🍗 Coxinha
Coxinha is a Brazilian snack of shredded chicken mixed with cream cheese, wrapped in a soft dough shaped like a teardrop or chicken drumstick, then breaded and deep-fried. The outside is crisp and golden, the inside creamy and savoury. It is sold in bakeries and snack bars and eaten by hand, often with hot sauce.
Diets
Allergens
Contains (in a typical recipe):
What it is made of
Recipe
Ingredients
- 400 g chicken breast
- 1 onion, chopped
- 150 g cream cheese
- 500 ml chicken cooking water
- 250 g flour
- 150 g breadcrumbs
- Oil for deep-frying
- Salt, pepper, parsley
Method
- Simmer the chicken with half the onion in salted water for 20 minutes, then shred it and keep the water.
- Mix the chicken with cream cheese, the remaining onion, parsley and pepper.
- Bring 500 ml of the cooking water to a boil, stir in the flour and cook until it forms a smooth dough; cool slightly.
- Flatten pieces of dough, fill with chicken and shape into teardrops.
- Brush with water, roll in breadcrumbs and fry at 180 °C until golden.
How to make it lighter
- Make them small — snack-sized coxinhas make portions easy to count.
- Bake or air-fry instead of deep-frying.
- Use light cream cheese and more chicken in the filling.
History
Coxinha means 'little thigh', after its drumstick shape. A popular legend links it to the Brazilian imperial family in the 19th century, but this is unproven; it became a widespread snack in São Paulo in the 20th century and is now found all over Brazil.
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Values are estimates per 100 g for a typical recipe; home and restaurant versions vary. Diets and allergens are worked out from the ingredients of a typical recipe — always check with whoever cooked the dish. Not medical advice. Nutrition data: Me Nutrition dish database v13. How we count →