The interest in adding probiotic microorganisms in food has been growing as a way to increase their nutritional and therapeutic values. Therefore, several techniques have been used to protect these bacteria and to extend their life cycle and, among them, is the microencapsulation. A form of microencapsulation is the complex coacervation, which is the combination of two oppositely-charged hydrocolloid solutions, causing interaction and precipitation of complex polymers; one of the main advantages of this method is the high encapsulation efficiency. Thus, the aim of the present study was to produce microcapsules containing L. acidophilus using complex coacervation, followed by freeze drying and evaluate its viability. The microcapsules were produced according to Alvim & Grosso (2010), with modifications, as well as characterized by optical microscopy (Scope A.1, Zeiss, Germany), scanning electron microscopy (Sigma 300 VP, Zeiss, Germany), the resistance of probiotics to the in vitro release in the simulated gastrointestinal tract (Madureira et al., 2011) and storage under different temperature conditions (Etchepare et al., 2016). The complex coacervation method formed microcapsules with high encapsulation efficiency (77.60% and 87.53%) and size between 127.14 and 227.05 µm, with uniform distribution. The microcapsules protected the probiotics against simulated gastrointestinal conditions. The encapsulation was also efficient in maintaining the viability of probiotics during storage at temperatures of -18ºC for 120 days (6.29 e 6.15 log CFU.g-1), 7ºC for 105 days (6.14 e 6.59 log CFU.g-1) and 25ºC for 45 days (6.27 e 6.13 log CFU.g-1). Finally, encapsulation by complex coacervation method proved to be an adequate alternative, offering protection, controlled release and resistance to adverse conditions, demonstrating to be a viable technique for the encapsulation of probiotics.