Pan de yuca is also known as chipas in Argentina, pan de queso in Colombia, and pao de queijo in Brazil, it is made with yuca flour, cheese, butter and eggs. Yuca bread makes a delicious warm appetizer and the breads can be made in advance and baked minutes before serving. Leftover breads will get hard when they get cold, but can be reheated in the microwave (great for breakfast the day after). The flour is made from yuca root, and is also known as cassava or tapioca starch, the flour can be found in specialty stores. In Ecuador, pan de yuca is usually served with yogurt smoothies and there are several restaurants whose specialty is yuca bread with yogurt. I usually serve yuca bread as an appetizer, with tree tomato aji, but they are also great for breakfast or with an afternoon coffee or tea. My kids love yuca bread and I always let them have some dough so they can make their own shapes: ovals, triangles, spirals, etc. They get very excited as they watch the oven and wait for their bread to be ready.
I used to make yuca bread by hand, and it is probably one of the easiest breads to make by hand, the ingredients are easy to mix, but it is a little bit sticky, so I tried using the food processor instead and it works great.
Ingredients:
2 ½ cups yuca flour
4 cups grated mozzarella cheese
1 tsp baking powder
Pinch of salt
1 stick of butter, room temperature, cut into 8 pieces
2 large eggs
Preparation:
- Combine the yuca flour, cheese, baking powder and salt in a food processor, blend to mix well.
- Add the butter and eggs
- Mix until small dough balls begin to form
- Remove the dough from the food processor and roll into a ball, you can make the dough ahead and store in the refrigerator for up to a day.
- Pre-heat the oven to 500 F .
- Make small round shaped breads with the dough and place on a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
- Bake immediately or store in the fridge until ready to bake.
- Bake for about 7 minutes and turn on broiler until the breads are golden, about 3-5 minutes.
- Serve immediately, can be served alone or with tree tomato aji.
Other recipes:
Buenísimos esos chipás!!!, en casa mueren por ellos!!!
Hi Layla,
I was in the Blogger Event yesterday. I loved your Yuca bread!!! I want to try making it and I don’t know where can I find Yuca flour…Where do you usually buy it?
Thanks!
Lilach
Hi Lilach, I’m glad you liked the yuca bread, I get the yuca flour (also called yuca harina, mandioca flour or cassva flour) at the Latino Market store at Pike Place Market, and also at La Espanola in Bellevue. Layla
i loved those rolls too……….
I know this comment comes really late in the game, but our family loves these- my husband brought the recipe home from Brazil. We can find bags of tapioca starch at the Asian market (Viet Wah, in Renton), 3 for a dollar.
Quick question–would the resulting dough still be of the same consistency if a Kitchen Aid mixer was used as opposed to a food processor? I see that your dough is very smooth textured and cannot see any of the shredded mozzarella…with no blades in the Kitchen Aid I’m not sure if it’d have the same effect…
Hi Ruth – I’ve never used a mixer but I think it should work, I’ve made it by hand and obtained the same consistency, the cheese blends in very well with the other ingredients, you might just need to work the dough a little bit after using the mixer but it should be fine – also, when I make by hand I let the cheese rest at room temperature to soften it and also give the butter a few seconds in the microwave to help them mix together. Let me know how it works with the mixer.
laylita, puedes poner esta receta en español por favor.
Debajo de la primera foto hay un enlace para la receta en español.
Stumbled Upon your blog….it’s beautiful
How many rolls does this make?….just so i can get the size right!
thanks,
susan
Hi Susan – This makes about 20 (more or less depending on the size).
Hi Layla,
I tried these rolls, and they are amazing! I made them a second time, and I added chopped chives and they came out awesome! Thanks for the recipe!
-Ines
Hi Ines – I love the idea of adding chives, I’ll have to try that next time I make them.
Is Tapioca starch the same as Yuca flour?
Yes, same thing.
this recipe looks delicious…Just wondering if I could use an alternative to yuca flour because they don’t sell this in England?
Hi Mel – I have only made them with yuca flour, it is also know as tapioca starch or mandioc starch, my friend who lives in London mentioned that she could find it at a Latin grocery store close to Elephant & Castle (or something like that).
In Colombia, we call these Almojabanas. Thanks for posting the recipe!
Hi Laylita,
Thank you for your recipes, I’ve already tried your seco de pollo, and it was so good, just like in Ecuador, it remembered me of great times.
Now I would like to cook panes de yuca, but I have a question for you. I have at home something my roomate bought to cook farofa (a brazilian side dish, that he prepares to acompany “feijoada”), and he calls it “yuca flour”. But I wonder if it is the same flour as you use in your recipe, because it is much thicker than wheat flour for example. So, do you know if it is the same thing ?
muchas gracias
Hi Marion – Farofa is made from yuca (or mandioca/manioc as called in Brazil) but it is very coarse, the yuca flour that you use to make pan de yuca is a very fine starchy flour, but you can probably find it at the same place that he finds the farofa. Recently I also found it at an Asian grocery store (it was called tapioca flour on the bag).
i love this bread! i thought parmesan cheese was used. can i use parmesan or other kinds of cheese instead of mozarella? will try this asap. it’s good we have cassava flour in the Philippines.
