Verified in 2 cities.
Coxinha is a signature dish of Brazil; we have verified places to eat it in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo.
Coxinha is a teardrop of dough around shredded chicken, breaded and fried; in Rio's botequins it is a petisco, with a rabada version at Bar do Momo and a coxinha fondue at Bar da Frente.
Food historians place the coxinha's origin in greater São Paulo in the 19th century, developed as a cheaper, longer-lasting stand-in for the chicken thighs sold at factory gates; by the 1950s it was already popular in Rio de Janeiro and Paraná, and the first variations appeared. In May 2025 Time Out Rio listed ten coxinhas worth seeking out in the city, among them the Bar do Momo and Bar da Frente entries.
Where to eat in Rio de Janeiro:
Where to eat Coxinha in Rio de Janeiro: the editor picks
Rotisserie Bologna's coxinha wraps shredded chicken and melted catupiry in a teardrop dough shell, a Rua Augusta staple since 1951 in Sao Paulo.
Coxinha's documented roots trace to the countryside around Limeira, in Sao Paulo state, in the 19th century, when cooks stretched cheaper cuts of chicken into a durable, portable snack shaped like a drumstick, the coxa the name refers to. A popular legend also credits the Imperial court: a version says a São Paulo palace cook shaped leftover chicken into a drumstick form for a child of Princess Isabel who refused any cut but the leg, and Empress Teresa Cristina liked it enough to have the kitchen adopt it. The dough shell, the shredded chicken filling and the catupiry cream cheese core became standardised in Sao Paulo's 20th century lanchonetes and rotisserias.
Where to eat in São Paulo:
Where to eat Coxinha in São Paulo: the editor picks
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