Recipe
🍰 DESSERT
Brigadeiro
Fudgy chocolate truffles of condensed milk cooked with cocoa and butter, rolled in sprinkles. No Brazilian party exists without them.
Brazilian · easy · serves 8
prep 10 min · cook 15 min
~241 cal · 5g protein · 34g carbs · 11g fat · 2g fiber · 31g sugars · 6g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Brigadeiro is Brazil's national sweet, the fudgy little chocolate truffle without which, as Brazilians will tell you, no birthday party truly exists. It was born in the 1940s, named for an air force brigadier turned political candidate whose supporters sold the sweets.
It could hardly be simpler: sweetened condensed milk cooked slowly with cocoa powder and butter until thick enough to roll, then shaped into balls and coated in chocolate sprinkles. That short list of pantry ingredients is part of its enduring, democratic charm.
Rich, chewy, and intensely sweet, brigadeiros are made by children and grandmothers alike and appear at every celebration. More than a candy, the brigadeiro is a piece of Brazilian childhood and shared joy.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally vegetarian and gluten-, nut-, egg- and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 8
14 oz can sweetened condensed milk
3 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
2 tbsp butter
1/2 cup, for rolling chocolate sprinkles (granulado)
1 a pinch of salt
Instructions
1
Whisk the condensed milk, cocoa, butter, and salt in a saucepan over medium-low heat.
2
Stir constantly, really constantly, 10-15 minutes until thick enough that the spoon leaves a clean trail across the pan bottom.
3
Scrape onto a greased plate and cool completely (or grab a spoon now for brigadeiro de colher).
4
With buttered hands, roll teaspoons of the fudge into balls.
5
Roll each in sprinkles and set in little paper cups. Try to make it to the party.
Brazilian birthday-party tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Minas Gerais. The cheese itself is heritage-listed: the traditional ways of making artisanal Minas cheese carry a UNESCO inscription, and what makes it work is pingo, a natural starter of whey saved from the previous day carrying bacteria particular to each region. Canastra, Serro and Araxa each produce a distinguishable cheese from the same method.
🗺️
Brazil. Brazil is a continent-sized country with an Afro-Brazilian coastal soul, from Bahia's palm-oil and coconut moquecas to the national feijoada bean stew. Cassava, black beans, tropical fruit, and churrasco barbecue anchor a joyful, diverse table.
🌍
South America. The Andes are the potato's homeland and still hold something like four thousand native varieties, selected over thousands of years for altitude, colour and texture. The high plateau also worked out how to keep them: frozen overnight in the cold, trodden to press the water out, then dried in the sun into chuno, which stores for years.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Brazil
Moqueca Baiana (Bahian Fish Stew)Fish simmered in coconut milk, dendê palm oil, peppers, and lime in a clay pot, the taste of the Bahian coast.
Pão de Queijo (Brazilian Cheese Puffs)Chewy-crisp little cheese breads made from tapioca starch, naturally gluten-free and dangerously poppable.
FeijoadaBrazil’s black-bean and smoked-meat feast, simmered for hours and served with rice, greens, orange, and farofa.
Browse all Brazil recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Pot or saucepan, Whisk.
Storing it: Keep chilled and covered, and enjoy within 2 to 3 days.
Make it a Brazil meal
Moqueca Baiana (Bahian Fish Stew)Dinner
CaipirinhaDrink
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Frequently asked questions
What is Brigadeiro?
Fudgy chocolate truffles of condensed milk cooked with cocoa and butter, rolled in sprinkles. No Brazilian party exists without them.
Where does Brigadeiro come from?
Brigadeiro is a Brazilian dish from Minas Gerais, Brazil.
Can Brigadeiro be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Brigadeiro recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions, including several at once such as gluten-free and dairy-free together. Treat them as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Brigadeiro safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Brigadeiro take to make?
About 25 minutes total (10 minutes prep, 15 minutes cooking), serving 8.
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