Parmesan cheese is mainly used for the Brazilian version (and the traditional Brazilian version also has a smaller ratio of cheese to yuca flour), I have not tried making them Parmesan yet. In Ecuador a cheese called quesillo is used, it is a very fresh soft cheese – the easiest replacement I can find outside of Ecuador is mozzarella. I have also made it with Monterrey Jack (works fine), as well as Comte (when we were visiting family in France – they came out good but the cheese flavor was a little stronger), and also with white cheddar (in London – same thing as with French cheese, they were fine but the flavor of the stronger cheese was there).
You’ve just made me the happiest girl in the world today. I did a double take while browsing tastespotting and said, “wow, those rolls look like pao de queijo” and it WAS. I used to live in Brasil, and though I’ve tried a million recipes for it, I’ve yet to find one that actually works for me. Yours are beautiful and I’m going to try it- probably tonight, thank you!
Hi Sara – I was just looking at that delicious salad and yummy dressing on your site, and those key lime tarts look amazing!
OH!! i just saw this on tastespotting. i was actually craving them today and just about to look for a recipe but its like you read my mind. thanks for sharing. i cant wait to eat these suckers.
In Brazil, pão de queijo is made of yuca starch (polvilho), not yuca flour (farinha de mandioca). If you look for tapioca in Brazil you’ll find a different kind of flour, in spite of being the same root. Farofa is made of yuca flour.
Hi Camila – Thank you for the clarification, in Ecuador we call it both almidon (starch) and harina (flour) de yuca. I try to refer to the possible names of the ingredients mainly by what you will find it called in the US and depending on the brand (at least in stores here) you will find it here called yuca flour (or yuca harina) or mandioc/cassava starch, but I have seen one brand that lists several names including polvilho.
awwww. they look so good. i really wanna eat it! but i dont have yuca flour here:( BOO
Dear Friends
I was most elated to stumble across this recipe. I have been on a yeast and gluten free diet since February. I need one thing clarified. I have both cassava flour and tapioca flour. The difference. The cassava flour is made from fine milled cassava root and the tapioca flour is very very fine and white almost powder like. Which one of them are you referring to in the recipe.
Thanks for your help.
I am referring to the tapioca starch, but if you look for it in some Latin grocery stores you will find it is called Yuca Harina (which translates as yuca flour).
In New Zealand I found tapioca flour, which is imported from Thailand. I will probably try your recipe using cow feta cheese instead of mozzarella, as other recipes I’ve read suggest queso fresco, which I’ve not been able to find in New Zealand (even from a local cheese manufacturer). Thanks for the recipes!
I’m so mad… I wanted to try this recipe tonight as we’re going gluten free in my house, and i could not find the yuca starch at my local grocery store. I thought this was strange since i live in Puerto Rico. I sort of expected to find it there…. I’m going to have to check other stores. Thank you so much for this recipe I cannot wait to try it with local cheese. And then maybe with parmesan, chives and garlic.
update!!! i found some Tapioca Starch, made them today and they are FANTASTIC thank you so much for the wonderful recipe and your great photos of the food!
We got all the ingredients we are going to try the recipe we just need a yogurt recipe to be complete. You know you have to have your warm pan de yuca and your cold yogurt.
My abuelita Stella solia cocinar a sus nietos pan de yuca con queso manabita en Bahia de Caraquez (Ecuador) cuendo era muy nino. Me encantaria poder recrear el sabor y las memorias pero en el norte de Inglaterra no se consigue. Lo que he podido encontrat es el platano verde fresco que se frie en rodajas para hacer los llamados patacones. Algun alma caritativa que me pueda recomendar una tienda online en inglaterra para comprar la harina de yuca.
Hi Laylita. I’m so glad I found this recipe. I’ve had a craving for these and your recipe looks easiest to follow from others I’ve read. Just a question…do I need to wait for the dough to rise?? On other recipes it said to use self-rising flour. Is it necessary? Also, my oven doesn’t go up to 500, so how long would I need to bake it at 400?? I’m not much of a cook, so I don’t know how to adjust baking time. Any help from anyone is appreciated. Thanks
Hi Stephanie – No need to use self-rising flour, sometimes I even forget to add the baking powder and they come out just fine. For the oven, do you have a broil option? If so, bake them at 400 for about 10-12 minutes and then turn on the broil for about 8-10 minutes or until they start to get that golden color, keep them on a lower rack when broiling and just keep on eye on them since the precise time varies from one oven to another.
