How to Ask How a Brazilian Dish Is Made in Portuguese — Practice

Open with a question about the dish

A direct and friendly opener is Como você prepara…? (How do you prepare…?). You can also ask Como esse prato é feito? (How is this dish made?). The demonstrative esse points to the dish you are discussing.

If you want to know its main ingredients, ask O que vai nesse prato? In this context, vai means ‘goes into’ or ‘is included in.’ It is an everyday way to ask what a recipe contains.

Ask about one ingredient or preparation step

Use leva to ask what a recipe calls for: Leva leite? (Does it have milk?). For a specific cooking method, ask Você cozinha o feijão antes? (Do you cook the beans first?). A short follow-up keeps the conversation easy to follow.

Recipe names and methods can vary between families and regions. Ask how this person makes the dish rather than treating one household’s version as the only authentic recipe.

Invite a small explanation

If you would like to learn, say Você pode me mostrar como faz? (Can you show me how you make it?). The subject can remain unstated after pode; the question is addressed to você.

Thank the cook and mention one detail you learned. That turns a recipe conversation into useful practice with food vocabulary, present-tense verbs, and follow-up questions.

Remember: Ask about the dish, its ingredients, and one preparation step. Frame your questions around the cook’s version and invite them to explain more.

Check your understanding

Choose the English meaning of each Portuguese example. Answer before looking back at the tables. These questions check the written examples in this guide; they are not a listening or proficiency test.

Recall the Portuguese, then say it

Read the English prompt and say a Portuguese version before opening the answer. The answer shows the example from the lesson; other natural translations may also work. Compare the meaning and the situation rather than counting a different word as automatically wrong.

1. How do you make this moqueca?

   Show a Portuguese answer

   Como você prepara essa moqueca?

2. What goes into this dish?

   Show a Portuguese answer

   O que vai nesse prato?

3. Does it have cilantro or parsley?

   Show a Portuguese answer

   Leva coentro ou salsinha?

4. Do you add the coconut milk at the beginning or at the end?

   Show a Portuguese answer

   Você acrescenta o leite de coco no começo ou no final?

5. Thanks for explaining. I’ll try to make it at home. (speaker: man)

   Show a Portuguese answer

   Obrigado por explicar. Vou tentar fazer em casa.

6. I loved learning how your family makes this dish.

   Show a Portuguese answer

   Adorei saber como a sua família prepara esse prato.

Make the phrase useful to you

Choose one example you could actually use. Say it once from memory, then change one detail that fits your life, such as the person, place, time, or object. Check whether your change also needs a different verb form, article, or adjective ending. If it does, compare it with the pattern in the explanation.

Ask about the dish, its ingredients, and one preparation step. Frame your questions around the cook’s version and invite them to explain more.

Return to two prompts tomorrow without opening the answers first. If a phrase still feels difficult, shorten it to a useful chunk and build the complete sentence again.

Sources and your next lesson

This I Speak Portuguese practice guide builds on our How to Ask How a Brazilian Dish Is Made in Portuguese lesson on Real Life Portuguese, with written recall tasks and additional speaking practice. The explanations and examples are teaching material; the practice questions are exercises, not a transcript of a recording.

To add Brazilian audio to your routine, choose a lesson in the Real Life Portuguese app. The app offers its own lessons and practice; this page does not imply that every example here has an app recording.