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What to eat in Portugal? Top 7 Portuguese Sausages

Last update: Wed Jan 29 2025
Top 7 Portuguese Sausages
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01

Sausage

MIRANDELA, Portugal
4.4
Alheira de Mirandela
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The filling for this traditional smoked delicacy is made by combining small pieces of meat and bread. This sausage is traditionally smoked using olive or oak wood, which gives it a unique flavor, aroma, and color while enhancing the flavor of the spices. Mirandela sausage contains beef and pork meat along with fat, poultry meat, wheat bread, olive oil, and lard, and it's flavored and seasoned with salt, garlic, and sweet or hot paprika.


This sausage is an irreplaceable ingredient in traditional Portuguese dishes such as açorda, cannelones, and pies, but it can also be served as a main dish with a side of potatoes or vegetables.

MOST ICONIC Alheira de Mirandela

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02

Sausage

BRAGANÇA DISTRICT, Portugal
4.4
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The municipality of Vinhais is the fumeiro (smokehouse) capital of the Trás-os-Montes region, and it produces some of the best cured meat products in the world. Vinhais sausage is a smoked sausage made with cooked meat of locally raised bísaro pigs, which is only lightly flavored and seasoned with salt, garlic, and paprika.


After the meat has been cooked, bread is added to the mixture before it's stuffed into sausage casings. Vinhais sausage has a yellowish-brown color and a very pleasant, uniqe aroma and flavor. Alheira de Vinhais can be eaten fried, oven-roasted, or grilled, and it is typically served with a side of boiled or fried potatoes and cooked vegetables.

03

Sausage

PORTUGAL
4.1
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This smoked Portuguese sausage is typically made with a combination of various types of meat, bread, garlic, olive oil, and paprika. It is believed that the original alheira was invented during the Inquisition by Portuguese Jews who had to practice Jewish tradition in secret.


To disguise as Christians, they started producing sausages but would replace the traditional pork meat with poultry and game. The sausage soon became popular throughout the country, and today it comes in numerous varieties that sometimes even use fish or pork meat and fat as the base. 

MOST ICONIC Alheira

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04
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This smoked Portuguese sausage borrows its name from flour (farina), which is its main component alongside meat and various seasonings such as wine, garlic, bay leaf, and paprika. Though it is nowadays mostly prepared with pork meat and pork trimmings, it is believed that the original farinheira did not contain any pork, since it has been widely accepted that it was created by Portuguese Jews.


Farinheira is typically employed in many traditional dishes such as the hearty cozido stew, but it can also be boiled, grilled and fried, or combined with scrambled eggs.

05

Sausage

BRAGANÇA DISTRICT, Portugal
3.7
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This sweet, smoked chorizo sausage is a specialty of the Vinhais region in northeastern Portugal, and it is made from lean meat and fat taken from the Bísaro breed of pig or its cross-breeds. The chopped meat is mixed with pig's blood, local wheat bread, honey, walnuts, almonds, and olive oil.


After it has been seasoned and flavored, the mixture is stuffed into thin sausage casings and slowly smoked until it develops a dark color and an intense, smoky flavor. The sausage must be fried to be fit for consumption, and it is usually served with fresh bread, local cheese, and a glass of full-bodied red wine on the side.

06
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With a history dating back to the 15th century, this sausage delicacy was invented by the Jewish community in Portugal. When given the choice between converting to Christianity or being expelled from the country, the Portuguese Jews opted for the latter, but decided to keep practicing Judaism in secret.


In order not to draw unwanted suspicion while still abiding by Kosher law, they began making and eating sausages using meat other than pork, such as rabbit or poultry. Nowadays, Barroso-Montalegre sausage is made by combining different meats and bread with spices that provide it with a unique flavor. 
07

Sausage

PORTALEGRE DISTRICT, Portugal
n/a
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These sausages, which are produced exclusively in the municipality of Portalegre, are made from the fat, liver, offal, and blood of the Alentejo pig. All of the ingredients are ground and spiced with garlic, cumin, sweet paprika, and salt.


After 24 hours of rest, the mixture is stuffed into sausage casings, which are then blanched and left to dry. The sausage is compact and marbled when cut, and has a pleasant, unique flavor. On the outside, it is usually dark brown in color and covered with an ashy coating. 

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Portuguese Sausages