Pao de Queijo – Brazilian Cheese Bread

Pão de queijo (pronounced pow-du-KEHjo, sort of) is probably Brazil’s most famous food export. Very similar to gougeres, pao de queijo is basically a pate a choux, but made with tapioca flour instead of wheat flour. You can buy them frozen in many grocery stores now, but you can just as easily find the ingredients to make your own pao de queijo from scratch.

And they are fun to make! And you can make a bunch and freeze them for later. And homemade frozen pao de queijo are way way way cheaper than store bought frozen pao de queijo.

pao de queijo

Pao de queijo baked 22 minutes is just barely golden brown outside.

Pao de queijo can be made with either sweet tapioca flour (usually just labeled “tapioca flour” or “tapioca starch” in the US; Bob’s Red Mill makes one) or sour tapioca flour (polvilho azedo) which is tapioca flour that has been fermented after grinding. I don’t notice a big flavor difference between them, but the sour tapioca flour absorbs more liquid than the sweet so you need to use less when making the dough. If you want to try it, find sour tapioca flour at a Brazilian market or on Amazon (see affiliate links at the bottom).

The traditional cheese used in making pao de queijo is called queijo de Minas or queijo de Canastra meia-cura and it’s very similar to Monterey Jack or even mozzarella. Most American recipes call for Parmesan cheese, though. I’ve tried this recipe with all of the above and they all have turned out delicious. I think that just proves what a great recipe this is! Try it with a couple different cheeses and see what you like best.

In Brazil these are eaten as a snack, often with hot chocolate. I like them as a snack, as breakfast, or with a bowl of soup. For the classic French recipe that this bread was possibly inspired by, check out my video on how to make gougères.

Troubleshooting Pao de Queijo:

A couple of times out of dozens, I have had my pao de queijo dough turn out too runny to hold its shape when portioning out. I am not sure why this happens occasionally, but the best solution is to cover and refrigerate the dough for a couple of hours to firm up. Don’t keep adding flour! Just put it in the fridge for a bit.

Try these other Brazilian recipes, too:

Moqueca (easy and light coconut fish stew)

Feijoada (the national dish of Brazil)

Brigadeiro (3-ingredient chocolate candies)

Coxinha (crispy chicken croquettes)

Pão de Queijo video – scroll down for recipe

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Pao de queijo recipe

pao de queijo

Pao de queijo baked for 30 minutes gets extra brown and crispy outside but still soft inside

Print

Pao de Queijo – Brazilian Cheese Bread

5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star

4.6 from 44 reviews

  • Author: Hilah Johnson
  • Prep Time: 25 mins
  • Cook Time: 25 mins
  • Total Time: 50 minutes
  • Yield: 24 1x

Ingredients

Scale
  • 1 cup whole milk
  • 2 tablespoons butter
  • 2 tablespoons neutral oil
  • 3 cups sweet tapioca flour (OR 2 cups sour tapioca flour if you can find it)
  • 1 teaspoon salt (more if your cheese is not very salty)
  • 2 eggs, beaten
  • 4 ounces grated cheese (see notes about cheese, above)

Instructions

  1. Set oven to 400ºF
  2. Combine milk, butter and oil in a small pot and place over medium-high heat. Bring to boil.
  3. Put tapioca flour and salt into mixing bowl of a stand mixer.
  4. Pour in hot milk and mix on low until smooth. It will look soft and stringy. Once cool to touch, mix in the eggs one at a time until fully incorporated.
  5. Mix in the cheese. **If your dough is too runny or soft to scoop, just chill it in the fridge for 30 minutes or longer to let it firm up before scooping!
  6. Line two baking sheets with parchment and scoop the dough out by large tablespoons, spaced an inch apart. (At this point, you may freeze the tray until the balls are solid, then store the balls in a freezer bag. When ready to bake, just put frozen pao de quiejo on a baking sheet and add an extra 5 minutes to cook time. Do not thaw first.)
  7. Bake 20-25 minutes until lightly golden and and puffed. The interiors should be soft-set and elastic, but if you want a crispier outside, leave them in for 25-30 minutes.
  8. Eat warm right away or let cool. Leftover pao de queijo can be left to cool completely, then stored at room temperature up to 3 days. Reheat in a low oven before serving (or eat at room temp).

Notes

To freeze: Drop blobs of dough onto a parchment-paper-lined baking sheet (or plate if a sheet won’t fit in your freezer). Freeze until solid, then transfer frozen blobs to a baggie or container. Save the parchment for baking. To bake frozen pao de queijo: Set oven to 375ºF. Put frozen dough onto parchment-lined sheet and bake for 20-25 minutes.

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Get the ingredients

These are all Amazon affiliate links, but you should be able to find at least the Bob’s Red Mill brand in most stores. To try with the sour tapioca flour, look at a Brazilian or Latin grocery or buy online!


And you have to have a cold Guaraná to go with them! 😉

114 Comments

  1. Jerry on May 5, 2016 at 12:25 pm

    These look really good, I think I will try them with the Monterrey Jack cheese though as that is likely to much parmesan for my taste. I think the wife will be trying them with every cheese there is though as she does with most recipes.






    • Hilah on May 5, 2016 at 3:36 pm

      Hey Jerry!

