Brazilian Cheese Bread
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Simple ingredients and a blender are all you need to make Brazil’s beloved cheese bread at home.
If you’ve ever been to a Brazilian steakhouse, or churrascaria, you’ve probably tried pão de queijo—those irresistible little cheese breads with a crispy exterior and gooey, chewy center. Their unique texture comes from tapioca flour, which is made from the cassava root and is naturally gluten-free.
This Brazilian cheese bread recipe is easy to make—the batter comes together in a blender in minutes and bakes up quickly in a mini muffin pan. While at steakhouses the rolls are served as a side dish to complement the meat-heavy meal, in everyday Brazilian life they’re more often enjoyed as a snack or breakfast item. They’re also delicious paired with soups and salads. Once you try the rolls warm from the oven, you won’t be able to stop at just one!
What You’ll Need To Make Brazilian Cheese Bread
- Eggs: Provide structure and richness to the dough, helping it puff up during baking and contributing to the bread’s fluffy interior.
- Vegetable Oil: Adds moisture and tenderness to the bread while creating a light, crisp exterior.
- Milk: Creates a smooth, cohesive batter, adding creaminess and subtle flavor to the bread.
- Tapioca Flour: Essential for the bread’s unique chewy texture and elasticity, allowing it to rise and maintain its shape. You can typically find tapioca starch in the baking aisle, gluten-free, or natural foods section of your supermarket. I use the Bob’s Red Mill brand.
- Pecorino Romano/Parmigiano Reggiano And Mozzarella/Cheddar Cheese: These cheeses bring a combination of salty, nutty flavors with a melty, gooey texture that makes the bread rich and savory.
- Baking Powder: Acts as a leavening agent, giving the bread a light, airy texture and helping it rise in the oven.
- Jump to the printable recipe for precise measurements
Step-By-Step Instructions
Preheat the oven to 400°F and set an oven rack in the middle position. Spray a mini muffin pan with non-stick cooking spray. To a blender, add the eggs, oil, and milk.
Blend for about 5 seconds to combine.
Add the tapioca flour, Parmesan cheese, mozzarella (or Cheddar) cheese, salt, and baking powder.
Blend for another 5 seconds to combine, then scrape down the sides of the jar and blend very briefly again. Avoid over-blending to prevent incorporating too much air, which can make the batter difficult to pour.
Pour the batter into the muffin wells, filling them about three-quarters full.
Bake for 15 to 18 minutes, until puffed and lightly golden. The cheese breads may fall slightly in the center, either in the oven or as they cool; that’s normal.
Remove the cheese breads from the muffin pan and serve warm.
Adapting Traditional Brazilian Cheese Bread for U.S. Ingredients
Traditional Brazilian cheese bread often uses a combination of two types of tapioca flour—polvilho doce (sweet tapioca flour) and polvilho azedo (sour tapioca flour)—to achieve the ideal balance of chewiness and puffiness. In the United States, we typically only have access to one type of tapioca flour, which is closer to polvilho doce. Unlike the traditional dough, which is thicker, rolled by hand, and baked free-form on a baking sheet, this recipe results in a liquid batter and is baked in a mini muffin tin. After experimenting with many iterations and methods, I found that this version delivers the best results with the ingredients available here.
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Brazilian Cheese Bread
Ingredients
- 2 large eggs
- ¼ cup vegetable oil
- ½ cup milk
- 1 cup tapioca flour (also called tapioca starch; see note)
- ½ cup grated Pecorino Romano or Parmigiano Reggiano cheese
- ½ cup shredded Mozzarella (or Cheddar) cheese
- Heaping ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400°F (205°C) and set an oven rack in the middle position. Spray a mini muffin pan with non-stick cooking spray.
- In a blender, combine the eggs, oil, and milk. Blend for about 5 seconds to combine. Add the tapioca flour, Parmesan cheese, mozzarella (or Cheddar) cheese, salt, and baking powder. Blend for another 5 seconds to combine, then scrape down the sides of the jar and blend very briefly again. Avoid over-blending to prevent incorporating too much air, which can make the batter difficult to pour.
- Pour the batter into the muffin wells, filling them about three-quarters full.
