Best Food of Brazil: Complete Guide to What and Where to Eat and Drink in Brazil
The food in Brazil is definitely something you don’t want to miss on any trip. Food gives you sometimes the best glimpse into a country’s culture. This was one of the first topics we Googled when planning our trip to Brazil. Luckily, we researched, tried, and reviewed them all for you. Keep reading for a complete guide on what to eat and drink on your next trip to Brazil! We’ve broken the cultural food down by region, and then by city for your convenience.
Food by Regions of Brazil
The food of Brazil varies greatly depending on region and where you’re travelling. We highly recommend visiting the Amazon, Salvador, Rio de Janeiro, and Iguazu Falls, each which falls within a different “food region” of Brazil. Let’s break it down by region for you.
Food of Northern Brazil
Heavily influenced by what is available in the Amazon forest and rivers, northern cuisine is full of fish and fruits. Açaí berry and the Brazil nut are just a few examples of foods to try in northern Brazil. We haven’t had the chance to visit the Amazon (yet) but will report back when we do!
Foods to Try:
- Açaí: superfruit common in northern Brazil
- Bombom de Cupuaçu: candy/dessert of condensed milk and fruit (tastes like banana and pear) covered with milk chocolate
- Tacacá: prawn and jambu soup with tucupi broth (the liquid made from processing cassava/manioc starch)
Food of Northeastern Brazil
Perhaps one of our favorites, northeastern cuisine is full of spices and unique flavors due to its heavy influence from African cuisine. We highly recommend visiting Salvador for a delicious culinary experience. Also coastal, there’s a lot of seafood – choose your seafood in a classic moqueca (Brazilian fish stew) or have the creamier alternative with shrimp in the bobó de camarão.
Foods to Try:
- Moqueca: a delicious, flavorful stew made with your choice of meat (we suggest fish)
- Bobó de Camarão: a creamier version of moqueca, with shrimp, cassava, and coconut milk
- Acarajé: the classic street food! fried black eyed peas typically fried into a taco shape, stuffed with spicy shrimp
Food of Central-West Brazil
The central-west region of Brazil has one of the finest meat and fishing regions of Brazil, and maybe even the world. You’ll find a lot of fish in the everyday food, because of the availability from the rivers. Plantains and dried meat are also staples.
Foods to Try:
- Pacu Assado: river fish stuffed with manioc flour, eggs, cilantro, bread crumbs and hot peppers
- Empadão Goiano: pie with chicken, sausage, cheese, olives, eggs, and herbs
- Carne Seca com Banana Verde: dried meat (like beef jerky) served with green bananas
Food of Southern Brazil
If you look at a map of South America, Brazil is HUGE. Because the southern part of Brazil is so close to Argentina and Uruguay, the food is heavily influenced by those countries. Therefore, barbeque or “churrasco” is the most common food to get in southern Brazil. If you’re American, keep in mind “barbeque” doesn’t mean flavored in American barbeque sauce. Typically this meat is seasoned with just some rock salt and “barbequed” on the fire.
Foods to Try:
- Churrasco: Brazilian barbeque, typically flavored with rock salt
- Tainha na Telha: fish stuffed with shrimp
- Arroz de Carreteiro: Brazilian version of fried rice with Brazilian jerky
Food of Southeastern Brazil
Hopefully at some point in your Brazil adventure, you stop by Rio de Janeiro, which is where you’ll experience some of the best southeastern cuisine of Brazil. Because this region is close to the coast, you’ll find plenty of seafood. Throughout Brazil, you’ll find a lot of meat stews, rice, and beans. Feijoada, which is a black bean and meat stew, is one of the most popular dishes of Rio, and definitely one to try.
Foods to Try:
- Feijoda: bean stew with different meats such as pig, bacon, beef, etc
- Pão de Queijo: cheese bread balls!
- Pastel: fried pastry (like a pizza pocket or empanada) stuffed with meat, cheese, and/or herbs
Food of Brazil by City
If you’re like us, or you’re following our Brazil itineraries, then you may find it easier to have a list of foods you should try by city/region you’re visiting. We’ve also included our recommended restaurants for your convenience!
What to Eat in Rio de Janeiro
If you’re interested in Rio, we recommend checking out Rio de Janeiro: Don’t Miss the Best of the City in this 3-Day Itinerary and all of our tagged destination (including restaurants and bars) in our Travel Maps.
Feijoada
Feijoada is one of the most popular dishes in Brazil. It’s typically a bean stew with different meats such as pig, bacon, beef, etc. At Bar do Mineiro, their feijoada is made with jerked meat, sausage, beef, rib, pork and is served with a side of rice, kale and farofa (toasted cassava/yuca flour). You can find this dish at almost any Brazilian restaurant in Rio, but Bar do Mineiro is a must-eat on any visit to the neighborhood of Santa Teresa.
Pão de Queijo
If you like cheese and bread, or cheese inside bread, you’ll love pão de queijo. It’s not quite like American mozzarella breads, nor like ravioli. The cheese is almost baked into the bread, so they’re almost fused. For anyone familiar with French cuisine, the dough has a choux-like texture (soft and pillowy). Also, these are typically made with cassava flour, which makes them gluten free!
Pastels
One of our favorites to eat during our trip to Rio de Janeiro was pastels. If you’ve ever had a pizza pocket, pierogi, fried ravioli, or any sort of pastry-like dough stuffed with cheese or meat, then you wont be surprised by a pastel. A pastel is the Brazilian equivalent of a savory stuffed pastry. The buttery, flaky crust is typically stuffed with some sort of meat and/or cheese and herb blend. Cannot go wrong with these! We got ours from Bar do Mineiro, but you can find these almost anywhere in Rio. The pastels at Portella Bar were also delicious.
