Home » Bread Recipes » Fogo de Chao Cheese Bread Puffs
by Stephanie Manley, Last Updated 28 Comments
Jump to Recipe Print Recipe
Fogo de Chao is a wonderful Brazilian barbeque restaurant. Their cheese bread puffs are like pop-overs but are softer and much more delicious. They do use special tapioca flour to make them extra soft and fluffy.
Table of Contents
Brazilian Cheese Bread Balls
You can recreate your own Fogo De Chao cheese bread puffs at home. When hard pressed some people love the variety of meat served at a Brazilian barbecue restaurant, others love the salad bar. I love these cheesy rolls.
Brazilian cheese balls (Pao de Queijo) are crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside. They are the cousin to a popover, but these are so much better.
These light and fluffy cheese bread puffs are the perfect addition to any meal. They are gluten-free and grain-free too.
Recipe Ingredients
Here’s a list of what you need:
- Sour tapioca flour – is also known as sour cassava starch (polvilho azedo)
- Sweet tapioca flour – is also known as sweet cassava starch (polvilho doce)
- Milk
- Parmesan cheese
- Oil
- Eggs
- Salt
Sweet and sour tapioca flours can be found online or at Brazilian food stores.
How to Make Fogo de Chao Bread
- Generously grease a mini muffin pan.
- Place all ingredients in a large bowl and mix well until the batter is smooth.
- Fill each muffin cup three-quarters full.
- Bake at 425 degrees for 15 minutes or until golden brown.
- Serve warm.
Favorite Bread and Rolls Recipes
- Bread Machine Cinnamon Rolls
- Homemade Zucchini Bread
- Overnight Cinnamon Rolls
- Little Caesars Bread
- Monkey Bread
- Olive Garden Breadsticks
- Shiner Bock Beer Bread
- Starbucks Banana Bread
- Texas Roadhouse Bread
- Texas Toast Bread
Popular Steakhouse Recipes
- Longhorn Steakhouse Parmesan Crusted Chicken
- Outback Steakhouse Bloomin Onion
- Saltgrass Steakhouse Mashed Potatoes
Check out more of my easy bread recipes and the best copycat recipes here on CopyKat!
Fogo de Chao Cheese Bread Puffs
These hot cheese rolls fresh out of the oven are hard to beat.
5 from 3 votes
Print Pin Rate Add to Collection
Course: Breads
Cuisine: Brazillian
Keyword: Cheese Bread, Cheese Puffs
Prep Time: 10 minutes minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes minutes
Total Time: 25 minutes minutes
Servings: 8
Calories: 428kcal
Author: Stephanie Manley
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups whole milk
- 1 1/2 cup sour tapioca flour aka sour cassava starch (polvilho azedo)
- 1 cup sweet tapioca flour aka sweet cassava starch (polvilho doce)
- 3/4 cup shredded parmesan cheese
- 3/4 cup corn oil
- 4 eggs
- 1 teaspoon salt
Instructions
Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
Generously grease a 12- or 24-cup mini muffin pan or small dariole molds.
Place all ingredients in a large bowl.
Mix well until the batter is smooth.
Fill each muffin cup three-quarters full.
Bake at 425 degrees for 15 minutes or until golden brown. The bread puffs should be crisp on the outside and hollow on the inside, like a popover.
Serve warm.
Notes
Sweet and sour tapioca starch/flour can be found at Brazilian food stores or on Amazon.
Nutrition
Calories: 428kcal | Carbohydrates: 39g | Protein: 7g | Fat: 27g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Cholesterol: 94mg | Sodium: 485mg | Potassium: 106mg | Fiber: 0g | Sugar: 3g | Vitamin A: 275IU | Calcium: 172mg | Iron: 1mg
Thanks to Flori for sharing this recipe.
About Stephanie Manley
I recreate your favorite restaurant recipes, so you can prepare these dishes at home. I help you cook dinner, and serve up dishes you know your family will love. You can find most of the ingredients for all of the recipes in your local grocery store.
Stephanie is the author of CopyKat.com's Dining Out in the Home, and CopyKat.com's Dining Out in the Home 2.
REVEALED: Copycat Secrets for 2023
free email bonus
Yes, you CAN make it at home!I'll show you how.
We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.
Previous Post: « Date Nut Muffins
Next Post: Chipotle Grill Ancho Marinade »
Reader Interactions
Comments
Thank you for the recipe! You really did a great job.
I lived in Houston for over six years. I now live in the Middle East and am always trying to make meals/food that remind me of home. So glad I came across your recipe!It a bit was difficult to find Tapioca Flour (let alone 2 kinds). After reading a few comments above, I incorporated 1/3 Leban (coagulated sour milk diluted with water) to 2/3 whole milk and my one kind of Tapioca Flour. Although, the bread fell flat once I removed it from the oven, it tasted delicious!!!! I really don’t care how it looks. Just wish I had a mini muffin pan. It’s hard not to eat a full size one, once you get started. 🙂
Reply
I had a problem with the bread getting stuck to my non-stick (dark) muffin pan as well. After a couple experiments, I think I found a great solution. I used muffin liners sprayed with cooking spray (Pam). Worked like a charm.Thanks again!
