Traditional Portuguese Food: What to Eat in Portugal

What should you eat in Portugal, and what comes first? Start with a pastel de nata and an espresso, then order bacalhau, Portugal's defining ingredient, at least once. Add caldo verde, grilled sardines if it's summer, and a francesinha if you're in Porto. A Portuguese meal runs three courses with soup first.

Save a Sunday for cozido à portuguesa or leitão da Bairrada. Both are traditionally weekend dishes, worth building a day around rather than ordering on a weeknight.
Order bacalhau once, in one of its three main forms. Shredded and scrambled (à Brás), baked in a casserole (à Gomes de Sá), or fried into bolinhos, the fritters.
Grilled sardines only run June to October. Outside that window, order a different fish.

The Portuguese dishes to eat first

Pastel de Nata

Iconic dish

From: Belém, Lisbon, invented by monks at the Jerónimos Monastery
When: breakfast or an afternoon snack, any season
Price: 1.30 to 1.70 euros for a single tart in Lisbon
Contains: egg and dairy; vegetarian

Lisbon's pastel de nata, a flaky custard tart with an egg-yolk filling, comes dusted with cinnamon and powdered sugar to taste. Monks first made them at the Jerónimos Monastery; after Portugal's 1820 revolution closed the monasteries, the recipe went commercial just outside its gates.

Eat one warm, with a shot of espresso. Pastelarias across the country sell their own version, and the original patisserie, built next to the monastery, still operates today.

Bacalhau

Iconic dish

From: nationwide; the fish itself is mostly imported from Norway today
When: lunch or dinner year-round; also a traditional Christmas Eve dish in some parts of Portugal, boiled with potatoes and cabbage
Contains: fish

Bacalhau, dried and salt-cured cod, comes with a saying: a recipe for every day of the year. Salting kept the catch edible through long voyages, before refrigeration. Portuguese supermarkets still keep a bacalhau counter of whole salted fillets.

Start with à Brás, shredded and quick at a tasca counter; save à Gomes de Sá, the baked casserole, for a sit-down meal, and order bolinhos, the fritters, as a snack between the two.

A stack of whole dried salt cod on a counter in Braga

Bacalhau à Brás

Iconic dish

From: Lisbon, nationwide today
When: lunch or dinner, year-round
Contains: fish, egg

Lisbon's bacalhau à Brás shreds the salt cod fine and scrambles it with matchstick fried potatoes and egg, finishing with black olives and parsley while the egg is still loose.

Order it in Lisbon's Bairro Alto, said to be where it originated, or in the tascas of Mouraria.

Bacalhau à Brás with black olives and a side salad, at a Lisbon restaurant

Bolinhos de Bacalhau

Iconic dish

From: nationwide
When: any time, as a starter or petisco
Contains: fish, egg

Salt cod, potato, egg, parsley and onion go into bolinhos de bacalhau, deep-fried crunchy on the outside and soft inside. Pastelarias sell them from the counter, and petisco bars serve them as a starter with a squeeze of lemon.

Order two or three to share while the rest of the meal is decided.

Three oval cod fritters on paper with olives and cheese on the side, in Lisbon

Caldo Verde

Iconic dish

From: Minho province, now nationwide
When: a starter at lunch or dinner, any season
Contains: pork by default (chouriço); ask whether the broth is vegetable- or chicken-based

Caldo verde, from the Minho, purees potato and onion into a thin soup, then adds very finely shredded collard greens and a slice of chouriço on top. A drizzle of olive oil and a piece of broa, the dense cornbread, usually come with it.

Ask for it without the chouriço if you don't eat meat, and check whether the broth itself is vegetable- or chicken-based.

Caldo verde with shredded kale and a single slice of chouriço, in Lisbon

Sardinhas Assadas

Iconic dish

From: nationwide, especially coastal towns
When: summer sardine season, June to October, lunch or dinner
Contains: fish

Whole sardines grilled over open coals and seasoned with nothing but salt make sardinhas assadas. They're served whole, head on, over boiled potatoes and salad, often on a slice of bread.

Lisbon's Festas de Santo António fill the city with grilled-sardine smoke every June, the same month as the neighborhood marches.

