Sopes Recipe

This Sopes recipe will teach you how to make one of the most popular traditional Mexican antojitos... Let's get started!

Mexican Sopes Recipe

There is an endless list of dishes in Mexico made using corn dough. There are many different shapes and cooking methods, and even the names given to them vary from region to region in the country, but Sopes are a popular and delicious street snack that you can find almost everywhere in Mexico.

Sopes are like small tortillas that are thicker and have a border around the edges. This last part is formed right after cooking the sopes when the texture is soft enough to allow you to pinch the edges to form the border. This border serves as a barrier to contain all the delicious toppings!

Sopes mexicanos

In my hometown, the sopes are small, round, and thick, but in other places, you might find some that are large and oval in shape.

The most popular toppings are shredded beef, pork, or chicken. This includes the traditional smear of refried beans that's usually spread on the sopes before putting the toppings on. After the beans and meat, the sopes are garnished with lettuce (or cabbage), tomato, crumbled cheese, and the salsa of your choice. Other additions include Mexican cream, pickled carrots, diced avocado, chopped onion, radish slices, and many other favorites that vary from town to town. Regardless of how many toppings you add, these sopes are delicious at every bite!

There are many dishes similar to sopes under the antojitos category, like: pellizcadas, migadas, memelas, huaraches, chalupas and many other variations made using fresh corn dough. The sopes are so popular that you can even find them already made at supermarkets in Mexico, you only need to take them home and warm them up.

Pretty convenient, right? The cooks have the option to warm them up in a comal, or lightly fry them in oil or lard. However, if you visit Mexico, in almost every town you go, you can find small restaurants called cenadurias, fondas or antojerias that sell this scrumptious meal. They could be for breakfast, lunch or dinner... any time is a good time to enjoy some sopes!

How to make Sopes Recipe

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INSTRUCTIONS:

• Mix Masa harina and warm water in a medium-size bowl, knead the dough until you have a uniform texture. If the dough feels dry, add more water, little by little, spoon by spoon, until the dough is soft and manageable, like play dough. It doesn't have to be sticky. Now, cover the dough with a wet kitchen towel, this will help to keep the dough moist. Always keep a small bowl of water next to your working area to keep your hands and dough moisten. (Please check the ingredients list below)

• Divide the dough into 10 pieces of the same size, cover with the kitchen towel.
• Heat the griddle over medium-high heat.
• To form the sopes, cut the plastic bag into 2 squares of about 6-IN each. Place one piece of plastic on the Tortilla press, then put down one of the small balls of dough and cover with the other piece of plastic, close the tortillera and press down gently with the tortilla press handle until you form a medium size thick tortilla.

• Lift the handle and remove the top plastic. Pick up the tortilla, holding with the plastic at the bottom, gently flip the tortilla to unto the palm of your hand. A large part of the tortilla will cover your hand.

If you don’t have a Tortilla Press, use a glass pie dish to press down the dough; I use it all the time and it works wonderfully.

• Place the tortilla on the already hot griddle/comal, this is a fast but gentle move. Turn the tortilla after a minute, don’t let it cook longer or the dough will dry and crack. Turn again after a minute, and the last cooking will take about 20-30 seconds. Remove from the griddle with the help of a spatula. Cover the tortillas with a dry kitchen towel and allow to cool for about 30-45 seconds, and start forming the border pinching the edges with your fingers. Now, the tortillas had become sopes, cover again with the kitchen towel and keep cooking the rest of the sopes.

TO SERVE THE SOPES:

• Heat the oil or lard in a skillet or griddle over medium heat. Place the sopes on the skillet and lightly fry them on both sides. Remove from the heat and place on a plate that has already been covered with paper towels to absorb any excess fat.
• Now is time to spread the refried beans, top with shredded lettuce, beef, chicken, or any other topping of your choice. Serve with salsa.

¡Buen provecho!

Mely,

I hope you liked this Sopes Recipe.

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Sopes

Mely Martínez

Sopes are like small tortillas that are thicker and have a border around the edges. This last part is formed right after cooking the sopes when the texture is soft enough to allow you to pinch the edges to form the border. This border serves as a barrier to contain all the delicious toppings!

