Brazilian food is incredible and has a lot of variety, owing to both a long and varied culinary history and the simple reality of being a massive and geographically disparate country with dozens of distinct regions with their own food cultures.
So, if you want to explore Brazilian food, you have two ways you can go about it. You can dedicate months or years to trying new dishes, or you can have all of your friends and family over and host a feast.
If you’re here, you likely know where we stand on the issue: throw a party! Have a feast! There’s a ton to explore and enjoy, so let’s get right into the meal planning.
Table of Contents
Getting Started with Brazilian Appetizers
First of all, let’s talk about the appetizers, starters, and snacks you can have out and ready for people to enjoy while they socialize. It’s great to have some of these available as guests arrive, and have them as snacks while the main dishes cook. There are a ton of options here, some of which are street foods or whole meals in other contexts, but they all work great here as appetizers.
Pao de Queijo
Any time you go to a decent restaurant, one of the first things they’re likely to do is bring you some bread. So why not start your feast the same way? One of the most popular bread-like treats in Brazil is pao de queijo. Pao means bread, and queijo means cheese; this is a simple cheese bread.
What makes this bread unique is how it’s made. First off, it’s not made using traditional flour, but rather tapioca starch, which gives it a more unique texture and a slightly sour flavor. Secondly, the cheese most commonly used is Minas Cheese, something sort of like Monterey Jack. If you don’t have access to it, a combination of mozzarella and parmesan will do the trick.
Farofa
Farofa is a staple of every Brazilian restaurant and many households besides. It can be a rich and hearty meal, or a side meant to be used as an appetizer or topping for other foods, so you can make it multiple ways if you like.
What is it? It’s toasted tapioca flour. The flour is mixed with other ingredients like butter and bacon, alongside onion and garlic, and cooked. The end result is a grain-like dish with a ton of flavor and a great texture. It can be sprinkled on or added to other foods, or just eaten as-is.
You can read more about farofa, as well as how to make it both as a topping and a meal, in our post on it here.
Moqueca
Moqueca is a seafood stew you can find in different versions all over Brazil. It usually uses prawns or shrimp as the main seafood, and a base made with coconut oil and milk, alongside vegetable stock and plenty of spices.
A nice bowl of moqueca can set the stage for a wonderful dinner, and there are a million different recipes to customize however you like.
Queijo Coalho
Cheese is a staple in pretty much every culture with access to dairy, and that cheese is served in a ton of different ways. One of the tastiest is a grilled cheese, but we’re not talking about the sandwich here.
Queijo coalho is simple chunks of cheese, skewered and grilled so they get a delicious crust and a melty interior. Often, the cheese is accompanied by a bit of sweet honey, drizzled over the top, to round out the salty and smoky taste of the cheese itself.
Here’s our version of this Brazilian classic.
Pastels
A pastel is simply a kind of dumpling or pasty, a dough shell containing a filling. It’s the same sort of thing as a potsticker, a wonton, an empanada, or a hand pie. It works great as a street food, and a delectable pile of them makes for a great centerpiece of your appetizer spread.
Pastels are another example of a food with a ton of different recipes. You can find fillings including ground meat, cheese, fish, and palm hearts. There are even sweet versions, though they aren’t as common, and we’d put that under desserts anyway.
To get you started, here’s our recipe for a cheese pastel.
Coxinhas
Another incredibly popular street food, the coxinha is a dumpling-like bit of fried goodness. It’s a shredded chicken with a handful of other flavorings, formed and shaped to look like a drumstick and fried.
It’s incredibly good! So much so that it’s actually a risk to add it to your feast, because people who try it might eat so much they don’t have room for the rest of the feast.
Here’s our guide on making them for your feast.
Arroz Carreteiro
Another option you can add to your appetizer or side dish roster is arroz carreteiro, also known as wagoner’s rice. It’s a dish often made with staples that traveling wagoners would have on hand, like dried meats and rice.
It’s a one-dish meal, but a small serving of it makes for a good side dish. Here’s an example of a recipe you can use.
Laying the Groundwork with Rice and Beans
You might have noticed that a lot of the dishes listed above have rice in them somewhere, or are meant to go over a bed of rice. Rice and beans are staples in pretty much every Brazilian meal, so much so that they make up the bulk of any feast. Since they’re so important, we’re giving them their own section.
As far as rice is concerned, it’s really quite simple. Generally, all you need is a long-grain white rice of your choice. Cook the rice with some aromatics like onions and garlic, and you’re done. Make sure you have enough, since it’s going to be the base for a lot of the foods down the line!
As far as beans are concerned, the two most common ways you’ll see them served are as feijoada and tutu de feijao. The former is rich black bean stew that we’ll list in the main courses section. The latter is essentially a Brazilian twist on refried beans. Having enough of both to sate your guests is critical for a good Brazilian feast.
Building a Main Course with Brazilian Staples
Now let’s talk about those main courses. Sometimes a main course is just a twist on an existing side, like farofa with a bunch of added ingredients, or moqueca with a heartier broth. Others are definitely their own stars.