A platter of Portuguese-style grilled sardines

Francesinha

Iconic dish

From: Porto, inspired by the French croque-monsieur
When: lunch or dinner, any season
Price: 11 to 16 euros with fries and a beer in Porto; up to 18 euros in tourist areas
Contains: meat, dairy, sometimes egg

Porto's francesinha stacks ham, linguiça sausage and steak or roast meat on thick bread beneath melted cheese, then drowns it in a spiced tomato-and-beer sauce, sometimes under a fried egg, with fries on the side. Its name translates as "little French woman."

Order a cold beer with it, and don't plan anything strenuous afterward.

The 3-day Porto itinerary schedules a francesinha lunch on the day you land.

A francesinha under melted cheese and sauce, ringed with fries, at a café on Porto's Ribeira

Bifana

From: nationwide; Vendas Novas holds an annual bifanas festival
When: lunch or a late-night snack, any season
Price: 2.50 to 4.50 euros at a tasca counter
Contains: meat (pork)

A thin pork cutlet marinated in garlic, white wine and paprika becomes a bifana, served hot in a bread roll, mustard on the side if you want it. You eat it on your feet, gone in a few minutes.

Order one after a night out or at midday from any snack bar with a steaming pan of them behind the counter.

A bifana, thin marinated pork in a crusty roll, cut in half

Cozido à Portuguesa

From: nationwide; a volcano-cooked version is a specialty of Furnas, in the Azores
When: lunch, especially Sundays and winter
Contains: meat, pork

Cozido à portuguesa boils beef, pork, chicken, chouriço and morcela together with cabbage, carrots, potatoes and turnips, and serves the broth first. It's a Sunday family meal, and the meats and vegetables that follow come plated together or on separate dishes, depending on the kitchen.

In Furnas, in the Azores, cozido cooks underground in the heat of volcanic vents.

A plate of cozido à portuguesa with boiled meats, sausages, potato, carrot and greens

Leitão da Bairrada

From: the Mealhada and Bairrada region, near Coimbra
When: lunch, a festive or Sunday dish
Contains: meat (pork)

Leitão da Bairrada spit-roasts a suckling pig, four to six weeks old, seasoned with salt and pepper, until the skin crackles. The restaurants of Mealhada chop it into pieces and serve it skin-on, with orange slices, bread and a glass of the region's own sparkling wine.

Book ahead for Sunday lunch in Mealhada.

Chopped roast suckling pig with crackling skin on a platter, potato crisps behind

Porco Preto

From: the Alentejo
When: lunch or dinner, year-round
Contains: meat (pork)

Porco preto is the Iberian black pig, raised partly on acorns in the Alentejo's cork-oak groves, and prized for meat that marbles like a good steak. Alentejo restaurants grill the secretos and plumas cuts simply, or stew the meat with clams.

Order porco preto in the Alentejo, where the pigs are raised.

Two porco preto loin medallions wrapped in bacon with apple and a Port wine sauce, rice and fries beside

Polvo à Lagareiro

From: said to have started in central Portugal; nationwide today
When: lunch or dinner, traditionally also Christmas Eve
Contains: shellfish/seafood

Polvo à lagareiro roasts octopus until it's tender, then douses the whole tentacle in olive oil and serves it over smashed, "punched" potatoes. The potatoes are there to soak up the oil.

Seafood restaurants nationwide serve a version of it.

Roasted octopus tentacles glossy with olive oil beside small potatoes

Queijo da Serra da Estrela

Iconic dish

From: Serra da Estrela, mainland Portugal's highest mountain range
When: its own course, before or after the meal
Contains: vegetarian (thistle rennet, no animal rennet)

Thistle rennet, not the usual animal kind, curdles the raw sheep's milk behind Queijo da Serra da Estrela, leaving it almost liquid when young and firmer as it ages. Spoon out a young wheel at the table; slice an aged one.

An opened Serra da Estrela cheese in its paper wrapping, rind broken back to the paste

Vinho Verde

Iconic dish

From: Minho province, in Portugal's northwest
When: with lunch or dinner, especially in summer

Chill vinho verde and drink it while it's still "green": a young, lightly sparkling wine from the Minho, in red, white or rosé. The style pairs well with Portugal's seafood and fish.

Order the white with grilled fish.

A glass of pale vinho verde full of fine bubbles

Port wine

From: the Douro Valley, aged in Vila Nova de Gaia, across the river from Porto
When: an aperitif (dry and white styles) or a dessert wine (ruby and tawny), any season

Douro Valley grapes become Port when grape spirit fortifies them partway through fermentation, stopping the sugar from fully converting and leaving the wine sweet, strong and built to age. Styles range from a dry white, good before a meal, to a sweet ruby or tawny for after.

