Short answer: The five Portuguese dishes not to miss are the pastel de nata, bacalhau (salt cod), grilled sardines in summer, the francesinha in Porto and a seafood cataplana in the Algarve, with a glass of port to finish. Look for the prato do dia at lunch in a small tasca, and you will eat very well for little money.
Portuguese food is simple, generous and built on superb ingredients: fish and seafood from a long Atlantic coast, olive oil, bread, pork and wine from almost every region. The green, rainy north is known for hearty stews, caldo verde and the port wine of the Douro; Lisbon and the coast for grilled fish and seafood; the Alentejo plains for black pork and bread soups; the Algarve for cataplana and almond sweets; and the islands of Madeira and the Azores for their own unique dishes. Portugal is also one of the seven countries whose Mediterranean diet UNESCO lists as intangible cultural heritage. This guide covers 14 dishes and drinks worth traveling for, where to eat them and how to avoid paying for food you did not order. For everything else, start with our Portugal travel guide.
Pastries and snacks
1. Pastel de nata
Portugal’s famous custard tart: a crisp, flaky pastry case filled with a rich egg custard, baked until the top blisters, then dusted with cinnamon and powdered sugar. It is eaten at any time of day, standing at a café counter with a coffee. The most famous are made in Belém, near the Jerónimos Monastery, where Pastéis de Belém has made its version, there called pastel de Belém, since 1837 and opens daily from 8:00 to 21:00 (to 22:00 from July to September). Eat them warm.
2. Bifana
A simple, beloved sandwich: thin slices of pork marinated in garlic, white wine and paprika, simmered and stuffed into a soft bread roll, with mustard or chili sauce to taste. It is a quick lunch or late-night snack at cafés and kiosks, especially in Lisbon and Porto, often with a small beer (an imperial in Lisbon, a fino in Porto).
Fish and seafood
3. Bacalhau (salt cod)
Dried, salted cod, soaked for a day or two before cooking, is the heart of Portuguese cooking, and people say there is a recipe for every day of the year. Start with bacalhau à Brás, shredded cod with matchstick fries, onion and soft scrambled egg, topped with black olives and parsley; also try bacalhau com natas (baked with cream) and the little fried fishcakes, pastéis de bacalhau, sold as snacks. Salt cod is the traditional Christmas Eve dinner.
4. Sardinhas assadas (grilled sardines)
Fresh sardines grilled whole over charcoal, sprinkled with coarse salt and served on a slice of bread to soak up the juices, with boiled potatoes, a salad of peppers and a glass of wine. They are a summer food, at their best from early summer, when the fish are fattest. The smell of grilling fills Lisbon during the Santo António festival on the night of 12–13 June.
5. Polvo à lagareiro
Octopus boiled until tender, then roasted in plenty of olive oil and garlic and served with small “punched” potatoes (batatas a murro), crushed with a fist after roasting. It is a classic main course in restaurants across the country, more tender than you might expect, and a good choice for a special dinner.
6. Arroz de marisco
A soupy, tomato-rich seafood rice full of shrimp, clams, mussels and often crab or lobster, brought to the table in the pot and served with a spoon. It is made for two or more and takes time to prepare, so order it early and enjoy a starter while you wait. It is best near the coast, from Nazaré to the Algarve.
7. Cataplana
The Algarve’s signature: a seafood or pork-and-clam stew cooked and served in a hinged copper pan shaped like a clam shell, which seals in the steam. It is meant for sharing, opened at the table with a flourish. Try it in the Algarve, along with grilled fish sold by weight, clams Bulhão Pato style with garlic and coriander, and the region’s almond and fig sweets.
Hearty dishes from north to south
8. Caldo verde
A simple, warming soup of potato puréed with olive oil, and finely shredded kale or collard greens, served with a slice of chouriço (smoked sausage) and cornbread. It comes from the Minho in the north but is eaten everywhere, as a starter, at festivals and late at night. It is vegetarian without the sausage.
9. Francesinha
Porto‘s famous, heavy sandwich: layers of bread, steak, ham and sausage covered in melted cheese and soaked in a spicy beer-and-tomato sauce, often with a fried egg on top and fries on the side. It is not light, so share one after a long walk, perhaps after crossing the Dom Luís I Bridge. Porto also cooks tripas à moda do Porto, the tripe and bean stew that gave locals their nickname, tripeiros.
10. Porco preto and Alentejo cooking
The Alentejo, the wide plains around Évora, is home to Portugal’s black Iberian pigs, raised among cork and holm oaks. Grilled cuts of porco preto, such as secretos and plumas, are juicy and full of flavor. Also try carne de porco à alentejana (pork with clams), and açorda, a garlic, coriander and bread soup with a poached egg, a good vegetarian option if made without fish.
The islands
11. Cozido das Furnas (Azores)
In Furnas, on São Miguel in the Azores, the local stew of beef, pork, chicken, sausages, cabbage, potatoes and other vegetables is cooked for six to seven hours in holes in the hot volcanic ground beside the lake. Pots go in from 6:00, and restaurants lift theirs out between about 11:00 and 13:00, so watch the pots come up, then eat it for lunch in the village; book ahead in summer. See our Azores travel guide.
12. Espetada and bolo do caco (Madeira)
On Madeira, espetada is beef rubbed with garlic and bay leaf, grilled on bay-wood skewers and hung from a hook over the table. It comes with bolo do caco, a flat sweet-potato bread served warm with garlic butter, and fried maize cubes (milho frito). Also try black scabbardfish (espada), often served with banana, and poncha, the island’s strong drink of sugar-cane spirit, honey and lemon.
