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Brazilian Style: Party Food in Brazil

Thursday November 11th, 2021
Posted by: Amanda Ennes
Category: Brazil

If you have never been to one of your Brazilian friend’s birthday celebrations, you have no idea what you are missing. The party food in Brazil is really diversified, abundant, and delicious. From mouthwatering savory appetizers to candies from heaven, the party food in Brazil is definitely an attraction of its own.

Salgadinhos: Brazilian Dumplings

Salgadinhos are bite-sized appetizers that are served as finger food in parties and social gatherings. They usually consist of a deep-fried or baked dough with different kinds of shapes and fillings, such as chicken, meat, vegetables, or cheese.

Larger versions of Salgadinhos, called Salgados, are usually sold in bakeries and cafés. A good example of Salgado is the Brazilians favorite Coxinha.

Salgadinho might also be called Salgadinho de Festa (Party Salgadinho) to differ it from corn puffs, which might also be called Salgadinho in some parts of the country.

Check our blog post: Coxinha in Brazil – Brazilians Favorite Deep-Fried Snack

Quibe

A traditional Middle Eastern dish called kibbeh was adapted to Brazilian cuisine with local ingredients and preparation. Quibe is a deep-fried snack made with bulgur wheat, minced beef, mint, onions, and spices.

Bolinha de Queijo

Deep-fried dough filled with cheese.

Coxinha

Finger-food version of the famous Brazilian Coxinha. A deep-fried dough filled with shredded and well-seasoned chicken breasts.

Rissole

A deep-fried appetizer shaped like a half-moon that might be filled with meat, fish, or cheese. Shrimp is the most popular flavor of rissole as party food in Brazil. Rissole might also be written as risole with one S.

Croquete

The dough used to make croquete (in Portuguese, croquette is written with one T) is the same used for bolinha de queijo or rissole, but this Salgadinho is shaped like a cylinder and filled with shredded roast beef or minced beef.

Enroladinhode salsicha

There are two kinds of enroladinho de salsicha, or hotdog sausage rolls. For the deep-fried one, a hotdog sausage is wrapped with the same base dough used for bolinha de queijo, croquete, and rissole and cut into bite-size pieces. After that, it is deep-fried and ready to serve.

For the baked version, a third of a hotdog sausage is wrapped in a bread-like dough or puff pastry and baked.

Empadinha

A small pie, which may be served in a wide variety of fillings, such as minced beef, heart of palm, cheese, codfish, shredded chicken, shrimp, vegetables, and more.

Camarão Empanado

A crispy deep-fried shrimp, in which a headless shrimp is wrapped in dough, covered in breadcrumbs, and deep-fried with its tail sticking out of the dough.

Bolinho de Bacalhau

Deep-fried codfish cake.

Bolinho de aipim

This is a popular party food in Brazil. Mashed cassava is used in the dough, which might be filled with minced beef, shredded dried meat, shrimp, cheese, and other ingredients.

Folhado

Any Salgadinho made with puff pastry is called folhado. The pastry may be filled with meat, chicken, fish, vegetables, and any other ingredient.

Popular flavors of folhados served as party food in Brazil include shredded chicken, bacon and plum, bacon and pineapple, brie cheese and apricot, spinach and ricotta, sun-dried tomato, cheese and ham, and more.

Other finger food served at parties in Brazil

While Salgadinhos are the life of any party in Brazil, other types of food are also popular in Brazilian celebrations, especially at kids’ birthday parties.

Pizza bites
Sliders

Hot dogs
Popcorn
French fries

Submarine sandwiches

In Brazil, these kinds of sandwiches are called Sanduíche a Metro, which means a one-meter sandwich. They are cut into several pieces so people can help themselves.

Pastel

A half-circle or rectangle-shaped crispy-crust deep-fried pastry filled with different ingredients, such as minced beef, cheese, shrimp, and others. It resembles the Spanish empanada, but crunchier and greasier.

Docinhos: Party Candies

After eating so many delicious savory appetizers and feeling you are already done with food, be prepared! After Brazilians sing happy birthday (do not forget to clap your hands while singing — it’s tradition), and cut the cake, an assortment of party candies is served. And they are just as important for birthday parties in Brazil as the savory snacks presented above.

These party candies are called docinhos. Check them out.

Brigadeiro

You might know this one — the most famous Brazilian dessert. Brigadeiro is a chocolate fudge ball made of condensed milk, cocoa powder, and butter. It is then rolled in chocolate sprinkles.

Beijinho

Same thing as brigadeiro, but instead of cocoa powder, you would use grated coconut to make it. After it is done, roll your candy in grated coconut as well. Some people use dried cloves to decorate it.

Cajuzinho

Cajuzinho means little cashew in Portuguese. However, instead of what it looks like, this candy does not contain any cashew in it. To make cajuzinho, you add ground peanuts to the brigadeiro recipe and shape your candy to resemble a cashew fruit. After that, roll your candy in sugar and decorate it with half a peanut on one of its sides.

Olho de Sogra

Olho de sogra means mother-in-law’s eye in Portuguese. Weird, huh? The origin of this name is dubious, but to make olho de sogra, just add a beijinho on top of a prune and roll it in granulated sugar.

Bicho de Pé

Bicho de pé is a strawberry fudge truffle made of condensed milk, strawberry powder or strawberry jelly powder, and butter. Roll it in sugar.

Surpresa de Uva

Just roll a grape in white brigadeiro (same recipe, without the cocoa powder) and voilá. Some people may also add powdered milk to their white brigadeiro.