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Farofa substitute

Best substitute

Panko or Coarse Dry Breadcrumbs

Use the same amount by volume as the farofa you are replacing

Best for feijoada

Different taste

Toast the crumbs in butter or bacon fat with softened onion and garlic exactly as you would cassava meal, until they are deep gold and smell nutty.

Other farofa substitutes

Ranked, with the exact amount to use

Substitutes for Farofa with ratios

  1. 2Coarse Cornmeal or Polenta

    Different taste

    Use the same amount by volume

    Coarse cornmeal toasted dry in a pan until it smells like popcorn, then fried in fat with aromatics.

    What changes

    This is essentially farofa de milho, which Brazilian cooks make on purpose.

    Best for
    feijoada, gluten-free tables, make-ahead farofa, grilled meat, collard greens

    The best swap for crunch longevity: cornmeal stays crisp on the plate far longer than breadcrumbs. It tastes sweeter and reads a touch grittier, and the colour is more yellow. Toast it dry first, then add the fat, or it clumps into porridge. Do not use fine cornmeal, which turns pasty.

  2. 3Coarse Semolina

    Different taste

    Use the same amount by volume

    Toast semolina dry over medium-low heat until sandy and golden, then finish in butter with garlic.

    What changes
    Best for
    feijoada, roast chicken, when you want the sandy texture specifically

    Semolina is the best match for farofa's distinctive dry sandiness, better than breadcrumbs, because the grains stay separate and do not glue together. It is blander and slightly wheaty, so season a bit more aggressively and add crisped bacon or a fried egg. Not gluten free.

  3. 4Cassava Flour (fine)

    Different texture

    Use ¾ cup fine cassava flour for every 1 cup coarse cassava meal

    The same root as farinha de mandioca but milled fine, so it is the right flavour with the wrong particle size.

    What changes
    Best for
    gluten-free farofa, flavour accuracy, binding into a wetter farofa

    This is worth knowing because many shops stock fine cassava flour but not the coarse toasted meal. It gives you the correct faintly sour, nutty cassava taste, but it toasts into something closer to a soft crumble than a sandy crunch, and it absorbs fat greedily. Use less flour and slightly more fat, toast longer over lower heat, and accept less crunch.

  4. 5Toasted Nuts or Almond Meal

    Taste and texture differ

    Use ¾ cup toasted nut meal for every 1 cup cassava meal

    Coarsely chopped toasted cashews, peanuts or almond meal warmed in butter with garlic.

    What changes
    Best for
    greens, roast vegetables, grain-free eating, banana farofa

    Much richer, browner and faintly marzipan-like, so it works beautifully over sauteed collards or roast squash and sits oddly on a plate of feijoada, where the fat is already doing plenty. Cashews are the closest in mildness. Nuts scorch quickly, so toast them separately and add them at the end.

  5. 6Crushed Corn Chips or Corn Flakes with Melted Butter

    Taste and texture differ

    Use the same amount by volume, no cooking

    Plain unsalted corn tortilla chips or unsweetened corn flakes crushed coarse and tossed in warm butter with garlic powder.

    What changes
    Best for
    emergencies, no-cook situations, kids' plates

    This is a shortcut, not a substitute, and it is fair to say so. It is salty and crunchy the moment it hits the plate and it goes soggy within minutes, so scatter it at the table. Use plain chips, because lime or chilli flavoured ones will fight the beans.

What is Farofa?

Farofa is coarse toasted cassava meal, made from farinha de mandioca, fried in butter or bacon fat with onion and garlic and served as a dry, sandy, savoury topping alongside Brazilian beans and grilled meat, where its job is crunch, salt and fat that soak up the bean liquor.

Cooking tips

  • Build the flavour before the meal goes in. Soften chopped onion and garlic in the butter or bacon fat first, then add the meal so it fries in seasoned fat rather than steaming in a dry pan.
  • Get the fat ratio right or nothing works: roughly 3 tablespoons of butter or bacon fat per cup of meal. Too little and it stays chalky and dusty, too much and it clumps into greasy pellets.
  • Toast over medium-low and never stop stirring. Cassava meal and cornmeal both go from pale to acceptably golden to burnt in about thirty seconds at the end, and burnt farofa is bitter all the way through.
  • Farofa is finished on the plate, not in the pot. Serve it in a separate bowl and let people spoon it over, because the moment it is stirred into beans it starts turning to paste. That textural contrast is the entire point of the dish.
  • Add the extras off the heat: crisped bacon or sausage, chopped hard-boiled egg, scrambled egg, sliced banana, chopped collard. They add moisture, so they go in last and the farofa gets eaten soon after.
  • Plain toasted farofa keeps a week in an airtight jar and re-crisps in a dry pan in two minutes. Anything with egg or bacon in it should be eaten the same day.

Frequently asked questions

What is farofa actually made of?

Coarse cassava meal, called farinha de mandioca, toasted in fat with aromatics. The meal is the whole cassava root, grated, pressed, sometimes lightly fermented, then dried and toasted, which is why the yellow coarse kind has a faint sour tang. It matters which one a recipe means: farinha de mandioca is the raw ingredient in the bag, while farofa is the finished toasted dish. If a recipe says serve with farofa, you need the cooked version.

Can I use cassava flour instead of farinha de mandioca?

Partly. They come from the same root, so the flavour is right, but fine cassava flour is milled to a powder while farinha de mandioca is a coarse grit, and farofa is a texture dish above all else. Fine flour toasts into a soft, slightly pasty crumble instead of sandy crunch. Use about three quarters as much by volume, a little extra fat, and a longer, gentler toast. If you can find coarse cassava meal or tapioca granules, they are much closer.

Can I skip farofa in feijoada?

Yes, and nothing will go wrong with the beans. What you give up is the contrast the whole plate is built around: feijoada is soft, wet, rich and fairly monotonous in texture, and a spoonful of dry salty crunch resets your palate between mouthfuls. Skipping it makes the meal noticeably heavier going by the third or fourth bite. If you have five minutes and any dry crumb in the cupboard, it is worth making a rough version.

Is farofa gluten free?

Traditional farofa is, because cassava meal contains no wheat, and a cornmeal or nut-based version is too. The breadcrumb, panko and semolina substitutes are not. If you are cooking for someone with coeliac disease, coarse cornmeal is the best gluten-free stand-in for texture, and check that any bacon or sausage you add is gluten free as well.

Can I buy farofa ready made?

Yes. Brazilian and Portuguese groceries and many online shops sell bagged farofa pronta, already toasted and seasoned, which only needs warming in a dry pan for a minute or two to wake it up. It is usually saltier and more uniform than homemade, and it does not have the bacon and onion depth you get from doing it yourself. Bagged plain farinha de mandioca is also widely available and is the better buy if you want to season it your way.

Related substitutes

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