Cross the river from Porto to Vila Nova de Gaia, where the old wine lodges line the waterfront and most offer a tasting of their own cellar.

A glass of red Port on a wooden table in sunlight

Ginjinha

From: Lisbon; also Óbidos, Alcobaça and the Algarve
When: an after-dinner digestif, or a shot any time
Price: about 1.50 euros a shot at the two historic bars by Rossio

Steeping ginja berries, a kind of Morello cherry, in aguardente with sugar makes ginjinha, Lisbon's sour-cherry liqueur. Lisbon drinks it as a shot, often with a cherry left in the glass; in Óbidos, it's served in a small edible chocolate cup instead.

Order one standing outside A Ginjinha, on Largo de São Domingos, or Ginjinha Sem Rival, a few minutes' walk away on Rua das Portas de Santo Antão.

Two small chocolate cups filled with dark cherry ginjinha

The Seven Wonders of Portuguese Gastronomy

A 2011 public vote named seven dishes the Seven Wonders of Portuguese Gastronomy: alheira de Mirandela, arroz de marisco, caldo verde, leitão da Bairrada, pastel de Belém, Queijo da Serra da Estrela and sardinha assada. Five have a full entry above; alheira de Mirandela and arroz de marisco are in the tables below.

More petiscos, cheese and charcuterie to try

Petiscos are small plates, like tapas, shared from the middle of the table.

Petisco	What it is	From
Alheira de Mirandela	bread-and-meat sausage, traditionally made without pork, grilled or fried and served with egg and fries	Mirandela, Trás-os-Montes
Queijo de Azeitão	semi-soft, creamy sheep's-milk cheese curdled with thistle rennet	Azeitão, Setúbal Peninsula
Queijo São Jorge	firm, aged cow's-milk cheese, at least three months old	São Jorge Island, the Azores
Requeijão	fresh, spreadable, ricotta-like whey cheese	nationwide
Presunto	dry-cured ham, Portugal's answer to prosciutto or jamón	Chaves and Barrancos
Chouriço	smoked pork sausage seasoned with paprika and garlic	nationwide
Farinheira	smoked sausage made from flour and pork fat rather than meat	Borba, Estremoz and Portalegre
Pão de Deus	sweet bread roll topped with a coconut crust	nationwide
Broa de milho	dense, round cornbread, not sweet, with a thick crust	nationwide, especially the north
Conservas	tinned sardines, tuna and mackerel, often in decorative, collectible tins	coastal canneries such as Matosinhos
Morcela	blood sausage	nationwide
Prego	a thin steak sandwich in a bread roll	nationwide
Croquetes de carne	fried croquettes, usually beef, a standard bar snack	nationwide
Bolo do caco	sweet-potato flatbread, cooked on a hot stone and split for garlic butter	Madeira
Cachorrinho	Porto's own hot dog, with melted cheese and a spicy sauce	Porto
Caracóis	stewed snails, a summer bar snack	nationwide, especially Lisbon
Chouriço assado	whole chouriço flambéed at the table in a clay dish	nationwide, especially the Algarve
Peixinhos da horta	green beans battered and fried, said to have inspired Japanese tempura	nationwide
Pica-pau	diced beef or pork cubes in a garlic-mustard sauce	nationwide

Ask before you order alheira if you don't eat pork: it was invented as a sausage without pork, made from bread and poultry or game instead, but a modern version now often contains pork.

Mains beyond the classics

Order each dish where it comes from: cataplana de marisco in the Algarve, tripas à moda do Porto in Porto, açorda à Alentejana in the Alentejo.

