Food · Brazilian Portuguese
Brazilian food: 30 dishes to know
Brazilian food is built on rice and beans (arroz e feijão), with feijoada as the national dish. It changes a lot by region: Bahia's African-rooted cooking with dendê and coconut, the Amazon's tucupi and fish, Minas Gerais' cheese and pork, and the South's barbecue.
Below: thirty dishes, snacks, sweets and drinks, each with its Portuguese name to play and how to say it, what’s in it and where it’s from. Then how Brazilians eat day to day, and the lines you need to order. For the everyday words (rice, bread, the bill), see food and drink in Portuguese.
Main dishes
Press ▶ to hear each name. Capitals mark the stressed syllable, and the ão in feijão and pão is a nasal sound: how to say it.
1.feijoada
fey-ZHWAH-dahBlack bean and pork stew
Black beans stewed with pork and beef, often with sausage and dried meat, served with rice, farofa, sautéed collard greens (couve) and orange slices. Widely called the national dish; in Rio and São Paulo it's the traditional lunch on Wednesdays and Saturdays.
2.arroz e feijão
ah-HOHS ee fey-ZHOWNRice and beans
On most Brazilian plates, every day.
3.picanha
pee-KAHN-yahTop sirloin cap
The top sirloin cap (rump cap), grilled with coarse salt: the star of a churrasco.
4.churrasco
shoo-HAHS-kooBarbecue
At a churrascaria rodízio, waiters bring skewers of meat to the table until you say stop.
5.moqueca
moh-KEH-kahFish or shrimp stew
The Bahian one, moqueca baiana, uses dendê (palm) oil and coconut milk. The one from Espírito Santo, moqueca capixaba, uses neither and is cooked in a clay pot.
6.farofa
fah-ROH-fahToasted cassava flour
Cassava flour toasted, often with butter, onion or bacon, and sprinkled over rice, beans and meat.
7.feijão tropeiro
fey-ZHOWN troh-PAY-rooBeans with cassava flour and bacon
From Minas Gerais: beans mixed with cassava flour, bacon, sausage, egg and collard greens.
8.baião de dois
bah-YOWN jee DOYSRice and beans cooked together
From Ceará, in the Northeast: rice and beans cooked in one pot with queijo coalho (a squeaky grilling cheese) and carne de sol (salted, sun-dried beef).
9.escondidinho
es-kohn-jee-JEEN-yooBaked cassava mash with a filling
“The little hidden one”: a filling such as carne de sol hidden under mashed cassava, and baked.
10.bobó de camarão
boh-BOH jee kah-mah-ROWNShrimp in cassava and coconut cream
From Bahia: shrimp in a creamy cassava purée with coconut milk and dendê.
11.strogonoff
stroh-goh-NOH-feeBrazilian stroganoff
Brazil's take on stroganoff: chicken or beef in a creamy sauce, served with rice and batata palha, crunchy shoestring potatoes.
12.pato no tucupi
PAH-too noo too-koo-PEEDuck in tucupi
From Belém, in Pará: duck in tucupi, a yellow broth made from wild cassava, with jambu, a herb that makes your mouth tingle. It's eaten at the Círio de Nazaré festival in October.
Street food and snacks (salgados)
13.coxinha
koh-SHEEN-yahChicken croquette
A teardrop-shaped fried croquette of shredded chicken, often with creamy cheese (requeijão): the classic snack-bar salgado.
14.pão de queijo
pown jee KAY-zhooCheese bread
From Minas Gerais, made with cassava starch (polvilho) and cheese, so it's chewy inside and usually gluten-free.
15.pastel
pahs-TEH-ooFried pastry
A thin, crisp fried pastry filled with cheese, ground beef or hearts of palm: the street market (feira) classic, with a glass of caldo de cana.
16.acarajé
ah-kah-rah-ZHEHBlack-eyed pea fritter
From Bahia: a black-eyed pea fritter fried in dendê, split and filled with vatapá, shrimp and pepper sauce, sold by the baianas de acarajé in white dress. It's Afro-Brazilian, and the baianas' craft is registered as Brazilian heritage.
17.tapioca
tah-pee-OH-kahCassava crepe
In Brazil, a crepe of hydrated cassava starch cooked in a dry pan and filled with cheese, coconut or meat. A Northeastern breakfast staple.
18.empada
em-PAH-dahLittle savory pie
A small savory pie, often chicken or hearts of palm.
19.esfiha and kibe
esfiha:es-FEE-ahkibe:KEE-beeOpen meat pies and kibbeh
From Lebanese and Syrian immigrants, and now everywhere: open flatbread pies, and fried bulgur-and-beef croquettes.
