"Brazil's most consumed savoury snack — a teardrop of chicken and cream cheese inside fried potato-wheat dough — is sold at every padaria in São Paulo from morning to midnight."
About Coxinha
São Paulo's beloved teardrop — shredded chicken and cream cheese moulded into a drumstick shape, coated in a wheat-and-potato dough, breaded and deep-fried to a copper-gold crust; the name means 'little thigh'; sold at every padaria and lanchonete; Brazil's most consumed savoury snack.
Coxinha — a staple of Brazil's cuisine
The coxinha is Brazil's most recognisable savoury snack — a teardrop-shaped croquette of wheat-and-potato dough moulded around a filling of shredded chicken and cream cheese, then breaded and deep-fried to a copper-gold crust. The name means 'little thigh' and the shape is designed to evoke a chicken drumstick. In São Paulo there are padarias (bakeries) that exist primarily to sell coxinhas, and they are always busy.
The chicken filling is seasoned with onion, garlic, cream cheese and catupiry (a mild, spreadable Brazilian cheese) and sometimes a little parsley. The crust should shatter on the first bite and the interior should be stretchy and slightly melting. A coxinha that has been sitting in a bain marie for two hours is a different and inferior product.
What to Expect
At a good São Paulo padaria the coxinha is warm and freshly fried, the crust still crackling. You hold it by the thin end like a drumstick and bite into the wide base. The dough shatters and the chicken and catupiry inside is soft and stretchy. You eat it standing at the counter and order another.
Why Try It
The coxinha is São Paulo street food at its most democratic — eaten by every Brazilian regardless of age or income, at breakfast or lunch or as a midnight snack. It's not aspirational food; it's the food that holds the city together.
Insider Tips
Eat only freshly fried coxinhas — never ones that have been sitting under a heat lamp.
The version with catupiry (the mild Brazilian cream cheese) is the best. Order 'com catupiry'.
Bar do Juarez in Vila Madalena, São Paulo is a reliable and popular address.
