com/omelette-vs-frittata/)
Compared with the **French omelette**, the frittata is thicker, cooked more gradually, and served unfolded, while an omelette is generally a quicker skillet dish, often folded around its filling and made as a single portion eaten shortly after cooking.[4](https://centsforcookery.com/omelette-vs-frittata/) In Italian, *frittata arrotolata* (a rolled frittata) is one word for what the French call an omelette, which shows how closely the traditions touch.[9](https://dizionari.repubblica.it/Italiano/F/frittata.html)
Compared with the **Spanish tortilla**, the two dishes are structurally very similar. Both are large omelettes cooked all the way through and allowed to cool to room temperature before being cut into wedges; one is Spanish and the other Italian, and outside their native countries the names are often used almost interchangeably.[10](https://app.ckbk.com/recipe/dail27723c08s001ss001r006/tortilla-or-frittata/) • [11](https://recipecrumbs.substack.com/p/is-it-a-tortilla-frittata-or-omelette) The characteristic Spanish tortilla, however, is specifically a thick egg and potato omelette in which the potatoes are slow-cooked in olive oil first, then mixed with egg and flipped in the pan to cook both sides.[12](https://eathealthy365.com/the-true-taste-of-a-spanish-tortilla-a-flavor-guide/)
Compared with **quiche**, the frittata has no crust and much less dairy: frittatas use just egg, sometimes with a splash of milk, while a quiche has a custardy filling with much more dairy baked in pastry.[7](https://www.foodrepublic.com/1819524/how-frittat-different-from-quiche/) A frittata starts on the stovetop with a quick fry before finishing in the oven, while a quiche bakes gently throughout; a frittata can go from refrigerator to table in under 30 minutes.[7](https://www.foodrepublic.com/1819524/how-frittat-different-from-quiche/)
## Place in Italian cooking
The frittata is a dish of Italian home cooking, made with whatever ingredients are on hand, and is associated with the *cucina povera* tradition of transforming simple, available ingredients into something satisfying.[7](https://www.foodrepublic.com/1819524/how-frittat-different-from-quiche/) Its variety is wide: Treccani lists simple, folded, rolled, and filled frittatas, a green frittata based on chopped herbs, and versions with artichokes, spinach, asparagus, zucchini, ham, or cheese.[3](https://www.treccani.it/vocabolario/frittata/) [The Office](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-office) québécois de la langue française notes that cheese, pasta, or ham are sometimes added, and that the frittata is often eaten warm, cut into pieces.[5](https://vitrinelinguistique.oqlf.gouv.qc.ca/fiche-gdt/fiche/26502379/frittata) The Accademia Italiana della Cucina, the cultural institution of the Italian Republic founded in 1953, discusses the *frittata di maccheroni*, a pasta-based variant, as an expression of the dish's Italian character.[13](https://www.accademiaitalianadellacucina.it/sites/default/files/allegati/385_ott_2025_INTERNATIONAL_DEF.pdf)
In everyday Italian the word also carries a figurative sense: *fare una frittata* means to make a mess or an irreparable blunder, and *rivoltare la frittata*, "to flip the frittata," means to twist an argument to one's own advantage.[3](https://www.treccani.it/vocabolario/frittata/) • [14](https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/italian-english/frittata)
## References
1. [What Is a Frittata? Food Network Kitchen](https://www.foodnetwork.com/how-to/packages/food-network-essentials/what-is-a-frittata)
2. [Frittata definition in American English, Collins Dictionary](https://www.collinsdictionary.com/us/dictionary/english/frittata)
3. [Frittata, Vocabolario Treccani](https://www.treccani.it/vocabolario/frittata/)
4. [Omelet vs. Omelette vs. Frittata: What's the Difference? Cents For Cookery](https://centsforcookery.com/omelette-vs-frittata/)
5. [frittata, Grand dictionnaire terminologique, Office québécois de la langue française](https://vitrinelinguistique.oqlf.gouv.qc.ca/fiche-gdt/fiche/26502379/frittata)
6. [Omelette e frittata: conosci la differenza? La Cucina Italiana](https://www.lacucinaitaliana.it/tutorial/i-consigli/differenza-tra-omelette-e-frittata/)
7. [Frittata Frenzy: How Italy's Famous Egg Dish Differs From Quiche, Food Republic](https://www.foodrepublic.com/1819524/how-frittat-different-from-quiche/)
8. [The Everyday Gourmet: Cooking with Vegetables, Chef Bill Briwa, The Culinary Institute of America](https://www.library.pima.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2021/08/Everyday-Gourmet-Cooking-with-Vegetables-9275.pdf)
9. [frittata, Dizionario Hoepli via La Repubblica](https://dizionari.repubblica.it/Italiano/F/frittata.html)
10. [Tortilla or Frittata? Alastair Little and Richard Whittington, The Daily Mail Modern British Cookbook (1998)](https://app.ckbk.com/recipe/dail27723c08s001ss001r006/tortilla-or-frittata/)
11. [Is it a Tortilla, Frittata or Omelette? Recipe Crumbs](https://recipecrumbs.substack.com/p/is-it-a-tortilla-frittata-or-omelette)
12. [What Does a Spanish Tortilla Taste Like? Eat Healthy 365](https://eathealthy365.com/the-true-taste-of-a-spanish-tortilla-a-flavor-guide/)
13. [Civiltà della Tavola, Accademia Italiana della Cucina, International Edition No. 385, October 2025](https://www.accademiaitalianadellacucina.it/sites/default/files/allegati/385_ott_2025_INTERNATIONAL_DEF.pdf)
14. [frittata, Cambridge Italian–English Dictionary](https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/italian-english/frittata)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Food, customs, and everyday culture › Food, cooking and hospitality › Dishes, foods, and foodstuffs › Breakfast and brunch dishes*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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