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Brazilian

Pastel de feira

Non-vegetarian

Large, thin, blistered fried pastries filled with seasoned beef and olives, sold sizzling hot at Brazilian street markets with a glass of sugar-cane juice.

Pastel de feira is a Brazilian street food, ready in about 1 hour 40 minutes and made with all-purpose flour and ground beef. It serves 6 and is rated intermediate to cook.

Start cooking
Crisp fried Brazilian pastel cut open on a plate
Photo: BuenosAiresPhotographer / Wikimedia Commons · CC-BY-SA-2.0
Prep
40 min
Cook
30 min
Rest
30 min
Total
1 h 40 min
Serves
6
Level
Intermediate
Calories
661

Ingredients

6 servings (12 pastéis)

For the dough

For the filling

For frying

Equipment

Method

  1. Step 1

    Mix the flour and 1 tsp salt, add the water, oil and cachaça (opens in a new tab), and knead to a smooth, firm dough. Wrap and rest 30 minutes.

    • 10 min
    Hands kneading dough on a floured surface
    How it looks · Photo: Klaus Nielsen on Pexels

  2. Step 2

    Brown the beef in a dry pan, breaking it up. Add the onion (opens in a new tab) and garlic (opens in a new tab) and cook until soft, then the tomato (opens in a new tab), remaining salt and pepper (opens in a new tab); cook until dry. Stir in the olives and spring onion (opens in a new tab) and cool completely.

    Food safety: Cook minced beef until no pink remains.

    Meat searing in a hot pan
    How it looks · Photo: Skylar Kang on Pexels

  3. Step 3

    Roll the dough very thin (1–2 mm) and cut into 12 rectangles about 12 × 20 cm. Put a heaped spoonful of filling on one half, brush the edge with water, fold and seal firmly with a fork.

  4. Step 4

    Fry two at a time in oil at 180 °C, spooning oil over the top, until puffed, blistered and golden, about 2 minutes per side. Drain and serve at once.

    Food safety: Seal the edges well: a leaking pastel spits hot oil.

    A finished dish being plated
    How it looks · Photo: Willians Huerta on Pexels

About this dish

Origin
São Paulo, Brazil · Commonly attributedMarket pastéis are strongly associated with São Paulo, where the street-market version is often linked to Japanese- and Chinese-Brazilian vendors.More food from Brazil
Dish
Snack · Lunch · Street food · Finger food
Cooking method
Deep-fried, Sautéed
Taste
savoury, salty
Diet
Dairy-free · No nut ingredients · High-protein
All labelsNon-vegetarian · Dairy-free · Egg-free · No nut ingredients · No added sugar · Pork-free · High-protein
Without the optional extras: Alcohol-freeWorked out from the ingredients. How labels work
Good for
Street food · Child-friendly
Cook more with
All-purpose flour · Ground beef · Onion · Garlic · Tomato · Green olives
Techniques
Deep-frying · Sautéing · Kneading

Allergens

  • Contains: Wheatfrom all-purpose flour
  • Contains: Glutenfrom all-purpose flour

Based on typical versions of these ingredients and not verified allergen-free. Brands differ and cross-contact happens, so always check labels. For severe allergies, follow your clinician’s advice.

Nutrition

661 kcal per serving

Calculated

1 serving ≈ 262 g · recipe makes 6

Where the energy comes from

  • Protein 13%
  • Carbohydrate 41%
  • Fat 46%
Nutrition per serving and per 100 g
NutrientPer servingPer 100 g*
Energy661 kcal252 kcal
Protein21.7 g8.2 g
Carbohydrate67.3 g25.6 g
Net carbohydrate64 g24.4 g
Sugars1.7 g0.6 g
Added sugars0 g0 g
Fibre3.3 g1.2 g
Fat33.4 g12.7 g
Saturated fat5.7 g2.2 g
Trans fat——
Cholesterol45 mg17 mg
Sodium762 mg290 mg
Salt equivalent1.9 g0.7 g
Vitamins & minerals per serving
Potassium
384 mg
Calcium
44 mg
Iron
5.5 mg
Magnesium
38 mg
Vitamin A (RAE)
15 µg
Vitamin C
5 mg
Vitamin D
0.1 µg
Vitamin B12
1.4 µg
Folate (DFE)
256 µg

How these numbers were made

  • Calculated from USDA FoodData Central (SR Legacy) per-100 g values and the listed quantities.
  • *Per 100 g of combined raw ingredients; the cooked dish may weigh more or less.
  • Optional ingredients are not included: rum.
  • “—” means the value isn’t known for enough of the ingredients; it is never zero by default.
  • Values are estimates for guidance, not for medical dosing. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central, 2019. fdc.nal.usda.gov.

Good to know

Tips

  • Squeeze out air before sealing so the pastries puff rather than burst.

Common mistakes

  • Warm filling softens the dough and causes leaks — let it cool.

Serve with

  • Serve with caldo de cana (sugar-cane juice) and chilli vinegar, as at the feira.

Storage

  • Uncooked, sealed pastéis freeze well on a tray; fry from frozen.

Variations

  • Pastel de queijo (Brazil): Filled with mozzarella only.
  • Pastel de palmito (Brazil): With creamy hearts-of-palm filling.

Original editorial recipe · FriendsPantry editorial · Not yet independently reviewed · Added · Updated

Recipe DNA

How this dish is built

Built from the recipe’s own sections. Each band’s width is its share of the dish by weight. Choose a component to see what it does.

The spice and seasoning backbone

Spices, masalas & pastes

Used in steps 1, 2

Baker’s notes

Customise in Bread & Bakery

Timeline and readiness cues

  1. Mix and knead · about 40 min

    Knead until smooth and soft; it should feel like an earlobe.

  2. Rest · about 30 min

    Covered so it doesn't dry out; relaxed dough rolls and shapes without springing back.

  3. Bake · about 15 min

    Puffed with golden-brown spots on both sides.

  4. Start to finish: about 1 h 25 min. Times are a guide — warmth changes everything; follow the cues.

The dough

The dough in baker's percentages. Flour = 100%.
IngredientRoleWeightBaker’s %
All-purpose flourFlour500 g100%
WaterWater220 g44%
Neutral vegetable oilFat27 g5.4%
Total flour
500 g
Hydration
44%
With milk, eggs…
44%
Wholegrain
0%

Hydration = water ÷ flour × 100. Milk is about 87% water and eggs about 75%, so they’re shown separately as “with milk, eggs…”.

  • Stiff dough (under 55% hydration) — firm, easy to roll; typical of bagels, pretzels and many flatbreads.

If something goes wrong

  • Pale crust

    Likely causes

    • Oven too cool
    • Too little sugar or no milk/egg for browning
    • Over-fermented (yeast ate the sugars)

    What to do

    • Check the oven with a thermometer
    • Brush with egg wash or milk
    • Shorten the fermentation
  • Burnt bottom

    Likely causes

    • Tray too close to the heat
    • Dark tray absorbs more heat
    • Too much sugar in the dough

    What to do

    • Bake on the middle shelf
    • Double up trays or use a light-coloured one
    • Lower the temperature 10–15 °C and bake a little longer
  • Crust too hard or thick

    Likely causes

    • Baked too long at too low a temperature
    • No steam at the start

    What to do

    • Bake hotter for a shorter time
    • Add steam for the first 15 minutes (tray of boiling water, or a covered Dutch oven)
    • Cool under a tea towel for a softer crust

Reviews & corrections

Reviews come from signed-in cooks and appear after a moderator checks them. We never show made-up ratings.

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