Cooking vocabulary Culinária
13 Portuguese words on the topic of cooking — with pictures, audio recordings and example sentences. In the kitchen.
| Picture | English | Portuguese · Português | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
 | to cook | cozinhar | Same family: a cozinha (kitchen) and o cozinheiro (cook); nh sounds like 'ny'. |
 | recipe | a receita | False friend: not 'receipt' (that is o recibo); a receita is also a doctor's prescription. |
 | ingredient | o ingrediente | In Brazil the final -te sounds like 'chee'. |
 | pot | a panela | Pressure cooker: panela de pressão. |
 | frying pan | a frigideira | Related to fritar (to fry); the -eira ending is common for utensils (cafeteira, chaleira). |
 | oven | o forno | Distinguish o forno (oven) from o fogão (stove/cooktop). |
 | to cut | cortar | A regular -ar verb; also for haircuts: cortar o cabelo. |
 | to fry | fritar | Regular verb; the adjective is frito: batata frita = fries. |
 | to boil | ferver | Used of liquids: a água está fervendo; boiling food is usually cozinhar. |
 | salt | o sal | Plural: sais (-al → -ais). |
 | oil | o óleo | Cooking oil: o óleo; butter: a manteiga; olive oil is o azeite! |
 | flour | a farinha | nh sounds like 'ny'; in Brazil plain farinha often means manioc flour — wheat flour is farinha de trigo. |
 | flavor | o sabor | Family: saboroso (tasty); taste in the sense of preference is o gosto. |