This article was originally published in 2019 and most recently updated on June 4, 2026, with current information.
If there’s one dish you’ll find everywhere across Portugal, it’s the country’s most famous food, bacalhau. This salted cod, which has been eaten since the 14th century, can be baked as a filet or in casseroles; grilled and served with rice; or shredded with scrambled eggs, onions, and fried potatoes, among many other iterations. Because it’s so ubiquitous, we haven’t included bacalhau on this list of iconic foods to try in Portugal. But if you’re keen to try it, consider Solar do Bacalhau in the lovely medieval university city of Coimbra.
The dining scene across Portugal balances Michelin-star restaurants helmed by high-profile chefs such as Marlene Vieira, José Avillez, and Rita Magro with casual stalwarts like a nearly 200-year-old Lisbon bakery selling pastel de nata to crowds of alfacinhas (“little lettuces,” the nickname for Lisbon residents) and tourists. Here’s what and where to eat on your next trip to Portugal, whether you’re going for a long weekend in Lisbon or swimming in the chilly Atlantic along the country’s 1,100 miles of coastline.
Pastel de nata (egg custard tart)
Where to try it
- Pastéis de Belém, Lisbon | View on Google Maps
Portugal’s most beloved dessert is a tiny, decadent egg tart with a satisfyingly rich taste. This creamy, golden-yellow treat is usually less than two euros and is sold country-wide. Pastel de natas trace their roots to the Jerónimos Monastery in the Lisbon district of Belém. Centuries ago, monks and nuns would starch their clothes with egg whites, leaving them plenty of leftover yolks to bake into sweet treats. Facing the closure of convents and monasteries following the Liberal Revolution of 1820, monks started selling their tarts at a nearby sugar refinery, and the popular Pastéis de Belém bakery was born there in 1837.
The original recipe remains under lock and key, but the secret is in the textural yin and yang between the creamy egg custard filling and the flaky pastry shell. Powdered sugar and/or cinnamon are sprinkled over the top according to taste.
You’ll become a sucker for octopus when you taste polvo à Lagareiro.
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Polvo à Lagareiro (octopus with olive oil and potatoes)
Where to try it
- Páteo, Lisbon | View on Google Maps
One of the most ubiquitous dishes across the country and one nearly guaranteed to be locally sourced, polvo à lagareiro is said to have originated in the central Portuguese region known as the Beiras. Its beauty is in its simplicity: A meaty piece of octopus—tentacles and all—is roasted, doused in olive oil and garlic, and served alongside slow-baked potatoes.
A top example is the version at Páteo, one of the more casual kitchens belonging to the culinary empire of chef José Avillez. One of the country’s most well-known chefs, Avillez contributed significantly to Portugal’s gastronomic revival with the success of the two-Michelin-starred Belcanto, so don’t miss his take on this delicious homeland classic with a rapini and onion sauce.
Porco preto served with greens and potatoes is a typical Portuguese dish.
Photo by Bruno Ismael Silva Alves/Shutterstock
Porco preto (black Iberian pork)
Where to try it
Iberian-native black pigs (porco preto) are believed to be the descendants of pigs originally brought to the peninsula by the Phoenicians, who interbred their swine with wild boars to produce the unique breed that exists today in Portugal and Spain. The Portuguese enjoy porco preto as charcuterie (presunto ibérico), grilled (secretos, a fattier, pork belly–like cut), and enchidos (pork sausages), but nothing touches the astonishing, slow-cooked version at Évora’s Taberna Típica Quarta-feira in the interior region of Alentejo—the heart of pork country. This succulent, acorn-fed pork is cooked in its own juices (think Mexican carnitas) and served all-you-can-eat style in this simple, family-run tavern. Clear your schedule—you’re done for the day.
Related: The Most Photogenic Places in Portugal That Only Locals Know About, According to a Photographer
Milho frito (fried corn)
Where to try it
- Praça Velha, Madeira | View on Google Maps
Finding vegetarian food in Portugal when eating in traditional restaurants is not easy. This is a cuisine in which seafood and meat rule, so it’s essential to know the names of a few vegetarian dishes. If you’re on the archipelago of Madeira, look out for milho frito. These cubes of fried cornmeal studded with couve (collard greens) are everything you want in a bar snack: warm, crispy, and slightly addictive. Though these are usually fried in vegetable oil, it doesn’t hurt to double check that the kitchen isn’t using lard.
Enjoy a plate of milho frito with the Atlantic right next to your table at Praça Velha, a casual seaside spot in a glass box where you can sit indoors with the windows open or on small terrace.
Arroz de pato, or duck rice, is a popular and filling Portuguese dish.