      Definitely try it with different cheeses! A combo of Parmesan and jack is good, too.

      • Silvana on April 25, 2020 at 7:50 am

        Yumiii I loved






      • Margot on May 30, 2020 at 11:15 am

        Hello Hilah, my Brazilian sister – in – law taught me how to make these little kisses, she uses 10 eggs for 1 Yoki pkgs of each polvo azado/ polvo dulce, maybe 5 cups flour in all, so I do as well. I have experimented and found that I can make them with 1) almond milk and almond flakes instead of cows milk and cheese for my lactose intolerant. As well, I made them with coconut milk and cream ( from a tin) and grated coconut in place of cheese. Mmmm
        Tia Margot






        • Daniel on April 13, 2021 at 7:47 am

          So you got coconut buns instead cheese bread hahaha. But looks good. How was the taste? You might just created a new recipe =)

      • Paige Woodson on March 4, 2021 at 8:39 pm

        Thank you so much for your comments and warning on runny dough!! I made a recipe I’ve had for ages tonight and randomly the dough was extremely runny. I kept adding more flour and they turned out super dry and hard. I’ve been so frustrated with this and searching recipes to see what I should have done. I need to redeem myself and will try your recipe tomorrow, thank you!!!

      • MAlvarez on January 15, 2022 at 8:15 pm

        I did a combination of parm and white sharp cheddar they came out delicious ?

  2. Warenout on May 5, 2016 at 1:30 pm

    Recipe looks fabulous (so do you two fire ladies). However it was difficult to follow because the ad strip was across the entire bottom of the youtube screen for most the entire episode. Please give us an “X” to be able to remove it after a few seconds the ad display. Thank you so very much. Love the videos and the recipes. Welcome to the Wild West. I’m just North of Sacramento. Sorry you have to settle in LA, but thats life (just kidding). Keep up the fun recipes.






    • Hilah on May 5, 2016 at 3:39 pm

      Hey Warenout!
      Those ad bars always have a little “X” in the upper right corner of the ad that you can click to remove it. Might have to hover over the ad for it to appear.
      We are really settling in here, thank you! 🙂

  3. pat Soltis on May 5, 2016 at 5:27 pm

    Hilah,

    I have eaten Pao de Queijo, but only in Lisbon and, believe it or not, in Cleveland, Ohio. There used to be a Brazilian restaurant called Sergio’s on Shaker Square in Cleveland — an easy walk from my apartment. Great food in general, but the Pao de Queijo tended to be a little bit rubber-y.

    I don’t have any distinct memories of Pao de Queijo in Lisbon (Portugal). It/they were featured on a huge Churrasco buffet with many varieties of grilled meat. I’ve never been enthusiastic about all-you-can-eat buffets. My favorite parts of the Churrasco were the black beans and the fried bananas.

    How is Flint?

    ps

    • Hilah on May 6, 2016 at 6:59 pm

      Hi Pat!
      I think good pao de queijo is a little chewy, but not what I would call “rubbery”. I’m also not too hot on all-you-can-eat but I still want to try a Brazilian bbq place with Tuany accompanying us. 🙂
      Flint is excellent! He’s so much more like a kid now, not a baby. And he LOVES pao de queijo. Like, he will eat 5 or 6 at a time. He’s crazy for it, so I have been keeping some in the freezer for quick-ish toddler snacks. And adult snacks!

  4. The Other Randy on May 5, 2016 at 10:04 pm

    Oooh, time to put on my Tropicália playlist (heavy on the Caetano Veloso, Gilberto Gil and Gal Costa) and make a caipirinha. But I won’t be able to make these until the flour and cheese from Amazon gets here (are you sure that these are cheaper to make yourself? 🙂






    • Hilah on May 6, 2016 at 6:55 pm

      Nice!

      I think (I hope?) that once you get the ingredients, you will decide it’s a bargain. 🙂 One 20 ounce bag of sweet tapioca flour should make at least 50 pao de queijo. I’m not sure how much the frozen ones go for, though. I could be totally wrong!

      • irene on July 7, 2016 at 11:04 pm

        I purchased my tapioca flour at Ranch 99 in Seattle at a very reasonable price. About one dollar for 7 ounces. Many Asian stores sell tapioca flour.






        • Hilah on July 8, 2016 at 6:59 am

          That’s a great place to find tapioca flour! Thanks for the tip, Irene!

  5. Diana on May 6, 2016 at 5:21 pm

    I don’t think this is the most famous Brazilian food. That’s feijoda (spelling?) So, I just posted to argue.

    Also posted to say I love the pit’s red nose in the email version. Adorbs.

    Actually, I will try to make this. I’m not a successful baker, but this recipe sounds like something I could do. They look very fluffy and yummy and not sweet.

    @PatSoltis, I actually ate at a Brazilian restaurant in Cleveland a couple years ago. Of all places. It was pretty good, but they didn’t have feijado (spelling?). They only served it on the weekends.

    We need more Brazilian restaurants in the US. So good food.






    • Hilah on May 6, 2016 at 6:54 pm

      Hi Diana!
      I think you can make these! It kind of doesn’t even feel like baking, if you know what I mean. And I love that they are not sweet. I so much prefer a salty snack to a sweet one, most of the time. Hope you try them!
      And you may be right that feijoada is the most famous Brazilian dish, but I might still argue that pao de queijo is the dish that more people have actually eaten outside of Brazil? It’s all a guess, though!

