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A baking dish of bacalhau à Gomes de Sá with sliced potatoes, boiled egg and black olives.
Bacalhau

Bacalhau à Gomes de Sá (Baked Salt Cod with Potatoes and Eggs)

Leonor Perreira · Updated Nov 12, 2026
Prep
15 min
Total
1 h 35 min
Servings
4
Calories
530 kcal
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Bacalhau à Gomes de Sá is one of the best-known salt cod dishes in Portugal: flaked cod baked with sliced potatoes, onion and plenty of olive oil, then topped with boiled egg and black olives. It’s simple, and made with a good olive oil it’s very hard to beat.

The story goes that it was created in Porto in the 19th century by José Luís Gomes de Sá, a salt cod merchant, who put together what he had at home: potatoes, cod, onion, olive oil and eggs. The recipe later became famous at the Lisbonense restaurant, also in Porto, and spread across the country.

Recipe

Bacalhau à Gomes de Sá

Flaked salt cod with sliced boiled potatoes and onion, baked with olive oil and finished with boiled egg and olives. One of the best-known salt cod dishes in Portugal.

Ingredients

4 servings

Method

  1. 1
    Put the potatoes and the eggs on to boil. The potatoes need 30 minutes, or until tender but still firm (they shouldn't get too soft). The eggs need 15 minutes; lift them out with a slotted spoon.
  2. 2
    Once the potatoes are cooked, take them out of the water, let them cool and peel them. Slice them about 0.5 cm thick, season with salt and fry them on both sides in a frying pan with a little olive oil. Set aside.
  3. 3
    Put the soaked cod into a pot of boiling water and leave it for 5 minutes.
  4. 4
    Lift it out, let it cool, remove the bones and skin and flake it.
  5. 5
    In a frying pan over medium heat, add the bay leaves and cook the onion until translucent. Add salt, pepper, the garlic and the flaked cod and mix well. Let it cook a little, remove the bay leaves and turn off the heat.
  6. 6
    Drizzle the bottom of a baking dish with olive oil and make alternating layers: potatoes, cod, potatoes again, cod again, and finish with a layer of potatoes topped with the sliced boiled eggs and black olives.
  7. 7
    Bake in an oven preheated to 180 °C (350 °F) for about 15 minutes. Sprinkle with parsley and serve.
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Keeping it moist

It dries out when it spends too long in the oven or has too little olive oil. Be generous with the oil and keep the oven at 180 °C (350 °F).

Gomes de Sá or bacalhau com todos?

Gomes de Sá has sliced potatoes and is baked with olive oil, egg and olives. Bacalhau com todos is boiled, never baked, with whole potatoes, carrots, cabbage and chickpeas.

Making it ahead

Assemble it in the dish the day before, cover with cling film and keep it in the fridge. Take it out 30 minutes before baking, and add the eggs and olives only at the end so they don’t dry out. Leftovers keep in a closed container in the fridge for 2 to 3 days.

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