Authentic Brazilian Cheese Bread (Pão de Queijo)
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Finally!
Guys, you have to promise to love me forever. I’ve been wanting to post a Brazilian Cheese Bread (aka Pão de Queijo) recipe here ever since I started my blog, almost a year ago. I’ve tried and played with recipes a bazillion times, and it was never like the pão de queijo I get back home.
The last recipe I tried before this one was ok. Not “OMG this is the best cheese bread I’ve ever eaten” good, but still delicious in its way. So I almost posted here… I even had this whole speech on my mind about how you can attempt to make Brazilian cheese bread in the U.S., but it will never be as good as the one you find in Brazil, since it’s so hard to find sour manioc starch and almost impossible to find “meia cura” cheese. Boy, was I wrong. Yes, it took me a loooot of attempts, but I finally came up with the perfect recipe that you can make with ingredients you will find at your local grocery store. And I dare say it tastes better than many of the pães de queijo I had back home… You’re welcome! :P
The result? The softest, gooiest, most flavorful cheese bread you will ever taste. The ugly moles you see all over the rolls? That means that they are incredibly cheesy. If you’re a cheeseaholic, like me, you should always want ugly moles on your Brazilian cheese breads!
Pão de queijo is an typical Brazilian snack, originally from the states Minas Gerais and Goiás. We don’t know exactly where and when it originated, but it is suspected that it was around the 18th century, during the slavery period, in the “fazendas mineiras” (farms located in Minas Gerais).
It was customary to serve the masters bread and coffee in the afternoon (hence our “afternoon coffee” instead of “afternoon tea”). However, in Brazil, wheat products just started being largely produced in the 20s, so the cooks had to use manioc products. Those were widely available since they were used long before colonization. So to make the breads, they had to use tapioca flour (or manioc starch), and then, by mixing it with cheese, they created the first pães de queijo from Minas.
The pães de queijo baked in wood burning stoves and were prepared with ingredients produced in their own farms.
Fast forward to the 50’s when the recipe became popular all over the country and then again until nowadays when it’s popular all over the world.
Technically, pão de queijo shouldn’t be considered “bread”. I was debating calling them “rolls” or “puffs”, but SEO likes “cheese bread”, so I went for it! You will find them called either of those terms. You will also find lots of different recipes as every Brazilian has a family recipe that they swear by.
Some people make them crustier (and tougher) and others, like me, prefer them soft and pillowy! Some go light on the cheese and others (ahem! You’re looking at one!) stuff that baby with as much cheese as they can.
The original recipe uses manioc starch (either sour or sweet) and “meia cura” cheese. I guess you could claim my recipe isn’t really authentic since I’m using tapioca flour and parmesan/mozzarella. But let’s not rain on my parade, okay? :P :P :P
Brazilian cheese bread is tasty as it gets, since they are so flavorful due to the cheese and the tapioca flour. However, feel free to serve them with butter or even some dulce de leche! Yum!
Also, if you’ve seen other pão de queijo recipes out there, they were probably showcased next to a steamy cup of black coffee. Now, yes they go amazing together, but I always like to have my pão de queijo along with a glass of ice cold Guaraná (the national Brazilian soda)!
What? You’ve never had Guaraná? You need to try it right now! It’s delicious!
Make sure you get a few bottles or cans so you can have some friends over for this authentic Brazilian snack: “pão de queijo com Guaraná”. I mean, only if you’re in a sharing mood… Because there would be no judgement on my part of you eat the whole 30 rolls (puffs?) this recipe makes.