      • kat on September 23, 2018 at 2:04 pm

        how long do you blend the dough? mine has the consistency of cake batter. Yours is thicker

        • Hilah on September 24, 2018 at 12:58 am

          Sometimes that happens. I haven’t figured out the cause but if you put it in the fridge for an hour or so, it thickens up enough to scoop

      • Juliana on April 21, 2019 at 10:10 am

        The recipe is really good first time that my cheese bread turned out good. Although mine didn’t get the stringy texture. It turned out more dry texture but delicious anyway. Should I put more milk or eggs next time?
        Thanks






        • Hilah on April 26, 2019 at 4:54 pm

          Hi Juliana! You may just need to take them out at little earlier next time. If your oven runs hot, they don’t need as much time

        • Fernanda on June 1, 2019 at 5:24 pm

          More cheese! (Im Brazilian, from the Pao de Queijo state – I know this)

    • MarcelaMartini on September 7, 2018 at 4:55 pm

      Pão de queijo is one of the most popular foods in Brazil indeed! Feijoada is too but its a way harder to make and it depends on the area of the country you go. Pao de queijao is a crowd pleaser anywhere in Brazil. ❤

    • Helma Walker on May 28, 2021 at 1:42 pm

      Spells: Feijoada!
      Just for the argument sake. Feijoada is a national dish and the recipe changes from state to state. For instance feijoada in Rio de Janeiro is made with black beans and in the norte east of Brazil, Recife is made with red/pink beans.
      Pao de queijo is very popular in Brazil. Casa do Pao de Queijo was founded back in 1967 as a stand alone bakery and is now one of the country’s biggest food franchises. That’s why we Brazilians say is famous. It is in our every day meal, especially breakfast but we eat pao de queijo for dinners and lunches too. I hope I helped.

  6. Crapweasel on May 6, 2016 at 6:05 pm

    I must try these.

    • Brian on September 8, 2022 at 4:49 pm

      I’m a foodie and a chef. I followed the posted recipe to a tea. I bought ingredients from a Brazilian market.

      1 cup whole milk
      2 tablespoons butter
      2 tablespoons neutral oil
      3 cups sweet tapioca flour (OR 2 cups sour tapioca flour if you can find it)
      1 teaspoon salt (more if your cheese is not very salty)
      2 eggs, beaten
      4 ounces grated cheese (see notes about cheese, above)

      I also watched the video multiple times prior to starting. The video does not mention measurements.

      The dough turned out dry and exceedingly crumbly. I tried to save it by added more liquid but there was no hope. The ratios of dry to liquid ingredients is off.

      My friends Brazilian grandmother is sending me her authentic recipe. Next time I will not be set up for failure.






      • Nat on November 22, 2022 at 5:33 pm

        Well I haven’t made these myself but I just wanted to chime in to say that this is an excessively rude comment. Some foodie and a chef, can’t even make a bun correctly with a recipe that worked for everyone else?

        Sounds like a perfect example of operator error, Brian. Maybe think about being nice to someone for a change? Have you considered temperature of your kitchen? Temperature of your dough? Mixed it too long? Didn’t mix it long enough? I’m not even a professional baker and I would never assume that a recipe that works for everyone will ‘set me up for failure.’ I’m honestly stunned at the audacity.

  7. Paul on May 7, 2016 at 4:31 pm

    Hi Hilah – can you make feijoada for your next Brazilian dish? I fell in love with this dish working in Brazil. I come close, but never get it exactly right.

  8. Susan Gendron on May 9, 2016 at 6:57 pm

    thanks now I know what to do with that tapioca flour I bought to experiment with, I already Know I can make cheese puffs, I wonder, can these be deep fried as well? I have previously tried deep frying with cheese puff choux pastry and the fried puffs came out amazing.

    • Hilah on May 10, 2016 at 8:28 am

      Hi Susan!
      I’m haven’t heard of frying these but I think it could be done. Someone on YouTube commented that it can also be cooked in a waffle iron, which sounds fun and crunchy!

  9. D.S. Canada on May 10, 2016 at 4:57 pm

    Hi, your pao de queijo looks great, just like the ones I had on my many trips to Brasil. There are also snacks called coxinhas that are made with pulled/shredded chicken that I think would be great to introduce your many North American viewers.
    Another treat I miss from Brasil is a desert made from deep fried bananas with a sugar syrup glaze, available from a Chinese food chain called China in box. They deliver orders on the back of scooters in the larger cities.






    • Hilah on May 10, 2016 at 8:25 pm

      Hi DS! We shot a video for coxinha, too, and it will be up in July. The fried bananas sound really good!

  10. Ana Castillo on July 23, 2016 at 6:47 pm

    I just made these and were wonderful, tasted just as my teacher’s on cooking class, and she’s Brazilian. I used a mix of danish and mozzarella, and instead of four ounces I used eight. Again, they were amazing, I’m gonna try the coxinhas next.Thanks






    • Hilah on July 24, 2016 at 8:45 am

      Hooray! 😀 So happy to hear, Ana.

