The beauty of travelling around Portugal is eating through the huge variety of regional dishes, local sweets and unusual. From the north to the south, and out to the remote islands there are so many unique things to try. I find Madeira has a huge range of traditional dishes, local produce, and quirky drinks that are different to the rest of Portugal.
Here’s a round-up of the best traditional Madeira dishes, foods and drinks you should try while exploring the island – use this guide as a partner to my blog on where to eat and drink on Madeira Island.
It’s quite unlikely that you’ll find these traditional Madeiran dishes on the mainland, so get educated and load up on milho frito and poncha while on Madeira or Porto Santo islands.
Must-try traditional Madeira dishes
✨Join a top-rated Madeira food tour and taste a handful of these traditional dishes, drinks and ingredients in just a few hours 🍌🐟 ✨ I find a food tour is one of the fastest ways to get to know a destination, food and stories.
Traditional Madeira starters, soups and snacks
Bolo de caco (sweet potato bread)
Bolo do Caco is essentially a pan-fried round white bread. Most commonly this side or starter is served with garlic butter during a meal. It’s usually made with flour and white sweet potato, so it’s always soft and a little bit sweet! I love it and you can find it almost everywhere, so order often.
They also use this bread to make sandwiches – most commonly a prego no bolo de caco. That’s a steak sandwich served on this special bread.
Milho frito (fried polenta cubes)
Fried herby polenta cubes. I love ordering milho frito as an accompaniment to dishes at restaurants, as you would order a side of vegetables, rice or potatoes. I find these crunchy cubes delicious and slightly addictive and they are one to try while on Madeira island.
The best we had were homemade at O Moinho, but I also enjoyed eating milho frito as a “dentinho” at the Sunday Santo da Serra Farmers Market. A dentinho is a free little snack you can request with a drink.
Sopa de trigo (wheat soup)
Hearty and wholesome, this soup is more of a stew with cracked wheat, beans and cubes of potato, carrot and more floating in a rich, porky broth. Heavenly. Perfect for chilly days – which do happen! I ate a fantastic version at the Santa de Serra Sunday market.
Sopa de tomate e cebola
Madeira’s traditional tomato and onion soup is so delicious. If you see it, order it. It should arrive with a poached egg floating on top. Done well, the soup is super luscious and rich in flavour.
Must-try traditional Madeira meat dishes
Espetadas (beef skewers)
Tasty, tasty meat skewers. Madeira is famous for its oversized kebab skewers known as espetadas, the difference here being the use of bay laurel branches or stems as the stick or skewer. These days it’s more common to find metal skewers but there should always be salt, pepper, garlic and bay leaf in the seasoning before the skewers are grilled over wood or charcoal.
The skewers are huge and restaurants that specialise in espetadas will have iron structures on the table just to hang them. I wrote about my favourite place to eat them on the island here.
Read all about Talho do Caniço, my favourite place for espetadas, with this in-depth run-down.
Carne de vinha d’alhos
Look out for this dish of pork soaked in wine, vinegar, garlic and bay leaves. We had it a couple of times sandwiched between garlicky bolo de caco for a quick, cheap lunch. The meat is prepped days ahead, so it is super rich in flavour.
Picado or picadinho (chopped steak and gravy)
Picado is a very Madeiran dish that you won’t see on the mainland. Essentially it is chopped steak or beef cubes with gravy, usually served with chips and eaten with toothpicks. Hard not to love.
Recently I’ve seen more places serving picado with other island ingredients, such as octopus or the espada preto (black scabbard) fish (as pictured on the right).
Macarrão à Madeirense (meat pasta)
It wasn’t until my second trip that I finally found this traditional Madeira dish. This is apparently a homely comfort food – and it’s essentially macaroni pasta with a meat stew. I found it all over the Santo de Serra farmer’s market on Sunday, and also spotted workers eating it at a very unsuspecting tasca in Funchal town.
Above in the pictures I ordered it as a dentinho, which is something unique to Madeira. It’s the closest Portugal gets to tapas, and yes dentinhos seem to be free, which surprised me. You could also order the dish as a main plate.
Must-try traditional Madeira seafood dishes
Peixe espada preto (black scabbard fish)
Venture to the fish market in the centre of Funchal and you’ll long black ugly fish overhanging the marble benches. That’s peixe espada preto or black scabbard. These fish live at low depths – something you can gather by looking at those large, terrifying eyes!
It’s perhaps most similar to eel and you’ll often find this fish on restaurant menus cooked up with banana.
Lapas (grilled limpets)
Both Madeirans and the Azoreans love to eat these conical sea barnacles. Expect them grilled with butter and garlic on a sizzling hot plate. Add a squeeze of lemon and slurp them down. When they’re good, they’re fantastic. When they are okay, they can be a bit chewy.