Dish	What it is	From
Amêijoas à Bulhão Pato	clams steamed in garlic, white wine and coriander, named for a 19th-century poet	nationwide
Frango Piri-Piri	grilled chicken basted in a chili sauce with roots in Portuguese Africa	nationwide
Cataplana de marisco	seafood stew cooked in a hinged, clam-shaped copper pan	the Algarve
Arroz de marisco	soupy seafood rice with shrimp, clams, crab and mussels in a garlicky tomato broth	coastal, nationwide
Arroz de pato	baked duck rice, traditionally linked to the north	nationwide today
Açorda à Alentejana	bread soup thickened with day-old bread, garlic and coriander, often with shrimp or egg	the Alentejo
Tripas à Moda do Porto	tripe stew with white beans, chicken and sausage	Porto
Carne de Porco à Alentejana	pork and clams, cooked together with garlic and paprika	the Alentejo
Bitoque	steak topped with a fried egg, served with rice and fries	nationwide
Caldeirada	a fisherman's stew of mixed fish and shellfish	coastal towns such as Nazaré and Peniche
Arroz de cabidela	rice cooked with chicken or duck and its own blood	northern Portugal
Arroz de tamboril	monkfish rice	coastal, nationwide
Bacalhau à Gomes de Sá	flaked cod layered with potato, onion, olives and egg, then baked	Porto
Chanfana	goat stewed for hours in red wine	Miranda do Corvo and Vila Nova de Poiares
Lapas grelhadas	grilled limpets	the Azores and Madeira
Alcatra	beef pot-roasted for hours with wine and spices	Terceira Island, the Azores
Iscas com elas	fried liver with potatoes, an old Lisbon tavern dish	Lisbon
Rojões	pork cubes fried after marinating, part of the Carnival-season cozido spread	the Minho
Sapateira recheada	spider crab, cooked and served stuffed back into its own shell	coastal, nationwide
Feijoada à transmontana	bean stew with pork and sausage	Trás-os-Montes

Desserts beyond pastel de nata

On a day trip to Sintra, buy travesseiros there, the town they come from.

Try free

Plan your Portugal trip in about 2 minutes

Tap through 8 quick cards for a complete itinerary with budget, maps, and packing lists. No account required.

Plan your Portugal trip →

Dessert	What it is	From
Arroz doce	rice pudding with egg yolks, milk and cinnamon, a holiday staple	nationwide
Travesseiros de Sintra	pillow-shaped puff pastry filled with egg-and-almond cream	Sintra

What else to drink

With a francesinha, order a Super Bock or Sagres, the two national lagers.

Drink	What it is	From
Aguardente vínica	strong, clear grape-spirit brandy, also used to fortify Port and Madeira wine	nationwide, especially the Douro
Portuguese beer	light lager; Super Bock and Sagres are the two national brands	nationwide
Madeira wine	fortified wine ranging from a dry Sercial to a sweet Malmsey	Madeira
Licor Beirão	herbal liqueur	Lousã, in the Beira region
Moscatel de Setúbal	fortified muscat wine	the Setúbal Peninsula

Portuguese coffee orders

Coffee	What it is	Price
Bica	a small, strong shot of espresso; Lisbon's name for it, called a cimbalino in Porto	0.50 to 1 euro a cup
Galão	coffee and milk in a tall glass, roughly a quarter to half coffee	varies by café

Ask for a meia de leite for a smaller, cup-sized version of a galão, or a descafeinado for decaf.

Portuguese food by region

A MonkeyEatingMango itinerary schedules each region's dishes as you move from city to city.

Region	Known for
Lisbon	pastel de nata, bacalhau à Brás, ginjinha
Porto	francesinha, tripas à moda do Porto, Port wine
Minho	vinho verde, the origin of caldo verde
Alentejo	açorda, carne de porco à alentejana, porco preto
Trás-os-Montes	alheira de Mirandela, feijoada à transmontana
Bairrada, near Coimbra	leitão da Bairrada
Setúbal Peninsula	Queijo de Azeitão, Moscatel de Setúbal
Sintra	travesseiros
The Algarve	cataplana de marisco
The Azores	the underground-cooked cozido of Furnas, Queijo São Jorge
Madeira	bolo do caco, Madeira wine

When and how do the Portuguese eat?

Lunch starts around 1pm and often lasts over an hour; dinner is generally around 8pm. Both meals usually open with a soup, most often caldo verde.

A Portuguese breakfast is lighter: fresh bread with butter, ham, cheese or jam, and coffee, often with a pastel de nata on the side.

Eating out in Portugal: tipping, the bill and water

Tipping in Portugal is not expected, since service is usually built into the price. Round up the bill, or leave 5 to 10 percent when the service earns it.

Ask for a conta, se faz favor (the bill, please) when you're ready to go.