Or I you can do it like me and freeze some, that way I’ll always have fresh pão de queijo out of the oven. They taste better out of the oven! The leftovers usually lose the texture… But in case you do have leftovers, they are great for sandwiches! :)
But now you will have to excuse me cause I have a batch coming out of the oven! Oooh the smell…
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Authentic Brazilian Cheese Bread (Pão de Queijo)
Yield:
30 cheese rolls
Prep Time:
10 minutes
Cook Time:
20 minutes
Total Time:
30 minutes
Ingredients
- 4 cups tapioca flour
- 1 1/4 cups milk
- 1/2 cup water
- 6 tablespoons oil
- 1 1/2 cups grated parmesan cheese
- 1 cups shredded Mozzarella cheese
- 2 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons salt
Instructions
Notes
To freeze them, shape the balls, place them on the baking sheet and bring to the freezer. Once they are frozen, transfer to a ziplock bag and keep them in the freezer up to 3 months.
Once you're ready to use them, preheat the oven to 400 as usual and bake the frozen balls for 25 to 30 minutes or until golden and puffy!
295 Comments on “Authentic Brazilian Cheese Bread (Pão de Queijo)”
Olivia — Do you think I could use a hand blender or Vitamix Blender in place of the stand mixer?
Hi Roxane, if you use the blender, the dough will be too liquidy to form balls. Alternatively, you can use the blender and then bake in a muffin tin! :) I hope that helps. Let me know if you have any other questions. Best, Olivia
Oi Olivia! Just found out about you and you have a way to my heart with these paes de queijos! I’m on the west coast and have seldom had a taste of home that I can truly love! Will be trying these today! Loving going through your Brazilian recipes and connecting! Boa semana e bjs! – Carlen
Hi. How long do you think you mixed them for?
I could kiss your feet!
My better half talked about a legendary cheese bread he had once at a restaurant in the middle of the USA and I tried many recipes to recreate it for him only to get dry, bready, crumbly and terrible greasy biscuits. I followed your recipe to the letter and it was a first time abounding success. They looked as good as your photo and the look on his face when he tried the first one was priceless. His comment, “YOU DID IT!!” Followed up by saucer sized eyes, in awe, that stated, “I have never had a cheesy bread this good in my life!”
It was an amazing moment for me! I love to fill is pallet as he fills my life with wonderful things!
Thank you for your recipe!! These will be a staple in our home!
I homestead and grow all of our food so I made these to go with a feijoada I made and grew from scratch. They were a perfect complement to the dish. I would love to try your feijoada recipe if you have one you like. It is such a unique dish and unlike anything in America.
I could not be happier! This is just like the ones from my childhood memories… perfect crust outside, gooey inside… I had given up on finding a good recipe, I’m so glad I came across your blog! Thank you so much for the recipe Olivia, from one Brazilian to the other!
Wish I could post some pictures!
Oh my goodness. When I was a kid, there was a vendor at my local farmers market that sold these frozen in 24 packs. Every week, my family would buy them and they would be gone so fast! I cannot believe I stumbled upon this recipe, and I am in even greater disbelief that these taste EXACTLY like the ones I had as a child. Thank you, thank you, thank you, Olivia!!! I followed the recipe, but I used fresh mozzarella (the kind that comes in water) and it wasn’t until I was already in the middle of making them that I realized that maybe fresh was too wet. I just added a little extra tapioca flower to balance out the wetness and they turned out amazing! The most incredible, cheesy, gooey bread balls. Now, the only question is how the farmer market man got such perfect, round balls from this dough.
I first used other recipe, it was good right after baking, but after a few hours, it turned so hard. Would the bread keep its freshness and will not turn as hard as a rock? I am planning to bake this in two days for an event. Thank you.