  11. Hannah on August 23, 2016 at 5:43 pm

    Mine didn’t puff up like the ball shaped pao de queijo in your video, they came out as flat disks. Still tasty but not as much gooey center as I would like. My grocery store only had Bobs Red Mill fine ground tapioca flour (“aka tapioca starch” as the package said), could that be the problem? I kept adding more flour between baking batches thinking it would stiffen up the batter and help it hold more of a spherical shape but they were too stiff by the last batch and still flat, barely any puffing in the oven. I’ll have to try this again with proper tapioca flour.

    • Hilah on August 23, 2016 at 7:26 pm

      Hi Hannah,
      Sorry to hear this. I don’t know what could have caused the flattening. I’ve made these with the Bob’s tapioca starch several times and they still puff. Can you try making the dough, shaping it on the tray and then freezing it? I find that baking them frozen yields higher puffs. Also, be sure to use whole milk and all the butter and oil called for. I tried it once without the butter and the batter never thickened enough to even scoop. I think the fat is necessary. Hope you try again!

    • Fernanda on June 1, 2019 at 5:33 pm

      More cheese!and never open the oven before its ready (Im Brazilian, from the Pao de Queijo state – I know this)

    • Melanir on February 25, 2020 at 7:33 pm

      I followed this exactly and mine came out like flat bread too. Same flour and all. I’ve seen other videos using the red Mill flour and theirs were puffy. I even refrigerated and it scooped, but immediately went flat and never puffed. Only thing I can think is that I over mixed it.

    • Jerilyn Kimner on December 19, 2021 at 2:39 pm

      Hi that happened to me the first time I made these. The milk and oil mixture needs to sort of fizz up before it is ready. Hope this helps.

  12. Gyanny on October 7, 2018 at 7:19 pm

    Hello!!! Your pão de queijo looks very good, congratulations. I’ve seen in one of the comments that in one occasion someone’s recipe turned out to be like a cake batter. This happens sometimes and it’s because of the size of the eggs, sometimes bigger eggs makes the dough less thicker. At this point you could add on more tapioca flour if you have some more. Another interesting factor is the tapioca flour being sour or sweet. Sweet tapioca flour provides a more soft and gluey pão de queijo whereas sour tapioca would provide a more crunchy ones. I’ve seen some top secret recipes using half and half flours giving a gluey and soft but yet crunchy texture. With regards to the battle between feijoada and pão de queijo, they are both very popular, but pão de queijo its just a snack whereas feijoada its a National dish. Nice Brazilian girl making jokes that only Brazilians could understand. Beijo Xuxa!!!






    • Hilah on October 8, 2018 at 1:13 pm

      Thank you for the tips, Gyanny! I’m so glad you liked the video with my friend 🙂

  13. Anna on November 4, 2018 at 2:25 am

    Tried this recipe because I missed Brazil but I was very disappointed. Not a good recipe, way too much fluid. There was red flags of that even in the video with how moist the dough looked. I’ve made pão de queijo before with Brazilian recipes and this didn’t look at all like I remembered. I cut the amount of fluid by half and it still is too moist. I also would add more cheese (though another kind of cheese, like any kind of cheese with a lot of flavor) after my Brazilian boyfriend said it was way too little cheese. They ended up flat and not what I expected.

    • Hilah on November 5, 2018 at 3:16 pm

      Sorry it didn’t work for you, Anna. I mentioned in the headnotes to refrigerate if the dough turns out too thin to scoop. As another commenter suggested, it does occasionally happen and may have to do with the size of your eggs.

  14. Dave Pierce on November 4, 2018 at 9:16 am

    Hi Hilah!
    Great recipe and video! I have had the great good fortune to visit Brasil on many occasions for work. I have made these many times using pretty much the same recipe. Some use water and milk, some all butter, etc… Mine too have occasionally been flatter than round, the dough just too thin. In Brazil they always seem to be pretty spherical. I have tried adding more tapioca flour and more cheese and found that usually to be a mistake. They will turn out dry and just not very good. I think your suggestion of cooling the dough is a good idea. I have seen Mexican queso fresco in recipes. My favorite so far is a grated Italian cheese blend from my local supermarket. I have definitely NOT perfect my Pao,de Queijo yet. I do live at 7,000′ and I want to be able to blame that, but I don’t know. While I prefer to make things from scratch when I can, there is a mix available on Amazon that is also widely sold and used in Rio de Janeiro from a company called Yoki. I have purchased it in Brasil and brought it home. They turn out consistently very good.
    Thanks for the video!






    • Hilah on November 5, 2018 at 3:14 pm

      Thanks, Dave! I have not tried that pao de queijo mix, but you did remind me to go back to the Brazilian market to get more sour tapioca flour. It definitely works better than sweet tapioca flour.

  15. Marie Keehl on November 18, 2018 at 3:39 pm

    Thank you, thank you, thank you, for this recipe. I go to a brazillian steakhouse (Gaucho’s). That’s where I fell in love with these little pillows of love. Also they are so easy to make.






  16. Marie Keehl on November 18, 2018 at 3:57 pm

    It is a lot cheaper than per to make TV them yourself. $2.50 for 8 oz tapioca flour, $2.00 for 8 oz shredded parm., eggs 2 @.08=.16, milk .75, butter .50 & salt. Less than $6.00, for those little pillows of happiness.