Photo by Sergii Koval/Shutterstock
Arroz de pato (duck rice)
Where to try it
- Cozinha da Terra, Louredo | View on Google Maps
Pork aside, duck rice is one of Portugal’s finest meat moments, a perfect marriage of succulent duck and Carolino rice. The boiled and shredded duck is added to a bed of rice that’s been cooked in duck stock, onions, and garlic; it’s then baked a bit, garnished with spicy chouriço sausage, and served alongside orange slices. The dish is believed to come from Braga in northwestern Portugal, 33 miles northeast of Porto. In the small town of Louredo, about 25 miles east of Porto, you can dig into this delicacy at the 17th-century farmhouse of Teresa Ruão, the chef behind Cozinha da Terra and four-room guesthouse Casa de Louredo.
Rich in calcium, B12, and omega 3, sardines are a delicious and nutrient-packed Portuguese favorite.
Photo by by Nilo Velez
Sardinhas assadas (grilled sardines)
Where to try it
- O Pitéu da Graça, Lisbon | View on Google Maps
The irresistible scent of grilling sardines fills the air in the more traditional neighborhoods throughout Lisbon (and elsewhere) during the summer festive season. Join in the mid-June celebrations of one of Portugal’s most beloved saints, Santo António, the patron saint of Lisbon, with a handful of crispy grilled sardines. They’re readily available from June to October, when sardines are at their plumpest; outside of that period, they are likely to have been frozen.
Their preparation is simple: seasoned with coarse salt, the sardines are slapped on grills over hot coals, then eaten with broa (a crusty corn and rye bread) or, in restaurants, served with traditional sides of bell pepper salad and boiled potatoes. In Lisbon, head to O Pitéu da Graça, a gastronomic reference point for traditional Portuguese cuisine for more than three decades.
The Francesinha is a sauce-covered sandwich that’s popular as a hangover cure.
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Francesinha (“Little Frenchie”)
Where to try it
- Lado B Cafe, Porto | View on Google Maps
Portugal’s “Little Frenchie” is a heart-stopping stack of wet cured ham, linguiça sausage, steak or roast beef, and melted cheese (sometimes a fried egg as well) on thick bread drowned in a hot tomato and beer sauce (and served with french fries, of course). It is the pride of Porto, a hangover cure, and a one-and-done culinary caravan of everything that is phenomenal about a regional food specialty. It’s fantastic.
Its name hints at its history: Portuguese emigrants to France, not to be outdone by that nation’s iconic croque monsieur, evidently boasted, “Segura a minha cerveja!” (“Hold my beer!”) to their French friends and concocted Francesinha. Competition and opinion among Porto residents is fierce, but Lado B, just around the corner from the beautiful Church of Saint Ildefonso, is often touted as the best version for novices.
A dish of soupy rice with fresh seafood, arroz de marisco is a delicious way to enjoy rice, one of Portugal’s most-eaten foods.
Photo by Natalia Mylova/Shutterstock
Arroz de marisco (seafood rice)
Where to try it
- Mar à Vista, Ericeira | View on Google Maps
Portuguese people eat more rice than in any other European Union country, consuming nearly 35 pounds of rice per capita per year. Arroz de marisco is one of the best ways to indulge in the country’s fish and seafood bounty—think a slightly soupier version of risotto, loaded with varied ocean goodness such as tamboril (monkfish), bacalhau, and crustaceans fresh from the Atlantic.
The marisqueira Mar à Vista has been going strong since 1950 in the lovely beach town of Ericeira, about 14 miles northwest of Sintra. Here, life-changing lavagante (the European lobster) is sold by weight and then immediately added to seafood rices or massadas (pasta instead of rice) on the spot, according to your choice. Enjoy the dish after you dig into an appetizer of santola or sapateira crabs fresh from the shell.
Açorda de marisco uses leftover stale bread and seafood.
Photo by Lina Balciunaite/Shutterstock
Açorda (bread soaked in broth)
Where to try it
- Solar dos Presuntos, Lisbon | View on Google Maps
Making a delicious dish out of stale bread isn’t unique to Portugal, but Portuguese cuisine elevates this simple idea into a gourmet experience. Açorda is nothing more than rock-hard bread, rehydrated via one of several methods (such as a simple Alentejan style with hot water, garlic, olive oil, and cilantro or with various broths and stocks), and then pumped up with seafood. The dish can trace its name to the Arabic word for “bread soup.”
The simple, classic version is a bit mushy if you have issues with food texture, but you’d be hard-pressed to find someone who doesn’t love the extraordinary lobster version (açorda de lavagante) at white-tablecloth seafood restaurant Solar dos Presuntos in Lisbon. It’s a sort of shellfish porridge, best served with a drizzle of the restaurant’s house-made piri piri (hot sauce).
Queijo (cheese)
Where to try it
- Casinha Velha, Leiria | View on Google Maps
OK, cheese is not a specific dish but, unless you’re lactose-intolerant, this is a category of Portuguese foods you don’t want to miss. Portuguese cheeses aren’t as widely known as those of its Iberian neighbor, but this little dairy nirvana offers endless varieties to discover. Be sure to try buttery Serra da Estrela, a sheep’s milk cheese produced in (and named after) Portugal’s highest mountain range; creamy Azeitão, an unpasteurized sheep’s milk cheese from the foothills of the Arrábida Mountains south of Lisbon; and São Jorge from the Azores, a semi-hard cow’s milk cheese that’s a bit spicy.