Hi Perni, unfortunately, any homemade bread won’t last more than a couple days without getting hard. Pão de queijo loses its texture even quicker, maybe because of the tapioca flour… I would make them, form the balls and then freeze and bake the day you’re planning on serving them. The other alternative would be to make them the day before and then reheat them in the oven for about 5 minutes, spraying a little bit of water on them. I hope that helps! :)
I’m expecting that you’re not supposed to pack the flour, but when I made these it took close to 8 cups of flour to get the dough to the right consistency. Sticky, not liquid, and shapeable. Well, mostly shapeable. My balls flattened before I could even transfer them to the oven, and I was disappointed that, like you mentioned could happen, they weren’t rising. They look much more like overly fluffy sugar cookies than spheres like I’m used to seeing. I’m fairly certain that they didn’t rise because half of the tapioca flour was put in well after the dough-batter had cooled, but when I tried one fresh out of the oven I was pleasantly surprised to see the consistency was exactly like it was supposed to be! The cheese stretched about half an inch before separating and they were perfectly crisp on the outside while still chewy on the inside. All in all, I doubled the tapioca flour and added maybe a cup of extra cheddar because I’m an addict. I tried the rolling method where you oil your hands, and that worked very well also! I would add to those who have been having liquid dough issues to be prepared to possibly have to double the flour. Trial and error pretty much will be the only way I’ll be able to figure that out, though. Wonderful recipe though!! You just have to be willing to experiment and ruin a few in the process of perfecting the art.
Thanks, Olivia. Everything went well, and it was delicious! Now, I will make more because my colleagues and other foreign visitors love them and have asked if I will bake them again! Haha! and some asked for the recipe. Thanks again, Olivia!
After my countless search for the best brazilian cheese bread i found your recipe. I made it today and it’s the best ever!❤️ Thank you so much Olivia!
After my countless search for the best brazilian cheese bread i found yours.I made them today and truly the most delicious cheese bread. Thank you so much for sharing this gem!
Mine came out very liquidy as well. When you say to boil the milk/water/oil, how long do you mean? Should I bring it ti a boil then immediately remove it or should I boil it for several minutes?
I take it out as soon as it reaches a rapid boil, but I don’t think that’s the reason. The consistency of the dough will depend on weather, humidity, etc, so feel free to add some more tapioca flour and/or cheese until you can handle the dough.
Hi,
I am planning on making these tomorrow.
I am wondering what kind of oil you use? And also, do you indeed use the variety of grated Parmesan that comes in a plastic container that one puts on spaghetti (e.g. Kraft)? Thank you.
Hi Gina,
I use vegetable oil. And yes, sometimes I use the store bought grated Parmesan when I don’t feel like grating it myself. :)
These were PERFECT! I followed the recipe exactly, and they came out crusty on the outside and gooey on the inside. We scarfed a bunch warm, and then saved a few overnight in a ziplock on the counter. In the morning I sliced them in half and made tiny little bacon, egg & cheese sandwiches out of them, warming them at 350 for 5 minutes. OMG, breakfast heaven. THANK YOU!!
Hi Tera,
I’m so glad you enjoyed them! It’s my favorite recipe on the blog. :)
Best,
Olivia
HI, I just made these… They look and smell beautiful, but are they supposed to have that tacky texture even after cooled? Maybe something went wrong. These have more of a cheese with a little bread in them consistency than bread. Are they supposed to be light and fluffy?
Hi Verbena,
Pão de queijo is usually gooey. They are dense with the cheese instead of light and fluffy. :)
So excited to try these tomorrow night. Quick question for you, Olivia — do you know if I could use a blender (Nutribullet) instead of a mixer? It’s all I have at home so I’m keeping my fingers crossed that it will work!!
Hi Lauren,
I think for this particular recipe, the dough will turn out too soft if made in a blender. You can try and bake them in a muffin tin and that might solve the problem! :) I’ve been wanting to post a pão de queijo blender recipe I have but haven’t had the time with the new baby. I’ll put it on my to do list.
My whole family loooooves these, the recipe is fantastic. Every single time I think something has gone wrong in the process (HOW will this ever mix? surely it CANNOT be this gooey??) but it always turns out great!!!
Loved the blog post and your research and want to try it. I don’t eat eggs? Would you suggest a substitute and its replacement quantity? Would love to try out the eggless recipe if there is one. :)
I made these but used a different recipe. I will try your recipe next. When I had them at a local restaurant they were dense and not airy. The recipe I made last night used a blender and did not cook the dough. Mine were good but not dense. Do you have any suggestions? I pinned a bunch of your recipes and will be trying a couple this weekend.
