Brazilian Cheese Puffs (also known as Pao de Quiejo) are beautiful cheesy gems that are gluten-free, grain-free, and easy to make with simple ingredients!
Brazilian cheese puffs are some of the most amazing little gems that have come out of my oven. So much, in fact, that I made a double batch because the kids practically inhaled them.
Who knew they would be so popular?
Talk about addictive! I probably could have tripled the recipe but then I would have sat there and eaten the entire pan one by one. No kidding – they are just that wonderful!
Over the last year we have made our fair share of gluten-free and grain-free rolls.
Aside from these here, we have also done Pan de Yuca, Paleo Dinner Rolls, and Paleo Zucchini and Squash Bread (SO good!)
We transformed our garden zucchini into Paleo Chocolate Zucchini Bread and Muffins, which were absolutely divine!
What are Brazilian Cheese Puffs?
Brazilian cheese puffs (or rolls), also known as Pao de Queijo, are a simple Brazilian cheese bread.
They are quite similar to American popovers except they are made with tapioca flour in lieu of regular all purpose flour.
They are made with simple ingredients, including organic Tapioca flour , and milk. We pick up our Tapioca flour on Amazon for a relatively good price. If you can’t find tapioca flour, check your local grocer for Arrowroot Flour as that is quite similar.
I wouldn’t recommend using Coconut Flour or Almond Flour as that will change the texture completely..
Baking Tips for Brazilian Cheese Puffs
You can whip them up rather quickly in the blender or, in your mixer.
If you opt to use the mixer, I would suggest adding the liquids first, and the tapioca last – otherwise the tapioca will gum up to the blades and be impossible to mix.
The batter will be very liquid. Pour into your greased mini muffin pan and bake for 15 minutes or until a light golden brown.
The finished Brazilian Cheese Puffs (Pao de Queijo) will be chewy ~ serve them with a little butter and gobble them right up 😉
Super Easy Brazilian Cheese Bread
Ingredients
- 1/3 C. olive oil
- 2/3 C. milk we used raw, feel free to use what you have
- 1 1/2 C. tapioca flour
- 1 egg room temperature
- 1 tsp salt or more - to taste
- 1/2 C. grated cheese parmesan or other
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
- Grease your mini muffin pan thoroughly with butter, and set aside.
- In your blender or KitchenAid, combine the milk, room temperature egg, oil, cheese and salt until combined.
- Once combined, add the tapioca flour 1/2 C. at a time until all of the tapioca flour has been added.
- Mix well on high, scraping down the sides of the blender so that everything is easily blended.
- Pour the batter into your greased mini muffin tin ~ leaving just 1/8 inch of space at the top.
- Pop in the oven for 15-18 minutes or until light golden brown.
Notes
- Batter can be made ahead of time and kept in the fridge for up to one week.
Nutrition
If you like these puffs, you might want to try another one of our favorites:
Pan de Yuca (Gluten-free Cheese Bread)
*This recipe was updated with new pictures November, 2018. You can see previous pictures of these yummy rolls here.
This sounds delish!! Could I use any other kind of g-free flour? Tapioca on its own is super pricey in South Africa :/
TIA <3
Hi Heidi – they are incredible. My kids love them! 🙂 I haven’t tried anything else.. Tapioca is quite similar to Arrowroot Flour though, perhaps that might work? I haven’t tried it though so I would hate to tell you that it would lend way to the same result. I get my Tapioca Starch on Amazon.. I’m not sure if you have that option… but if Arrowroot Flour is available, give it a try. Most grocery stores carry it in a smaller 1 lb size bag.
Let me know how it turns out if you try … have a wonderful weekend.
I use tapioca and arrowroot interchangeably for all recipes. I also use one or the other to replace cornstarch in recipes. I’ve been making these Brazilian puffs for several years and I’ve almost always used arrowroot just because that is more available to me in large quantities. They turn out perfectly every time!
Sweet rice flour is not quite the same as tapioca or arrowroot, because it’s not quite as fine, but it would probably work.
Rice flour does not work with these measurements. You must add more milk and cheese to get the right liquid consistency. They puff up, but deflate, sadly when removed from the oven. Also, the taste is a little odd. It’s the rice flour. I don’t recommend using.
