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Brazilian Cheese Bread (Pão de Queijo)
These savory puffs—called pão de queijo—are similar to popovers, with two important differences. Tapioca starch (also called tapioca flour) gives them a unique chewiness, while a generous dose of cheese makes them particularly savory. In Brazil, the cheese of choice is queijo minas curado. We found that more widely available Asiago had just the right balance of salty-sharp flavor to make delicious puffs. Pão de queijo are best eaten within a couple hours of baking, but the puffs can be frozen and reheated in a 350°F oven for five to 10 minutes (do not thaw before reheating). You will need a nonstick 24-cup mini muffin pan for this recipe.
24
Puffs
Tip
Don’t forget to stop the blender and scrape the jar as needed when processing the batter. This ensures the tapioca starch that clings to the sides of the jar will be fully incorporated. Don’t worry about overblending. There’s no wheat flour in the batter, so there’s no risk of developing gluten that can toughen the puffs.
40 minutes
Ingredients
-
186
grams (1½ cups) tapioca starch
-
⅔
cup whole milk
Directions
-
01Heat the oven to 400°F with a rack in the middle position. Mist a nonstick 24-cup mini muffin pan with cooking spray. In a blender, combine all ingredients. Blend until smooth, about 1 minute, scraping the sides of the blender jar as needed.
Reviews
December 5, 2025
One of the Best Gluten Free Breads
These are incredibly simple and delicious. I am particularly happy that I can make them for my daughter who can’t have gluten.
April 19, 2025
Baby Popovers
If you find that a full sized popover is too much, consider these mini breads. Quick to make: into the blender, muffin tin, oven or even toaster oven and you have little bite sized crisp bits if goodness. Great with soup or just about anything. Also, they freeze as well as reheat. Not looking for a muffin, or a biscuit, this is a good one to add to your quick and yummy list. No asiago? Add cheddar. No cheddar? Add Muenster, Swiss, whatever you have. Just make sure you keep the measurements as they are.
January 4, 2025
Jonathan K.
A very easy, quick recipe that delivers a flavor punch that’s way disproportionate to the amount of time spent on it. It’s absolutely delicious!
December 22, 2023
Easy, tasty. But odd holes on top.
These were very easy and tasty. They were done in 20 minutes. One odd thing - they towered, like mini-popovers - and most of them had holes in the top. I wonder if the tiny bit of grated asiago could have this effect?
April 20, 2023
So easy and tasty, a crowd favorite!
I've tried 3 different recipes for Pao de Queijo and this is by far the quickest and easiest. I encourage you to play around with different cheeses based on your preferences. It's always a crowd favorite and (bonus) it's gluten free.
I have a silicone mini muffin - would I need to adjust cooking time or oven temp for this recipe?
Hi Natalia -
Since silicone is not conductive, the baking time will likely be longer. However, we didn't test these in a silicone muffin pan so we can't say for sure how much longer. Also, because silicone is not conductive it inhibits browning so the cheese breads won't get the typical crispy exterior crust. We probably wouldn't recommend making them in silicone for this reason.
Best,
The Milk Street Team
This was an amazingly good recipe! Easy to make and the results are scrumptious. Crunchy tops and smooth, tasty centers. It took twice as long to get the tops browned as indicated here, but it was no big deal to me. Next time I may add some chives as noted here by another commenter. Highly recommended! Thanks again, Julia & Milk Street team.
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This is so incredibly easy to make and so flavorful! It’s an easy way to elevate a weeknight dinner. I might add some fresh chives next time.