Brazilian Pão de Queijo, Cheese Bread

📍 Where this dish comes from: Minas Gerais · Historic Ouro Preto
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Pão de queijo is the pride of Minas Gerais: golden little balls with a crisp shell and a soft, cheesy, stretchy center. Brazilians eat them for breakfast, with afternoon coffee and at every party. This keto version uses mozzarella and almond flour to recreate that chewy pull, with Parmesan standing in for the tangy cured Minas cheese.

Per serving: 193 calories · 2.5 g net carbs · 11 g protein · 15 g fat (calculated from the ingredients)

What You’ll Need

Brazilian Pão de Queijo, Cheese Bread

Pão de queijo is the pride of Minas Gerais: golden little balls with a crisp shell and a soft, cheesy, stretchy center. Brazilians eat them for breakfast, with afternoon coffee and at every party. This keto version uses mozzarella and almond flour to recreate that chewy pull, with Parmesan standing in for the tangy cured Minas cheese.

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Prep Time: 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 18 minutes minutes

Total Time: 33 minutes minutes

Course: Appetizer

Cuisine: Brazilian

Servings: 8 servings

Calories: 193kcal

Ingredients

• 2 cups shredded low-moisture mozzarella
• 1/4 cup cream cheese
• 1 cup blanched almond flour
• 1/2 cup finely grated Parmesan
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

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Instructions

• Heat the oven to 400°F (200°C) and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
• Put the mozzarella and cream cheese in a microwave-safe bowl and microwave for 1 minute. Stir, then heat in 20-second bursts until completely melted and smooth.
• Add the almond flour, Parmesan, egg, baking powder and salt. Mix with a spatula, then knead with your hands until you have a smooth, sticky dough.
• With lightly oiled hands, roll the dough into 16 balls about the size of a walnut. Place them on the baking sheet a little apart.
• Bake for 15 to 18 minutes, until puffed and golden. Let them cool for 5 minutes before serving warm.

Notes

Work quickly once the cheese is melted, because the dough stiffens as it cools. If it becomes hard to mix, microwave it for 10 seconds. The rolled balls freeze well on a tray; bake them straight from frozen, adding 3 to 4 minutes.

Chef's Tip: Swap a quarter of the Parmesan for an aged Minas cheese or a sharp Pecorino if you can find it. The extra tang is what makes the best pão de queijo taste so moreish.

Keto Swap: Traditional pão de queijo is built on polvilho, a cassava starch, which is almost pure carbohydrate. Melted mozzarella gives the stretch and chew, and almond flour gives body, so each pair of balls has only a few grams of net carbs.

Success Tip: Split them warm and fill with a slice of ham, or serve them alongside the Pão na Chapa and coffee for a full Mineiro breakfast table.

Nutrition is calculated from the ingredients and is an estimate per serving. Net carbs exclude fiber and allulose.

Nutrition

Serving: 1serving | Calories: 193kcal | Protein: 11g | Fat: 15g | Fiber: 1.3g

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About This Dish

Pão de queijo comes from the farm kitchens of Minas Gerais, where cassava starch and fresh cheese were always on hand. The dough uses two kinds of cassava starch, sweet and sour, and the sour one gives the classic tang and crackly crust. Families in Minas often have their own recipe, with arguments over how much cheese and which cheese to use. Frozen pão de queijo became popular across Brazil in the later twentieth century, and today it is sold everywhere from airport cafés to supermarkets. In Minas it is usually eaten with a strong cafezinho.

This recipe is from The Ultimate Brazilian Keto Cookbook by Gisele Costello, Chapter 2: Snacks & Street Food (Historic Ouro Preto). See all Brazilian recipes