    • Hilah on November 19, 2018 at 7:13 am

      That’s a good point! It is much cheaper to make them at home!

  17. Rita on November 19, 2018 at 8:36 pm

    Hi, I just made this recipe and turned out great. I grew up in southeast of Brazil and have been trying a few American recipes. Today I used extra sharp cheddar and mozzarella (what I had in my fridge) but next time I want to try with Cotija. I think that’s the closest I can find to queijo minas here in Portland, Or. Thanks for the recipe! Funny that in Brazil I never thought about trying to make pão de cheijo at home since it’s often so readily available. Now that I’ve been in the US for awhile I finally learned how to make this classic dish from my region.






    • Hilah on November 20, 2018 at 10:23 am

      So glad! Coincidentally I made some a couple days ago with cotija and it worked very well 🙂

    • Emerson Martins - Toronto- Canada on January 15, 2020 at 9:39 am

      Where are you from in Brazil Rita?

  18. Rosetta on December 22, 2018 at 9:04 pm

    Does this recipe work with low fat milk or fat free milk as well?

    • Hilah on December 23, 2018 at 6:46 pm

      Low fat, yes, but I have not tried with fat free milk

  19. Amber on January 7, 2019 at 8:09 pm

    Not sure what I did wrong. I wanted to reduce the recipe ans was working off 2/3 what the recipe called for. For some reason when i added the hot milk mixture to the flour, it was super dry. I don’t normally watch recipe videos but I am glad I watched yours, so I could see the consistency it should be. I kept adding more milk/butter/oil til it looked right. They ended up turning out awesome. Super puffy and chewy on the inside. I did cook mine at a lower temperature – 350 as I was cooking a small batch.
    One note to readers – you really need a stand mixer IMO. I went at it with a standard hand mixer and it was extremely difficult / messy. But thats just user error on my part.






    • Hilah on January 8, 2019 at 8:07 am

      Thanks for your feedback, Amber! I haven’t ever tried to reduce the quantity of this recipe but good to know it worked for you 🙂

  20. Eyal on February 21, 2019 at 10:13 pm

    Hello hilah. Enjoyed you’re video and beautiful energy while making the paode queijo.
    I was super accited, went to the market, bought all the needed ingredients.
    When I mixed the tapioca flower with the worm liquid of whole milk, oil and butter, it seemed like the tapioca just disappeared there, it remained super duper liquid.

    I didn’t know what to do so I added white weet flower until it was useable to make some kind of shape out of it(before that it was just liquid)
    It didn’t turn out good. Eatable but not nearly as yummy as pao de queijo.
    So I know that was the flower I added but I don’t know why it didn’t form to something more solid

    • Hilah on February 25, 2019 at 12:34 pm

      Oh no! When the pao de queijo dough turns out runny, you just need to chill it in the fridge a little while. I wrote about that in the notes but I will add it to the recipe card, too. I’m sorry it didn’t work for you. Hope you try again!

      • Eyal Tsabban on February 26, 2019 at 7:15 am

        I did!
        It worked much better,
        But it sticks so hard to the parchament paper, it takes some of it with the balls.

        Any Tips?

        Other than that, it’s really good

        • Hilah on February 26, 2019 at 8:04 am

          Hi Eyal! I have not ever had them stick to parchment. My first guess is that maybe you are using waxed paper, not parchment. Or maybe they just need to cool a bit before you try to take them off. They should not be sticking that bad to parchment paper, though.

  21. Eduardo on March 9, 2019 at 8:06 pm

    Thanks for the detailed recipe! As born-and-raised Brazilian, I can say my pao de queijos tasted really authentic! I used Fontina cheese because I think they melt well and added Parmesan for flavor too. I will definitely check out your blog for more recipes!






    • Svenja on August 10, 2022 at 11:12 am

      I tried it and the dough before I added the eggs was really crumbly and not smooth and stringy at all. I smoothed the cups of tapioca flour. Maybe that was the reason.






  22. Monica A. on October 19, 2019 at 6:29 am

    I’m Brazilian, from Rio de Janeiro and didn’t grow up eating pao de queijo. I remember my first boyfriend offering me and I hated the smell. Well, I married a Brazilian mineiro (pao de queijo is super popular in Minas Gerais) and actually “learned” how to enjoy eating those little cheese balls. These receipt is AMAZING! Yes, is not to easy like she shown in the video, when you add the hot milk on tapioca flour it gets messy and dont even try to make with your hands (at least didn’t work twice for me). After adding the eggs, put the speed on your mixer to 6 and let it mix well. I added mozz, fresh mozz and parmesan cheese (more than 4oz), i dont measure sorry. Another tip, add some crunch bacon in pieces. AMAZING! Enjoy it, is worth it.






  23. Rin on November 3, 2019 at 8:26 am

    I am very happy with this recipe. I only had tapioca for 2 cups, so I kind of winged the quantities. They turned out crisp on the outside and stringy on the inside so I’d say it’s a win. I also absolutely love that this recipe does not require half a cup of oil per 2 cups tapioca, as many I’ve stumbled across.