Reply
FranD
Wow!!! These are spot on! I have to eat at Fogo periodically for business and have decided all I really want when I go there is the salad bar, a glass of red wine, and a basket of these. I remember asking the waiter how they made them so fluffy and he told me they used ‘yucca flour’. I couldn’t believe there’s no butter in them because they taste so buttery. Now I realize yucca- = cassava= tapioca flour. The only problem I just had is that they stuck to my new mini muffin pan. Are you supposed to oil generously, or let them sit in the pan a bit to cool? I’m having to dig them out. But taste and texture are exactly like Fogos. Would they work ok if I used mini muffin liners, or would that ruin the effect?
Like the other poster, I used regular tapioca flour and then used 1/2 whole milk and 1/2 buttermilk. I also used canola oil because I didn’t have corn oil. Could that be the problem with the sticking?Reply
Stephanie Manley
I think the tins need to be greased/oiled generously.
Reply
Sandra
I would like to know if anyone has tried the brazilian cheese bread made with a little cocoa powder and chocolate chips?
Reply
stephaniemanley
i will remove the photo. I am sorry, I searched for a copyright free photo according to images.google.com. I agree is absurd. I am sorry.
Reply
Blake Webb
FYI everyone – they won’t turn out quite as well as the traditional Brazilian or the Fogo versions but if you really need a fix, replace the whole milk with 2% or whole Buttermilk (if possible…don’t replace with 1% or any milk other than whole, though). Also, substitute the 1 1/2 cups sour tapioca flour with 1 1/2 cups AP flour and substitute the 1 cup sweet tapioca flour with 1/2 cup of corn starch.
Be aware, the texture won’t quite be the same but it is pretty close. Also you may need to experiment with baking time – we did 15 min at 425 as instructed and they do have a slight dip in the center instead of the full puff so they did not turn out exact but they were great anyway! With the substitute ingredients, I’m going to try preheat at 425 and baking at 400 for 20-25 min next time. I believe that should allow them to cook a bit longer to complete the puffing action without over-browning.
Reply
ATL
Could only find one kind of tapioca flour after looking in 3 stores in the Atlanta area. No one at natural food store here had heard of “sour” or “sweet” tapioca flour. Bread ended up cup-shaped, too brown on bottom, not edible. Had plenty of batter left, am trying lower temp and less time, but not holding out hope.
Reply
Alisa Corso
We have only 1 kind, too, so what I did is I used whole buttermilk and it came out sooo good!. Last time I only had 1% buttermilk so I used half that, half whole milk, and again-came out perfect!
Reply
Robyn Creedon
I ordered the sour tapioca flour online. I’m sorry, I don’t remember the vendor.
Reply
Guest
I found the tapioca flour at my local Asian market, and then ask my Cub to stock it. I only used one kind and they turned out awesome. SO close to the ones at the restaurant. Next time I will cut back on the oil, as they were a little greasy. But, other than that, best copykat recipe I have found!!
Reply
misty
I am looking online to buy the tapioca flour..all I can find is the sweet flour..is there a different name for them??
Reply
Any suggestions on where a person could find a Brazilian food store?
Reply
Stephanie Manley
Fiesta food stores in the Houston area carries this type of flour. I would suggestion maybe checking stores that specialize in gluten free flours.
Reply
Jade Smith
do you have to use that kind of flour? Will it not turn out if you just use all purpose?
Reply
Jade Smith
do you have to use that kind of flour? Will it not turn out if you just use all purpose?
Reply
Jade Smith
do you have to use that kind of flour? Will it not turn out if you just use all purpose?
Reply
Jade Smith
do you have to use that kind of flour? Will it not turn out if you just use all purpose?
Reply
Jade Smith
do you have to use that kind of flour? Will it not turn out if you just use all purpose?
Reply
Stephanie Manley
Yes, you have to use that type of flour, it will not turn out if you use all purpose flour.
Reply
Stephanie Manley
Yes, you have to use that type of flour, it will not turn out if you use all purpose flour.
Reply
Ryan
Mine flattened out as well. I think it’s because I used a normal size muffin pan and filled the batter up about half way. When they came out of the oven they were the size of softballs and then immediately shrunk after cooling down.
Reply
Stephanie
I am sorry your results left you with flat pancakes, I am not completely sure what happened. I have had great luck with this recipe. It is possible the ingredients may have been past their prime, or there may have been some over-beating of the batter.
Reply
Cindy
My doctor is Brazilian and he told me to go to Fogo de Chao. It was great and I loved the cheese bread. I tried a few recipes that were not close to Fogo de Chao’s. I tried this and I love it. The only thing I would mention is that when you mix it all up, it is more of a liquid batter than a dough. I also think I added about a 1/2 cup more of the sour starch because it was so thin and I thought I maybe forgot to add the half of cup. All the other recipes were more like a dough and were a lot heavier. I am going to share this recipe with my in-laws who both have celiac sprue. Thanks for the recipe that I have been looking for, for so long.
Reply
Tamika
It looked fine until I took it out of the oven! It bacame flat like pancakes!
Reply
melissa
The cheese puffs, also called pão de queijo, can be found in latin markets (also online at brazilianshop.com) to buy as a mix, just add water, oil and eggs – it tastes exactly the same when made from the mix.
Reply
Helena
awesome tips, it saves me lots of time finding those ingredients.
Reply
Well…
Those are called “Pão de queijo” in Brazil, and although they are very similar to the ones back home, the ones you get at Fogo de Chão are not as good as the real ones. I guess it must be something to do with the ingredients and how they age.
The ones in your recipe are near perfect, congrats.
Reply