Cheese and drinks
13. Queijo Serra da Estrela
Portugal’s most famous cheese, from the Serra da Estrela, the mainland’s highest mountains: a sheep’s milk cheese curdled with thistle flower, so ripe and soft that the top is cut off and the creamy center is scooped out with a spoon. It is a winter specialty and is served as a starter with bread. Look for the DOP (protected designation of origin) label.
14. Port, Madeira and vinho verde
Port is a fortified wine from the Douro Valley, a region whose boundaries were first marked out in 1756 and which UNESCO lists as the Alto Douro Wine Region World Heritage Site. It is aged in the lodges of Vila Nova de Gaia across the river from Porto; try a white port and tonic as an aperitif and a tawny or ruby after dinner. Madeira wine comes from Funchal, and vinho verde, a light, fresh wine from the Minho, is perfect with seafood. In Lisbon, try a ginjinha, a sour-cherry liqueur sold by the glass at tiny bars. For vineyard visits, see our wine tasting guide.
Where to eat: Lisbon and beyond
- Lisbon: Time Out Market, in the Mercado da Ribeira building at Cais do Sodré, puts dozens of food stalls under one roof and is open daily from 10:00 to midnight; go before 12:30 or later in the evening to find a seat. For everyday food, look for the small tascas of Alfama, Mouraria and Campo de Ourique, and for pastéis de nata, take the tram or train to Belém.
- Porto: the restored Mercado do Bolhão is good for picnic supplies and a casual lunch, open Monday to Friday from 8:00 to 20:00 and Saturday from 8:00 to 18:00, closed Sundays. Francesinha and bifana cafés are all over the center, and port lodges line the Gaia riverbank.
- The Algarve: fish restaurants in the fishing towns and the riverside market halls of Olhão, liveliest on Saturday mornings.
- Madeira: the Mercado dos Lavradores in Funchal for tropical fruit and fish, and Câmara de Lobos, the fishing harbor that is the home of poncha.
- The Azores: cozido in Furnas, local cheeses and pineapples grown in greenhouses on São Miguel.
- Évora and the Alentejo: black pork, bread soups and the region’s red wines.
Food etiquette and tipping
The most important thing to know is the couvert. Bread, olives, butter, cheese and other starters are often brought to the table before you order; they are not free, and you are charged for them if you eat them. If you don’t want them, simply say no thank you or send them back. Lunch, the main meal for many, is from about 12:30 to 2:30 p.m., and dinner from about 7:30 or 8 p.m., earlier than in Spain. Coffee is a ritual: order um café (a bica in Lisbon, a cimbalino in Porto) for an espresso, or a galão for a milky coffee in a glass.
Tipping in Portugal is optional. Rounding up in cafés and leaving 5–10% in restaurants for good service is plenty. Our tip calculator helps with the sums, and our phrase cards have the Portuguese for “the bill, please” (a conta, por favor) and “I’m vegetarian” (sou vegetariano/vegetariana).
If you go to a fado house in Lisbon or Coimbra, where dinner is often served before the music, stay quiet while the singer performs; fado is on UNESCO’s intangible heritage list.
Eating on a budget
Portugal is one of the best-value food countries in Western Europe. Numbeo’s figures, used in our Portugal on a budget guide, put a meal at an inexpensive restaurant at about €15 in Lisbon and €12 in Porto. Make lunch your main meal and look for the prato do dia (dish of the day) on boards outside small local restaurants; it is the best-value meal of the day. Bakeries, bifana kiosks, markets and picnics with bread, cheese and fruit keep costs low, and wine by the glass or the jug (jarro) is inexpensive. Food tours in Lisbon and Porto and port tastings in Gaia are popular; browse them in our tour finder.
Food also shapes when to go: June brings the Santos Populares, with grilled sardines in the streets of Lisbon on 12–13 June and Porto’s São João on 23–24 June; the Douro grape harvest runs from September into early October; and Madeira’s Wine Festival is held in late August and early September. Our best time to visit Portugal guide covers the seasons month by month.
Plan your trip: our free trip planner can build a day-by-day route through Lisbon, Porto and the Douro with time for long lunches and tastings. Our Portugal itinerary plans 7, 10 and 14 days, our top 10 places to visit in Portugal helps you choose where to go, and Portugal vs Spain compares the two neighbors.
Frequently asked questions
What is the national dish of Portugal?
Portugal has no official national dish, but bacalhau (salt cod) is the one most Portuguese would name, cooked in hundreds of ways and eaten on Christmas Eve. Caldo verde and grilled sardines are close behind as national favorites.
Is Portuguese food spicy?
Generally no. Portuguese cooking relies on garlic, olive oil, bay leaf, paprika and coriander rather than chili. The exception is piri-piri, a small hot chili used in a sauce served with grilled chicken (frango piri-piri) and on the table in some restaurants, so you can add as much heat as you like.
What do people eat for breakfast in Portugal?
Breakfast is light and quick: a coffee or galão with a pastry, such as a pastel de nata, or a toasted sandwich (tosta mista) at a café counter. Many people have a second coffee and a snack mid-morning.
Is Portugal good for vegetarians?
It is getting easier. Traditional menus lean on fish and meat, but caldo verde without the sausage, vegetable soups, açorda, cheeses, salads and egg dishes are easy to find, and Lisbon and Porto have plenty of vegetarian and vegan restaurants. Ask if a soup is made with meat stock.
What is the couvert in Portuguese restaurants?
The couvert is the bread, olives, butter, cheese or other starters placed on the table before you order. It is charged if you eat it, so if you don’t want it, send it back and it will not appear on your bill.
Where can I eat the best pastel de nata?
Pastéis de Belém in Lisbon’s Belém district, which has made them since 1837, is the most famous address, but almost every café and bakery in Portugal sells good ones. Look for a crisp, flaky case and a custard with dark, blistered spots on top, and eat them warm.