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The Cerrado Kitchen: Brazilian Recipes with Baru Nuts

Updated June 2026 · Beyond salads and smoothies — how baru is actually cooked in Brazil

In the Cerrado, baru isn't a topping. It's an ingredient with its own culinary tradition — toasted into farofa, pressed into paçoca, folded through brigadeiro, and crusted onto weeknight chicken. These six regional recipes come from kitchens across Goiás, Minas Gerais, Bahia and Rio, adapted so you can cook them anywhere in the world with a pack of roasted baru on hand.

Recipe 1 · Goiás · Cerrado

Farofa de Baru

Farofa is Brazil's table staple — toasted cassava flour seasoned and used like a savoury crumble over rice, beans, grilled meats or beans tutu. Swapping in chopped baru for the usual bacon gives it a nutty, smoky depth that pairs perfectly with feijoada or a Sunday roast.

Yield: 4 servingsTime: 15 min

Ingredients

  • 200 g cassava flour (farinha de mandioca)
  • 80 g roasted baru nuts, coarsely chopped
  • 1 small onion, finely diced
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 3 tbsp butter (or olive oil)
  • 1 tbsp chopped parsley
  • Salt and black pepper to taste

Method

  1. Melt the butter in a wide skillet over medium heat. Sweat the onion until translucent, ~4 min.
  2. Add garlic and chopped baru, toast 1–2 min until fragrant.
  3. Lower the heat and pour in the cassava flour. Stir constantly until evenly golden, ~5 min.
  4. Season with salt, pepper and parsley. Serve warm alongside rice, beans, or grilled meat.

Cook's tip: In Goiás, cooks often add a pinch of cumin and a drizzle of pequi oil — both push the flavour deeper into the Cerrado.

Recipe 2 · Minas Gerais · São Paulo

Paçoca de Baru

Paçoca is the iconic Brazilian peanut fudge eaten at Festa Junina. Replacing peanuts with baru produces a richer, less sweet bite that still crumbles in your mouth — and brings ~30% more protein per square.

Yield: 16 squaresTime: 20 min + chill

Ingredients

  • 250 g roasted baru nuts
  • 120 g cassava flour or rice flour
  • 100 g brown sugar (or rapadura)
  • Pinch of salt
  • 2–3 tbsp water (only if needed)

Method

  1. Pulse baru, flour, sugar and salt in a food processor until the mixture clumps when pressed.
  2. If too dry, add water a teaspoon at a time. Stop the moment it holds.
  3. Press firmly into a parchment-lined loaf tin (about 1.5 cm thick).
  4. Chill 30 min, then cut into squares. Keeps a week in an airtight tin.

Cook's tip: For a modern twist, fold in cacao nibs or a pinch of cinnamon before pressing.

Recipe 3 · Cerrado · Goiás

Pesto de Baru com Pequi

A Cerrado take on pesto. Baru replaces pine nuts (it's nuttier and far more sustainable), and a spoon of pequi oil gives that unmistakable golden, almost cheesy aroma. Tosses beautifully through pasta, gnocchi or roasted vegetables.

Yield: 1 cupTime: 10 min

Ingredients

  • 80 g roasted baru nuts
  • 60 g fresh basil (or a mix of basil + cilantro for a Brazilian touch)
  • 40 g grated parmesan
  • 1 small garlic clove
  • 120 ml extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 tbsp pequi oil (optional but recommended)
  • Juice of half a lemon, salt to taste

Method

  1. Blitz baru, basil, parmesan and garlic in a processor until coarsely chopped.
  2. With the motor running, stream in the olive oil (and pequi oil if using).
  3. Finish with lemon and salt. Loosen with a splash of pasta water when serving.

Recipe 4 · Rio de Janeiro · nationwide

Brigadeiro de Baru

Brigadeiro is the soul of any Brazilian birthday party. Rolling them in crushed roasted baru instead of chocolate sprinkles adds a salted, crunchy edge that grown-ups quietly prefer.

Yield: 20 trufflesTime: 25 min + cool

Ingredients

  • 1 can (395 g) sweetened condensed milk
  • 3 tbsp cocoa powder
  • 1 tbsp unsalted butter
  • Pinch of sea salt
  • 100 g roasted baru nuts, finely chopped

Method

  1. Combine condensed milk, cocoa and butter in a non-stick pan over low heat.
  2. Stir constantly for 10–12 min until the mixture pulls cleanly from the base of the pan.
  3. Tip onto a buttered plate and cool fully.
  4. Grease your hands, roll into small balls, then roll each one through the crushed baru. Finish with a flake of sea salt.

Recipe 5 · Minas Gerais · interior

Frango Caipira com Crosta de Baru

Free-range chicken with a baru-and-herb crust — a weeknight Mineiro classic that turns four pantry ingredients into something genuinely special. Serve with rice, black beans and a wedge of lime.

Yield: 4 servingsTime: 35 min

Ingredients

  • 4 chicken thighs, skin on
  • 100 g roasted baru nuts, finely chopped
  • 2 tbsp chopped parsley + chives
  • 2 tbsp Dijon mustard
  • Olive oil, salt, black pepper

Method

  1. Heat oven to 200 °C / 400 °F. Season the chicken with salt and pepper, sear skin-side down in an oven-safe pan for 4 min.
  2. Flip, brush mustard over the skin and press the chopped baru and herbs onto it.
  3. Transfer the pan to the oven for 18–22 min, until cooked through and the crust is deep golden.
  4. Rest 5 min before serving.

Recipe 6 · Bahia · Nordeste

Granola de Baru com Rapadura

A Northeast-style granola sweetened with rapadura (unrefined cane sugar) and shot through with toasted baru and coconut. Lasts for weeks in a jar — and is properly addictive over Greek yoghurt with sliced banana.

Yield: ≈600 gTime: 40 min

Ingredients

  • 300 g rolled oats
  • 120 g roasted baru nuts, roughly chopped
  • 60 g flaked coconut
  • 60 ml coconut oil (melted)
  • 80 g rapadura or muscovado, grated
  • 1 tsp cinnamon, pinch of salt

Method

  1. Heat oven to 160 °C / 320 °F. Toss everything in a large bowl until evenly coated.
  2. Spread on a parchment-lined tray and press flat for clusters.
  3. Bake 25–30 min, stirring once at the halfway mark.
  4. Cool fully on the tray before breaking into clusters. Store in a sealed jar.

Cook with real baru

Wild-harvested, roasted, shipped from the Netherlands. Enough in one bag for two of these recipes.

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