Find out where to eat limpets and more in my where to eat in Madeira guide.
Atum (tuna)
Wander the fish markets and you’ll see mostly two fish: the ugly snake-like black scabbardfish and huge tuna being sliced up like steaks. When on the island, order tuna where and when you can. We had it a couple of times and it was tasty but often overcooked. If you like it rare in the middle, make sure you ask!
Polvo (octopus)
Polvo is great anywhere and Madeira is no exception. We enjoyed it a couple of times sandwiched between bolo de caco, chopped and marinated like a salad. I’ve also seen octopus picado, a traditional dish usually done with steak.
Fragateira (fish stew)
This traditional Madeiran fish stew is both difficult to find and difficult to read about the history. It’s very similar to a Portuguese caldeirada, which is a fish stew too. The difference might be in the way that a fragateira is layered, but I am not 100% sure. I’ve tried this dish twice at A Poita, a brilliant fish restaurant in the coastal village of Madalena do Mar. Here you’ll receive a large pot “for two” (it will feed at least three) filled with potato, fish and limpets.
Gaiado Seco (dried skipperjack tuna)
Skipjack is a small species of tuna that’s caught in the waters around Madeira. On the island they scale it and leave the fish to dry in the sun. If you see this dish on a menu – it’s hard to find – be warned by the strong and intense flavor. Stronger than bacalhau (salted cod) my server at Gavião Do Ilhéu warned me. It’s usually served “escabeche” – sautéed with chopped onion, garlic, vinegar, olive oil, red bell pepper and parsley.
Traditional Madeira sweets, desserts and fruits
Madeiran bananas
The island of Madeira is covered with banana trees so make sure you try the little yellow bananas. They’re a little smaller and sweeter than the South American ones commonly imported to Europe.
Bolo de Mel (Madeira Honey Cake)
This traditional cake is said to be the oldest dessert made in Madeira, and it was created by nuns at the Santa Clara Convent in Funchal. Sugar cane was introduced to Madeira in the 15th century and quickly became the island’s main export. That sugar cane is refined into sugar cane honey – or molasses –and used in this cake, along with walnuts, almonds and spices. Apparently the bolo de mel will last five years (if you don’t eat it sooner).
Broas de mel de cana
These hard biscuits are one of the island’s more traditional sweets. The dark, round cookies are firm and crunchy with an intense taste of cane honey and spices. You can find them at supermarkets around Madeira, but I like to visit Fábrica Santo Antonio, a biscuit factory open since 1893. They do a fantastic (and cutely packaged) bolo de mel too.
Queijadas da Madeira
Every town in Portugal seems to have something called a queijada, which is a “little cheesecake”. Madeira’s version is very different to those on the mainland though. Round and quite flat, they are much larger – around 7 or 8cm in diameter – with a thin pastry dough. Apparently the filling is goat’s cheese with sugar, eggs and flour. You can find this treat in any pastelaria or bakery.
Castanhas (toasted chestnuts and chestnut sweets)
In Portugal, chestnut vendors seems to arrive with the first whiff of autumn air – and it’s no different in Madeira’s capital, Funchal. Here I saw many vendor selling locally grown chestnuts, which I believe are grown in Curral das Freiras. If you venture into that valley, not too far from the city, during autumn you’ll find chestnuts trees heavy with fruit. While here we tried the chestnut version of a handful of Portuguese cakes and tarts.
Tropical fruits
A subtropical island means tropical fruits, but be careful when you shop at the main fruit market – Mercado dos Lavradores in Funchal. You’ll see beautiful artisanal local baskets stacked up with colourful exotic fruits – but look closely as many of the labels say Colombia, not Portugal or Madeira.
I was warned about some dodgy vendors adding sweetener to sour tropical fruits to sell them to tourists at exorbitant prices but not that the fruit wouldn’t actually be local. This Portuguese island does have local fruits – bananas, some types of passionfruit, tangerines, crab apples – but not all of the vibrant fruits on display are. The prices are highly inflated. If you want to see what really grows on Madeira, the Sunday Santa de Serra market is a better bet.
Maracujá (passionfruit) desserts
Passionfruit is one of Madeira’s top tropical fruits, and it seems that a couple of varieties grow in abundance. This fruit then pops ups in a handful of desserts that you’ll find – usually pudim de maracujá – which is like a set custard or flan, and as a sauce on top of chilled cheesecake. You can also find passionfruit biscuits on the shelves.
What to drink on Madeira
Madeira has a handful of quirky and unique drinks to try. Don’t miss out!
Poncha
Poncha is a delicious drink, until the next day. A rough mix of sugar and lemon rind, Madeiran rum and fruit juice, this strong and potent punch packs just that. More than two small cups and you could be in serious trouble. Try all four main types of poncha – the traditional fisherman’s (pescador) poncha with just lemon juice, the regional with orange juice, passionfruit (maracujá), or tangerine (tangerina).
