Cheddar and Bacon Cheese Puffs make a delicious, quick, and easy appetizer or snack. This a great make-ahead and freezer-friendly appetizer recipe for light, buttery, and delicious cheese puffs.
What are Cheese Puffs?
Cheddar and Bacon Cheese Puffs are based on a French pastry known as gougeres. Made from an easy choux pastry dough, you can customize the flavor of cheese puffs by using different cheeses such as Gruyere, Emmenthal, or sharp cheddar, as we do in this recipe. We’ve also customized our recipe to include cooked bacon that has been coarsely chopped.
Cheese puffs are delicious straight out of the oven served as an appetizer or snack or served with a bowl of soup or a salad. We also love to freeze them and then warm them for a quick nibble.
How to Make Cheese Puffs Recipe
Ingredients
Be sure to see the recipe card below for the full listing of ingredients, instructions, notes, and estimated nutritional information.
- Milk – you can also use water in place of the milk
- Butter – add richness and flavor to the cheese puffs.
- Salt
- Flour – all-purpose flour works perfectly in this recipe.
- Eggs – Room temperature eggs mix more evenly in the cheese puff batter. You can also reserve about a tablespoon of the egg and mix it with a tablespoon to brush on the cheese puffs prior to baking them as an egg wash.
- Cheddar cheese – I prefer to use grated cheese in this recipe.
- Cooked bacon – coarsely chopped bacon adds so much flavor to every bite of these cheese puffs.
- Black pepper
- Cayenne pepper – optional but highly recommended
Step-by-Step Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 475º F and prepare the baking sheet according to the recipe instructions.
- Bring milk (or water), butter, and salt to a rolling boil in a heavy-bottomed saucepan.
- Vigorously stir in the flour and cook until the mixture begins to pull away from the sides of the pan. Remove from the heat and beat in the eggs one at a time with a hand mixer (or transfer to a stand mixer). Stir in the cheese, bacon, black pepper, and cayenne pepper.
- Scoop tablespoons of the dough onto the prepared baking sheet. Use a damp finger or the back of a spoon and press down any batter sticking up to prevent it from over-browning. Bake according to the recipe instructions below.
- Remove from the oven, cool for a few moments, and enjoy!
You can whip up these Cheddar and Bacon Puffs in less than 30 minutes and then watch them disappear even more quickly.
Since they always seem to be a crowd-favorite, I highly recommend making two or three batches of these babies so you have plenty to freeze for later.
Storage Tips
To make ahead. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to a week.
To freeze. Cool completely. Store in an airtight container in the freezer for up to 3 months.
Make them soon, stockpile a few dozen for super easy entertaining later. You’ll thank me. Promise.
Here’s my Cheddar and Bacon Puffs Recipe.
Cheddar and Bacon Puffs Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup milk, or water
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, cut into pieces
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 4 large eggs, room temperature
- 1 cup packed coarsely grated Cheddar cheese
- 4 slices cooked bacon, coarsely chopped
- 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
- pinch cayenne pepper
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425º F. Line baking sheet pans with parchment paper or silicon baking mats.
- Bring milk (or water), butter, and salt to a rolling boil in a medium, heavy- bottomed saucepan over medium-high heat. Stirring vigorously, add in all of the flour, and cook until the dough begins to pull away from the edges of the saucepan. Remove dough from heat and transfer to the bowl of a stand mixer and allow to cool for approximately two to three minutes. Alternately, you can leave in the saucepan and use a hand mixer, if desired. Add in eggs, one at a time, beating in completely after each addition. Stir in cheese, bacon pieces, black pepper, and red pepper, making sure all ingredients are well-combined.
- Scoop tablespoon pieces onto baking sheet. Using a damp finger or back of a spoon, press down any pieces of dough that are sticking up to prevent them from overbrowning. Bake 25-30 minutes, until puffs have turned a golden brown. Remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly.
- Serve immediately or allow to cool completely, place in airtight container or zip top freezer bags and freeze up to three months.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Enjoy!
Robyn xo
I tweeted: https://twitter.com/donnak4/status/396052844400635904
I like cheddar cheese on crackers (simple & good).
Thanks for the contest.
https://twitter.com/slehan/status/396058909800030208
Mac and cheese is my favorite
nachos
I love cheesy scalloped potatoes!
marison459 (at) gmail (dot) com
Absolutely adore some super awesome and amazing cheese and garlic biscuits! Also… I’m a cheese addict, so anything with cheese will do!
I just made these to serve on Thanksgiving Day, and they are delicious! I love how they can be prepared in advance. I had to hurry and freeze them before my husband gobbled them up. Thanks so much for another terrific recipe!
this recipe was delicious! the puffs were so fluffy ( i dont like them when they are too dense). thank you so much for sharing, i’ll definitely be keeping this recipe to make these puffs for the times where im craving a carby snack! 🙂
I was so surprised when I bit into these puffs – that is the perfect name for them! They are light as a feather – what a delightful texture! Regrettably I made half a recipe.
Thank you, Wendy. I’m so glad you liked these. I hope you make a full recipe before long.