My Grandpa’s Feijoada recipe has been in our family for decades and is still one of my favorites to this day! Black beans, sausage, and pork come together in a hearty stew that’s packed with flavor. Feijoada takes time to simmer but the work is minimal!
Table of Contents
Our Family Feijoada Story
The recent 10th anniversary of my Grandpa’s passing seems like a great time to share a recipe that has been beloved and in our family for decades and decades. Our family’s feijoada recipe has been a part of every Easter, Memorial Day, Father’s day, 4th of July, and more for as long as I can remember. My grandpa would start the cooking process 3 days in advance (insane) and diligently simmer the black beans and meat for two full days (also insane). After my great aunt Toni lived in Brazil for several years, she taught my grandpa how to make it and it’s been part of our family history since.
Like so many recipes passed down through families, my grandpa didn’t write his recipe down until just before he passed and he left it for me. It’s lacking in some information and has some questionable ingredients (only ONE garlic clove? really?) but I adapted it a bit, spruced up some parts, and made sure you don’t have to spend 48 hours on it!
Feijoada (pronounced fey-jwa-da) is the national dish of Brazil and probably the most flavorful black bean stew you’ll ever have! In a recipe like this, there’s a lot of variation between recipes but it always includes black beans and a combination of fresh, cured, and salted meats all stewed together. Traditionally, you serve feijoada over steamed white rice with oranges on top–the citrus adds freshness and acidity to the heavy smoky flavors. It may sound weird, but the oranges make all the difference!
Instead of just topping the black bean stew with orange slices, I make a Brazilian chimichurri and add chopped orange segments to that and it’s heavenly! I can’t think of a better way to carry on my grandpa’s cooking legacy than to be able to carry this recipe on for the next generation.
Jenny’s Tips for Making Feijoada
Soak your black beans with salt. While you can just soak the beans, soaking them in salt water makes the skins soft and gives you more tender beans at the end. Don’t skip the salt!
Give everything a HARD sear. When building a flavorful stew, you build flavor in layers. Getting a hard, deeply brown sear on the sausage and pork shoulder builds flavor in the pot and makes a more flavorful feijoada as it cooks. Refer to the pictures below that show a beautiful brown crust on the meat!
Simmer covered, then uncovered. Keeping the lid on for the first portion of cooking really lets the flavors meld. Removing the lid for the second half helps the liquid reduce and makes the bean stew creamy and texturally delicious.
Helpful Cooking Tools
Key Recipe Ingredients
full list of ingredients, quantities & method in the recipe card at the end of the page.
- Black beans. Dried black beans are a must here, I don’t recommend using canned.
- Onions & garlic. I like yellow onions for sweetness, but white or red would also work.
- Green bell pepper. This isn’t strictly traditional but I add it to my red beans and rice and it felt fitting!
- Smoked sausage. Kielbasa works great, or any other cooked, smoked sausage.
- Pork shoulder or butt. My grandpa used beef stew meat, but I prefer the pork.
- Ham hock. A smoked ham hock adds so much flavor.
- Fresh bay leaves. Fresh is best if you can find them!
- Beef bouillon. I like the Better than Bouillon brand.
How to Make Grandpa’s Feijoada
- Soak the beans in salt water. The beans need to soak for at least 8 hours, but no longer than 24 hours. The salt helps make the skins softer and improves the overall texture!
- Sear the meats. Make sure you get your dutch oven really hot and sear the meats in batches so that it can get nice and brown. This will also leave a layer of brown bits on the bottom of the dutch oven known as ‘fond’ which we’ll pick up as we saute the veggies.
- Saute the peppers, onions, and spices. Keep the heat up while sautéing the veggies and as they release water while cooking, they’ll pick up all those brown bits from the bottom of the pot. Make sure to cook them until the onions are starting to brown to create more flavor!
- Let everything simmer. Add all the meat and beans and just enough water to cover the beans and just let everything simmer for a while. I do a mix of covered and uncovered cooking to infuse the flavors and to let enough water to evaporate so that the feijoada is nice and thick.
