Rio De Janeiro
3h 30m
Rio de Janeiro: 9-Recipe Boozy Brazilian Cooking Class
Take advantage of your time in Rio with a hands-on Brazilian cooking class and make traditional dishes and Caipirinhas. Choose between 2 menu options...
from$86Check dates
History
The name comes from Quimbundo mu'keka, a fish stew, or Tupi opokeka, to make a wrapping. Some scholars link the dish to the Portuguese peixada, with African ingredients added; the Bahian version uses dendê palm oil and sometimes coconut milk, and is cooked in a clay pot. Rio drew heavily on Bahia for seafood and Afro-Brazilian dishes, moqueca among them, and today's menus range from shrimp to peach-palm hearts.
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Common allergens: Fish, Shellfish
Make it at home
Ingredients
- 700g firm white fish steaks, or 600g peeled shrimp
- Juice of 1 lime
- 2 onions, sliced
- 3 tomatoes, sliced
- 1 red and 1 green pepper, sliced
- 1 bunch coriander, chopped
- 200ml coconut milk
- 3 tablespoons dendê (palm) oil
- 2 garlic cloves
- Salt
Method
- Season the fish with the lime juice, crushed garlic and salt and leave for 15 minutes.
- Layer half the onions, tomatoes, peppers and coriander in a wide pot, add the fish, then the remaining vegetables.
- Pour over the coconut milk and dendê oil, cover and cook over low heat for 15 to 20 minutes without stirring.
- Shake the pot gently now and then instead of stirring, so the fish does not break.
- Serve in the pot with white rice, farofa and pirão.
Tip from the editors. Use a heavy pot with a lid and shake rather than stir; dendê is strong, so start with less and add more at the end.
Where to eat moqueca
Moqueca in Rio de Janeiro
Aconchego Carioca ★ 4.6
Aconchego Carioca in Praça da Bandeira is chef Kátia Barbosa's Northeastern-leaning boteco, birthplace of the bolinho de feijoada, in Rio de Janeiro.
OrderThe bolinho de feijoada with kale and pork crackling, and a lime batidinha.
TipCamarão do Gui took third place at Botecar 2025; the moqueca of peach-palm hearts suits vegetarians, and the beer list runs to about 50 labels.
Marine Restô ★ 4.0
Marine Restô is the Fairmont's sixth-floor brasserie in Copacabana, cooking seafood and Brazilian dishes on a Josper grill, in Rio de Janeiro.
OrderThe heart of palm moqueca with manioc and coconut farofa, or the Angus skirt steak with guaraná demi-glace
BookReserve through the hotel ahead
TipThe room is on the sixth floor of the Fairmont Rio de Janeiro Copacabana, with a panoramic terrace and pool and views of Copacabana beach.
Bar Lagoa ★ 3.9
Bar Lagoa has served German-leaning dishes and moqueca on Avenida Epitácio Pessoa since 1934, a Lagoa restaurant in Rio de Janeiro with bow-tied waiters.
OrderTornedor à Lagoa with bacon, peas and palm hearts, or the joelho de porco.
TipWaiters work the white-tablecloth room in bow ties, so treat it as a sit-down lunch rather than a quick chope.
More cities are in research. Want moqueca covered somewhere specific? Tell us where you want to eat.