You'll find vegetarian and vegan restaurants in Lisbon and Porto. In smaller towns, order bread, cheese, soup and vegetable sides. Não como carne means "I don't eat meat."

Tap water in Portugal is safe to drink, but restaurants don't serve it free, so bring a reusable bottle to refill during the day.

EU rules require a restaurant to disclose 14 named allergens, from gluten and milk to eggs and shellfish, so ask before you order if one applies to you.

Plan your Portugal trip around the food

The Portugal travel guide covers how long to stay and how to move between the mainland, the Algarve and the islands. The 7-day Portugal itinerary splits a week between Lisbon and the beaches of Lagos, and the 10-day Portugal road trip adds Évora, in the Alentejo, along the way.

Your MonkeyEatingMango trip plan names a dish to order at each lunch and dinner.

Plan your Portugal trip

See a real example

Vienna, Austria

Austria · 4 days itinerary

Grand Canyon, United States

United States · 3 days itinerary

London, United Kingdom

United Kingdom · 3 days itinerary

Lisbon, Portugal; Lagos, Portugal

Portugal · 7 days itinerary

Last updated November 2026.

Common questions

What is the national dish of Portugal?

Bacalhau, salt cod, is Portugal's closest thing to a national dish: it has been a staple for centuries, and Portuguese cooks joke that there is a recipe for every day of the year.

What are the most famous Portuguese dishes?

Pastel de nata and grilled sardines are Portugal's best-known dishes. Bacalhau à Brás, caldo verde and Queijo da Serra da Estrela follow close behind, and francesinha is Porto's best-known dish.

What food is Lisbon famous for?

Lisbon is famous for pastel de nata, invented by monks at the Jerónimos Monastery in Belém and first sold commercially just outside its gates, and for bacalhau à Brás, a Lisbon dish of shredded cod with fried potatoes and egg. Ginjinha, the city's sour-cherry liqueur, is sold as a shot from small bars near Rossio.

What food is Porto famous for?

Porto is famous for francesinha, a ham, sausage and steak sandwich drowned in a beer-and-tomato sauce, and for tripas à moda do Porto, a tripe stew that gave the city's residents the nickname tripeiros. Port wine itself ages across the river, in Vila Nova de Gaia.

What do Portuguese people eat for breakfast?

A Portuguese breakfast is simple: fresh bread with butter, ham, cheese or jam, alongside coffee. A pastel de nata with an espresso is also a common breakfast.

Is Brazilian food the same as Portuguese food?

No. Portuguese cooking leans Mediterranean, built on seafood, olive oil and garlic, while Brazilian cuisine draws on Indigenous, African and immigrant influences and runs bolder and more varied by region. Feijoada is one name for two different dishes: Portugal's is a bean stew eaten nationwide, with Trás-os-Montes' version among the best known, and Brazil's grew into a separate dish of its own.

Do you need to tip at restaurants in Portugal?

Tipping in Portugal is not expected, since service is usually built into the price. Rounding up the bill, or leaving 5 to 10 percent for especially good service, is the norm.

Is food expensive in Portugal?

Portuguese food is inexpensive by Western European standards, especially away from restaurants aimed at tourists. A pastel de nata runs 1.30 to 1.70 euros, and a bifana at a tasca counter costs 2.50 to 4.50 euros.

Is Portuguese food good for vegetarians?

Eating vegetarian in Portugal is getting easier, especially in Lisbon and Porto, where vegetarian and vegan restaurants are now common. Smaller towns are trickier, but bread, cheese, soups and vegetable sides are reliable fallbacks everywhere; caldo verde can be ordered without its chouriço, though it's worth asking whether the broth itself is vegetable- or chicken-based.

What are the Seven Wonders of Portuguese Gastronomy?

The Seven Wonders of Portuguese Gastronomy are the winners of a 2011 public vote: alheira de Mirandela, arroz de marisco, caldo verde, leitão da Bairrada, pastel de Belém, Queijo da Serra da Estrela and sardinha assada.

What's the difference between bacalhau à Brás and bacalhau à Gomes de Sá?

Bacalhau à Brás shreds the cod fine and scrambles it with matchstick fried potatoes and egg. Bacalhau à Gomes de Sá, named for a Porto cod merchant's son, layers flaked cod with sliced potatoes, onions, olives and hard-boiled egg and bakes it. Brás is the faster tasca dish; Gomes de Sá is the slower casserole.