  24. Kassandra on December 10, 2019 at 12:42 pm

    Hi,
    I’ve made it a vegan version, because my family has many food allergies, and it turned out pretty good! It was gone in minutes:)) I substituted it with Oat milk, vegan cheddar cheese and egg replacer. I’d like to know if anyone has made it with jalapeno? And how much did you put in?

    • Hilah on December 10, 2019 at 1:59 pm

      Thanks for letting us know it can be veganized, Kassandra!

  25. Miranda on January 4, 2020 at 10:08 pm

    Excellent recipe, turned out really well, even though my dough was a little lumpy. My Brazilian partner loved it!






  26. Emerson Martins - Toronto - Canada on January 15, 2020 at 9:05 am

    Hi Hilah, how are you?
    Thanks for sharing a great recipe like yours. I live in Toronto but Im from Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais state that is the land of cheese bread in Brazil.
    You are 100% approved.
    They came up perfect and delicious.
    Congratulations!
    Cheers,

    Emerson

    • Hilah on January 17, 2020 at 2:16 pm

      So glad the recipe worked well for you!

  27. Kythai on January 23, 2020 at 11:25 am

    The proportions worked perfectly and the video was super helpful. Thank you for sharing it!






  28. Maria Clara de Beer on February 13, 2020 at 8:50 am

    Dear Hilah,
    I came to your page accidentally and enjoy reading all comments.
    I am Brazilian, from Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, leaving in Amsterdam for many years. In the begin I could find only chinese starch ( made of manioca , which i we make polvilho ( the flour for pão de queijo). It was quite disappointed: all of them were totally flat. Next time, had to use the forms for muffins to keep the chape of pão de queijo..”
    Then , few years ago, a Brazilian Shop was open with the real ” polvilho “. You should look that the good one is granulate. Avoid the ones very fine. I do not scald fat etc. My recipe is different and I prefer sweet “polvilho. Smell better.
    Your “pão de queijo” looks beautiful. You know to make it. Congratulations.

  29. Mimi on February 29, 2020 at 11:36 pm

    I lived in Minas Gerais for 3 months. A zillion years ago and “pao de queijo” was my favourite snack. I’ll try your recipe but with more cheese, and I may try it with Manchego cheese from Spain mixed with good quality freshly grated parmesan. I guess it would be fun to experiment with different cheeses. Thanks for the heads up re egg size and chilling the dough.

  30. Patricia on March 21, 2020 at 9:29 pm

    Greetings from Singapore. Just made a batch of these. The flat ones turned out flat and so I put the batter in little muffin tins. They came out perfect. Added more salt as the parmigiano reggiano was not salty. Thanks for the wonderful recipe.

  31. Angel on March 25, 2020 at 8:46 am

    I have a gluten allergy (celiacs) and I never get to eat the bread when we go out to dinner but when my boyfriend took me to Texas De Brazil and they told me I could have the bread because it was this bread I was so excited and ate two baskets full. I have tried 3 times now with different recipes to try to recreate their recipe and have not succeeded but this recipe I have loved the most and has come out the closest. I only had two cups of tapioca flour left and I only had Parmesan cheese from the shaker bottle, like you put on pizza…but I made it anyways and I have to say I loved it. Other recipes had me using way more oil and the bread made me feel sick because there was too much oil. Also I did not shape the bread. The mix I made was watery but I poured it into mini muffin tins and baked it and they puffed up almost 3x’s and they did not have the mini muffin shape when they were done. They were perfect crunch on the outside and soft chewy delicious pull apart on the inside. I did add in some Mexican blend shredded cheese to them when I broke them open while hot and the flavor was amazing. This is by far my favorite recipe and most like what I experienced at the restaurant. Thanks for sharing!






    • Hilah on March 25, 2020 at 10:48 am

      So glad you have a new GF bread to make at home!

  32. Katie on March 28, 2020 at 10:24 am

    To me the portions on this recipe are very very peculiar. Most times I’ve made this bread it’s been half the amount of tapioca flour, but the dough has still been been wayyyy firmer than this recipe. The dough never firmed up, and flattened all over the pan, no matter how long it was cooled. Perhaps there’s too much egg, because 3 cups tapioca flour should be plenty to keep a nice firm dough.

  33. Hana on March 31, 2020 at 5:07 pm

    I grew up in Minas Gerais, also growing up with Pao de queijo. My mother had actually learned how to make Pao de queijo, and she taught me how at a very young age. However, her recipe has been lost, and I’ve been searching for a similar recipe for quite a while. None of the recipes quite turned out like I wanted them to, but this recipe brought back the old memories! Thanks for this delicious recipe!
    -Hana.






  34. Rich on April 23, 2020 at 4:47 am

    I tried making this recipe and everything looked good until I added the two eggs. That turned the batter into a liquid and it never came back to the sticky, non-runny consistency that you show around 2:43. Has that ever happened to you? I really want to try this recipe again but not sure where I went wrong.

    • Hilah on April 23, 2020 at 2:48 pm

      Hey Rich!
      Yes this has happened and I still don’t know why! It seems random. Just refrigerate the dough until it’s firmed up

      • Janel Vasallo on May 3, 2020 at 3:55 pm

        Made these and they were perfect! Super easy in my opinion and just like the real thing. Thanks Hillah!






  35. Jc on May 21, 2020 at 10:31 am

    Turned out really well! I used about 1/4 cup more of milk and chilled in fridge for ~15 min. Wish I could show a picture but looks and tastes great!