Feijoada
Feijoada, as mentioned already, is a hearty black bean stew. The stew is usually made by soaking the beans overnight to soften them up, then cooking them alongside a meat that doesn’t stand up on its own.
Trotters, pig ears, sausage, salted beef, and similar meats all work great. Mostly, you want a fatty meat with salt and smoke as flavors to add to the stew. Here’s how to make some for yourself.
X-Tudo
In Brazil, X-Tudo is a common name for a common food, and it’s also almost a pun. The X, in Portuguese, is pronounced “chis”, which sounds like “cheese”, so a X-burger is a cheeseburger. The Tudo part is the word for “everything”, and your typical X-Tudo is a huge and elaborate burger with all the fixings.
Burgers are a staple of gatherings and get-togethers, and while you might not need the taller-than-a-child stack of Tudo, burgers can be a great main course.
Churrasco
Churrasco is our go-to, since Texas de Brazil is a churrascaria, or steakhouse. Churrasco is the art of cooking meat over an open flame, on a skewer, sort of like rotisserie. We use a wide range of different cuts of meat, from the common to the unique, all crusted with salt and not much else.
Churrasco can, honestly, be your only main course if you want. It takes enough effort to make, and it is filling enough. Plus, we cater!
Other Mains
Of course, as much as we love churrasco, it’s not the only thing we eat day in and day out.
There are all sorts of other main courses you can add to your feast:
- Bife a Role. Using a large, flat cut of beef, a filling made with layers of carrot, bacon, onion, and other ingredients is wrapped and rolled up. This is all cooked in a tomato-based sauce and served with rice and beans.
- Costela no Bafo. These are ribs, but unlike American ribs, they aren’t slathered in a sauce. Instead, they’re lightly spiced and slow-roasted for a tender, rich, and beef-centric dish.
- Galinha Ensopada. This is a rich and hearty chicken stew, the likes of which puts the canned stuff to shame.
- Stroganoff. Surprise your guests with the reality that Brazil has incorporated stroganoff from its European origins, and has made it firmly their own with chicken and a lighter cream sauce than you might expect.
Some of the sides, like coxinhas and pastels, can also be made into dinner versions with heartier fillings.
Keeping Guests Satisfied with Drinks
Your guests are thirsty, so you have to have something to drink alongside the food you serve, right? Here are some Brazilian drink ideas.
Non-Alcoholic Beverages
While “just water is fine” for many people, and some will go for their standard soda, you can give a Brazilian twist to the beverage list with several options.
Some of your options include:
- Virgin Caipirinha. Caipirinha is a drink made with Brazil’s iconic rum, cachaca. Since this is the non-alcoholic list, you can make something similar using ginger beer.
- Brazilian lemonade. Also known as Swiss lemonade or limonada suica, this is a tangy and sweet mixture of condensed milk and lime. No lemons here!
- Fruit smoothies. There are a ton of different tropical fruits native to or imported into Brazil, and those make for some excellent smoothies.
If you want more ideas for non-alcoholic beverages, here you go. Just be warned that some of them are unlikely to be available in the States.
Alcoholic Cocktails and Drinks
For those who enjoy a bit of alcohol with their meals, Brazil also has a few iconic cocktails you can add to your menu.
Some of your options include:
- Caipirinha. The alcoholic version of this cocktail uses cachaca, sugar, and lime to make a delicious drink. It’s not one you sip all meal long, but it’s definitely a star.
- Leite de Onca. Also known as jaguar’s milk, this is a cocktail made of condensed milk, cocoa liquor, cachaca, cream, and cinnamon. It’s thick and sweet and hides the alcohol well.
- Quentao de Vinho. This is a sort of spiced wine, made with red wine, sugar, orange, lime, cloves, cinnamon, ginger, and star anise. Who doesn’t love a good mulled wine?
You can also explore other Brazilian cocktails, or think more about just offering a couple of varieties of wines with your meal.
Finishing the Meal with Dessert
In Brazil, sweets aren’t always just for desserts, but we love them regardless. Here are some delectable options to round out your meal.
Fruits
Brazil is packed full of exotic tropical fruits, so finding some of the strangest and hardest-to-acquire fruits you can get locally is a great option.
Unfortunately, many of the best fruits in Brazil don’t survive shipping, but if you get the chance, give them a try.
Mousse de Maracuja
A passionfruit mousse is one of the most common tropical desserts to round out a great Brazilian feast.
With condensed milk as a base and the tangy passionfruit on top, the mousse is a delicious way to end a feast.
Brigadeiros
These chocolate truffles, made with condensed milk, are rich, slightly chewy, and incredibly tasty. They’re also small enough that your guests can have one or two and be satisfied, even after a whole feast before them.
Finally, you can explore other dessert options, like flans, bananas foster, and more in our guide here.
Sound good? Have a meal plan forming? We’d love to help. Some of the key ingredients, like your churrasco meats, can be found in our market shop. If you want to have us take care of the main courses, we also offer catering. And, of course, you can always just swing into your nearest Texas de Brazil for your feast instead of doing it at home!