For a true connoisseur’s introduction to artisanal Portuguese cheese, make the pilgrimage to Casinha Velha in Leiria (almost half-way between Lisbon and Porto). Here, your meal begins with a pay-by-weight cheese cart with wedges made of cow, sheep, and goat milk. You’ll be well on your way to a queijo coma before you even think about ordering a main course.
Related: Portugal’s Wildest Islands Have Volcanic Hikes, Black-Sand Beaches, and Natural Hot Springs
The prego is a simple steak sandwich eaten either as a (big) snack or a meal.
Photo by Bruno Ismael Silva Alves/Shutterstock
Prego (steak sandwich)
Where to try it
- Cervejaria Ramiro, Lisbon | View on Google Maps
Leave it to the Portuguese to gorge on some of the freshest, most succulent shellfish and seafood paired with copious wine, and then finish it all off with . . . a steak sandwich. But that’s how it goes at Lisbon’s most heralded seafood spot, Cervejaria Ramiro, and other places like it, where one of the country’s simplest culinary icons—a thin strip of garlic-marinated beef served on a papa seco bread roll, often with basic mustard—is traditionally eaten at the end of the meal. Prego means “nail” in Portuguese, a reference to the way garlic pieces are pounded into the steak before cooking.
Roasted suckling pig is a traditional Portuguese feast especially associated with the town of Mealhada.
Photo by Dmitry Kornilov/Shuttersock
Leitão assado (suckling pig)
Where to try it
Few Portuguese events rival a traditional spit-roasted, whole hog affair cooked to perfection (tender and juicy on the inside, crunchy on the outside) in Mealhada. The town, 15 miles north of Coimbra in central Portugal, is the country’s undisputed suckling pig capital. Here in the Bairrada region, the swine is divine.
At four to six weeks old, the piglets are butchered, rubbed with garlic, pig fat, coarse salt, and pepper, and then roasted for hours in eucalyptus wood–burning ovens. Mealhada’s suckling pig specialty restaurants—Pedro dos Leitões, Rei dos Leitões, O Castiço, Meta dos Leitões, Pic Nic dos Leitões—nearly outnumber its population (4,500). If you can’t make it to Mealhada, Nelson dos Leitões in Porto’s Bolhão Market is a solid alternative.
Cataplana de marisco is a Portuguese seafood stew named after the copper vessel in which it’s cooked.
Photo by Lucian Coman/Shutterstock
Cataplana de marisco (seafood stew)
Where to try it
- Restaurante Alambique, Almancil, the Algarve | View on Google Maps
Another of Portugal’s seafood revelations, this stew is named after the vessel in which it’s cooked and served. A cataplana is a clam-shaped copper cooking pot that predates the modern pressure cooker (it’s a distant relative of the Moroccan tagine) and allows for slow steam-cooking ingredients in their own juices. It can be loaded with anything—fish, shrimp, and other crustaceans—but is usually a mix of all, cooked with white wine, spices, and herbs and vegetables that might include cilantro, tomatoes, onions, and bell peppers.
Cataplana originally hails from the Algarve, so you’ll want to head to this coastal region along Portugal’s southern coast to try it. Every beach town in the Algarve will have a few spots serving cataplana, but food lovers should make a special trip inland to Alambique in Almancil. It’s been run by the same family for 50 years, and the chorizo-bolstered cataplana anchors a menu of local seafood specialties that includes monkfish rice stew, grilled tiger prawns, and octopus carpaccio.
Related: 12 Charming Small Towns in Portugal That Look Straight Out of a Storybook
In the Azores, limpets (called lapas) are served with lemon, while in Madeira you’ll often find them served with bread.
Photo by Javarman
Lapas (limpets)
Where to try it
- Bar Caloura: São Miguel, Azores | View on Google Maps
Lapas, known as limpets in English, are a type of small aquatic snail found in both the Azores and Madeira—two autonomous Portuguese archipelagos in the Atlantic—that taste like a chewier clam. They’re grilled with garlic and butter and served with a few slices of lemon and, on Madiera, a plate of bolo do caco, a round flatbread.
Tuck into a plate of buttery lapas, glass of Azorian wine in hand, at Bar Caloura on the archipelago’s main island, São Miguel. The ocean-side, open-air seafood restaurant is a casual spot where people come for just-caught seafood and a dip in the swimming area below the restaurant.
Related: Multicolored Thermal Pools Make This Portuguese Island the Ultimate Hot Springs Crawl
Sophie Friedman, Jessie Beck, and Nicholas DeRenzo contributed to the reporting of this story.