  36. Itala on June 4, 2020 at 8:42 am

    I am from Brazil living in Canada and I had a Pao de queijo recipe that was just awful! Somehow I came across your recipe and OH MY GOD! The absolutely BEST thing. I make it by hand as I love making food with my hands and it works just fine.
    Funny fact, I made this three rimes already and all of them the dough is always different but the results are always the same: DELICIOUS!
    Thank you so much!






  37. Paola on June 4, 2020 at 11:26 am

    Hi Hilah, thanks for sharing this recipe. Also, the comment that you made that this is a “version of an European bread” it is the opposite as many of our food has been steal and replicated by white folks everywhere. Pão de queijo originated from African folks who were brought to Americas as slaves like many other Brazilian foods. Slaves would soak and peel the cassava root and make bread rolls from it. At this time, there was no cheese in the rolls. At the end of the 19th century, more ingredients became available to the Afro-Brazilian community such as milk and cheese. They added milk and cheese to the tapioca roll making what we now know as Pão de queijo. It is also widely eaten in northern Argentina, Colombia, and Ecuador and is inexpensive and often sold from streetside stands by vendors carrying a heat-preserving container.
    I think is super important to also share the history of foods when cooking, and not entering Eurocentric ideas that all what we have is a copy of “Europe” as they actually took many of our ingredients to prepare what they saw when oppressing and colonizing our people.

  38. ROBYN on June 15, 2020 at 6:43 pm

    Just so delicious! I love it. We’ve already made 2 batches in 2 days.

  39. Erika on June 15, 2020 at 6:55 pm

    Suuuuper long ago but THESE ARE AMAZING!! Came across the OP recipe but yours sounded way easier lol. Made it twice in three days!!






  40. Diya on June 17, 2020 at 8:05 pm

    Just so delicious! I love it. We’ve already made 2 times in 2 days.






  41. Dr. Ana Penteado on July 30, 2020 at 6:35 pm

    Hello Hillah,

    Pao de queijo is possibly taste-like close to French comfort food, gougéres, but has not the same origin so it is quite a stretch to associate the two just because the main ingredients and taste may be close in your palate. I found that sometimes History can be helpful. This is more towards a credible origin of pão de queijo ( which the journalist may have had the same experience as yours as he compares with gougéres) but the origin of this snack in state locked Minas Gerais, pão de queijo, is more complex, due to the original ingredients used, the impact of slavery in the State with their own diet and culinary, the use of Indigenous native cassava, and Portuguese colonisation history, see here last accessed 31/07/2020.
    Originally ( and I still prefer ) cassava flour for pão de queijo recipes, instead of tapioca flour or tapioca starch base which are very thin, as the grinding process matters for using less of each ingredient such as eggs or cheese. I have encountered several recipes of pão de queijo in my time. Yours I have to give credit that you acknowledge some historical origins.

    And if you allow me a gourmet comment as I have tasted these cheeses you mentioned above and others. I can hardly see similarities. There is nothing like queijo de Minas, or even Canastra, as it is referred to, overseas. I travelled a lot, expatriate, for sure, and I have not tasted anything like that from Sydney to Edinburgh, Paris to Bordeaux, perhaps Morocco has something similar to Canastra: the Jben goat cheese. Indeed, Minas or Canastra ( Brazilian intangible cultural heritage) are really a Brazilian geographic indication as the taste does not compare with other cheeses. There is a bit of Canastra history here too:
    (last accessed 31/07/2020)






  42. liese on August 1, 2020 at 6:39 pm

    what is the size of the eggs? or do you weight them?

    • Hilah on August 3, 2020 at 8:56 am

      They are “large” eggs

  43. Kitster on August 29, 2020 at 6:14 am

    Hi Hilah
    I’m in the UK and was looking for this recipe for ages thanks so much for sharing. Turned out so good. A couple of observations:

    1. I took the milk quantity down by 30% and replaced this with beer and it gave an unbelievable flavour I always make it this way now.
    2. I’ve always found the resulting mixture very runny even if I refrigerate but my way around this is to use cake tin to other than spring them onto parchment paper and they puff up perfectly from a liquid state.

    I only started cooking in lockdown and I can’t stop making these now. Just need to get hold of the original Brazilian cheese now. ! Thx

    Kit






    • Hilah on August 29, 2020 at 4:56 pm

      Wow! Never thought about subbing beer. Thanks for the idea!

  44. Sarah J on February 24, 2021 at 12:30 pm

    Yum, just made them and tasted one (ok maybe two) straight out of the oven. It was quite a messy gloopy process to mix them but the result is delish. Next time I’ll use Monterey and something with a stronger flavour to add a bit more sharpness to the cheese flavour. Very good though! Thank you. It won’t let me add a photo from my phone but they look golden and delicious.






  45. Eva on February 28, 2021 at 9:21 am

    I tried to fry it in the oven and in the (Dutch) poffertjes pan on the gas cooker, and the result in this second became how it should be.






