Cooking Methods in Portuguese: Fry, Boil, Bake, and Roast
Understand common cooking methods in Brazilian recipes and use the right Portuguese verb to describe how a dish is prepared.
Real Life Portuguese · 6 min read · Updated October 15, 2026
The short answer
Fritar means to fry, ferver means to boil, and cozinhar means to cook. Assar can mean bake or roast, depending on whether the food is bread, a cake, meat, or vegetables. The noun and equipment help tell you how to translate it naturally.
Choose the verb that matches the cooking method
Refogar describes sautéing ingredients, often at the start of a dish. It commonly appears with garlic and onion: refogar o alho e a cebola. The method usually uses a pan and a small amount of cooking fat.
Frite os ovos em fogo baixo.
Fry the eggs over low heat.
Deixe a água ferver.
Let the water boil.
Asse as batatas até ficarem macias.
Roast the potatoes until they become tender.
Distinguish cozinhar from cozinhar no vapor
Cozinhar is a broad verb for cooking food. Cozinhar no vapor specifies steaming, while cozinhar em água describes cooking in water. The phrase after the verb narrows down the method.
For grilling, grelhar is a useful word. Churrasquear is also used informally for having a barbecue, while fazer churrasco refers more broadly to preparing or hosting one.
Vou cozinhar os legumes no vapor.
I’m going to steam the vegetables.
Grelhe o queijo dos dois lados.
Grill the cheese on both sides.
Describe the method in a full sentence
To say how a dish is made, use the food as the subject or object and add the method: O peixe é assado no forno (the fish is baked in the oven). In casual conversation, you can simply say Assei o peixe (I baked or roasted the fish).
Notice that forno means oven and fogo means heat or flame. In a recipe, fogo baixo and fogo médio describe the heat level on a stovetop.
A gente costuma grelhar os legumes.
We usually grill the vegetables.
O molho cozinha por alguns minutos.
The sauce cooks for a few minutes.
Put it into practice
Learn each verb with its method and a food example. When assar could mean bake or roast, use the dish and equipment to choose the natural English translation.
Quick practice
Which Portuguese example matches “Grill the cheese on both sides”?
Choose an answer to check yourself.
Keep practicing with the Real Life Portuguese app
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