The Ultimate Brazilian Food Guide

Brazilian Food is as diverse as your going to find in Latin America. Heavily influenced by Arabic, African and Portuguese immigrants, Brazil’s culinary world has reaped the rewards from the melting pot of people and varying landscapes across the country.

Before I get started with the most popular foods, let me share a few facts…

• While Southerners love their churrascos (BBQs), northerners opt for more seafood and spicy treats.
• Brazilians everywhere love their buffets and pay-per-kilo (pay-by-the-pound) restaurants, so practice self control when visiting.
• Like many Latin countries, lunch is the biggest meal of the day and the principal plate in most local places is rice, beans, french fries, a small salad (a slice of lettuce and tomato) a piece of meat or fish and farofa.
• Salgados, which are fried or baked snacks like empanadas, coxinhas and kibes, are popular anytime of the day and often substitute dinner.
• Rio d Janeiro has a strong sandwich, salgados and juice culture and you can find small, stand-only shops that serve all three on virtually every corner around the city.
• The most popular street foods around the country are hot dogs, popcorn, tapioca, acarajé and espitinhos.

Now that you understand the basics, here are 23 traditional Brazilian foods and dishes that you should try the next time you travel deeper in Brazil.

23 Traditional Brazilian Foods and Dishes

Disclaimer: All photos and food were taken and eaten by me, not in the same day though. Also, please do not try to lick, suck or bite your computer screen.

23. Pão na Chapa

What: Toasted french bread baguette loaded with butter or Requeijão (cream cheese).
Where: Order it at any bakery, sandwich stand or juice bar across the country.
Tastes Like: Buttered or cream cheese covered toast. This one’s pretty simple.

22. Coxinha

What: The popular Brazilian salgado consists of chopped or shredded chicken, meat, and/or cheese, covered in dough, molded into a cone, then battered and fried.
Where: From restaurants to street vendors all across Brazil, these dangerously delicious little devils are everywhere.
Tastes Like: A fried chicken cordon bleu, minus the ham, but with shredded chicken and dough… okay, so it’s completely different. Think, shredded chicken poppers.
Also Try: Bolinho de Bacalhau

21. Acarajé

What: Take a deep-fried black-eyed pea fritter, split it in half, add a generous portion of caruru and/or vatapá (a spicy cream of fish and shrimp paste cooked in peanut sauce), and then add green and red tomato salsa, fried shrimps and homemade hot pepper sauce.
Where: Found on street corners all over the north/northeast of Brazil.
Tastes Like: A crazy fried shrimp falafel taco from outer space.

20. Mortadella Sandwich

What: Layers of delicious, grilled mortadella meat (ham/bologna) on french bread with a disrespectful amount of melted cheese.
Where: Most sandwich spots around the country will offer a variation of this tasty sammy, but the best rendition I found was at the public market in Sao Paulo.
Tastes Like: This isn’t your grandma’s bologna sandwich.

19. Moqueca de Camarão

What: A hearty Brazilian shrimp stew made with coconut milk, palm oil and all the essential veggies like onion, tomatoes and peppers.
Where: This is traditionally served in restaurants and homes in Northestern Brazil.
Tastes Like: The Peruvian dish I cooked in Lima with local friends, Chupe de Camarones, except this has coconut milk and a lot more sides.

18. Pasteis

What: Fried pockets filled with meat, cheese or sweets like banana or doce de leite.
Where: Like the coxinha, pasteis (plural for pastel) are a Brazilian snacking staple and can be found throughout the country.
Tastes Like: Savory, stuffed fried dough.

17. Costela

What: Beef ribs. Just add salt and let it go in the oven or on the grill
Where: Very popular in the Southern States of Brazil, but can be found in Churrascarias (Brazilian steakhouses) everywhere. The best ribs are served up from family BBQs like this one in Curitiba
Tastes Like: Ribs. Salty, meaty, deliciousness.

16.  Tambaqui de Banda

What: Grilled fish. Simple and perfect.
Where: Northern Brazil (around the Amazon).
Tastes Like: Light, fresh, grilled fish. One of the best dishes I’ve had in Brazil.

15. Passarinha

What: Cow pancreas, grilled and served with an onion and tomato salsa.
Where: Northestern Brazil.
Tastes Like: A salty car tire. Once was enough for me.