4.83 from 34 votes

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Prep Time 10 mins

Cook Time 20 mins

Total Time 30 mins

Course Antojitos

Cuisine Mexican

Servings 10 Sopes

Calories 178 kcal

Ingredients

  

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FOR THE DOUGH

• ▢ 1-½ cup of masa harina
• ▢ 1-¼ cup of warm water

TOPPINGS

• ▢ 4 tablespoons vegetable oil or lard
• ▢ 1 cup refried beans
• ▢ 2 cups lettuce finely shredded
• ▢ 1-½ cup cooked beef or chicken shredded
• ▢ ½ cup Mexican cheese queso fresco crumbled
• ▢ ¼ cup white onion finely chopped
• ▢ ½ cup Mexican cream
• ▢ Spicy salsa of you choice

OPTIONAL TOPPINGS:

• ▢ ⅓ cup radishes thinly sliced
• ▢ 1 avocado sliced or diced
• ▢ ½ cup of tomato diced or sliced
• ▢ Pickled jalapeños and carrots.

Instructions

 

• Mix Masa harina and warm water in a medium-size bowl and knead until you have a uniform texture. If the dough feels dry, add more water, little by little, spoon by spoon, until the dough is soft and manageable, like play dough. It doesn’t have to be sticky. If you live in a place with lots of humidity, the dough won’t need too much water. If that's not your case, make sure the dough has enough moisture to avoid any cracking on the sope's surfaces. 

  Now, cover the dough with a wet kitchen towel; this will help to keep the dough moist. Always keep a small bowl of water next to your working area to keep your hands and the dough moist.
• Divide the dough into 10 pieces of the same size, cover with the kitchen towel.
• Heat the griddle to medium-high heat.
• To form the sopes, cut the plastic bag into 2 squares of about 6-IN each. Place one piece of plastic on the Tortilla press, then put down one of the small balls of dough and cover with the other piece of plastic, close the tortillera and press down gently with the tortilla press handle until you form a medium size thick tortilla. of about 4-½ inches.
• Lift the handle and remove the top plastic. Pick up the tortilla, holding with the plastic at the bottom, gently flip the tortilla to unto the palm of your hand. A large part of the tortilla will cover your hand.

If you don’t have a Tortilla Press, use a glass pie dish to press down the dough; I use it all the time and it works wonderfully.

• Place the tortilla on the already hot griddle/comal, this is a fast but gentle move. Turn the tortilla after a minute, don’t let it cook longer or the dough will dry and crack. Turn again after a minute, and the last cooking will take about 20-30 seconds. Remove from the griddle with the help of a spatula. Cover the tortillas with a dry kitchen towel and allow to cool for about 30-45 seconds, and start forming the border pinching the edges with your fingers. Now, the tortillas had become sopes, cover again with the kitchen towel and keep cooking the rest of the sopes.

TO SERVE THE SOPES:

• Heat the oil or lard in a skillet or griddle at medium heat. Place the sopes on the skillet and lightly fry them on both sides (about 30 seconds each side will be enough time to fry them and give them a little golden color). Remove from the heat and place on a plate that has already being covered with paper towels to absorb any excess fat.
• Now is time to spread the refried beans, top with shredded lettuce, beef, chicken, or any other topping of your choice. Serve with salsa.

Notes

• If you can’t find Mexican queso fresco or Mexican cream, you can do the following: Substitute the Mexican cheese with feta cheese and even parmesan cheese. For the cream, mix equal amounts of sour cream and heavy cream with a pinch of salt. (I know many people living outside Mexico — like me — who struggle to find Mexican products).

• Making Sopes require certain amount of time and preparation, that’s why is better to make them when you have some leftovers in your fridge, like refried beans and beef or chicken from a stew; that way you will have some of the ingredients ready.

• You will need a plastic bag like the ones used to store food in the freezer (to form the sopes), a griddle-comal, a tortilla press or a glass pie dish in case you don’t have a tortilla press (please look picture below).

Nutrition

Serving: 1SopeCalories: 178kcalCarbohydrates: 10gProtein: 5gFat: 13gSaturated Fat: 6gCholesterol: 16mgSodium: 235mgPotassium: 167mgFiber: 3gSugar: 1gVitamin A: 230IUVitamin C: 3.3mgCalcium: 76mgIron: 0.9mg

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