In Brazil we commonly make “pão de queijo de liquidificador” (blender cheese puffs), which are sort of the lazy man’s cheese puffs. You basically take all the ingredients, throw them in the blender, and blend! The result is something very liquid, impossible to roll, so you just pour it into a cupcake pan and bake. The result is incredibly soft and tasty puffs.
They’re very popular in Minas and pretty much everywhere in Brazil with people who like to make their own puffs from scratch (not very common, you can buy good frozen ones in the supermarket).
I’ve recently moved to Canada, and have been trying to find a recipe that works well with the ingredients I can find here (North American cheese is very different from Minas cheese). The recipe I’ve been using is similar to yours and has been working well. Your puffs look amazing, and I miss rolling them, so I can’t wait to try yours! Thanks for sharing. :D
Very good recipe, but i recommend using less salt. I dont know if it was the cheese i used but the paes ended up a little too salty. Still great, tho!
I do t think your proportions are correct. This is the third recipe I’ve tried for this and the only one they didn’t work. Can you confirm your liquid specifications are correct! I really wanted this to work. Not good.
Thanks!
Hi Tim, yes my proportions are correct. I make these all the time and had several readers make them as well. Maybe if you tell me what went wrong with them I can help you troubleshoot? :)
These turned out great just like my friend and I remembered from Brazil!Too bad I didn’t read all of the comments to know it would burn out the hand mixer, we finished by kneading.
I have a similar recipe for these. That recipe is put all of the ingredients in a blender to mix and it is liquid. Then pour in mini muffins and bake. It tastes the same as your recipe and they are puffy. Both recipes are fantastic. I use the sticky stiff dough, which is yours for a pizza crust. Since I am gluten free it works out great. And it is delicious!! Thank for this recipe.
Mine came out to soft —-did not see the note about adding more tapioca flour. So I did put in muffin pans. WONDERFUL . One recipe had them in mini muffin pan s. Will definitely be a staple.
THANK YOU
Oh my goodness. I went to Brazil back in 2008 and had these, and have wanted to have them since I’m SO glad I found this! Trying these first thing when I get home!! Thank you!
I made these today, and while they were super yummy, the dough spread out and they were not puffed like rolls. Any ideas on what I did wrong? I was thinking maybe not enough flour, or I mixed it too long? We are having a Brazilian New Year’s Eve party, so I will keep trying this recipe until I get it right. They tasted fabulous, just need to get the look right.
Amazing little cheese puffs. I have made them 3 times in the past 2 weeks. This last batch, I added rosemary and garlic. They would be incredible dipped in pizza sauce or olive oil and vinaigrette. I used queso fresco instead of mozzarella and they turned out amazing.
My brother brings me a bag of polvilho azedo every time he comes home from Rio for a family visit (lucky me!), so I have been making the cheese rolls here in the States for years. He and his two sons and I did a cheese taste test years ago looking for the “perfect” substitute for minas meia cura and decided a chunk of manchego from Costco was both the right cheese and the right source, especially for its moistness. Have been using an ancient recipe from a defunct site called “Recipe Gullet” and will now try yours. Thanks for sharing this heavenly treat with the Yankees!
Great recipe, just used half of the water on the original recipe. Used a ice cream scoop and worked like a charm. I’ll repeat this recipe many many times. Thank you
Thank you soooo much for this recipe! This was the first thing I made with my new KitchenAid and the recipe worked perfectly! The only thing that might have helped would be pictures of the “during/dough” process. I referenced another website to make sure my dough looked right as I went along in the recipe.
These look and taste exactly like the Pao de Quiejo I get from a Brazilian restaurant near my house so I’m very excited I can now make these on my own!
Hi, does it matter if you use fresh mozzarella and grate it yourself vs pre-shredded mozzarella in a bag? I’d prefer to use fresh, but I’m worried about the difference in moisture content and how it may affect the recipe. Thanks!
