Boas Comidas

Glossário Culinário

Coxinha

Prato

Origem
from Brazil
Também chamado de
chicken coxinha

Coxinha is Brazil’s most famous fried snack: soft teardrop-shaped dough, filled, breaded, and fried until golden. Crispy outside and creamy inside, it rules birthday parties, bakeries, and snack bars, always served warm with a small coffee or an ice-cold soda.

Characteristics

The classic dough is made with chicken broth, milk or water, wheat flour, and mashed cooked potato, which makes it softer. The traditional filling is seasoned shredded cooked chicken with onion, garlic, green herbs, and a touch of sauce, often with creamy requeijão at the center. Once shaped like a drumstick, the coxinha is dipped in milk or beaten egg and breadcrumbs, forming the crispy shell when deep-fried in hot oil.

Uses in the kitchen

Coxinha shines at parties, coffee breaks, school snacks, and quick bites. The bite-size party version is made to eat in one go; the big bakery one solves a meal with a juice. It goes well with sauces like seasoned mayo, mustard, and mild hot sauce. To get ahead, shape and freeze before breading, frying straight from frozen with the oil at the right temperature.

Variations

The most popular versions are chicken coxinha with requeijão, the best seller, plain chicken coxinha, without cheese, jackfruit coxinha, a plant-based version with shredded fruit instead of chicken, and baked or air-fryer coxinha, lighter. Other fillings include carne-seca, calabresa sausage, cheese, shrimp, and party savory brigadeiro.

Fun facts

The teardrop shape is not just charm: the thinner tip fries evenly and helps you hold it without burning your hand. For crack-free dough, knead while still warm until smooth and shape with lightly greased hands. When frying, the oil should cover the coxinha and be hot but not smoking, so it browns outside without soaking up grease. Drain on a rack, not on paper, to keep the crunch.

Recipes with coxinha

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