Easy Vegan Feijão Tropeiro Recipe (Brazilian Beans)
Feb 09, 2021 • Updated Jun 20, 2023
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This vegan Feijão Tropeiro recipe (Brazilian beans with collard greens and sausage) is a meat-free, traditional Brazilian dish. This savory dish has beans, “sausage”, tofu, collard greens, and cassava flour for a creamy texture. A one-pan, 30-minute meal that’s delicious, authentic, and super easy to make!
What is Feijão Tropeiro?
Feijão Tropeiro is a traditional dish from Brazil. It’s made with pink beans, bacon, sausage, collard greens, and eggs. “Tropeiros” would transport goods across Brazil in the 17th-century colonial period by horse, and this dish was a common meal for them as it traveled long distances well without refrigeration and was a hearty, nourishing meal.
It’s high in protein and a popular, beloved dish in Brazil. Although Feijoada is sort of the go-to dish to make when celebrating Carnaval, I personally like this bean dish just a little more 😉
It’s packed with flavor, easy to make, and feels like comfort food to me. It comes together in one pan, and doesn’t take much time at all! You can prepare this dish in about 30 minutes or less, and you can simultaneously cook a pot of rice to eat it with.
What Makes This Recipe Great
If you love Brazilian food, this recipe is for you! Making a Vegan Feijão Tropeiro is actually fairly simple to put together and turns out delicious every time. To make feijão tropeiro vegetarian or vegan, we’ll be swapping those ingredients out for delicious vegan alternatives.
In place of sausage, we’ll use vegan, soy-based chorizo “sausage”, and instead of eggs, we’ll use extra firm tofu. You can choose to also add vegan bacon too, but I found that it was really flavourful with the sausage alone. You can also use a vegan egg substitute like JUST Egg if you prefer something a little more realistic.
This feijao tropeiro recipe is best enjoyed with white rice, and it stores well, so you can easily reheat leftovers!
Ingredient Notes
- Collard leaves: You will need 5 small collard leaves for the collard greens in this recipe.
- Yellow onion: Use one small yellow onion, finely diced.
- Garlic cloves: You’ll need 3 fresh cloves of garlic, peeled and smashed.
- Pink beans: For this recipe, you’ll need roughly 16oz. You can use different types of beans like homemade beans or pinto beans too.
- Extra firm tofu: You’ll need about 4oz crumbled.
- Vegan sausage: I used soyrizo from Trader Joe’s. It’s super flavorful, and the texture is perfect.
- Cooked chickpeas: This is optional but adds even more heartiness.
- Cassava Flour: I used this brand on Amazon.
- Cooking oil: Use your preferred neutral oil.
- Salt and Pepper: Use to taste
- Garnish: This is optional. You can garnish with fresh parsley, scallions, fresh lime, and Brazilian pickled chilies.
Step-by-Step Instructions
- Prepare your collard greens. Wash leaves well, pat dry, remove the tough spine, and lay them on top of each other in a pile.
- Roll the stack of leaves and using a very sharp knife, finely slice them into strips.
- In a large frying pan over medium heat, add a touch of oil if using, and crumble your vegan sausage.
- Add the sausage to the pan in a small pile, then add diced onion in another small pile, beans in another, garlic in another, and chickpeas. Let cook for a few minutes until aromatic, without moving the piles.
- Using a spatula, sauté and toss all of your ingredients, cooking for a few more minutes.
- Add tofu, then add collard greens and using a fork, toss to distribute collards. Let cook for a few minutes, but avoid overcooking. Remove the pan from the heat.
- Season with salt and pepper to taste if needed (the dish should be salty enough with the vegan sausage), then sprinkle yuca flour over the dish, cover the pan, and let sit for a few minutes.
- When ready to serve, garnish with fresh parsley and scallions in the center of the dish and slices of fresh lime.
Serving Tips
- Serve your feijão tropeiro warm over a bed of rice and garnish with fresh parsley and scallions in the center of the dish and slices of fresh lime.
Storage Tips
- Store leftover feijão tropeiro in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Reheat and serve over fresh rice.
Swaps & Substitutions
- If you prefer a different vegan sausage, feel free to use it.
- You can also use JUST egg instead of the tofu, and add in vegan bacon if desired.
Recipe FAQs
Yuca flour, also called “farinha” or “toasted sour manioc flour” is derived from cassava root. Cassava root is native to Brazil. It’s used in many dishes in various forms and flours and is naturally gluten and grain-free. Tapioca and tapioca flours are derived from this root too!
For this specific recipe we’ll be using toasted sour manioc flour, which you can find at a Brazilian store, or online. It’s a little more difficult to find at conventional western grocery stores, but you can also experiment with using other flours, it just won’t be authentic.
Brazilian classics I’d recommend include this Vegan Feijão Tropeiro, along with dishes like:
Extra sautéed collards – a common side dish
Vegetarian feijoada – another hearty bean stew
Pao de queijo – classic cheezy Brazilian snack bread
Coxhina – made with tofu or vegan alternative fillings (broken link!)
Brigadeiros – for something sweet
More Vegan Dishes Worth Celebrating
- Vegan Pão de Queijo
- Holiday Harvest Rice
- Vegan Japanese Hotpot (Nabemono)
- Watermelon Açai Bowl
- Brazilian Potato Salad (via HealthySlowCooking)
- Lentil and Walnut “Taco Meat” via Sweet Simple Vegan
Easy Vegan Feijão Tropeiro Recipe (Brazilian Beans)
Ingredients
- 5 small collard leaves
- 1/2 small yellow onion finely diced
- 3 cloves garlic smashed
- 1 can pink beans roughly 16oz (you can use homemade beans/pinto beans too)
- 1/4 pack of extra firm tofu about 4oz, crumbled
- 6 oz vegan sausage I used soyrizo from Trader Joe's
- 1/4 cup cooked chickpeas optional
- 1/4 cup toasted yucca flour "farinha"
- neutral oil of choice
- salt and pepper to taste
- To garnish
- parsley
- scallions
- fresh lime
- Brazilian pickled chilies
Instructions
- Start by preparing your collard greens. Wash leaves well, pat dry, remove the tough spine and lay on top of each other in a pile. Roll the stack of leaves and using a very sharp knife, finely slice into strips.
- In a large saucepan, add a touch of oil if using and crumble your vegan sausage. Add it to the pan in a small pile, then add diced onion in another small pile, beans in another, garlic in another and chickpeas. Let cook for a few minutes until aromatic, without moving the piles.
- Using a spatula, sauté and toss all of your ingredients, cooking for a few more minutes. Add tofu, then add collard greens and using a fork, toss to distribute collards. Let cook for a few minutes, but avoid overcooking. Remove the pan from the heat.
- Season with salt and pepper to taste if needed (the dish should be salty enough with the vegan sausage), then sprinkle yucca flour over the dish, cover the pan and let sit for a few minutes.
- When ready to serve, garnish with fresh parsley and scallions in the center of the dish and slices of fresh lime.
Notes
Serving Tips
- Serve your feijão tropeiro warm over a bed of rice and garnish with fresh parsley and scallions in the center of the dish and slices of fresh lime.
Storage Tips
- Store leftover feijão tropeiro in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Reheat and serve over fresh rice.
Swaps & Substitutions
- If you prefer a different vegan sausage, feel free to use it.
- You can also use JUST egg instead of the tofu, and add in vegan bacon if desired.
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