Hi Katherine, you can totally use a block of mozzarella, but it can’t be the fresh one. :) If you feel like the dough is too wet, just add a little more tapioca flour to get the right consistency.
Hey’
I tried the recipe (about 3 times now), but for some reason i keep getting the consistency wrong, no matter how much tapioca i put ib it- its just too runny. and too sticky post-baking (not at all like a bun, more like toffy). Could the reason be a different tapioca flour/kind. What should i do?
Thank you!!
Made these tonight, our family is gluten free due to having two kids with celiac. They turned out great and were a huge hit. Very delicious and also very easy to make. We had these in a restaurant before and loved them, and had also purchased a bag of frozen ones in a grocery store that were very expensive. So happy we can easily make homemade and have them turn out just as good if not better. Thanks!!
Worked great in Iowa wintertime. Never made these by hand so I thought the unbaked dough would be like cream puffs dough texture, so I planned to stir the egg in fast by hand, but once the tapioca flour was in it formed a rubber ball that I could not penetrate by hand-stirring. Put it in the kitchen Aid mixer and it stirred that egg right in exactly as described here. I used butter for my oil and used cheap powdered parmesan, then grated fancier block- parmesan to use in place of the mozzarella. Came out very nice and sharp-tasting, and gooey-stretchy in the centers. In my opinion this recipe is very much spot on. Everyone enjoyed them, age 3 and up. Thank you!
Thanks for the feedback, Leah. I’m glad it was enjoyed! :) And I always admire who makes pão de queijo by hand. I certainly don’t have the muscles for that! haha
Queria te abraçar! Seria possível utilizar a tapioca starch so invés da tapioca flour! Muito obrigada por salvar uma mineira em terras gélidas.
Hi Heloisa, they are the same thing! :)
Thank you so much for this, Ms. Olivia. We just moved and my Brazilian cookbook is in storage somewhere. It’s great to have a pão de queijo recipe and it’s clear that you put so much effort into this! Thank you for your work… I will make this for my Brazilian husband’s birthday.
After having some Brazi bites from Costco at a friend’s house this last weekend, my daughter wanted to try to make some. She found your recipe this morning. We had half a bag of tapioca flour so she made half a recipe. Our cheese wasn’t straight mozzarella, but a bag of shredded Italian Blend, so we weren’t sure what to expect. They came out wonderful! Very quick – her half batch was out of the oven in 30ish minutes! I immediately put tapioca flour and shredded mozzarella on our shopping list to make sure we can do these again soon! Thank you so much for sharing your recipe. :)
Oops, I meant 30 minutes start to finish, not cooking time.
Amazing that you are spreading the traditional cuisine of the beautiful state of Minas Gerais for everyone. Pão de queijo (brazilian cheese bread) is a typical product of Minas Gerais state and I’m so glad so many people in the world now can taste it as the original one.
Great!
What kind of oil do you use?
I use canola but any vegetable oil works! :)
Hi Olivia ! The recipe is amazing !!!!!!! Can I check how long can I place the dough in the fridge ? Is one week ok?
So my only previous experience with this type of bread has been at Texas de Brazil and forgo de cho the chain churiscarria resteraunts in the US. I had also tried another recipe that u made in the blender. It was more liquidy and u made in mini muffin tin. Anyway the other recipe I tried wasn’t cheesy enough. I tried 2-3 of them. This is the first one u rolled by hand. These are amazing. I’m eating them right now. They r so good. A couple notes I would make. I found the consistency to look more like frosting than fondant. Fondant is really firm to the touch. Although this is a dough once u start handling it, it looks more like frosting. The other note I would make is that when I talked to the manager at Texas de Brazil they only use Parmesan cheese. I didn’t have enough to do only one cheese so I did it your way and the inside is like all cheese. It tastes amazing but the consistency at TDB is more bread like a little. So next time I may do all parm and see how I like it.
