Portuguese Recipes

Portuguese Cuisine: Rich in Tradition, Bold in Flavor

At Leite’s Culinaria, I’ve been cooking, writing, and sharing these dishes for years—many of them passed down from my Portuguese family. This page is your passport to all things Portuguese, with a curated collection of my favorite recipes.

What Makes Portuguese Cuisine Unique?

• Blindingly Fresh Seafood: With its long Atlantic coastline, Portugal naturally celebrates seafood. Bacalhau (salt cod) is the most iconic dish—so beloved there are said to be more than 365 ways to prepare it. But you’ll also find plenty of sardines, octopus, clams, and fresh-caught fish on tables across the country.
• Hearty Meats: Pork is essential to Portuguese cooking—especially in sausages like chouriço and linguiça. Stews made with beef or chicken are also common, often slow-cooked with wine, garlic, and herbs.
• Bold, Simple Seasonings: Portuguese flavors come from a handful of core ingredients: garlic, olive oil, bay leaves, paprika, parsley, cilantro, and spicy piri-piri chiles. These create deeply flavorful food without being fussy.
• Comforting Soups & Stews: Soup is a staple in most Portuguese homes. Caldo verde—made with potatoes, kale, and chouriço—is a national favorite. Other popular dishes include seafood stews like caldeirada, often made with whatever the fishermen brought in that day.
• Irresistible Sweets: Portugal’s desserts are famous for good reason. From the crisp, creamy pastéis de nata (Portuguese custard tarts) to the malasadas (sugar-dusted fritters) my grandmother made, to the redolent orange-olive oil cake sweets here lean heavily on egg yolks, sugar, fruit, and tradition.

Explore My Portuguese Recipe Collection

Below, you’ll find a curated list of the best Portuguese recipes on Leite’s Culinaria. Whether you’re exploring your heritage, reliving a trip, or simply curious about the cuisine, you’ll find classic seafood dishes, rustic stews, savory sides, and iconic desserts.

Each recipe includes detailed instructions, ingredients, and tips I’ve gathered over years of testing and cooking. Just click on a recipe to get started—and bring the flavors of Portugal into your kitchen. Bom apetite.

Chow,

Hey, I’m David Leite

I’m a three-time James Beard Award-winning food writer, cookbook author, memoirist, podcast host, and publisher. I created this site in 1999 to help you find simple, quick, and wicked flavorful recipes. For the past 24 years, I’ve been cooking, teaching, and writing about all types of food, including those from my Portuguese heritage. Let’s eat! Vamos comer!

Read More About Me

Salt Cod ~ Bacalhau

Bacalhau a Gomes de Sa

2 hrs 10 mins

Bacalhau a Bras ~ Salt Cod, Potatoes & Eggs

1 hr 15 mins

Pastéis de Bacalhau ~ Salt Cod Fritters

1 hr 15 mins

Portuguese Salt Cod with Garlic-Pepper Sauce

20 mins

Portuguese Salt Cod and Chickpea Salad

2 hrs 30 mins

Christmas Eve Cod ~ Bacalhau da Consoada

1 hr

Well, bakers, I finally did it. I improved on my pastel de nata recipe. I took me the better part of a year, but I crafted a recipe that 1.) is way easier to make (none of that endless rolling), 2.) has a creamer, foolproof custard that doesn’t curdle, 3.) sports more frilly, crispy layers, and 4.) can be frozen and enjoyed whenever your heart desires.

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All-Time Favorites

Pastel de Nata ~ Portuguese Custard Tarts

Not Portuguese? Not a problem. It won’t lessen your appreciation for these little lovelies with the shatteringly crisp pastry cradling ridiculously creamy custard.

2 hrs 30 mins

Portuguese Orange Olive Oil Cake

This classic Portuguese dessert with its tender crumb and citrus smack tastes as stunning as it looks. Swear.

1 hr 30 mins

Milk Mayonnaise

Maionese de leite in Portuguese, milk mayonnaise–you heard us–is a creamy, eggless emulsion held together by oil, milk (natch), and a lotta love.

5 mins

Carne de Porco à Alentejana ~ Portuguese Pork and Clams

A specialty of Portugal that’s a superbly comforting and oh-so-satisfying dish of marinated pork shoulder and briny clams in a white wine and red pepper sauce.

4 hrs

Soup ~ Sopa

Portuguese Bean Soup

A leisurely way to make a super comforting and filling soup that makes rainy days more bearable. And the leftovers are even better.