- Make the orange chimichurri. The flavor of the chimichurri gets better as it sits so I like to make it while the black bean stew is simmering. Let it hang out in the fridge until you’re ready to serve everything up.
If you do give this recipe a try, I love hearing about it! Leave a comment with a star rating below. Be sure to subscribe to my weekly newsletter and never miss a new recipe! You can also snap a photo & tag @JENNYGOYCOCHEA on Instagram.
More Hearty Stew Recipes to Try
Louisiana Red Beans & Rice
Guinness Beef Stew
French Onion Braised Beef
Beef Bourguignon
Pork Chile Verde
Coq au Vin Blanc
This post contains affiliate links from which I receive a small commission at no additional cost to you. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. Affiliate links allow me to keep providing great recipes for free and I never recommend products that I don’t love and personally own.
Grandpa’s Feijoada Recipe
Ingredients
Feijoada
- 1 lb dried black beans
- 2 tablespoons neutral oil
- 1 1/2 lbs boneless pork butt, cut into 1 ½ inch cubes
- 12 oz smoked sausage, sliced (like kielbasa)
- 2 yellow onions, diced
- 1 green bell pepper, diced
- 6 garlic cloves, minced
- 2 teaspoons paprika
- 1 tablespoon Better than Bouillon Roasted Beef Base
- 1 smoked ham hock
- 5 fresh bay leaves
- 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
- Steamed white rice, for serving
- Hot sauce, for serving
Orange Chimichurri
- 1/4 cup minced flat leaf parsley
- 1/4 cup minced cilantro leaves
- 2 teaspoons dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 1 small shallot, minced
- 2 oranges, segmented and chopped
- 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
- 2/3 cup olive oil
Instructions
- Soak the beans. Pick over the dried beans and discard any rocks, broken beans, or discolored pieces. Place them in a pot or large bowl with 1 tablespoon of kosher salt. Cover the beans with 3 inches of cold water and stir until the salt is dissolved. Let the beans soak for 8-24 hours.
- Sear the pork and sausage. Heat the oil in a large dutch oven (I used a 7 QT) over medium heat. Pat the pork pieces dry and season them with salt and pepper. Sear the pork until it’s browned all over and then transfer to a plate. Add the sliced sausage to the pot and sear the pieces on both sides, until deeply golden brown. Transfer the sausage to the plate with the pork.
- Saute the vegetables. Add the diced onion and green bell pepper to the pot and cook for 4-5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are soft. As the vegetables cook, try and use their moisture to scrape up any browned bits from the bottom of the pot. Add in the garlic, paprika, and bouillon paste and stir well.
- Simmer. Drain and rinse the beans and add them to the pot with the seared pork, sausage, bay leaves, and ham hock. Add just enough water to cover the beans (I found this to be about 7-8 cups, depending on the size and shape of your dutch oven), season liberally with salt, and bring to a simmer. Cover, reduce the heat to low, and simmer for 2 ½ hours.
- Make the topping. In a small bowl, combine the herbs, orange pieces, red pepper flakes, shallot, vinegar and olive oil and stir to combine. Season to taste with salt and pepper and set aside.
- Finish the stew. Remove the ham hock, shred the meat off the bone, and return the meat to the pot (discard the bones). Uncover and simmer for another hour or so, until the meat is very tender and the beans are creamy and thick. Discard the bay leaves and add the white wine vinegar and season to taste with salt and pepper.
- Serve. Ladle the feijoada over steamed white rice and top with the orange chimichurri and hot sauce, as desired.
Storage Instructions
- Leftover feijoada can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days. It can also be frozen in a freezer-safe ziplock bag for up to 3 months. Defrost overnight in the fridge before reheating on the stovetop.
Nutrition
You might also like...
-
One Pot Meals Louisiana-Style Red Beans and Rice Recipe
-
One Pot Meals Apple Cider Braised Pork Shoulder
-
30 Minute Meals Roast Pork Tenderloin and Potatoes
Rate & Review This Recipe
No comments yet — be the first to rate and review!