20.cachorro-quente
kah-SHOH-hoo KEN-cheeHot dog
The Brazilian hot dog, loaded with things like mashed potato, corn, peas and batata palha.
Sweets
21.brigadeiro
bree-gah-DAY-rooChocolate truffle
Condensed milk, cocoa and butter, rolled in chocolate sprinkles. There's one at every birthday party.
22.beijinho
bay-ZHEEN-yooCoconut truffle
The coconut version of brigadeiro, often topped with a clove.
23.quindim
keen-JEENEgg yolk and coconut custard
A glossy yellow custard of egg yolks, sugar and coconut.
24.pudim
poo-JEENFlan
Flan made with condensed milk and caramel.
25.bolo de cenoura
BOH-loo jee seh-NOH-rahCarrot cake
Carrot cake with a chocolate topping (cobertura).
26.paçoca and cocada
paçoca:pah-SOH-kahcocada:koh-KAH-dahPeanut sweet and coconut sweet
Sweets of ground peanuts and of coconut, both everywhere at festa junina.
27.açaí
ah-sah-EEAçaí bowl
In most of Brazil, frozen açaí pulp eaten from a bowl with banana and granola. In the Amazon, where it comes from, it's traditionally eaten unsweetened, with fish and cassava flour.
Drinks
28.cafezinho
kah-feh-ZEEN-yooLittle coffee
A small, strong, usually sweet coffee, offered to guests everywhere.
29.guaraná
gwah-rah-NAHGuaraná soda
A soda made from the Amazonian guaraná fruit.
30.limonada suíça
lee-moh-NAH-dah SWEE-sahBrazilian lemonade
Whole limes blended with sugar and ice, then strained; some add condensed milk. And there's caldo de cana, fresh sugarcane juice, and the fresh fruit juices (sucos) of maracujá, caju and acerola.
How Brazilians eat
The Brazilian plate
The everyday lunch out is the prato feito, or PF: a plate served ready, built on arroz e feijão. The other is comida a quilo, a self-service buffet where you fill your plate and pay by its weight.
Breakfast
Breakfast, café da manhã, is pão francês (the everyday crusty roll) with butter, café com leite and fruit. In Minas Gerais there's pão de queijo on the table, and in the Northeast tapioca and cuscuz.
Regional cooking
- North:
- The Amazon: fish, cassava, tucupi and jambu. Pato no tucupi in Belém, and açaí the way it's eaten where it grows.
- Northeast:
- Bahia's African-rooted cooking with dendê and coconut: moqueca baiana, acarajé, bobó de camarão. Baião de dois from Ceará, and tapioca for breakfast.
- Center-West:
- Beef country, with the Pantanal's river fish. Churrasco is as much at home here as in the South.
- Southeast:
- Minas Gerais' cheese and pork: pão de queijo, feijão tropeiro. Feijoada on Wednesdays and Saturdays in Rio and São Paulo, and moqueca capixaba in Espírito Santo.
- South:
- The barbecue: churrasco, with picanha as its star.
How to order
- Me vê um pão de queijo, por favor.Can I get a cheese bread, please? · very brazilian, and casual
- Vou querer a feijoada.I'll have the feijoada.
- Pra comer aqui ou pra viagem?For here or to go?
- Sem açúcar, por favor.No sugar, please.
- Tem opção vegetariana?Is there a vegetarian option?
- Malpassado.Rare.
- Ao ponto.Medium.
- Bem passado.Well done.
- Quanto é?How much is it?
- A conta, por favor.The check, please.
Where to eat
- a padaria · the bakery
- a lanchonete · the snack bar
- o boteco · the corner bar
- a churrascaria · the barbecue restaurant
- o self-service · the pay-by-weight restaurant
- o restaurante a quilo · the pay-by-weight restaurant
- a feira · the street market
Questions
What is the national dish of Brazil?
Feijoada, a black bean stew with pork and beef, often with sausage and dried meat. It's served with rice, farofa, sautéed collard greens (couve) and orange slices, and in Rio and São Paulo it's the traditional lunch on Wednesdays and Saturdays.
What do Brazilians eat for breakfast?
Pão francês, the everyday crusty roll, with butter, café com leite and fruit. In Minas Gerais there's pão de queijo too, and in the Northeast tapioca and cuscuz.
Is Brazilian food spicy?
Mostly not. Bahian cooking uses malagueta pepper, but elsewhere the heat is usually a hot sauce on the side, for you to add yourself.
What is picanha?
The top sirloin cap (rump cap), grilled with coarse salt. It's the star of a churrasco, Brazilian barbecue, and it's said pee-KAHN-yah.
What is farofa?
Toasted cassava flour, often cooked with butter, onion or bacon. Brazilians sprinkle it over rice, beans and meat, and it's one of the sides that come with feijoada.
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