31 Portuguese puddings and spoon sweets
Unmoulded puddings, sweet rice and pasta, creams, porridges and baked desserts eaten with a spoon.
Portuguese spoon desserts extend far beyond caramel flan. They include cinnamon-decorated rice pudding, Christmas aletria, tigeladas baked in clay, corn or pumpkin porridges and puddings enriched with eggs, bread, olive oil, chestnut, orange or wine.
Some set in the oven or a water bath and are turned out; others remain creamy and reach the table in a serving dish or bowl. Arroz-doce, Pudim Abade de Priscos, tigelada and aletria are four gateways into this family of textures.
Four ways into the family
Portuguese icon Portuguese Rice Pudding
The Sunday dessert of the whole country, signed in cinnamon.
Nationwide
Portuguese icon Abbot of Priscos Pudding
Portugal's richest pudding: egg yolks, Port and — quietly — a piece of pork fat.
The North
Portuguese icon Tigelada
Eggs and milk in a clay bowl, gilded in the heat of a wood-fired oven.
The Centre
Portuguese icon Sweet Vermicelli
Fine wheat threads simmered in milk and yolk, scored with cinnamon.
The North31 Portuguese puddings and spoon sweets
Open each record for origin, ingredients, flavour, history, variations, season, where to try it and sources.
Portuguese icon Sweet Vermicelli
Fine wheat threads simmered in milk and yolk, scored with cinnamon.
The North
Portuguese icon Douro Christmas Bread Pudding
Bread, honey, Port and nuts in a cinnamon-scented Christmas pudding.
The North
Portuguese icon Vouzela Coconut Mimo
A small moist yellow coconut-and-yolk pudding marked by half a cherry.
The North Portuguese icon Abbot of Priscos Pudding
Portugal's richest pudding: egg yolks, Port and — quietly — a piece of pork fat.
The North
Portuguese icon Countess Aldara Pudding
Santo Tirso's official low, fluted pudding beneath dark caramel.
The North
Portuguese icon Régua Cassava-Flour Pudding
A golden, dense Douro baked pudding bound with fine cassava flour.
The North
Portuguese icon Amares Orange Pudding
A dark caramelised pudding made only with eggs, sugar and juice from local oranges.
The North
Portuguese icon Valongo Bread Pudding
Valongo's smooth, golden pudding made with regueifa crumb, milk, eggs and lemon.
The North
Portuguese icon Ponte de Lima Franciscan Pudding
Eggs, sugar and tangerine juice in a convent pudding baked in a water bath.
The North
Portuguese icon Caíde Sweet Sarrabulho
A pig-slaughter spoon sweet of Padronelo bread, cooked blood, honey, cinnamon and Port.
The North
Portuguese icon Mirandela Olive-Oil Pudding
The liquid gold of the Trás-os-Montes olive groves, caught in a golden caramel.
Trás-os-Montes
Portuguese icon Bragança Chestnut Pudding
The gold of the Terra Fria, turned to a spoonful.
Trás-os-Montes
Portuguese icon Baixo Mondego Rice Pudding
Mondego Carolino rice and Gândara milk, traced with cinnamon.
The Centre
Portuguese icon Miranda do Corvo Turnip Preserve
A rare fibrous convent preserve of turnip and almond, prepared over several days.
The Centre
Portuguese icon Corn-Meal Pudding
The Beira folk's rice pudding, made of corn, milk and cinnamon.
The Centre
Portuguese icon The King's Carolo Pudding
Bairrada's sweet corn porridge enriched for All Saints' Day.
The Centre
Portuguese icon Vila de Rei Almond Pudding
Vila de Rei almond pudding rich in yolks and scented with citrus.
The Centre Portuguese icon Tigelada
Eggs and milk in a clay bowl, gilded in the heat of a wood-fired oven.
The Centre
Portuguese icon Pampilhosa Goat-Milk Tigelada
A goat-milk mountain tigelada baked dark in earthenware until sweet aguadilha forms below.
The Centre
Portuguese icon Arganil Earthenware Custard
Eggs and milk baked dark for an hour in red glazed earthenware.
The Centre
Portuguese icon Oliveira do Hospital Earthenware Custard
A corn-bread-flour tigelada toasted in a Molelos earthenware pot.
The Centre
Portuguese icon Proença-a-Nova Honey Tigelada
Goat's milk and heather honey in a rustic pudding scorched by a wood oven.
The Centre
Portuguese icon Lousã Tigelada
A flour-thickened Beira tigelada with lemon and cinnamon, browned in earthenware.
The Centre
Portuguese icon Corn Papas with Grape-Must Arrobe
Rustic corn papas finished with arrobe, the dark syrup that concentrates freshly pressed grape must.
The West
Portuguese icon Alcobaça Monks' Egg Pudding
The gold of the yolks, melted down by the monks of Cîteaux.
The West
Portuguese icon Palmela Sheep's-Milk Rice Pudding
Creamy sheep's-milk rice pudding marked with the sword of the Order of Santiago.
Lisbon
Portuguese icon Monchique Honey Pudding
A mountain pudding of eggs, honey, olive oil, lemon and cinnamon, slowly baked.
The Algarve
Portuguese icon Madeira Cherimoya Mousse
Madeiran cherimoya in a cool, pale and delicately tropical mousse.
Madeira
Portuguese icon Madeira Passion Fruit Pudding
Creamy pudding cut by the fragrant tang of Madeiran passion fruit.
Madeira
Portuguese icon Terceira Vinegar Sweet
A spoon sweet of curdled milk, yolks, aniseed and cinnamon despite its surprising name.
The Azores
Portuguese icon Count of Praia Pudding
A convent-style potato, egg-yolk and spice pudding associated with the first Count of Praia da Vitória.
The Azores Portuguese icon Portuguese Rice Pudding
The Sunday dessert of the whole country, signed in cinnamon.
Nationwide
Portuguese icon Portuguese Caramel Mousse
Cooked condensed milk and eggs folded into a light, creamy, intensely caramelised mousse.
Nationwide
Portuguese icon Molotov Pudding
A caramel-glazed cloud of egg whites that seems to hover on the plate.
Nationwide
Portuguese icon Portuguese-Style Chocolate Mousse
Dark chocolate, yolks and whipped whites in an intense, airy home-style mousse without cream.
Nationwide
Portuguese icon Portuguese Heavenly Cream
Maria biscuit, a light white cream of whipped cream and egg whites, and a golden crown of egg-yolk cream.
Nationwide
Portuguese icon Flan
The dessert every grandmother makes, and no two make alike.
Nationwide
Portuguese icon Quindim
A small glossy pudding of egg yolk, sugar and grated coconut.
Nationwide
Portuguese icon Portuguese Sawdust Pudding
Chilled layers of cream and condensed milk divided by Maria biscuit crumbs resembling sawdust.
NationwideQuestions about this family
What are puddings & spoon sweets?
Unmoulded puddings, sweet rice and pasta, creams, porridges and baked desserts eaten with a spoon.
How many sweets are in this category?
The catalogue contains 39 specialities in this family. Every record includes origin, ingredients, flavour, history, variations, season, where to try it and sources.
Where should I begin?
A useful first selection is Portuguese Rice Pudding, Abbot of Priscos Pudding, Tigelada, Sweet Vermicelli. The complete collection below also reveals lesser-known local specialities.