One other comment. I used oil on my hands. I think in the future I will place the dough in little piles the right size on a sheet of parchment to the side and then roll them all at once. I found this to be the most time consuming part was continuing to re wet or re apply oil. Otherwise the recipe is super easy. Just wish I could use a cookie scoop because all of mine are different sizes. I am terrible at that and love my cookie scoop for that reason.
I just made this following a web search for a good recipe that didn’t seem crazy difficult. This turned out PERFECT. My husband is from Brazil and we are always wanting to eat at the Brazilian restaurants but they are over an hour away. This is something I will make monthly for that craving. After reading other comments, I did the mixing with a wooden spoon and my hands. I used regular olive oil and shredded cheeses. I even refrigerated half the dough for a couple hours between batches and both came out perfect. This is awesome. THANK YOU
Is there an easier or alternative method to mixing the tapioca flour and wet ingredients together if you don’t have a stand mixer? I tried using a hand mixer (a cheap one, I admit) and it just wasn’t strong enough to mix the dough. The dough kept riding up the mixing handles up into the mixer. I got frustrated and finished mixing the eggs by hand. After adding the cheese, I tried mixing the dough literally by hand, which was not a good idea!
Anyway, I was wondering if I could add the tapioca flour little by little to the wet mixture and mix by hand?
Any help or tips would be appreciated.
I made these puffs today. Deliciously perfect or perfectly delicious?!! My acquaintances from Ecuador love these as well and their daughter who was born in the US gave two thumbs up.
Thank you for sharing this recipe. This recipe is a keeper and I have shared your link to my family and friends.
Help! I used whole cassava flour instead of tapioca flour and the first batch of my cheese rolls came out too dense and too small. I’m thinking of adding a little baking powder and/or an extra egg to encourage the dough to expand as it cooks… Do you have any suggestions?
Hi Julia, I have no experience using whole cassava flour. My understanding is that it is less processed, so it has more fiber, just like whole wheat VS white flour. Is there any reason you don’t want to use tapioca flour? Bob’s Red Mill makes a good one and it’s easy to find here in the US. If you really want to try the whole cassava flour, I would try adding more liquid. Let me know how it goes!
Wow! So, I just made these. I’ve been looking for a good one of these ever since I enjoyed these at a Brazilian steakhouse! These are AMAZING! I’d tried a recipe for them about a year ago, using regular flour. This time, when I looked it up, everything said to use tapioca flour. I found some at Dillons (Kroger’s) and bought 5 bags. I stuck to the recipe 100%. I used a handheld mixer, as I don’t have a stand mixer, and I smelled the motor. So, I stopped and just mushed everything by hand! WHOA…like you said – STICKY! I noticed some people said it was too runny and I wonder if maybe they didn’t get the liquid amounts correct. When I first read it I saw 1 3/4 milk, then noticed…whoa! no…it’s only 1 1/4 c. milk! Anyway, I didn’t bother with rolling them into balls…way too time consuming for me. Instead I took a spoon and stuck in in shortening, just to grease it, then just took out spoonfuls and plopped them on my baking tray – scooping the dough off with my finger. They turned out EXCELLENT!!! I am SO glad I found this recipe! Thank you so much for posting!!!
Just tried this with my exchange student from Brazil and he says they are just like home with the exception that there’s no “dipping” sauce. He says its like a cheese spread or something. Any ideas? We will be taking them to a cultural exchange dinner and I would love to have the “sauce”! Thanks.
Hi Amanda! I’ve never heard of a dipping sauce for pão de queijo and I’m Brazilian! Maybe he means requeijão?
I am making your recipe today! :) I first discovered these delicious treats in Peru and then again in Ecuador. Soon, I will try them IN Brazil! Ha ha!
Hi Steven, I hope you enjoyed it! :) Best, Olivia
These were so good! I had never even heard of this bread, but as I had a bag of tapioca flour thatbI needed to use up I decided to try it! The dough was too sticky to form into balls with my hands, so I used two spoons to drop mounds of dough onto the baking sheet. Very good!