With this easy Sopaipillas recipe, you will be able to make crispy, light, and delicious Sopapillas at home.
As the weather gets colder, I feel like we all get the same craving for warm sweet treats to enjoy with our families. In Mexican cuisine, we have many dessert options to satisfy this craving, including churros, buñuelos, and these wonderful fritters called sopapillas. They’re the perfect treat to make at home, and they’re easier to make than you might think! Read on to find out how to make Sopapillas.
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What is a Sopapilla?
Sopapillas (also known as sopaipillas) are crisp fritters made out of dough, served as a dessert. It’s a treat that is very easy and quick to make, and it only uses a few common ingredients. To make Sopapillas, you will need flour, water, shortening, sugar, baking powder, and a few other ingredients that almost everyone has in their pantry.
How are Sopapillas Made?
First, the dough is rolled out and shaped into circles, which you then cut into triangles. These dough triangles are then dipped into hot oil, and they inflate like a puffy pillow while they’re frying. The finished sopapillas are usually dusted with sugar, sometimes with added ground cinnamon. They can also be served with honey or a Piloncillo syrup drizzled on top.
Sopapillas in Mexico
These fried treats are more popular in the northern states of Mexico, like Chihuahua, Sonora, Sinaloa, and other neighboring states. They are made at home as a quick treat to enjoy with the afternoon coffee, for those days when people don’t have sweet bread or cookies on hand. Sopapillas/Sopaipillas are also made during the weekend as a treat for the kids.
Most of the time, the sopapilla is shaped into a triangle, but you can also find some home cooks cutting them into a half-circle, resembling a half-moon. Some people like to make the dough with anise seed or cinnamon tea (in place of the water), to give the sopapillas an extra aromatic flavor.
Other type of Sopaipillas
You can find variants of this dessert in many other Latin American countries, and even in New Mexico in the US, where it is very popular near Christmastime. Countries like Argentina, Chile, Peru, and Uruguay have a version very similar to this crispy treat, although in those South American countries they are round and with a small hole in the center. They are known as a “Torta Frita” there, but the ingredients are almost the same as those in this recipe.
Making your own Sopaipillas
For those of you that do not want to make “Buñuelos” or “Churros”, but still want to enjoy a sweet fried dessert, this is the perfect recipe! Sopapillas are easier to make, but still very satisfying. You can even use your personal flour tortilla dough recipe to make them. The sopapillas will still come out great with that method.
This is a great fried treat to make with your children. You can let them make their own shapes and creations, and you do the frying part! Regardless of how you decide to make them, these sopapillas are a delicious way to make new memories with your family.
How to Easily Make the Perfect Sopaipillas at Home
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Instructions:
- In a large bowl, mix together the flour, salt, and baking powder. Add the shortening, and use your hands to integrate it well with the flour.
- Pour the hot water into the bowl, little by little. Work the dough with your fingers, mixing the dry ingredients with the water until you form a dough.
- On your table or countertop, knead the dough for about 4-5 minutes until it is smooth. Form a ball with the dough and place it back in the bowl.
- Cover the dough with a plastic or kitchen napkin and let it rest for at least 20 minutes. This resting time helps the gluten to develop and make it easy for you to roll out the dough and form the sopapillas.
- After the resting time, slightly knead the dough again and then form it back into a ball. Flatten the ball a little bit, then cut it into 4 pieces using a knife or a pastry cutter.
- Pour the oil into a large pot and turn the heat to medium-low. The oil should reach an average temperature of 350ºF.
- Roll the 4 pieces of dough to form smaller balls. Place one on your working surface and set the other 3 pieces aside, covered with plastic wrap. Form a round disk with the dough using a rolling pin. The disc should be about 6 inches in diameter, and ⅛ to ¼ of an inch in thickness.
- Once you form the disc, cut it into four pieces. These pieces will look like triangles. Carefully place each one into the hot oil. Make sure you do not overcrowd the pot. Once the dough triangles are in the oil, they will inflate almost immediately. Continue cooking until the bottoms of the sopapillas are medium golden, then turn them to cook on the other side until light brown and crispy. The sopapillas will take a total of about 4-5 minutes to cook completely.
- Remove the sopaipillas from the oil using a slotted spatula, and place them on a plate covered with paper towels (to absorb any excess oil) Follow steps 6-8 to continue forming and cooking the remaining sopapillas.
- To serve the sopaipillas, dust them with the confectioner’s sugar and ground cinnamon, and then drizzle them with honey (or Piloncillo syrup, if you have any).
Notes & Cooking tips
- A way you can add flavor to the dough is to use cinnamon tea instead of water. To make the cinnamon tea, place ⅓ of a cinnamon stick and one cup of water in a small saucepan and gently simmer for 15 minutes. Use this tea to form the dough (you might have some tea leftover).
- You can also sweeten the above-mentioned tea by adding a small piece of Piloncillo to it. If you decide to do this, the dough will acquire a light brown color from the Piloncillo.
- You can keep the already-fried sopaipillas warm in a warm oven at 200ºF. This is a good option if you have a lot of sopapillas left to fry and want to make sure the cooked ones stay warm.
- In case you want your sopaipillas a bit lighter and thinner, divide the dough into 32 pieces, instead of 16. The cooking process will take about 1-2 minutes less, and the texture of the sopapillas will be lighter and crunchier.