Baião de Dois
Though this is a traditional dish that comes from northeastern Brazil (a bit north of Salvador), we ate baião de dios while in Rio. It was, without a doubt, one of our favorite dishes in all of Brazil. It’s a base of rice and beans mixed with cheese from northeast Brazil. At Portella Bar, they also add beef jerky to the mix. The dish was very buttery and addicting to eat.
Confeitaria Colombo
While Confeitaria Colombo isn’t a specific type of food, it’s a classic, must-visit in Rio, Brazil. So, we’ve decided to include a little guide for you here on what to eat. The cafe is famous for it’s floor-to-ceiling mirrors and dates back to the late 1800s. They’re used to the long queues waiting to be seated, so logistically they are quick with service to be able to serve everyone.
Cappuccino
Our waiter recommended the cappuccino, basically implying it was the “chef’s kiss” drink at the cafe. We agree – it was delicious.
Mil Folhas
Also known as a napoleon or mille feuille in other countries, the mil folhas was flying off the shelves at the café. Since everyone was ordering it, we had to get it. They have a chocolate option as well. This was Satish’s favorite!
Rabanada
Hands down, the best French toast we have ever had. It looked interesting, so we had to try it. Turns out, it’s a delicious brioche, French toast style, covered in sugar. Delicious! You have to try it!
Brigadeiro
We eyed this little treat while waiting in line, because the description said “a traditional Brazilian sweet.” As soon as you label it as a traditional food of Brazil, we can’t leave a restaurant without trying it – that’s how you truly experience another country’s culture! The origins of this treat are unknown, but it’s said to have originated right there in Rio. The inside is very thick, and essentially tastes like a very sweet ball of chocolate fudge. Needless to say, we couldn’t finish this one, delicious in small doses!
Brazil Food to Eat in Salvador
While food in Rio was cheesy, fried, and comforting, Salvador had some of the most exotic flavors of our trip. The African influence on the cuisine is heavy, and delicious.
Moqueca
If you eat ANY food in Brazil, let it be moqueca. The BEST moqueca we had was our first meal in Brazil, at Portal do Pelo. The waitress suggested we get the moqueca mista (mixed with fish and shrimp), though there are other options for vegetarian, shrimp only, shrimp and plantains, etc.
Bobó de Camarão
Cuco Bistro is another highly-rated restaurant in Salvador. If you read through their reviews, they have fantastic moqueca as well. We opted for the bobó here, as we had limited meals in Salvador.
Acarajé
Essentially the classic street food of Salvador, you can get this from any street vendor you see frying up food while walking through Salvador. We waited by a nice lady’s stand while she fried us some fresh acarajé and stuffed it with spicy shrimp. Street food (when safe) is always an authentic way to taste’s a country’s food, and in this case a great way to experience the food of Salvador, Brazil.
Xinxim
We had read about xinxim in our research of foods to eat while in Salvador, but we weren’t finding it on the restaurant menus around the Pelourinho neighborhood we were staying. Fortunately, we found Dona Mariqiuta in Rio Vermelho. Not only was the food delicious, but the restaurant really captured the African culture in their décor and outfits.
Xinxim is the perfect mix of Portuguese and Africans culture in one dish – a chicken stew with a rich sauce flavored with African spices.
Sarapatel
Sarapatel is a traditionally portugeuse dish that is now found in Brazil and India. As with most of the food from Brazil that we’ve discussed so far, it’s a stew, this time with a mix of innards – maybe some pork meat, liver, tongue, maybe some pork blood – diced, sauteed, and cooked with spices and a vinegar sauce. Maybe not something for the faint of heart, but, again, we’re here for the cultural experience.
Iguazu Falls (Foz do Iguaçu)
Barbeque
While we highly recommend visiting Iguazu Falls on the Brazilian side, where you will likely stay in Foz do Iguaçu, we were a bit let down by the culinary scene in the city. Our hotel didn’t have any Brazilian restaurant recommendations. So, we found a highly-rated Paraguay restaurant instead. The southern region of Brazil, like we mentioned above, is highly influenced by its neighborhing countries – Paraguay, Uruguay, and Argentina, so this still felt pretty authentic.
La Caverna gave us the perfect taste of barbeque, which gave us a taste for southern food of Brazil. They had an assorted meat option that came out to ~$50 USD and was plenty of food for 4 people (we were 2 people and we did not finish). The service was excellent, and we highly recommend eating here on a trip to Foz!
Alcohol of Brazil
If you drink alcohol, you can’t leave Brazil without trying their staples.
Caipirinha
The Caipirinha is the national cocktail of Brazil, and therefore you must have it. The liqueur is usually cachaça, the most popular spirit in Brazil. Cachaça is a liquor made of fermented sugar cane, and usually infused with fruits and spices. Each bar will have it’s own twist on caipirinha’s, the classic will likely have lime, but some will switch it up with strawberries, pinneapple, etc.
Cachaça
As the most popular spirit in Brazil, you obviously have to try cachaça. And, to motivate you further, it actually tastes good! It’s usually infused with spices and fruit, so the aftertaste and flavor itself is very good.
Best Bars of Brazil
Rio de Janeiro is very large, so we will let Google or TripAdvisor tell you the best bars. Otherwise, for these cities/neighborhoods, we can confidently say from our research and experience these are THE BEST in their area:
Salvador: O Cravinho – literally some of the best liquour we have ever had, and the crowd there day and night backs up their claim as best bar in Pelourinho, Salvador
Foz do Iguaçu: Zeppelin Old Bar – the locals told us this was the best bar in the area
Santa Teresa, Rio de Janeiro: Bar do Mineiro is the classic choice (tables fill fast), but any bar around the main square has a great vibe, food, and drinks
Found this post helpful? Subscribe to our blog or follow us on Instagram for our latest travel tips!