14. Polenta Frita

What: The golden sticks to the back/left of the sampler plater are fried polenta (cornmeal) fries.
Where: I have only found them in Southern and Central Brazil, but I’m sure they can be ordered elsewhere.
Tastes Like: Crunchy on the outside, creamy and corny on the inside. Like a french fry, but much MUCH better. Another popular fried french fry rendition is mandioca frita (fried yucca), but to me, polenta frita is the best fried rod around.

13. Kibe

What: Kibe (or Kibbeh) is actually an Middle Eastern snack brought over by immigrants and cherished by Brazilians. Here, the most popular rendition is a torpedo-shaped  ball of bulghur (cracked wheat), minced onions and finely ground lean beef stuffed with beef, cheese or vegetables.
Where: Your local salgados stand and arabic joints across the country.
Tastes Like: a fried meatball seasoned with exotic spices from faraway lands.

12. Carne de Sol

What: Sun-aged steak served with all the usual suspects.
Where: Northeastern Brazil, where the sun tenderizes the meat just right
Tastes Like: Steak. It’s good but not all that exciting.

11. Caldo de Sururu

What: A Brazilian mussel chowder made with mussels and sometimes other seafood, garlic, onions, potatoes or yucca, spices and tropical palm oil.
Where: Typically found in Northestern Brazil, the most interesting place you can order it on the beach. Vendors walk around with kettles of this hot soup along with cilantro, chili sauce and limes to top it off. Not exactly my ideal beach snack, but it’s great on a cool evening on the streets of Salvador.
Tastes Like: An exotic clam chowder, the red not the white.

10. Goiabada

What: Guava paste, usually spread on toast, stuffed in pastries or eaten with minas cheese and called a Romeo and Juliet.
Where: Breakfast tables, grocery stores and bakeries everywhere.
Tastes Like: A deliciously sweet fruit roll-up on steroids.

9. Espetinho

What: Steak, chicken, sausage and cheese on a stick.
Where: Served up on the streets and even grilled fresh at the beach.
Tastes Like: The answer to all your drunk problems.

8. Brigadeiro

What: Condensed milk, butter and chocolate rolled into a rich ball and covered in chocolate sprinkles.
Where: A bakery near you.
Tastes Like: An undercooked brownie ball with chocolate sprinkles. Yeah, they’re good.
Also Try: Doce de Leite on or in anything.

7. Açaí

What: A delicious dark purple berry that when combined with guarana syrup and some granola, it turns into the perfect breakfast, post-workout or anytime meal. Add strawberries or bananas for an extra kick of awesome.
Where: Açaí is actually from the north but Cariocas (people from Rio) eat it like it’s nobodies business – myself included.
Tastes Like: A thick blueberry smoothie that I would bathe in if it was socially acceptable.

6. Pão de Queijo

What: Warm, cheese stuffed buns.
Where: Created in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais, but now popular all over
Tastes Like: Extra cardio tomorrow, no regrets today.

5. Farofa

What: Fried cassava flour that may include egg, bacon, banana, torresmo (pork rinds, above) or other add-ons. Brazilians use it as a topping for rice and beans, meat and anything else they can get their hands on.
Where: You can’t escape it.
Tastes Like: flavored sawdust. I think it was something created by the beer companies to dry your mouth so you would drink more beer (Brazilian friends hate when I say that).

4. Tapioca

What: Tapioca is a starch extracted from the manioc plant that looks like sea salt. Add butter to bond it and cook it like a tortilla, add savory or sweet fillings and fold into a taco shape.
Where: Native to northern Brazil but found on street vendors everywhere
Tastes Like: Good question. It’s kind of like a chewy, gummy, burrito, but not really.

3. Churrasco

What: Meat. Lots and lots of beautiful meat. Steak, sausage, pineapple, and odd bits
Where: It’s a religion in Southern Brazil but can be found all over.
Tastes Like: Success.

2. Fruit & Juices

What: Delicious, mouthwatering fruit and fresh fruit juices.
Where: It varies by region, but they’re all worth a lick, bite or squeeze
Tastes Like: Some familiar, many foreign, most tasty, some funky, all welcome.

1. Feijoada

What: This is Brazil. A thick meat and bean stew with rice, greens and farofa sides
Where: All over Brazil. Many restaurants and families will prepare this dish on the weekends, because once you eat it, you’re not going or doing anything.
Tastes Like: a meaty chile without the ground beef or chile seasonings.

Está com fome? Are you Hungry?

See Also: The Ultimate Guatemala Food Guide