Feijoada is a scrumptious Brazilian meat and black bean stew that’s perfect for the slow cooker. The long slow simmer gets the meat super tender and melds all the wonderful flavors.
If you like a meaty dish, you might think Brazilian feijoada (pronounced fey-zhoo-ah-dah) is about the most delicious thing on the planet!
Feijoada is a hearty stew of black beans and a variety of meats, braised with onions, garlic and spices until everything is meltingly tender. It’s extremely popular in Brazil. Some consider it the national dish.
This lightened up Brazilian feijoada is adapted from Cooking Light. If you follow Panning The Globe, you probably know that I’m part of Cooking Light’s Blogger Connection.
I’m a long time fan of the magazine. I can count on finding recipe gems in every issue and I appreciate their approach to making recipes healthier by eliminating unhealthy fats and reducing salt and sugar.
HOW TO MAKE BRAZILIAN FEIJOADA
- You will start by browning the meats to add a layer of delicious flavor to this stew.
- Traditional Brazilian feijoada commonly includes a mix of beef and pork. Salted meats are often used in the mix, as well as less commonly used parts of the pig, like the feet and ears. These parts contribute what some consider to be an important gelatinous component to the stew. I make my feijoada without feet or ears and I am thrilled with the result. But you might want to give it a try with those extras, if you can source the parts. It might be even better!
- After you brown the meats, add them to the slow cooker with all the rest of the ingredients: onions, garlic, spices, broth and vinegar.
- Cover and cook on LOW 8-9 hours until the meat is meltingly tender.
- Pull out and discard the bones. Shred any large pieces of meat and return them to the slow cooker. Add more broth if you want a soupier consistency.
- Serve Feijoada hot, with steamed white rice. Sprinkle generously with green onions and cilantro. Serve orange wedges on the side, to squeeze on top.
TIPS FOR MAKING FEIJOADA IN THE SLOW COOKER
Soaking The Beans: If you soak the black beans overnight, which I highly recommend, you’ll need to do that the night before. It’s easy – just rinse the beans and put them in a glass bowl. Cover them with water by an inch or so. Leave the bowl in a cool spot or in the fridge, to soak overnight. Soaking Guarantees that the beans will cook up nice and tender.
Prep Ahead: If you’re planning to throw dinner in the slow cooker before you leave for work in the morning, I suggest that you brown all the meats the night before and store them, covered, in the fridge overnight. That way you can just throw everything into the slow cooker in the morning and turn it on.
My house cleaner Paula is Brazilian. By coincidence, she was at the house when I was cooking the feijoada.
She was excited when she saw what I was making, told me how incredibly delicious it is, that it’s her father’s absolute favorite dish.
She explained that in different parts of Brazil there are variations on what kinds of meats and beans are used for feijoada.
She also explained that many people in Brazil like their feijoada very soupy so they can serve it heaped on top of a big platter of rice to soak up the delicious sauce, and that they love to sprinkle crunchy toasted manioc flour on top.
We ended up talking for a long time about many other amazing-sounding Brazilian recipes, one or two of which you’ll probably be seeing on the blog soon!
If you like using your slow cooker, don’t miss these other delicious Panning The Globe slow cooker recipes:
• Slow Cooker chicken tajine with apricots and chickpeas
• Slow Cook Ropa Vieja: Cuban Shredded Beef Stew with Peppers
• Slow Cooker Chicken with Dried Cherries
Here’s the recipe for Slow Cooker Brazilian Feijoada. If you try this recipe I hope you’ll come back to leave a star rating and a comment. I’d love to know what you think!
PrintSlow Cooker Brazilian Feijoada
A lightened up, slow-cooker version of Brazil’s famous meat and bean stew.
- Prep Time: 40 mins
- Cook Time: 8 hours
- Total Time: 8 hours 40 mins
- Yield: 8 1x
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Slow Cooker, Crock Pot
- Cuisine: Brazilian
Ingredients
- 1 pound dried black beans, picked over and soaked over night per package instructions
- 6 ounces applewood-smoked bacon (I highly recommend healthier uncured, no-nitrite bacon)
- 1 1/2 pounds boneless pork shoulder (Boston butt), trimmed of fat and cut into 1/2-inch cubes
- Kosher salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 3 or 4 bone-in beef short ribs or other meaty beef or pork ribs, trimmed of fat
- 1 (9-ounce) smoked ham hock or 9 ounces smoked pork sausages such as Linguica
- 3 cups finely chopped onion (about 2 medium onions)
- 6 large garlic cloves, peeled and minced (about 3 1/2 tablespoons minced)
- 2–4 cups low-salt chicken broth, as needed (I recommend Swanson’s)
- 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 tablespoon white vinegar
- Suggested Accompaniments:
- 2 naval oranges, cut into wedges
- Chopped fresh cilantro leaves, from 1 small bunch
- 1 bunch green onions, trimmed and thinly sliced
- Serve with steamed white rice
Instructions
- Cook bacon in a large skillet over medium heat until crisp. Remove bacon from pan; crumble and add to a 6-quart electric slow-cooker. (don’t wash skillet, you’ll use it to brown the meats)
- Sprinkle pork evenly with 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Increase heat to medium-high. Add pork to drippings in skillet; sauté 8 minutes, turning to brown on all sides. (If there’s too much liquid accumulating and the meat isn’t browning, tilt the skillet and spoon some of the fat out) Transfer pork to slow cooker. Season the ribs evenly with 1/8 teaspoon salt and a few grinds of pepper. Add ribs to skillet; cook for 3 minutes on each side or until browned. Place ribs in slow cooker. Add drained beans, ham hock, onions, garlic, 2 cups chicken broth, 1 teaspoon salt, coriander, bay leaves and vinegar to slow cooker, stirring to combine. Cover and cook on LOW 8-9 hours or until beans and meat are tender.
