Brazilian Açaí Bowl (Açaí Na Tigela)

By
Marian Blazes
Marian Blazes
Marian Blazes is a freelance writer and recipe developer with a passion for South American food. She wrote a cookbook focusing on the cuisine of Brazil.
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Updated on 01/26/23
Acai Breakfast Bowl
Brasil2/E+/Getty Images
Prep: 5 mins
Cook: 5 mins
Total: 10 mins
Serving: 1 serving
Yield: 1 cup

Imagine that you are on a beautiful Brazilian beach, lounging under a softly swaying palm tree, completely relaxed, yet hungry for breakfast. Or imagine that you have just finished an extra hard workout at the gym and you are simultaneously hot, sweaty, and weak with hunger. What is the perfect breakfast for both of these scenarios? A Brazilian açaí breakfast bowl, of course!

Açaí (pronounced a-sa-EE) are nutritious berries that grow on a species of palm in Central and South America. They have a bright, sweet flavor and are a very deep purple in color. One of the best ways to enjoy acai is to eat them as a frozen puree, almost like sorbet, topped with fresh fruit (typically bananas) and granola. This smoothie in a bowl—cold, sweet, tart, with crunch from the granola—will fill you up, cool you off, and may have all kinds of nutritional and health benefits as well, if the many claims about the health properties of the acai berry are true.

In Brazil, frozen açaí is often mixed with guarana (usually in the form of syrup - xarope de guarana), a fruit from the Amazon that is also thought to have many health benefits and which contains caffeine as well. Some people add other ingredients to their acai bowls such as milk, sugar, orange juice or pineapple. We like to add frozen passionfruit puree for its tartness.

Ingredients

  • 1/3 cup (200 grams) frozen açaí puree, thawed slightly, look for "smoothie packs" in the freezer section of health food stores

  • 2 bananas

  • 1 tablespoon sugar

  •  1/4 cup frozen passionfruit puree, or 1/4 cup orange juice

  • 1/4 cup granola

Steps to Make It

  1. Gather the ingredients.

  2. Place the frozen açaí and the passion fruit purée in a blender, along with one banana, the orange juice (if using), and the sugar. Blend until smooth and thick. (The mixture should have the texture of a soft sorbet that you would eat with a spoon.) Taste and add more sugar if desired, or a bit of lime juice for extra tartness.

  3. Place the fruit mixture in a bowl. Slice the remaining banana and place the slices on top of the acai. Sprinkle granola over the fruit.

  4. Enjoy immediately!

Nutrition Facts (per serving)
507 Calories
14g Fat
94g Carbs
8g Protein
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Nutrition Facts
Servings: 1
Amount per serving
Calories 507
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 14g 18%
Saturated Fat 2g 11%
Cholesterol 0mg 0%
Sodium 16mg 1%
Total Carbohydrate 94g 34%
Dietary Fiber 13g 45%
Total Sugars 54g
Protein 8g
Vitamin C 59mg 296%
Calcium 54mg 4%
Iron 2mg 13%
Potassium 1357mg 29%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.
(Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate.)