My Portugal Series: Lauren Covas
We're here with a special summer edition of My Portugal, our newsletter series celebrating Portuguese culture through conversations with friends of Portugalia Marketplace. We're honored to introduce our next guest:
Chef Lauren Covas is a Portuguese-American celebrity chef, social media personality, podcast host, and author with over 15 years of culinary experience. A graduate of the New England Culinary Institute, she honed her skills at the Boca Raton Country Club and was the only female chef at Picasso’s in Las Vegas' Bellagio Resort.
After owning two restaurants, she transitioned to catering, driven by requests from former clients. In 2016, Lauren won Food Network's Chopped, followed by a championship on Supermarket Stakeout. As a first-generation American raised in a traditional Portuguese family, she emphasizes family time and togetherness in her cooking and considers her culinary style to be anchored in heritage, simplicity, and connection. On her podcast, From Portugal With Love, Lauren interviews guests with Portuguese heritage about their culture and backgrounds (in fact, she interviewed our VP Michael Benevides in this episode!). Her debut cookbook, Little Portugal, featuring family recipes and culinary stories, is available now.
Portugalia Marketplace: You have competed on, and won, both Chopped and Food Network’s Supermarket Steakout. How does competition factor into how you think of yourself as a chef?
Lauren Covas: I think that just being a chef in general is the type of occupation that requires attention to detail, fortitude, and resilience. The kitchen can be tough, so you have to adapt to those conditions and there’s an inherent competitiveness in that, but it’s kind of against yourself. I think I’m constantly trying to compete with myself in ways—to be faster, more organized, more creative, more unique—and so in actual competition television, it doesn’t feel so foreign to me. It actually feels really natural.
PM: Your catering company, Chef Covas Catering, is rooted in creating unforgettable culinary experiences while allowing hosts to spend time with their friends and family. As a chef, what do you think are the most important things that go into creating a memorable meal?
LC: Not to downplay my food, but the most important part of a great event is really creating an environment and experience for people to get together and connect and create memories. Of course, I try to create stories in my event planning. For example, if it’s a family reunion, maybe we make grandma’s paella recipe. But my role as a producer is really to provide a backdrop for people to connect. It’s about the senses—to make the environment beautiful, the food and wine delicious and fragrant, and to dial in the right service format, whether it’s going to be passed hors d'oeuvres for mingling, or family style platters that can be shared around the table. It’s really just thinking through the best ways to encourage everyone to feel comfortable and not have to worry about the details so they can create new memories together.
PM: As a first-generation American raised in a traditional Portuguese family, you place an emphasis on family time and togetherness in your cooking. What advice would you give to someone who has lost touch with family culinary traditions, but is looking to reconnect in the context of cooking?
LC: This is one of my favorite topics because I think so many people—specifically Americans—have lost touch with their culinary heritage. It’s such a fulfilling and healing journey to understand culinary traditions, especially because they carry the spirit of our togetherness, comfort, and cultural identity. As someone who grew up in a traditional Portuguese household where meals weren’t just about food but about gathering, storytelling, and love, I believe cooking is one of the most important ways we can honor our roots and claim our sense of belonging.
You don’t need to be a trained chef or know exact recipes to begin. Start with a dish you remember—a soup your grandmother used to make, a pastry you always saw at holidays, or a smell that reminds you of home—and try to find a recipe for it. If you don’t have a connection to your relatives or these kinds of food memories, you can do some research on where your ancestors came from and start looking into what they ate. It’s a really fun project. If you have access to older relatives, talk to them about their memories around food. They may not have written recipes, but they may carry little clues, like techniques, traditions, or stories. You can also look into cultural centers, churches, or community events that often have people eager to share and preserve culinary traditions. Make sure to have a notebook so you can record your recipes and tweak them as you go. Even if you don’t get them exactly right, it’s the act of trying that is so powerful. And invite your family or friends to cook with you. Share what you’re making. This is where you will begin to create a new cultural connection with others, which will turn into memories that you share. That’s the magic.
PM: Your recipes are an exciting blend of simplicity and heritage. When writing recipes, how do you approach adapting traditional foods for the modern kitchen?
LC: Well, there are two things that I try to focus on for modern home cooks: ingredients and simplicity. Quality ingredients don’t need much—some amazing olive oil and sea salt goes a long way. When I was growing up, we ate from the farm to the sea, and there was a lot that went into the full process to produce beautiful ingredients and traditional recipes. I try to minimize the recipes to be a bit less time consuming so people will be more inspired to cook using high quality ingredients that don’t need a lot of fuss.
PM: Speaking of recipes, congratulations on your new cookbook Little Portugal: Bold and Flavorful Portuguese Cooking from My New Jersey Kitchen! Can you tell us about the process of writing your first cookbook?
LC: I’ve been cooking my entire life. Whenever I wanted to talk to my mom or my Avo, I’d have to go into the kitchen and there were no idle hands—I would immediately be given a task. It was always very much a part of me, and I started to collect my recipes when I was a teenager. I have them in a blue and white spiral notebook along with taped recipes that I stole from my mom’s kitchen. About three years ago, I sat down on the sofa and started typing the recipes up, and as I was going through the process, I realized that maybe they would be great to share. We have some amazing Portuguese chefs and cooks in the US who have done an incredible job bringing Portuguese cuisine to Americans, but it’s still not widely understood in the same way as other European cuisines. I had always wanted to write a cookbook, and with this in mind, I tried to give my recipes a clean and approachable twist from the perspective of someone like me, a mom who is busy but likes to cook. I wanted to make these recipes accessible for the every day meal, and also qualify for special occasions.
PM: Growing up in New Jersey in a town known as “Little Portugal” was one of your main inspirations for your new cookbook. What are some of the things you learned in this community that have made you the chef you are today?
LC: As you probably know, "Little Portugal" is another name for the Ironbound area of Newark, where my family is from. When I was growing up there, we didn’t even have to speak English. It was an incredibly connected community of Portuguese immigrants. It was as if a whole town had been transported from Portugal, and it was very special to be able to go through the shops and cafes and restaurants and have traditional coffee, sweets, and craftsmanship in the fabrics and the jewelry. Everything was the same quality as in Portugal. Even the school lunch ladies were Portuguese grandmas. I think being exposed to all of this gave me a profound appreciation of old-world quality, community, and skills, which is why I really want to encourage people to choose quality ingredients, gather together more often, cook more, and just appreciate the moments together. That's our culture.
PM: Finally, where can our readers follow you to stay up to date with your upcoming projects?
LC: My new book Little Portugal is out now! You can also find me at www.ChefLaurenCovas.com, and my catering company is www.ChefCovasCatering.com. My Instagram and other social media platforms are @ChefLaurenCovas. I have a ton of projects in the works so definitely follow me on social or sign up for my newsletter. In addition, I have a new podcast, From Portugal With Love, which is available on all podcast platforms, as well as YouTube. OH! And I’m hosting an amazing foodie trip to Portugal in October through Sagres Vacations for anyone who might want to come along!
Chef Lauren Covas' Little Portugal Box
We've partnered with Chef Lauren Covas to curate an assortment of essential Portuguese pantry staples in celebration of her newly released cookbook.
Chef Lauren Covas' Little Portugal Box Includes:
Little Portugal: Bold and Flavorful Portuguese Cooking for My New Jersey Kitchen by Lauren Covas
It's the perfect collection to get you set for diving in and finding you next favorite recipes.