Brazilian Cheese Bread
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Enjoy warm-from-the-oven Brazilian cheese bread with a delicately crisp exterior and gooey, cheesy center—perfect for breakfast, a snack, or a side dish.
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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Can the batter be made up say an hour ahead and sit until cooked?
Sure, you can get away with that. Enjoy!
These little babies were delicious! I can making these on a regular basis.
Hi Jenn,
These Brazilian cheese breads were so easy to make and delicious! We love tapioca flour in general as it’s so much healthier. The only part about this bread I didn’t like was the somewhat unpleasant smell of the oil lingering in the air. I know the Brazilians all use oil – but I was wondering if I could substitute it with butter and if so, how much butter do you think I should use?
Hi Kate, So glad you enjoyed! I do think an equal amount of melted butter would work as a substitute for the oil. I’d love to know how they turn out if you try it!
Thanks so much for your quick reply, Jenn! I’ll be sure to try and let you know. We love this bread!😅
Another easy and delicious recipe from Jenn, and so cool to have a dupe of the ones I usually buy from the freezer section! I used Pecorino Romano and mozzarella, and took them out at 15 minutes. I thought they could use a little more salt, so next time I’ll add an extra 1/2 tsp. This might have been due to a kind of flavorless mozzarella, so I”m also going to try a batch of Parmingiano and cheddar, as written. (Also, my husband was super impressed that they came together in the time it took him to run a quick errand! A feat of dinner heroics!)
This recipe is fantastic. No more buying them at the grocery store. I used almond milk instead of regular milk and whatever cheese I had in my refrigerator – – Aldi’s aged yellow cheddar and a Parmesan cheese. The outside is nice and crisp while the inside is smooth and moist. Gobble them up while they’re warm. Thanks Jenn for sharing this recipe.
I can’t wait to try these!!
Can I make these in a food processor?
I don’t have a blender.
Thanks in advance…
Hi Wendy, It should work. Just keep in mind that the bowl might be pretty full when all of the ingredients are in there, so just make sure you don’t go over the fill line, or the bowl may leak. Hope you enjoy them!
Like another Jenn Segal fan, I ran out immediately to buy the Tapioca Flour (btw, just google Tapioca Flour near me, and if a store near you has it, Google will show it. No guarantees though!) to make these nuggets. It was SO EASY to make and using an Immersion Blender just makes it all the easier. Only had a 12 mini muffin pan so saving the leftover batter and trying it out the next day (will report back.) Only had Trader Joe’s Unexpected Cheddar so used that with Romano. Took them out of the oven at 15 mins and they were beautiful and delicious. I might add a little more cheese next time and try Parmesan.
Jenn, what do you think about adding things like: Pesto, fresh Herbs, those tubes of herb pastes, liquid Chocolate, a pulverized fruit etc? Thanks Jenn!
So glad you enjoyed, Tissa! I think you could add herbs but I probably wouldn’t add anything that would alter the consistency of the batter. I’d love to know how any additions turn out!
Delicious and so easy to pull together – it took longer for the oven to preheat than to mix & pour the batter. I’ve done a similar recipe in standard size tins and it worked fine. The only difference I noted is the ratio of crust to insides – I (slightly) prefer the smaller size and higher crust ratio of the mini size.
I haven’t made these yet but I’m know they’ll be great (‘cause Jenn’s recipes ALWAYS are)! Question before I try – I don’t have a blender (gasp) only stand and handheld mixers and a food processor. Of those options, which do you think would yield the best result? Can’t wait to try these!
Hi Liz, thanks for your nice words about the recipes! Four these I’d opt for the food processor; the bowl might be pretty full when all of the ingredients are in there, so just make sure you don’t go over the fill line, or the bowl may leak. Please LMK how they turn out!