🍽️ DINNER
Bacalhau à Brás
Shredded salt cod tangled with straw-thin fried potatoes and softly scrambled egg, dotted with olives.
Portuguese · medium · serves 4
prep 20 min · cook 25 min
~487 cal · 33g protein · 38g carbs · 23g fat · 6g fiber · 5g sugars · 4g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Bacalhau a bras is one of the best-known of Portugal's famously countless salt-cod dishes, and a classic of the old taverns of Lisbon. Tradition ties it to a tavern-keeper named Bras in the Bairro Alto, and like much Portuguese cooking it turns a preserved staple into something greater than its parts.
The technique is all about timing. Flaked, desalted bacalhau is combined with a tangle of matchstick fried potatoes and softened onion, and then the whole pan is bound off the heat with beaten egg, stirred so it stays soft and creamy rather than setting into an omelette. Black olives and a shower of parsley finish it.
It is a dish born of thrift and the centuries-old Portuguese cod trade, which salted and dried cod caught far off in the North Atlantic. Rich, savoury, and a little nostalgic, bacalhau a bras is the kind of dish Portuguese families and tascas turn out without ever needing a recipe.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally gluten-, dairy-, nut- 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 4
- 1 lb salt cod, soaked and shreddedHard to find? fresh cod packed in coarse salt in the fridge for 48 hours, then rinsed well - a quick home cure; firmer than fresh but milder and softer than true bacalhau
- 1.5 lb potatoes, cut in matchsticks and fried
- 5 eggs, beaten
- 2 onion
- 3 cloves garlic
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1/3 cup black olives
- a handful parsley
Instructions
- 1Soften the onion and garlic in olive oil.
- 2Add the shredded cod (or hearts of palm) and warm through.
- 3Fold in the fried potato matchsticks.
- 4Pour in the beaten egg (or tofu blend) and stir gently over low heat until just creamy, never dry.
- 5Scatter with olives and parsley and serve at once.
Lisbon tavern tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Lisbon. Bacalhau is dried and salted cod that has to soak for a day or more before it can be cooked at all, which is part of why the repertoire around it is so large: it had to be worth the trouble. Portugal buys most of the fish from the North Atlantic rather than catching it off this coast.
🗺️
Portugal. Two things follow the ships home. The pastel de nata came out of the Jeronimos monastery at Belem and went commercial in 1837, and only the Belem shop's version may be called pastel de Belem. Piri-piri is a round trip: American chillies planted in Mozambique and Angola, then brought back as a Portuguese seasoning.
🌍
Europe. A surprising amount of European cooking is under five hundred years old. Tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, maize, beans and chocolate all crossed from the Americas after 1492, and none of them was trusted quickly: the potato took most of the eighteenth century to be accepted as food rather than animal fodder across much of the north.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Portugal
Pastéis de NataBlistered puff-pastry cups filled with silky cinnamon-scented custard, Lisbon’s daily miracle, best warm.
Torrada com GalãoThick toasted bread drenched in butter, served with a tall glass of milky galão coffee.
BifanaThin pork steaks simmered in a garlicky white-wine sauce and piled into a crusty roll, Portugal's everyman sandwich.
Browse all Portugal recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Blender.
Storing it: Fried food is best eaten fresh while crisp. Re-crisp leftovers in a hot oven or air fryer; the microwave makes them soft.
Make it a Portugal meal
GinjinhaDrink
Pastéis de NataDessert
BifanaLunch
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Frequently asked questions
What is Bacalhau à Brás?
Shredded salt cod tangled with straw-thin fried potatoes and softly scrambled egg, dotted with olives.
Where does Bacalhau à Brás come from?
Bacalhau à Brás is a Portuguese dish from Lisbon, Portugal.
Can Bacalhau à Brás be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Bacalhau à Brás recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions. Treat the substitutions as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Bacalhau à Brás 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 still count coconut as a tree nut to be cautious, although the FDA stopped listing it as one in 2025), 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 Bacalhau à Brás take to make?
About 45 minutes total (20 minutes prep, 25 minutes cooking), serving 4.
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