Pão-de-queijo, pronounced
poung-gee-KI-soo (‘s’ as in uSual), is home to my State Minas Gerais, which is pretty much to Brazil like Tuscany is to Italy in terms of culinary. There are many different varieties with different kinds of cheese, with oil or butter and sour or sweet tapioca flour or polvilho(pr. po-VEEL-you) as it’s called in Brazil. I’ve made them 4 times since I began cooking but only once have I liked them. I made them today and decided to throw away the rest of the batter. I’ll try out recipe and get back to you. It seems like I’m better at cooking foreign dishes than my own. Ha ha ha.
The most popular pão-de-queijo is the Minas traditional one to which you use this sour cheese. Just a tip.
For the ones I’ve made which went down really well with my friends (thank God they weren’t in on the other occasions) , I used provolone cheese – oh fantastic! And they pair with coffee or this soda called guaraná .
I make them all the time – I was distracted one time with my kids and they didnt turn out… so now I try to only make them when I can occupy the little ones and have full attention. They are so much like popovers, but much easier. LOVE them, because they are the perfect size for my kids to eat. I’ll have to try them with Provolone! That sounds amazing! Looks like I need to make a trip to Brazil! 🙂
could butter be used instead of oil
I haven’t tried it. .. but I don’t see why it wouldn’t work. Just make sure you use melted butter – it should turn out the same. Let me know how it turns out for you 🙂
Can these be made in a regular-sized muffin tin? I don’t have a mini one…
Hi Becky 🙂
You sure can – since a regular muffin tin is larger, you may not get quite as many. But yes, it should work fine 😉 Let me know how they turn out for you.. I actually just made another batch this morning. They go SO fast here!
Sheryl
I doubled the recipe and made them in regular muffin tins! (12) They were awesome! I’m glad I greased the pan well, they really WANTED to stick around the top edges. But great recipe, thanks Sheryl!
I’m so glad you liked them!! They are one of my kids favorites… so fast to make, and they disappear quick here. I don’t feel guilty about them eating several. Glad you enjoyed them 🙂
I’d really like to try these, but tapioca flour is too carby for my diet. Do you have any thoughts on how coconut flour would do?
Hi Rebecca,
I haven’t tried it with any other flour. I don’t think coconut would work though… it requires much more liquid and wouldn’t cook up the same.
Mine collapsed and didn’t puff in the Middle! Basically was hollow inside .
What is the consistency of the batter supposed to be like? When I made this it was runnier than cake batter. Needless to say, it didn’t turn out.
The batter is supposed to be runnier than cake batter. Provided you follow the instructions in the post and preheat the oven to cook them for the full length of time, they turn out terrific.
Agreed
The batter is fairly thin. Mine come out every time. Two hints: Make sure the milk (I microwave it a little) and egg are room temp. to slightly warm and make sure the pan is really hot, spray with nonstick and fill immediately. I bake by the dozen in my toaster oven at 375 F. and they are perfect!. P.S. I also add in a tea. regular yellow mustard and a couple of cranks of black pepper. This really brings out the flavor of the cheese.
Same here – super runny dough. The result is reallllly dense, chewy, collapsed structure. 🙁 I’ve followed the recipe to the letter, and am no novice to baking.
Hi there 😉 The batter is very runny, but if you beat the mixture completely before pouring in, they will puff (guaranteed!)
I make these all. the. time. and they always come out. I did have one time when they didn’t, and it was because I was trying to multi-task while making them, ie. I was talking to my kids and had other food going and I forgot to mix “completely” and they did fall and not puff. But have learned my lesson not to make these while doing other things that distract me.
Give them another try, just be sure to mix that tapioca flour in completely and then pour into the pan. The batter does seem runny and it’s hard to envision big puffy rolls but they do puff, and they are delicious!
What could you use for tapioca flour? Almond or coconut or a mixture?
Neither of those – Coconut is entirely different altogether and needs a LOT of liquid, and still has a different texture.
You could use Arrowroot Flour – that’s the closest – sold in any major grocer.
Absolutely LOVED these!! I made them and everyone ate them and gobbled them up!! I will be making them for my kids for school as we have a nut free school and I use A LOT of Almond flour. Thank you! They were awesome!!
