Pastel is a Brazilian fried pastry made with thin, shortcrust-like dough, and traditionally filled with savoury or sweet ingredients like cheese or banana.
Recipe Intro
History
Pastel is a popular Brazilian street food with origins tracing back to the 1940s. It’s widely believed that Japanese immigrants, adapting to local tastes and ingredients, modified traditional Chinese spring rolls and Japanese gyoza recipes to create this deep-fried pastry. This adaptation led to the development of pastels, which quickly gained popularity in Brazil. The word pastel means “pastry” in Portuguese, but in Brazil, it refers specifically to this crisp, deep-fried version.
Tradition
Pastel is sold fresh and hot at street markets across Brazil, especially in large cities like São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. These pastries are typically thin, crispy, and deep-fried, filled with various ingredients. Most stalls specialise in a wide range of fillings, including minced beef, mozzarella, ham and cheese, heart of palm, and shrimp. Sweet versions are also popular, often filled with banana and chocolate or guava paste with cheese. They are a popular quick lunch or snack, typically paired with a glass of cold sugarcane juice (caldo de cana) pressed on-site.
This Recipe
I prepared two classic versions of pastel: a savoury one filled with grated cheese that melts into a gooey centre encased in a crispy shell, and a sweet version with banana and cinnamon. They’re golden, flaky, and best served hot, straight from the frying pan.
Brazilian Pastel Ingredients
Dough
- flour – Use all-purpose flour or standard white wheat flour
- butter – Use unsalted butter, softened to room temperature before mixing
- baking powder – Standard baking powder to give the dough a bit of lightness.
- eggs – Use large eggs, at room temperature.
- Cachaca – This is Brazilian sugarcane spirit, if you can’t find it use vodka.
Filling
- cheese – Choose a cheese like mozzarella, prato, or gouda; grate before using.
- banana – Use a ripe but firm banana for texture; avoid overripe ones.
- sugar – White granulated, caster sugar
- cinnamon – Use powdered.
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How to make Pastel – Brazilian fried pastry
Make the dough
- Sift the flour with the baking powder into a large mixing bowl. Add the butter and rub it into the flour with fingers, until it resembles fine crumbs.
- In a separate bowl, mix one egg with the cachaça (or vodka) and warm water with salt. Add this to the flour mixture and combine. Knead the dough for 15 minutes, until it’s smooth, soft, and no longer sticky.
- Place the dough onto a clean surface. No need to dust it with flour, if it’s kneaded well, it won’t stick.
- Roll it out into a thin square or rectangle. Fold it in half, then roll it out again. Repeat this process several times to create a more elastic dough. Pastel dough should be thin. If you have a pasta machine, use it to create an even, delicate sheet. If you’re rolling by hand (like I did), just go as thin as you can. Mine came out a bit thick but the pastels were still delicious!
How to fill Pastel dough
- Cut the rolled dough in half, then each half into squares.
- Beat one egg (or just the egg white), this is used to seal the edges of the dough.
- Prepare filling: grate the cheese. Mash the banana, and mix in sugar and cinnamon.
- For savoury version, add 1-2 teaspoons of grated cheese and for the sweet one add 1-2 teaspoons of banana mixture per square.
- Brush the edges with beaten egg, fold over, lightly press to seal with your finger, then press again with a fork to make a design.
Frying Brazilian Pastel
- Heat oil in a deep pan. Fry each pastel for about 2 minutes per side over medium heat, until golden and crisp. The dough will naturally blister as it fries – this is normal and part of what gives pastel its signature texture and look.
- These are best enjoyed hot and fresh. (Mine came out with a slightly thicker crust than ideal, but they were still delicious!)
Serving Brazilian fried pastry
Pastel is best served hot, while the pastry is still crisp and the filling warm. It works well as a snack or light meal, and doesn’t need anything on the side. You can enjoy it just as it is, savoury or sweet, straight from the pan. The savoury cheese version also pairs nicely with a simple salad or a dipping sauce if you want to make it a bit more of a meal.
Recipe Card
Pastel – Brazilian fried pastry
Ingredients
DOUGH
- 2 cups all-purpose white flour
- 1½ tsp baking powder
- 15 g cold unsalted butter
- 1 egg
- 2-3 tbsp cachaça or vodka
- a pinch salt
- ¼ cup warm water
FILLING 1
- a few tbsp semi-hard cheese - grated
FILLING 2
- ½ – 1 banana - ripe
- 1- 2 tsp plain white caster sugar
- ½ – 1 tsp cinnamon powder
OTHER
- 1 egg or eggwhite - for sealing the dough
- sunflower oil - for frying
Instructions
- Make the dough: Sift flour and baking powder into a bowl. Add butter and rub in until crumbly. In another bowl, mix one egg with cachaça (or vodka), warm water, and salt. Combine with flour mixture and knead for 15 minutes until smooth and soft.
- Roll and fold: Place dough on a clean surface (no flour needed). Roll it out thinly, fold in half, and repeat several times to build elasticity. You can use the dough right away, but letting it rest for 15–30 minutes at room temperature helps relax the gluten, making it easier to roll out thinly without springing back.
- Fill the dough: Cut dough into squares. Beat an egg (or just the white) for sealing. Add grated cheese to some squares and banana-sugar-cinnamon mix to others. Brush edges with egg, fold over, seal with fingers, then press with a fork. Pressing the edges with a fork helps seal the pastel securely and gives it that classic crimped look.
- Fry: Heat oil in a deep pan. Fry pastéis for about 2 minutes per side over medium heat, until golden and blistered.
- Serve immediately.