Some bars, like Bar Number Two in Camara de Lobos, have started playing around with different fruits too, such as pitaya or dragonfruit.
Read next…. 8 best poncha bars on Madeira Island
Madeira wine
Dating back to Portugal’s Age of Discoveries, ships travelling to the East Indies would stop by Madeira for supplies, leaving with barrels and barrels of the local vinho. After crossing the equator a number of times, they realised the wine tasted better after the brutal heat of the journey. Madeira’s fortified wines are now stored in attics, instead of cool wine cellars.
There are half a dozen brands to try while on the island including Blandy’s, Henriques & Henriques, H. M. Borges, Justino’s, Pereira D’ Oliveira, and Barbeito.
Madeira rum
You can’t have poncha without rum. Making use of the island’s sugar cane production, there is plenty of agricola rum made here. If you visit between March and May, like we did, make a stop by Engenhos do Norte where they were processing the cane with steam-powered machines from the 19th century. I love seeing how food is made or produced, and this was one of the coolest (and free) experiences.
Nikita
Is it a milkshake or a cocktail? One thing’s for sure, it’s weird and delicious. The frothy drink mixes pineapple ice-cream with pineapple juice and beer. Some spots add wine. Much tastier than it sounds.
Pé de Cabra
Another weird and wonderful Madeiran drink is Pé de Cabra, which means goat’s foot. My partner’s step mum was ferociously trying to find this drink while on Madeira Island as a Portuguese doctor “prescribed” it to her in the ’80s. While most bars now leave out the egg yolk that once gave sustenance to labourers, they still mix stout beer, chocolate milk or chocolate power, sweet red Madeira wine and sugar together using the poncha stick. So weird but it works. There’s a recipe here if you’re game.
Brisa
This is a local soft drink and I love it. Passionfruit is the OG flavour and I think this is what’s needed to ward off any next-day poncha hangover. Apparently it was the world’s first passionfruit soda and it contains around 9% fruit juice. Naturally, it tastes better in the glass bottles.
It’s hard to find in Lisbon, but I try to keep a supply of it for day-after recovery!
Coral
Coral is the local beer brand, and while it’s now owned by Heineken, it’s the brand you’ll see across taps on the island. What you need to know is the beer names: fino is a 200ml beer (called an imperial in Lisbon); balão is a 300ml beer (called a tulipa on the mainland), and a caneca is a caneca across Protugal – a 500ml beer.
Sidra da Madeira (apple cider)
Cider lovers should keep an eye out for Madeiran cider, a tradition with roots in the 15th century. This local product is made with 100% local apples, mostly grown around the south-east from what I gather, particularly near Santo António da Serra. That’s where the Sunday farmer’s market is held, so it’s a great place to try local cider. You can ask for seco (dry), doce (sweetened) or meio-meio (a mix of the two). Here they’ll pour cider from unmarked tubs, but you can find professionally bottled apple cider around the island too.
FAQs about food in Madeira
What food is Madeira most famous for?
It’s hard to say – different things come to mind for different people. Americans might say Madeira wine, since it’s a tradition for new Presidents to drink it as a toast at their inauguration. In terms of food, I think the espetadas or beef skewers and the black scabbard dish or espada are the most iconic, or the bolo de caco.
Is it easy to find good food in Madeira?
Yes and no. I think the food in Madeira will surprise you, but I definitely suggest reading my where to eat in Madeira guide. Madeira is fairly remote, so it has some unique food traditions, but it is also very connected to Europe so you can buy all ingredients at the supermarkets. As a subtropical island it has a fertile climate and produces quite a high number of ingredients too!
How expensive is food in Madeira?
On my most recent visit (October 2024) I found a quick and lazy bolo de caco steak sandwich was around €6, a glass of poncha was €3, mains at nice restaurants were around €18 for fresh fish etc. Prices for things will depend on where you eat, what you order, and if you enjoy local food. Anything imported will cost more. Though the island does have different, lower taxes so I found it cheaper than eating out in Lisbon some of the time.
Okay, now you know what to eat, go read my guide on where to eat and drink on Madeira Island. While you’re at it, explore my five-day Madeira itinerary.
Keep reading…
- Ultimate guide to exploring Madeira Island
- The 4 best hikes (that I’ve done) on Madeira Island
- It’s worth a flight to Madeira just to eat these espetadas
- Itinerary: Our magical 5-day Madeira Island road trip
- Where to eat and drink in Madeira
- 8 best poncha bars on Madeira Island
- Best medieval and historic events in Portugal
- Food Festival Guide: Best Gastronomic Events in Portugal
