The 29 Best Brazilian Dishes

Savoury plates and desserts both count here, though drinks stay off the table: Bahian stews, Amazonian broths, street-market snacks and the sweets every Brazilian birthday party relies on.

1. 1
   Feijoada

   A stew of black beans with salted and smoked pork and beef, served with rice, farofa, collard greens and orange slices.
   1000pts
2. 2
   Pão de queijo

   Small baked cheese rolls from Minas Gerais made with cassava starch, eggs and cheese, naturally free of wheat.
   885pts
3. 3
   Tutu de feijão

   A Minas Gerais dish of mashed beans thickened with cassava flour, traditionally served with pork, sausage, collard greens and eggs.
   680pts
4. 4
   Pastel

   A thin rectangular pastry deep-fried with fillings such as ground beef, cheese or palm heart, sold at Brazilian street markets.
   680pts
5. 5
   Moqueca

   A fish or seafood stew cooked in a clay pot, made with dendê oil and coconut milk in Bahia and with annatto in Espírito Santo.
   679pts
6. 6
   Bobó de camarão

   A Bahian shrimp dish in a purée of cassava cooked with coconut milk and dendê oil.
   679pts
7. 7
   Baião de dois

   A Northeastern Brazilian dish of rice and beans cooked together with dried meat and queijo coalho cheese.
   560pts
8. 8
   Cuscuz paulista

   A São Paulo dish of cornmeal cooked in a pan with sardines or chicken, tomatoes, hearts of palm and boiled eggs, then pressed into a mould.
   560pts
9. 9
   Quindim

   A glossy yellow baked dessert of egg yolks, sugar and grated coconut, descended from Portuguese convent sweets.
   560pts
10. 10
    Feijão tropeiro

    A Minas Gerais dish of beans mixed with cassava flour, bacon, sausage, eggs and collard greens, named after travelling cattle drovers.
    560pts
11. 11
    Carne de sol

    Beef salted and briefly dried, a staple of Brazil's Northeast often served grilled with cassava and butter.
    485pts
12. 12
    Romeu e Julieta

    A dessert pairing guava paste with fresh white cheese such as queijo minas.
    485pts
13. 13
    Arroz carreteiro

    A rice dish from Rio Grande do Sul cooked with dried or leftover barbecued beef, originally made by ox-cart drivers.
    485pts
14. 14
    Barreado

    A beef stew from coastal Paraná slow-cooked for hours in a clay pot sealed with cassava dough, served with banana and cassava flour.
    485pts
15. 15
    Farofa

    Toasted cassava flour, often cooked with butter, bacon or onion, served as a side with feijoada and barbecue.
    397pts
16. 16
    Acarajé

    A Bahian fritter of black-eyed pea dough deep-fried in dendê oil and split open to be filled with vatapá, caruru and shrimp.
    397pts
17. 17
    Pamonha

    A paste of fresh grated corn, sweet or savoury, wrapped and boiled in corn husks, popular at the June festivals.
    397pts
18. 18
    Bolo de rolo

    A Pernambuco roll cake of paper-thin layers of buttery sponge spread with guava paste, recognised as cultural heritage of the state.
    291pts
19. 19
    Vatapá

    A creamy Afro-Brazilian paste of bread, shrimp, coconut milk, ground peanuts and dendê oil, eaten with rice or inside acarajé.
    291pts
20. 20
    Tacacá

    An Amazonian soup from Pará made with tucupi broth, jambu leaves that numb the mouth, dried shrimp and tapioca gum, served in a gourd.
    291pts
21. 21
    Brigadeiro

    A chocolate sweet of condensed milk, cocoa and butter rolled into balls and coated in chocolate sprinkles, a fixture at Brazilian birthday parties.
    291pts
22. 22
    Pato no tucupi

    Roast duck simmered in tucupi, a yellow broth from fermented wild cassava, with jambu leaves; a traditional dish of Belém at the Círio de Nazaré festival.
    291pts
23. 23
    Açaí na tigela

    Frozen açaí pulp blended into a thick purée and served in a bowl, typically topped with granola and banana.
    291pts
24. 24
    Beijinho

    A party sweet of condensed milk, butter and grated coconut rolled into balls and often topped with a clove.
    291pts
25. 25
    Picanha

    The rump cap cut of beef, skewered with its fat layer and grilled over charcoal at Brazilian churrascarias.
    0pts
26. 26
    Coxinha

    A teardrop-shaped fried snack of dough filled with shredded chicken, breaded and shaped to resemble a chicken thigh.
    0pts
27. 27
    Escondidinho

    A baked casserole of shredded dried beef or chicken hidden under a layer of mashed cassava and topped with cheese.
    0pts
28. 28
    Galinhada

    A one-pot dish of chicken and rice coloured with saffron or turmeric, associated with Goiás and often cooked with pequi.
    0pts
29. 29
    Pudim de leite

    A baked caramel custard made with condensed milk, eggs and milk, served chilled under its caramel syrup.
    0pts

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