  46. Mike Campbell on March 11, 2021 at 12:09 pm

    Holy COW!
    My favorite thing to eat when I’m in Brazil of course is pão de Queijo. Being vegetarian it works perfect for my diet. When I’m home in the states I’m alway missing the salty, outer crust of this chewy ball. I haven’t found the recipe yet that comes close to the flavors of Brazil. Until now. I was lucky enough to have the original tapioca flour on hand as I bring unusual or hard to find items back with me. I followed your instructions to a T and they are 100% perfect! Thank you.






  47. Eleni Childs on March 28, 2021 at 4:47 pm

    I love pão de queijo! Granted I am from Brazil and a bit biased 😉
    This recipe is as close as you can get to our pão de queijo! Awesome! Thank you!






    • Hilah on March 30, 2021 at 10:50 am

      I’m glad you approve, Eleni!

  48. Dayne Conn on September 25, 2021 at 11:28 am

    Totally making these tonight…even the comments are making my mouth drool.






  49. Kenny on October 28, 2021 at 2:15 am

    Just made these. Wow, are they good. I made them to eat with soup tonight but I don’t know if we will have any left. Next time I will add garlic. These will be my go to snack! Super easy to make and fast.






  50. Ming on November 23, 2021 at 1:50 pm

    I made these 2 times now and both times had to double the quantities of liquids to get the same consistency as your video. Came out great in the end, taste was great!

  51. Brent on November 27, 2021 at 9:27 am

    I’m not sure what I did wrong but I cut the recipe in half because I only had one egg but when I mixed the flour and the milk mixture together it was extremely runny. Not sure why.

  52. Jerilyn Kimner on December 19, 2021 at 2:39 pm

    Hi that happened to me the first time I made these. The milk and oil mixture needs to sort of fizz up before it is ready. Hope this helps.

  53. Lindsay on December 24, 2021 at 5:55 am

    I have followed your recipe probably 20 times and for the very first time EVER last week, my dough turned out runny. I refrigerated it for at least 6 hours and it never firmed. If this happens, give up on the idea of little puffy breads and just ladle it onto a baking sheet and bake as directed. It actually makes a delicious flatbread and you don’t waste all of those ingredients!

    Ps: my next batch turned out perfect. The runny dough is a complete mystery. Thank you for the awesome recipe!!!!






  54. Edward on January 8, 2022 at 5:31 pm

    I really appreciate your clear, detailed recipe, including tips on what to do if things start to go wrong.

    I have to ask, though – Prep Time: 10 mins?

    It takes that long just to cool down before mixing in the eggs.

    I love this recipe but it falls into this norm in which online recipes mislead about prep time. Having followed this recipe close to 10 times now I would say it takes me 30-40 minutes to prepare each time, which is not bad at all.

    • Hilah on January 10, 2022 at 11:52 am

      Very good point! I’ll change it. Thank you for bringing that to my attention.

  55. Jeff on January 25, 2022 at 6:29 pm

    Made these today isn’t triple cheddar cheese, and my wife and I couldn’t stop eating them! Thank you so much, the recipe is very easy to follow and the bread is delicious.






  56. Edward on June 12, 2022 at 11:19 am

    I’m curious – why is it that when baked right away you suggest 400 degrees, whereas when baked from frozen you suggest 375 degrees?

    • Hilah on June 22, 2022 at 3:05 pm

      Great question! The lower temperature is called for because they are frozen and will take a little longer to cook. Cooking from frozen at the higher temperature, the pao de queijo might be overdone on the outside while still raw inside.

      • Edward on July 11, 2022 at 6:40 am

        Ah that makes sense. Thanks for the explanation!

  57. Liz on August 29, 2022 at 2:56 am

    Cant wait to try this recipe. Ive been indulging in too much wheat bread lately, so i really want to have a little taste of home that wont upset my stomach further.

    A little suggestion from a native speaker: the pronunciation is more like (PU-o jee KAY-zhu) say the vowels in pão very nasally, like you have a cold. The vowels in the stressed syllables are said long and sing-songy, while the non-stressed syllables are said short and lazily.

    I’ll let you know how these turn out later!

  58. S K on September 19, 2022 at 2:20 pm

    This was not a good recipe. When I mixed the wet and dry ingredients the result was dry and grainy. I added more milk to get a looser consistency but after I added the egg the dough/batter turned into soup. So more tapioca flour was added to get the sticky dough I am familiar with. I added more salt and more cheese to compensate also. The end product had a 1/4 inch hard, cracker-like crust with a very rubbery inside. Also it wasn’t cheesy enough. I wouldn’t use this recipe again but whoever is willing to try I would double the amount of cheese.






  59. Chuck on March 4, 2023 at 6:42 pm

    The dough was crumbly and never came together.






  60. Judith on October 6, 2023 at 8:19 am

    This is a wonderful and very appreciated recipe! I started using cotija cheese (found with the Mexican cheeses at the store). They turned out very similar in taste to my favorite Brazilian bakery. Thank you for posting this amazing recipe!






    • Hilah on October 8, 2023 at 4:29 pm

      Oh yeah, I love pao de queijo made with cotija cheese!

  61. C. HInes on March 16, 2024 at 5:59 am

    I like your recipe very much. I vary the cheeses depending upon what I have. I do use a ratio of both Doce and Azedo tapioca flours. I find this to be the best in my experience. I also make pizza dough with this recipe. And let the dough rest in the fridge for about 24 hours.






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