- Making sopaipillas in advance: You can make the dough one day in advance and store it in your fridge. Make sure you bring it to room temperature when you’re ready to roll out the dough and form the sopapillas.
- How to store sopapillas: You can store the sopapillas in a large container with a lid, either glass or plastic. Store them without any of the toppings. There is no need to keep the sopapillas in your fridge.
- How to reheat sopapillas: To reheat sopapillas, place them on a baking sheet in an oven preheated to 200ºF. Heat for 10 minutes. Once the sopapillas are warm, add the toppings at serving time.
Other mexican dessert recipes
📖 Recipe
Sopapillas at Home
Ingredients
- 2 cups flour
- 1 tsp. baking powder
- ¼ tsp. salt
- 2 tbsp. shortening
- ¾ cups hot water
- 2 cups vegetable oil
- For dusting & drizzling:
- ¼ cup confectioners sugar
- 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
- 4 tbsp. honey
Instructions
- In a large bowl, mix together the flour, salt, and baking powder. Add the shortening, and use your hands to integrate it well with the flour.
- Pour the hot water into the bowl, little by little. Work the dough with your fingers, mixing the dry ingredients with the water until you form a dough.
- On your table or countertop, knead the dough for about 4-5 minutes until it is smooth. Form a ball with the dough and place it back in the bowl.
- Cover the dough with a plastic or kitchen napkin and let it rest for at least 20 minutes. This resting time helps the gluten to develop and make it easy for you to roll out the dough and form the sopapillas.
- After the resting time, slightly knead the dough again and then form it back into a ball. Flatten the ball a little bit, then cut it into 4 pieces using a knife or a pastry cutter.
- Pour the oil into a large pot and turn the heat to medium-low. The oil should reach an average temperature of 350ºF.
- Roll the 4 pieces of dough to form smaller balls. Place one on your working surface and set the other 3 pieces aside, covered with plastic wrap. Form a round disk with the dough using a rolling pin. The disc should be about 6 inches in diameter, and ⅛ to ¼ of an inch in thickness.
- Once you form the disc, cut it into four pieces. These pieces will look like triangles. Carefully place each one into the hot oil. Make sure you do not overcrowd the pot. Once the dough triangles are in the oil, they will inflate almost immediately. Continue cooking until the bottoms of the sopapillas are medium golden, then turn them to cook on the other side until light brown and crispy. The sopapillas will take a total of about 4-5 minutes to cook completely.
- Remove the sopaipillas from the oil using a slotted spatula, and place them on a plate covered with paper towels (to absorb any excess oil) Follow steps 6-8 to continue forming and cooking the remaining sopapillas.
- To serve the sopaipillas, dust them with the confectioner’s sugar and ground cinnamon, and then drizzle them with honey (or Piloncillo syrup, if you have any).
Martha V. Zuniga
Hi, My name is Martha de Zuniga and I was looking for a recipe to make champurrado and also how to make Rosca de Reyes because the one that I buy in the store is to dry so checking the internet finally I sow your recipes and I like it I am going to make it and also I would like to buy your recipe book star learning how to cook like my grandmother used to do so thank you for sharing we as your recipes.
Also, I new in your recipe rating keep up to a good job thank you.
Lee
Mely - can I use this dough to make fry bread tacos? I've been looking for a detailed recipe and this looks easy!
Mely Martínez
Hello Lee,
If you are referring to the Southwest tacos, from New Mexico and Arizona?
I think you could use it for that purpose, the only thing I would change is to roll the dough a little bit thicker to resemble those of tacos.
Barbara
I must say over the years I've tried different sopapilla recipes and I am so excited to admit that yours are the best I have ever made. I always thought it was me that failed and now I realize it was the recipe. Thank you so much.....
Sonia Greene-Lopez
They came out perfect. Thank you for adding the video. My kids helped making them and we have a fun time in the kitchen.
Mely Martínez
Hello Sonia,
Thank you for trying the sopaipillas recipe.
Yolanda
Hello Mely! This is Yolanda. I have not been to your blog in a long time. I was reading my post about making corn tortillas just now and of course I thought of you and how you kindly provided me with some flour corn seeds about 20 years ago! I grew Bloody Butcher dent corn this last season and hope to make some masa with it soon. I hope you are well. So far, we are. Take care, dear friend!
Yolanda Breidenbaugh
I meant 10 years ago, not 20!
Mely Martínez
Hello Yolanda,
It has been a long time since I heard from you. Time sure flies. I bet that masa will come out wonderful with that Bloody dent corn. Good to know you guys are doing fine. Hugs!
Yoly
Thank you! As soon as I saw the picture and read the ingredient list, I knew this sopapilla was a treat my grandmother called "gordita" and I had long been in search of it. I never got the recipe so I'm so grateful you shared yours! I used room temperature unsalted butter instead of shortening (that's what I had on hand) and piloncillo and canela in place of the plain water. They were delicious and tasted similar to my grandmother's gorditas!! Thanks, again! (Oh, I bought your book and received it yesterday).
Mely Martínez
Hello Yoly,
Thank you for trying the Sopaipillas recipe. I bet they were delicious with the addition of the piloncillo. It is so great to know it worked fine with butter, too.
I hope you enjoy the book!