Brazilian

Serving

Acarajé (Bahian Black-Eyed Pea Fritters)

Name: Acarajé (Bahian Black-Eyed Pea Fritters)
Total time: 90 min
Yield: 6 servings
Cuisine: Brazilian
Ingredients: 2 cups dried black-eyed peas, soaked overnight and skins removed; 1 onion, roughly chopped; 1 tsp salt; 2 cups dendê (palm) oil, for frying; 1/2 cup dried shrimp, ground; 1 cup vatapá (creamy shrimp and bread paste, prepared or store-bought), for filling; 1/4 cup vinagrete (tomato-onion relish), for serving

Deep-fried black-eyed pea fritters cooked in dendê palm oil, split open and stuffed with vatapá and dried shrimp — an Afro-Brazilian icon from Bahia.

90 minutes

Serves 6

Snack

31 min prep

50 min cook

Contains common allergens

Seafood Shellfish Wheat

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Good to know

Crispy

Matched from this dish's own ingredients and timing. Browse more: crispy recipes

Instructions

7 steps

1
Drain the soaked black-eyed peas and rub between your hands or in a food processor to loosen and remove the skins; rinse to remove floating skins.
2
Blend the peeled peas with the onion and salt in a food processor, adding just enough water to form a thick, fluffy batter; whip well to aerate.
3
Heat the dendê oil in a deep pot to 350°F.
4
Scoop the batter with two spoons into oval fritters and carefully drop into the hot oil.
5
Fry for 4-5 minutes, turning once, until deep golden and crisp outside.
6
Drain on paper towels, then slice each fritter open without cutting through.
7
Stuff with vatapá, ground dried shrimp, and a spoonful of vinagrete, and serve warm.

Acarajé (Bahian Black-Eyed Pea Fritters) — plated and served — Serving moment. How Acarajé (Bahian Black-Eyed Pea Fritters) looks plated and ready to eat — a representative photo, not a step in the recipe.

Listahan Family Score™

61/100

Works for many families

Allergen-friendly 70

Kid-friendly 55

Weeknight-easy 54

Budget-friendly 50

Great leftovers 87

Pantry-friendly 53

Score reflects how well this recipe fits a typical busy household. In the app, your Family Score is personalized to your household's allergens, kids, and pantry.

Nutrition

per serving

150

Calories

8 g

Protein

14 g

Carbs

8 g

Fat

Estimated per serving. Actual values depend on the brands and portions you use.

Listahan cooking guide

Chef notes & practical guide

Technique notes, ingredient swaps, serve-alongside ideas, storage guidance, and equipment for this recipe.

Cultural context

Acaraje traces directly to the Yoruba peoples of West Africa, brought to Bahia through the transatlantic slave trade, and remains sacred food in Candomble religious practice, offered to the orixa Iansa before it is ever sold as street food. It is traditionally prepared and sold by Baianas do acaraje, women in white lace and turbans working from streetside stalls, a role recognized by Brazil as intangible cultural heritage. The deep orange color and distinct aroma come from dende, red palm oil pressed from a palm tree also native to West Africa.

Listahan note

This version follows the traditional method of hand-peeling soaked black-eyed peas before frying in dende oil, then splitting and stuffing with vatapa, dried shrimp, and vinagrete, the same layered street-food build sold in Salvador today.

Technique cues

Removing the skins from the soaked peas is not optional, the skins trap air bubbles that keep the batter light; skipped skins produce a dense, heavy fritter that doesn't puff properly.
Whipping the blended batter well incorporates air the same way whipping egg whites does, giving the fritter its characteristic airy interior rather than a dense paste.
Frying at a steady 350F is what sets the exterior into a crisp shell quickly enough to seal in the aerated batter; too cool an oil makes the fritters absorb grease and collapse.

Kitchen flow

Parallel prep: Soak the peas the night before, then prep the vatapa and vinagrete while the peas drain and the oil heats the next day.
Make-ahead: Vatapa and vinagrete both hold well made a day ahead and refrigerated, leaving only the peeling, blending, and frying for serving day.
Leftover move: Leftover unstuffed fritters recrisp in a 375F oven for 8 minutes; the peeled raw batter does not keep well and should be fried the same day it's made.
Cleanup rhythm: Strain and save the dende oil through a fine mesh sieve once cooled, since good dende oil is worth reusing for the next batch or other Bahian dishes.

Ingredient brief

Role, handling, and swap guidance for each key ingredient.

dried black-eyed peas, soaked overnight and skins removed

the entire fritter base

Purpose: peeled black-eyed peas are what give acaraje its light, aerated interior once blended and whipped, unlike a denser bean fritter made with skins on

Handling: rub the soaked peas vigorously between your hands or in a food processor, then rinse away the floating skins in several changes of water

Adaptation: there is no real substitute that preserves the dish's identity; this ingredient defines the recipe

dende (palm) oil

both the frying medium and a defining flavor

Purpose: dende oil's deep orange color and distinctive earthy, slightly smoky flavor is inseparable from acaraje's identity and its Afro-Brazilian roots

Handling: heat it in a deep, heavy pot to a steady 350F before frying

Adaptation: a neutral vegetable oil will fry the fritters fine but produces a noticeably milder, less authentic result missing the dende flavor and color entirely

vatapa (creamy shrimp and bread paste)

the primary stuffing

Purpose: vatapa's rich, peanut-and-coconut-thickened shrimp paste is the traditional filling that turns a plain fritter into the full acaraje experience

Handling: have it prepared and warm before the fritters come out of the fryer so assembly is quick

Adaptation: if vatapa isn't available, a smaller amount of a similarly rich, ground-nut-thickened seafood paste comes closest, though the flavor will differ

dried shrimp, ground

concentrated savory-briny topping

Purpose: dried shrimp brings an intensely savory, slightly funky depth that fresh shrimp cannot replicate and is a hallmark of Bahian cooking

Handling: grind it to a coarse powder so it can be sprinkled evenly over the stuffed filling

Adaptation: finely minced fresh cooked shrimp can stand in but will taste much milder and less distinctly Bahian

Technique notes

Shape the fritters with two spoons rather than your hands, dropping wet batter directly into hot oil from a spoon protects you from splatter and gives a more even oval shape.
Turn the fritters only once during frying, excessive flipping deflates the aerated batter before it sets.
Slice the fried fritter open without cutting all the way through, this creates a pocket that holds the stuffing rather than letting it fall out.

Ingredient swaps

Shellfish-free direction: This dish cannot be made shellfish-free without losing its identity, since dried shrimp and vatapa's shrimp base are essential; it is not suitable for a household avoiding shellfish or seafood.
Milder oil option: For a less intense flavor, fry in a neutral oil instead of dende, understanding this moves away from the traditional preparation.
Weeknight shortcut: Use a store-bought prepared vatapa, as the recipe suggests, to cut significant time off the process.

Serve alongside

extra vatapa spooned on top
caruru (okra and shrimp side dish)
farofa de dende
chilled guarana Antarctica soda
a cold local cerveja (beer)
fresh coconut water

Serving suggestions only — check pairings for your household's allergens.

Storage & reheating

Refrigerate stuffed fritters in an airtight container for up to 2 days.
Recrisp in a 375F oven for 7 to 8 minutes rather than microwaving, which turns them soft.
Freezing is not recommended once stuffed; freeze plain fried fritters only, up to a month, and stuff after reheating.

Equipment

food processor or strong blender
deep heavy pot or fryer with a thermometer
slotted spoon
two spoons for shaping

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