Portuguese
Salt cod, custard tarts, and a coastline that taught the world to cook with piri-piri.
Bacalhau
Salted codfish, often prepared in numerous ways, is a staple of Portuguese cuisine and cultural heritage.
View page →Portuguese cooking is built around the Atlantic, with salt cod (bacalhau) as the national obsession — said to have a recipe for every day of the year, from bacalhau à brás (shredded with potato and egg) to bolinhos de bacalhau (cod fritters). Grilled sardines are a summer staple, and caldo verde is the everyday soup: thinly sliced kale in a potato base with a few coins of chouriço sausage. Inland, cozido à portuguesa is a big boiled dinner of meats, sausages, and vegetables, and the francesinha from Porto is a stacked meat sandwich smothered in a beer-and-tomato sauce with melted cheese. Piri-piri chicken, grilled with chili, comes by way of the former African colonies. The famous dessert is pastel de nata, a custard tart with a scorched, caramelized top, and port wine from the Douro valley is the national fortified wine.
The Palate
Start Here
The custard tart that launched a thousand bakeries.
Why start here · Teaches you Portuguese pastry — the contrast of shatteringly crisp pastry and wobbly custard.
Shredded salt cod scrambled with eggs and matchstick potatoes.
Why start here · Shows how Portugal transforms preserved fish into comfort food.
Porto's answer to the croque-monsieur — buried in cheese and beer sauce.
Why start here · The most unapologetically excessive sandwich in Europe.
Kale, potato, chouriço — nothing more, nothing less.
Why start here · Teaches the Portuguese philosophy: few ingredients, no shortcuts.
Cook First
The easiest way in
The Pantry
See all 137 ingredients›
Sauces & Condiments
Regional Kitchens
Four regional kitchens, from the green north to the Atlantic islands. Tap a region to see its table.
Central canon — Lisbon's bacalhau dishes, the pastel de nata, June sardines on charcoal, the country's most exported face.
Northern Portugal — kale soup, port wine country, francesinha, slow-cooked pork in red sauces. Lush green hills meet the Atlantic.
South-inland — wheat plains, black pork, garlic-and-bread thrift cooking, cork-oak savanna's deep regional kitchen.
South coast and Atlantic islands — clams, octopus, piri-piri, copper-pan cataplana, island flatbreads with garlic butter.
How They Cook
Techniques that define this cuisine
Kindred Kitchens
Cuisines built on the same signature ingredients
Signature Dishes (61)
Browse all 61 dishes›
Drinks
1Starters
5
Soups
5
Mains
28
