Taste Of Portugal: Top 5 Dinner Options On The Cheap

A few words about Portuguese cuisine

Portugal is the land of sardines, horse mackerel, tomatoes, pasta, egg yolk, milk and cinnamon. Its cuisine is full of seafood dishes, onions, olives, garlic and grapes.  Portuguese are obsessed with with salted cod, pork meat cooked and served in a variety of ways or a simple black coffee and a bread roll in the morning. Locals eat a lot of vegetable soups for lunch (potato soup served with shredded kale and chunks of sausage is pretty famous in Lisbon) and grilled seafood for dinner. When it comes to desserts, Portugal will be your paradise on Earth if you have sweet tooth. Lisbon as well as Fatima were filled with lovely pastry shops and c@fes. You can try a great variety of desserts – from simple cinnamon-flavored rice puddings to sophisticated cakes and world’s famous egg tarts.

Top 5 best Portuguese dishes on the cheap

Arroz de pato

It’s a duck rice dish served with a creamy risotto

Caldo verde

It’s a traditional soup in Portuguese cuisine served with potatoes, collard greens,garlic or onion, olive oil and salt

Sardinhas Assadas

They are perfectly grilled sardines served with a basket of white bread and salad

Percebes

Portuguese goose barnacles

Francesinha

It’s a Portuguese sandwich made with white bread, ham, sausage, roast meat and covered with melted cheese and a hot thick tomato and beer sauce served with french fries

What would be your pick?

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Agness Walewinder
Agness Walewinder
Travel freak, vagabond, photography passionate, blogger, life enthusiast, backpacker, adventure hunter and endless energy couchsurfer living by the rule "Pack lite, travel far and live long!"
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34 thoughts on “Taste Of Portugal: Top 5 Dinner Options On The Cheap”

  1. Rachael@safari254

    I would pick the duck rice. I am not a fan of sardines plus I am very particular about how my eggs should be cooked so I would not go for the sandwich.

  2. Maybe one day I’ll become less of a picky eater and be able to explore these foods! That last one looks great though, the francesinha. Maybe one day!

  3. Heather @ Ferreting Out the Fun

    The best dish I ate in Portugal was clams steamed with white wine, garlic and cilantro (coriander). I ate a big bowl for lunch just about every day!

  4. Love the food of my country. Francesinha is a calorie killer, but its damn good! However I should say it’s a typical food from the North part of the country, specially Porto. There are very rare places in the south you can find a Francesinha as delicious as theirs!

  5. I’m not much of a sardines person, but i’d be willing to try those! Those look delicious. Excellent post Agness. :)

  6. Victoria@ The British Berliner

    Mmmm! The custard tarts of course.

    I went to Portugal a few years ago and those tarts were the devil! I couldn’t keep away from the shop. We bought a box and it was pretty hard not to dive in. I reduced myself to two tarts a day and it almost killed me LOL!
    I love seafood, so the sardines would be on my menu and any of type of fish or seafood item. I’m not a fan of risotto unless it’s home-made and even then I only eat it to be polite. I certainly wouldn’t pay for it LOL! And as for the gooey Portuguese sandwich. Nom! Nom!

  7. Zara @ Backpack ME

    My country really is paradise on earth when it comes to desserts! I love exploring new countries through their food and I have learnt how to appreciate different cuisines (particularly Asian) way more than my homeland’s food. But, when it comes to sweets, for me, nothing can really beat Portugal! :D

  8. Katie Featherstone

    Portuguese food is so great! I’m not sure how I missed Francesinha- it sounds like the perfect hangover cure. haha. :)

    p.s. Thanks for making me hungry, I was just thinking about going for a run, but I might have to have eggs and toast instead…

  9. Kathryn Burrington

    The duck risotto sounds tasty but right now I could murder one of those sandwiches for breakfast :-)

  10. Definitely the Francesinha … I love eggs, and with it being paired with cheese and all sorts of meat, it’s a done deal for me!

  11. Just came back from my own trip to Portugal. Arroz de pato is absolutely amazing! And their food variety in general is just… mind blowing.

  12. They all look so yummy. I’m a sucker for eggs amd pastries. I’m very partial to paella so I hope the arroz de pato tastes similar. I’ll try them all and gain ten pounds for sure. Lol!

  13. And don’t forget Pastel de Nata for desert especially if you are a fan of sweets. The best Pastels are of course in the place of their origin in Pasteis de Belem and also in the center of Lisbon in Manteigaria Fabrica De Pasteis de Nata

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