We tried making these this weekend and they were fabulous! Tasted exactly how I remember the ones at the Brazilian restaurants tasted. We had actually made some chicken liver pate the same night so split these little rolls and added some pate, it was heavenly. Cold ones can be reheated for about 10-20 seconds in the microwave and they’ll taste just like they were out of the oven.
Thanks for the fantastically easy recipe!
In Bolivia we call these Cuñapes and I make them with Oaxaca cheese and a mixture of Queso Fresco which I buy from Walmart.
I’m from ecuador and i love pan de yuca, they’re deelicious and a popular treat
I love these. However the best ones I ever had were a little bit different. I had them in Ecuador, on the way to Montecristi from the coast, from a roadside vendor fresh out of the oven. They made pan de yuca as well as pan de maiz and they were both made with the fresh farm cheese in the center rather than mixed in. Unfortunately I haven’t been able to recreate those ones, they were truly amazing. Thanks for your blog!
Holy cow! These were so good and easy to make, too. Thanks for such a tasty treat. Yum!
Laylita,
Greetings from a fellow Ecuadorian. I stumbled across your blog by accident, it is truly a culinary gem. I cooked these regularly now. Thanks for the recipe. I mixed the dough on a KitchenAid and it worked perfectly. I substituted queso fresco for the criollo cheese used in Ecuador and I could not tell the difference! I’m off to experiment with this now, maybe I’ll try some other cheeses…
I have very fond memories of eating these years ago in Bogota. I have made them in the US using tapioca starch, and can’t tell the difference. How about these ideas: use Greek yoghurt instead of the cheese? It is non fat, and tastes great. How about forming the ball around a small piece of queso fresco so you have a melted cheese ball in the center? It looks like Goya is no longer making harina de yuca, so I’m having difficulty finding it myself. But the search goes on. Got to have my pan de yucca! I would probably hug anyone who could make me arepas like I use to get in Bogota!
Thank you very much for this article, I am from Ecuador and I miss so much panes de yuca!! I am not very good cooking but i will do my best. I will go to that shop in London and try to get the yuca flour!! I hope to find the queso fresco as well.
Cheers!!
So excited to find the recipe for these. A dear friend of ours is Brazilian and described these to us as we’re a gluten-free family. So happy to find this site with recipe ideas, I’ve been buying tapioca starch from our local Asian Market for a few years now and it’s very available and affordable. I’m wondering if anyone has tried using this dough in different ways? Empanadas, for instance? It just looks so tasty and versatile. I’m always trying to find new ways to use gluten free recipes, anyway, look forward to playing with this one!
I am excited in making this, thanks for your receipe
Best recipe for pao de queijo I have ever tried. Thank youu!
I had these in Astoria Queens yesterday and I fell in love with them. They were perfectly round and very dark and crisp on the outside and perfect on the inside. So glad these are baked!
Hi Laylita,
I’m so happy to have found this recipe. I was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Ecuador and would always get pan de yuca on the buses when I passed through Santo Domingo. Hopefully this brings back some great memories! Thanks for the recipe.
Chris
Pan de Yucas are excelent bread replacements for wheat sensitive individuals as they are GLUTEN FREE. I have been diagnosed with celiac , and have been using them as subsitutes for years. If you keep them for a while they will harden, but rubbing them with water before putting them in the microwave oven, will soften them and turn them almost as good as recently baked. A good source of already baked ones is to visit a local colombian bakery if you are lucky to have one in your city.
I just made it! it is delicious
)))
thanks for the recipe.
This recipe works perfect. I have made it several times and every time it comes out delicious. Went to Ecuador a couple of years ago and have missed the pan de yucca. Now I have it all the time
Just a suggestion. If you like your pan de yucas on the softer and mushier side (like I do), kind of like the texture of freshly baked bread, cut down the butter to 1/4 of a stick and add instead milk until you feel the dough is easy enough to shape with your hands but not too much so the pan de yucas don’t fall apart on the baking tray.
And this is more of a a personal taste thing, I use 5-6 cups of shredded cheese instead of 4.
Cheers.
I made the bread by hand and I love it!!!! The yuca bread are so tasty and cute!!!
Gluten free!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I lived and worked in Ecuador for years……queso fresco is the standard! Always very satisfied guests with gluten issues!
Hi Leylita
Can you please tell me how much butter is in the ‘stick of butter’. We don’t use the term in Australia, and was wondering if it is 250 gms.
I haven’t tried finding the flour yet, but hopefully will be able to locate it without any problems.
Thanks
Gracie
Here are the conversions for 1 stick of butter = 113 gr = 4 oz = 8tbs = 1/2 cup
I am wanting to know if the Yuca Flour contains starch. I am yeast, starch and gluten intolerant.
Yes, yuca flour is tapioca starch.
This is the little roll they serve at brazilian restaurants like Tucano’s or Rodizio Grill, right? Cheesy in the middle?
Now Yucca flour is tapioca flour or tapioca starch and you can find it in almost any store. Good luck! It’s delicious.