To assess the association between physical intimate partner violence and household food security within households with schoolchildren. Design: Cross-sectional study. Setting: Salvador, Bahia, north-eastern Brazil. Subjects: The study was conducted in 1019 households with students. Violence between couples was evaluated using the Portuguese version of the revised Conflict Tactics Scales (CTS2), previously adapted and validated for use in Brazil. The Brazilian Food Insecurity Scale (BFIS) was used to identify food insecurity. We also obtained socio-economic information for each participant. We used multivariate Poisson regression to assess the associations of interest. Results: According to the results of the BFIS, 62·5% of the households were found to experience food insecurity, including 19·5% moderate food insecurity and 6·5% severe food insecurity. The prevalence of minor physical violence was 9·6% (95% CI 7·8, 11·4%) and of severe physical violence was 4·7% (95% CI 3·4, 6·0%) among the couples. In the final multivariate model, it was found that couples reporting minor (prevalence ratio=1·23; 95% CI 1·12, 1·35) and severe (prevalence ratio=1·16; 95 % CI 1·00, 1·34) physical violence were more likely to be experiencing household food insecurity, compared with those not reporting physical violence. Conclusions: Physical intimate partner violence was associated with food insecurity of households. The present study brings new data to the subject of the role of violence in the context of food insecurity.