- Pull out ribs and ham hock bones. Remove any remaining meat from the bones and shred it with two forks. Discard bones. Return meat to slow cooker. Add more broth for a soupier consistency.
- Serve Feijoada with rice. Sprinkle generously with green onions and cilantro. Serve with orange wedges to squeeze on top.
Notes
MAKE AHEAD NOTE: If you’re planning to make this in the morning before work, you’ll need to soak the beans the night before. Also, it’s best if you brown the meats the night before and keep them in the fridge over night. Then in the morning you can chop up the onions and garlic and throw everything into the slow cooker.
SUGGESTED SIDES: Plain white rice is a traditional accompaniment. Sautéed collard greens is a perfect side dish with Feijoada. Or choose another leafy green like spinach or kale.
Keywords: Meat and black bean stew, Brazilian meat and bean stew, Slow cooker meat and bean stew, crockpot meat and bean stew
I’ve been looking for this recipe every since I went to Rodizio. It’s a Brazilian steakhouse near me and they served it. I really would like to try this recipe, but I don’t eat pork. What kind of beef can I substitute the pork for?
Hi Jalissa. I recommend using extra beef short ribs in place of the pork butt. Find turkey bacon or beef bacon to replace the pork. Look for smokey beef sausages to replace the pork sausages. It should be good. Let me know!
How many cups of Feijoada does this make? I know it says 8 servings but how many ounces is each serving? I need to make a large batch for an International Food tasting.
Celina I don’t know the answer to your question. Next time I make this I will measure and include the info in this post. I’ll try to make an estimate for you based on all the different elements: 1 pound of black beans cooked is 5-6 cups. Plus I’d guess there’s about 8 cups of meat here. Plus 2-4 cups of chicken broth. My best guess is this recipe makes about 16-18 cups of Feijoada. Best of luck with your International Food tasting!
I made this for my very picky family and they absolutely loved it! I will definitely be making this again.
★★★★★
I’m so happy to hear it! 🙂
Delish! Made this for New Year’s Eve…we had the grandkids over and didn’t expect to make us to midnight central time (what was I thinking?!?). So we did a South American theme in case we needed to call it a night at 9 or 10 (midnight in Brazil). As it turns out, that just gave us an excuse to celebrate in 4 different time zones. But after having this stew to start us off, we had plenty of energy! I made it with fried plantains, sweet potatoes, and grilled pineapple. Overkill? Maybe, but oh the grilled pineapple was a great accompaniment. I didn’t change a thing in the recipe and loved it!
★★★★★
I made this for my daughter’s graduation party. I had made it before and LOVED it. I thought I made enough to serve 60 but after some folks went back for 2nd & 3rds, we ran out. It was a huge hit. It’s really delicious, easy and can be made before a party. I’ve shared the recipe with 1/2 dozen people already who begged for the recipe. Yum.
★★★★★
I started a cooking project that I attempt to make a dish from every country in the world, and this was hands down the boyfriend and I’s FAVORITE dish so far. You did a fabulous making this a “light” version while still maintaining an amazing amount of flavor.
★★★★★
How cool that you’re cooking from every country in the world! We share that goal 🙂 I’m so glad you enjoyed the Feijoada so much. It truly is one of the most delicious dishes in the world. Thanks for coming back to let me know how it turned out and best of luck with your project. Let me know if you find any other favorites.
This is not feijoada.
What’s a 9 ounce ham hock? Aren’t they usually like 4lbs?
The hock is usually around 9 – 20 ounces. It’s also called pork knuckle. You should be able to find one in your grocery store or you can ask the butcher for one. It’s got meat and bone so it adds a lot of flavor to soups and stews that are long-cooked. But if you can’t find one, use smoked pork sausages instead (see recipe). Your feijoada will still be delicious.
You can actually find farofa on Amazon.com now! It ships to your home!
