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A clay pot of feijoada à transmontana full of meat and beans, served with rice.
Meat

Feijoada à Transmontana (Red Bean and Pork Stew)

Leonor Perreira · Updated Nov 5, 2026
Prep
30 min
Total
2 h
Servings
6
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Feijoada à transmontana comes from the cold winters of Trás-os-Montes, in the north-east, where every part of the pig was used after the yearly slaughter. It’s thick, filling and tastes of smoked sausage, a dish for a family Sunday.

Red beans from the vegetable garden and cabbage went in with the pork to make a meal that kept people going through the cold. Some say it inspired the Brazilian feijoada, which uses black beans and different seasonings.

Recipe

Feijoada à Transmontana

Red beans with pork and smoked sausages, slow-cooked with savoy cabbage. A hearty winter classic from the north of Portugal.

Ingredients

6 servings

Method

  1. 1
    Cook the trotter and the ear in a pressure cooker with water and a bay leaf for about 30 to 40 minutes. Take them out, let them cool and cut them into small pieces. Keep the cooking broth.
  2. 2
    In another pot, cook the beans in water (or in some of the meat broth) until soft but still firm.
  3. 3
    In a large pot, gently fry the chopped onion and garlic in olive oil. Add the sliced carrot and the spare ribs, cut into pieces, and let the meat brown.
  4. 4
    Add the chouriço, cut into rounds. Pour in some of the meat broth, add the cloves and let the ribs stew for 20 minutes.
  6. 5
    Stir in the trotter, the ear and the cooked beans with some of their water. Mix everything gently.
  7. 6
    Lay the cabbage on top. Cover and cook over low heat until the cabbage is tender, about 15 minutes.
  8. 7
    For the last 10 minutes, add the morcela and the farinheira whole, pricked with a fork first so they don't burst.
  9. 8
    Turn off the heat, take out the sausages, slice them and arrange them on top before serving. Serve with plain white rice.
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Tips

Always keep the water the meats cooked in: this broth, rich in collagen, gives the feijoada its velvety texture.

If you don’t like the more gelatinous cuts, like the ear and trotter, use only the spare ribs and the sausages.

To keep the farinheira from bursting, prick it and don’t let the pot boil hard.

If the sauce is thin at the end, take out two ladles of beans, blend them and stir them back in.

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