5 hrs 30 mins

Caldo Verde ~ Portuguese Green Soup

Considered Portugal’s national dish, caldo verde, or green soup, is a homey dish of potatoes, kale sliced whisker thin, and smoky pork sausage.

1 hr 5 mins

Portuguese White Gazpacho with Crab

This pale Portuguese-inspired soup and salad makes up for in taste what it lacks in tradition.

30 mins

Portuguese Fennel Soup

Fennel soup, or sopa de funcho in Portuguese, is a staple in Madeira and the Azores Islands. This recipe is full of fennel, pork, sausage, cabbage, and beans.

2 hrs

Shrimp ~ Camarão

Grilled Shrimp with Piri-Piri Sauce

A simple hot pepper sauce made from piri-piri peppers brings big flavor to shrimp in mere minutes. Those Portuguese know what they’re doing.

3 hrs

Portuguese Shrimp Turnovers ~ Rissóis de Camarão

A Portuguese classic, these diminutive shrimp turnovers boast a filling that’s creamy and comforting yet made interesting with a little heat. All tidily packaged in fried dough.

2 hrs

Portuguese Bread Soup with Shrimp ~ Açorda de Mariscos

Known as Açorda de Mariscos in Portugal, this robust “soup” of shrimp, bread, and rice is a satiating meal in a bowl.

1 hr 30 mins

Fish & Seafood

Portuguese Clams with Vinho Verde ~ Amêijoas à Bulhão Pato

A poetic take on fresh clams simmered in white wine. This comforting Portuguese classic is sorta the epitome of simple done well.

45 mins

Portuguese Fisherman’s Stew

All the iconic ingredients of Portugal—shellfish, cod, sausage, onion, garlic, and tomatoes—collide in this delicious stew.

1 hr 35 mins

Portuguese Fish Chowder

An intoxicatingly aromatic Portuguese classic that’s a tomato-based combo of stew and soup and chowder made of fish, potatoes, and chorizo.

2 hrs 15 mins

Portuguese Salt Cod with Garlic-Pepper Sauce

Few things are as Portuguese as fried salt cod served with a garlic and red pepper sauce. It’s a specialty of the Azores. Tasting is believing.

20 mins

Desserts ~ Sobremesa

Portuguese Sweet Lemon-Black Olive Cookies

We think these conversation-starting cookies defy the laws of physics. When you experience what big flavors they flaunt for something so thin, we think you, too, will be convinced.

50 mins

Serradura ~ Portuguese Sawdust Pudding

Perhaps the easiest dessert ever, this simple yet stunning Portuguese staple is made with just three ingredients. Cookies. Cream. And sweetened condensed milk.

1 d 30 mins

Portuguese Chocolate Salami

An easy, no-bake, Portuguese classic made with crushed cookies, confectioners’ sugar, cocoa powder, and whatever nuts or dried fruit you happen to have around. And (hiccup) Port.

2 hrs

Portuguese Mini Lemon-Orange Cakes ~ Queques

These diminutive queques are flavored with a hint of citrus that’s equally welcome at breakfast, tea, or any other hour of the day, quite frankly.

45 mins

FAQs about Salt Cod

Because salt cod is one of Portugal’s iconic foods, many think the Portuguese were instrumental in its discovery, which, alas, they weren’t. Nearly five hundred years before the Portuguese began fishing for cod in the Grand Banks off the coast of Newfoundland, the Vikings had stumbled upon one of the world’s largest caches of cod and figured out how to air-dry the fish.

The reason why salt cod is so prized in the Portuguese community, besides being a cheap and shelf-stable staple, is because the drying and salting give a superior taste and texture to an otherwise characterless fish. When a meaty slab of bacalhau is properly desalted and cooked, it will flake perfectly and have just the slightest toothsomeness.

What should I look for when buying bacalhau?

Look for salt cod, preferably from Norway, in Portuguese, Italian, Greek, Spanish, or Latin markets. I’ve also had very good luck with several online purveyors. Buy the thickest, firmest pieces possible; they’ll make for a more substantial meal and a prettier presentation.

How do you desalt salt cod?

To reconstitute the bacalhau, rinse it well under running water to remove surface salt. Place the pieces in a large bowl and cover with cold water by 2 inches. Stretch plastic wrap over the top and refrigerate, changing the water several times, until the fish is sufficiently desalted for you. Take a nibble—it’s perfectly safe to eat. If it’s too salty, change the water again, and let it sit for a few more hours. The process can take anywhere from 12 to 48 hours, depending on the size of the fillet. Above all, bear this in mind: you can always add more salt, but you can’t remove it from a finished dish.