Hi Lisa,
I made this on Sunday and it was incredibly delicious. We had leftovers last night and it was even better – I have to say one of my favorite meals in recent memory, including restaurants. Amazing flavor. I wasn’t able to find the smoked ham hock at my market, but found Brazilian linguica which worked perfectly. Served over rice with cilantro and orange wedges. Next time I make this, which will be soon, I’ll prepare a day ahead and have friends over. I can already hear the compliments!
★★★★★
I decided to start this last night, as I wouldn’t have time in the morning before work. I stewed the meat all night and added the beans this morning. I hope it turns out!!!
I bet it will! let me know!!
If i may add to this recipe, your feijaoada is kind of thin, you should take some of the beans (take some spoons out of it, with the sauce. Put on a fridge, heat it and smash with the fork, put some onios and garlic, pepper, salt, and whatever gives hard/strong flavor (in brazil we use some bay leafs (2 ou 3), you can use whatever its “smokey and like pepper”. Fry it, smash it, and put it later on the the “feijoada”. It will give it a nice flavor and thichen it a lit bit. You can fry the bacon on this instead of slow cooking with the beans. I am cooking it myself tonight, thats how i found your website, i was looking to add TENDER to the feijada and was wondering if anyone had a tip.
I wanted to let you know that “uncured” bacon contains more nitrites than cured bacon. Cured bacon has a regulated acceptable nitrite level whereas uncured does not. Because uncured bacon uses celery powder, a natural source of nitrites, it ends up containing a lot more nitrites than cured bacon does.
Thanks for the info. I must do some more research on the topic. I always assumed celery powder is healthier than sodium nitrite.
This recipe is excellent! The entire family loved it and it was easy to make. Really great flavors! Looking forward to making it again.
★★★★★
Made it! Twice! Once as a trial & another time during the Brazil Olympics for friends. To me all crockpot recipes taste like it came from a crockpot, but this one didn’t! Bravo!!
★★★★★
This is very much like Cape Verdean Feijoada which may, but not necessarily always, include goat meat, an/or chicken.
★★★★★
Love the slow cooker Feijoada….so flavorful ! (though I wouldn’t know where to find the flour…..) I prepared it for myself and sports loving son in honor of the Rio Olympics. also, I’m old enough to catch the allusion to the old Wide World of Sports slogan :–)
★★★★★
I grew up in Campinas and ate feijoada all my life. Where can I buy Farinha de mandioca in the States. I live in Texas? Feijoada just isn’t the same without the mandioca.
★★★★★
John…Amazon.com sells FAROFA and ships to your home!
★★★★★
I’m Brazilian and very excited to try this recipe! Question – what kind of sausage would you use? I’m having a hard time finding linguica in Michigan….
★★★★★
Hi Anna, Linguica is a spicy smoked pork sausage. If you can’t get it, see if you can find kielbasa, Spanish chorizo, or andouille. Any of those would make a delicious substitute. I hope you enjoy the feijoada!
I’m from New England, and of course Linguica and Portuguese Chourico is easily found as most of the product manufacturers are in the area. Long ago when I was on active duty in the Indian Ocean, my father had 30 lbs of Linguica shipped to me direct from the maker. It held up fantastic in all that heat. So I suppose having that sausage shipped to Michigan or anywhere in the US is no problem. My favorite brand is Amaral’s, but I’m sure other brands are fine too. Check them out on line: [www.silvasausage.com] [www.melloschourico.com] [www.gasparssausage.com] [www.michaelsprovision.com] [www.acoresdistributingco.com] [www.amarals.com]
Yum….
Quasi
I think I’m in love. My husband and I put this together last night, and it bubbled away all day while we were at work. I can’t wait for him to come home to try it. We will be making this again!
★★★★★
Thanks Abby – It is nice to use the slow cooker and come home to a delicious comforting stew! I’m really happy to hear that the Feijoada was enjoyed!
Mmmm, this looks marvelous. I had a Brazilian friend who used to make this all the time. I never thought to do it in the slow cooker! Delicious.
I’ve had feijoda at a Brazilian friend’s house and it was amazing. I am anxious to try this version because it seems so do-able. (My friend’s description of how to make the meat and beans was that it was incredibly labor intensive and lengthy.) This is a perfect dish for the slow cooker.
This stew is so hearty and tastes wonderful on a cold day. We had extra, so we froze it. Just served the leftovers a few days ago and they were absolutely delicious. I recommend this as wonderful dinner for friends and family.
★★★★★
Thanks Kathy! I’m so glad you enjoyed the Feijoada – I wish I had some in my freezer!
Oh, this is so my kind of dish – thanks Lisa.
This looks absolutely delicious Lisa! Lotta great flavors here, and did someone say bacon???? 🙂
Looks great! I always wanted to try making this since I had it once on a cruise ship.