This post may contain affiliate links. Please see my full disclosure for details.
Hi Bold Bakers!
Pão de Queijo is a chewy, cheesy, yet soft and moist little roll that’s great on its own or served alongside any meal — that’s what this is! This Brazilian Cheese Bread is traditionally served with dinner or lunch instead of plain bread rolls. While I have lots of love for dinner rolls, these are on another level.
If you like cheese, and you like bread, you will LOVE pão de queijo.
What is Brazilian Cheese Bread?
Brazilian cheese bread is a cross between a choux pastry and a cheesy dinner roll. Made by combining tapioca starch, eggs, and oil, then mixed up with loads of savory cheddar, this bread has stretch and chew from both the cheese and the starch, yet is puffed up as light as air. After the dough is mixed it’s piped with a piping bag like choux pastry making for the perfect little cheese puff.
Is Brazilian Cheese Bread Gluten-Free?
Yes, thanks to using tapioca starch, this cheesy Brazilian bread is 100 percent naturally gluten-free.
Do I Have To Use Tapioca Starch?
Tapioca starch is what creates the stretchy texture of Brazilian cheese bread. This may sound like an unusual ingredient, but it’s super common these days and is actually used in many of our gluten-free bread-like our 3 Ingredient Gluten-Free Flat Bread. Tapioca starch is made of a root vegetable called cassava root. It is super important in this recipe and can not be substituted with another kind of starch or flour.
What Kind Of Cheese Do I Use For This Pão De Queijo Recipe?
Well, in my house whenever cheese is required I use Dubliner Irish Cheddar — I’m loyal like that. I love how sharp and rich Irish cheddar is. It’s perfect in this Brazilian cheese bread recipe adding lots of salty flavors and bite. You can use any cheddar you like, but you can also use parmesan or pepper jack cheese, making this recipe very versatile in that way.
What You’ll Need To Make Brazilian Cheese Bread
- Two baking sheets and parchment paper
- Medium saucepan
- Wooden spoon
- Piping bag
- Measuring Cups
How To Make Brazilian Cheese Bread
Once you make this bread, you won’t be able to stop — you’ll be making it for every meal! Here’s how (and don’t forget to get the full recipe with measurements, on the page down below):
- Preheat the oven and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Add milk, oil, and salt to a medium saucepan. Boil over medium heat.
- Once boiling, add tapioca flour and mix with a wooden spoon.
- After one or two minutes, remove from heat.
- Transfer dough to a piping bag. Pipe batter onto a baking sheet. Top with additional cheese.
- Bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown.
- Allow to cool slightly and enjoy.
How Do I Store Brazilian Cheese Bread?
This bread is really best when fresh out of the oven. That said, it is great the next day and can be covered and reheated in a low oven or even the microwave. To store the cheese bread, just put it in an airtight container and store at room temperature for up to 2 days. I KNOW they will not last that long though…
Try These Other Bread Recipes!
- 1-Hour Dinner Rolls
- Crazy Dough: One Easy Dough With Endless Variations
- Traditional Irish Soda Bread
And don’t forget to buy my Bigger Bolder Baking Cookbook!
Full (and printable) recipe below!
Try These Recipes!
Brazilian Cheese Bread Recipe (Pão de Queijo)
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 cups (10oz/282g) whole milk
- 1/2 cup (4floz/115ml) oil, (canola or light olive oil)
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 cups (8oz/225g) tapioca flour
- 2 beaten eggs, room temperature
- 1 1/2 cups (6oz/170g) grated cheddar, grated
- extra grated cheddar, for topping
Instructions
- Pre-heat your oven to 450°F (225°C) then butter and line 2 baking trays with parchment paper.
- In a medium saucepan bring the milk, oil, and salt just to a boil over medium heat.
- Once the milk mixture boils, add the tapioca flour while mixing quickly and constantly with a wooden spoon, as if you are making a choux pastry.
- When the mix begins to form a dough after 1-2 minutes, remove from the heat and allow to cool just slightly.
- Place the dough in the bowl of a stand mixer then add the eggs and the cheese and mix on high speed until the dough is super thick, shiny and stretchy, about 4-5 minutes.
- Transfer the dough to a piping bag fitted with a 1/2 inch round tip, then pipe the batter into 1 1/2 inch cheese puffs leaving some room for them to spread. Top each piped cheese puff with additional cheese.
- Bake for about 20 mins or until the cheese has melted and each cheese bread is lightly golden brown and puffed.
- Allow to cool just slightly, then serve and enjoy warm!
- Cover and store leftover cheese puffs in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days.
Hi Gemma! I was searching for some oat cookie recipe and found your site. First of all: congratulations! Your work is fenomenal.
About Pão de Queijo, if it’s ok, I want to add some tips, first and most important: don’t use cheddar. This treat originally uses a salty cheese called Minas Cheese, you can substitute it using parmesan – the taste will be more similar. And you can create a whole different dish not adding cheese: you will have salty biscuits – you can cook them by the oven or fry them. Hope you like my tips!
Hi Gemma!
Actually here in Brazil it’s not common to eat those with dinner or even lunch. It’s usually a snack that pairs very well with coffee. In Brazil we have them for breakfast or as an afternoon snack. Actually, I’ve never seen anyone having them along with big meals such as lunch (since in Brazil it’s our main meal) or dinner (except when people have cold cuts, bread and coffee in the evening).
The other way you can preserve this bread is to freeze the unbaked dough, formed into balls. Then just pop in the oven how many you would like to eat for that meal.
Another advice it will be golden when ready, do not try to bring it to the brown color of wheat bread. It will be too dry.
Easy and delicious like Sunday morning ???????? Brazilian tips: if you find both kinds of tapioca flour (sour and “sweet”) you’ll have different effects (more crusty if you use only the sour one, more gooey if you use only the sweet one, a balance of both if you use both). I’ve tried several types of cheese, but I still like to mix whatever with Parmesan (matter of taste). If the dough is too wet and sticky, I guess a pipe is very useful! ???????? right on @gemma_stafford ! but I’m not very skillful with that, so two spoons or an… Read more »
I love Brazilian Cheese bread and yours was so good! My whole family loved them and have already asked me to make them again. Your directions were so easy to follow..Thanks so much!
Hi Gemma. I would.just like to make sure if tapioca flour is the same as cassava flour. I have cassava flour on hand and I. Interested in making some of this delicious looking cheese bread. Thank you.
Which mixer attachment will i use? Can i halve this ingredient?
can you do it with spelt flour? We can’t get decent tapioca flour so I wondered if spelt would work?
Hi Gemma, I made this cheese bread today. But from the get go I felt like the texture was not right. When I mixed the Tapioca in with the milk mixture it became very sticky and like a solid gummy like texture. I proceeded the process with my stand mixer and baked as per your recipe with the hope the texture after being baked will be right, but it remained gummy and did not puffed up as much as I think it should have. It was almost like the texture tasted like it was raw on the inside, but it… Read more »
I finally tried this recipe. I wasn’t sure it was going to turn out well. The dough in the pan was quite solid, and I don’t have a stand mixer. I tried my hand mixer. Didn’t really work. I kneaded it a bit by hand. They looked good out of the oven. Not sure I’d they turned out the way they are supposed to. They seem like a cheesy mochi textured bread, but there’s nothing wrong with cheese mochi! ???? Is it supposed to be lighter and airier?