So glad you loved them – all of my kids go crazy for them too. I almost have to triple the recipe because they fly off the counter so fast! 🙂
Has anyone tried these with a different kind of milk? Such as almond, coconut or macadamia milk?
I haven’t, but I don’t see why it wouldn’t work. If you try it let me know how it goes.
Has anyone tried a different cheese, like preshredded cheddar, montery jack, or mozzarella? If using parmesan, is that Kraft jar stuff okay?
I have! I used parmesan for a while.. then when we ran out I used what we had – which was Monterey Jack. Then cheddar, sharp cheddar and etc. It works just fine – just this week I used Pepper jack Cheese and my kids thought they were even better.
These are yummy! I’ve made them twice. Once with fresh parmesan and the second with Kraft shaker parm… If you like a bit more salty, use the shaker grated cheese. We preferred the fresh grated. No issue with consistency, did make sure that the egg was at room temp though and used my convection bake setting on my oven and in a silicone mini muffin pan. They came out tall and fluffy.
Diane – I’m so glad you enjoy them. They are a hit in our house too!
My kids absolutely Hoover them up! I call them chewy cheesies as they have a chewy middle texture. I make 3 varieties- soy milk & savoury yeast for the dairy free child! Also a sweet version no cheese but add vanilla essence cinnamon and tbsp sugar. Delicious!
You must cook for full time or they flop as I found out once when I was in a rush- thought they looked good but no lol
LOVE THESE
I am SO glad! My kids gobble them up too and I make them ALL THE TIME. They eat them faster than I can pull them from the oven!
I would like to make ahead. Is that ok
They are best made fresh that day but feel free to give it a try. I haven’t ever tried making them ahead so I’m not sure how that would go.
These are wonderful! Made them for Easter Dinner
They are a favorite amongst my kids. Hope you had a wonderful Easter!
Hi, I have tapioca starch at home..”but not the flour. Are they same? Can I make it with the starch.
They aren’t so good made ahead. You can mix up the batter ahead, and refrigerate it. It will thicken. We make them all the time.
For those of you having a bit of trouble, you should try adding another egg. Once golden brown, turn oven off. Crack open with a wooden spoon handle to cool slowly 5 minutes before removing from oven. That helps prevent collapse. Swiss cheese is great, also sharp cheddar.
Delicious with sweetened condensed milk in the hollow. Use her recipe, just cook it down a bit thicker. Or buy dulce de leite, what I know as Doce de Leite.
Can make them dairy free. Use water, and bake in mini muffins. They won’t brown. You can actually bake them slower and longer, get them crisp when they cool. Called biscoito where I came from. (Each region has there own nickname) Light, airy crunch. Not chewy. Store airtight to keep crisp.
On all of these you need well greased muffin tins.
How do you store the leftovers?
I haven’t tried, but I don’t see why not. Give them a zap in the microwave (if you have one) and they should be ok. I would think that the best way to eat them though is fresh from the oven. I have 5 kids and I can’t make them fast enough — but the time I take the tray out, they are already gone. They are good (indeed) but it’s kinda frustrating!
Just tried these. Fabulous! My hubby loves them and hes not gluten free. I’m going to try variations, like pizza seasonings, parmesan cheese etc. Thank you!
Are they supposed to be gummy? The flavor is good but I’m not sure if they’re done..thinking that the cheese makes it that consistency.
A tiny bit gummy from the cheese, but not too much!
This time I used a combination of almond milk and coconut cream instead of reg milk. Fabulous. Thank you again
Glad you enjoyed it, Viv! 🙂
I’m loving this recipe. This time I fried the batter like a pancake. Turned out sort of like an indian fry bread. Made four pan size.
Delicious like that but then I used it as a pizza crust. Put my toppings and into the oven.
I’m having way too much fun with this recipe.
Oh my goodness! That is something I haven’t thought off (pancake!) I’ll have to try it. I love Fry Bread… I used to get it often when I drove from Phoenix to NM… there is a little place in the Gallup Mall off the I-40 that sold the best Fry Bread. I haven’t been in a few years. It was my absolute favorite!
My next thing i will try will be a focaccia with this recipe. My hubby loves these recipes using the pop over batter even tho he doesn’t have to be g.f. we take the popovers when we go hiking. Perfect little snack.