Its name, coxinha, in Portuguese means small thigh or little thigh. This is due to its shape, similar to that of a chicken thigh. The Brazilian coxinha is basically chicken meat coated with bread crumbs or some kind of flour dough, fried, and commonly found on the streets and beaches of all Brazil, offered by street vendors.
To understand the origin of this simple snack, we must go back in time to the era of Imperial Brazil, where Count D’eu and Queen Isabel had a son who had some disabilities. Because of this, at that time, his parents tried to satisfy the boy’s preferences. Since the child's favorite food was chicken thighs, they usually cooked that for him.
One day, the family’s cook went to buy chicken thighs but found that there were none left. Faced with this difficulty, the person in charge of the royal kitchen decided to improvise with what he had: he boiled chicken meat, shredded it, shaped it into thighs, and wrapped it in a flour dough. Then he fried it and served it to the boy.
Seeing and tasting this creation of his personal chef, Queen Isabel was delighted and ordered this recipe to be included among the most exclusive in the family’s cuisine. The tradition spread across centuries and it is now a widely enjoyed classic throughout Brazil and some neighboring countries — especially in border areas with Paraguay and Argentina.