- Bake for 15 to 18 minutes, until puffed and lightly golden. The cheese breads may fall slightly in the center, either in the oven or as they cool; that’s normal.
- Remove the cheese breads from the muffin pan and serve warm.
Notes
Nutrition Information
This website is written and produced for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and the nutritional data on this site has not been evaluated or approved by a nutritionist or the Food and Drug Administration. Nutritional information is offered as a courtesy and should not be construed as a guarantee. The data is calculated through an online nutritional calculator, Edamam.com. Although I do my best to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures should be considered estimates only. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased, natural fluctuations in fresh produce, and the way ingredients are processed change the effective nutritional information in any given recipe. Furthermore, different online calculators provide different results depending on their own nutrition fact sources and algorithms. To obtain the most accurate nutritional information in a given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.
Gluten-Free Adaptable Note
To the best of my knowledge, all of the ingredients used in this recipe are gluten-free or widely available in gluten-free versions. There is hidden gluten in many foods; if you're following a gluten-free diet or cooking for someone with gluten allergies, always read the labels of your ingredients to verify that they are gluten-free.
Comments
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Good Evening, Jenn!
I am hoping to make this recipe in the next few days but I don’t have a mini-muffin tin, so can I use my regular muffin tin? I’m presuming that the recipe will make a dozen! Also, can I use parchment paper liners in the muffin tin, instead of spraying the muffin cups with oil?
Thanks in advance,
Cheers,
Mary in BC Canada 🍁
Hi Mary, yes, you can use a regular muffin tin. Keep in mind the bake time will be a bit longer, so keep a close eye on them. And while you could try it with parchment paper liners, I’m not sure if it will impact the rise of the bread. Please LMK how they turn out if you try them!
Good morning from BC, Canada 🇨🇦!
The Brazilian cheese bread turned out very nicely indeed 😋! I did bake them for closer to 25 mins, as one of your other readers
suggested!
I did use paper liners & once the buns were cooled a little, the yummy, gooey, cheesey, morsels popped out, no problem! (I took a photo to show my friend, who first introduced me to your website several years ago)!! I can’t figure out how to attach it here though 😏!
Thanks again, “my friend Jenn” 😃😃
So glad they came out well – thanks for taking the time to report back! 😊
I have tried other authentic recipes from Brazil for pao de queijo that use a thicker dough that can be rolled. Due to the different type of tapioca flour available here in the US, Jenn’s recipe is much better! It’s not too heavy, but give the traditional Brazilian cheese bread flavor. Thanks for another great recipe!
Another winner! These are now our preferred bread with stews and chili! Delectable! I do have a question. When using the metric measurements for freshly grated cheese like the parm-regg, the weights are always very different than the US volume. Here, 50 gm of parm-regg cheese was 1 1/2 cups. I’ve had the same observation with the Gruyere in the egg bites. The flours and other ingredients convert without discrepancies. Do you have any suggestions on how to best determine the amount to use?
Hi Brenda, so glad you like these and they’ve become a go-to for you! I’m not sure I fully understand your question, but if this helps, not all grated cheese weighs the same amount, so that’s why you’ll see some variation. I do have a metric conversion chart with a variety of ingredients (including both of these cheeses) if you’d find that useful. Please let me know if I can help in any other way. 😊
I made them in large muffin shapes since I did not have mini. Delicious
Awhile ago I asked if I could make the Brazilian cheese bread as standard sized muffins. Well, I did and they turned out great! The recipe made 10 and I baked them for 20 min. I think 2 more minutes in the oven would have worked too. Thanks again!
I have been wanting to try this recipe since I first saw it on the website. I used cheddar because it is what I had on hand. Very simple to put together (I used my immersion blender) and they are my version of comfort food!
Never had Brazilian Cheese Bread before. Googled it and found that your recipe was the simplest with the highest ratings. Made it and OMG. Only thing I changed was I didn’t have Parmesan so I just used all shredded cheddar. Was awesome. Kudos and keep up the wonderful work you do.
Easy, quick and versatile! Making them again tonight. . .they seem to go with everything. Thank you for your wonderful recipes, Jenn!