Traditional Sopapillas
Sopapillas is one of our most requested recipes. It’s a traditional treat that can be served sweet or savory, however, you want to make it. They can be filled with meat or vegetables, or just pour some honey inside and enjoy the sweet flavor.
Let’s Get Started!
To start the process, we’re going to mix together some flour, salt and baking powder. The baking powder will make the sopapillas pop and be good and fluffy.
Once the dry ingredients are mixed together, we add some lard, manteca or Crisco. Just pinch some off and add to the dry mixture. Try to get it all incorporated well so there are no clumps.
Now, we add a little warm water. We’re going to start with ¾ of a cup, and I like to add just a little at a time. Stir it well and make sure you roll the dough every once in a while to pick up that loose flour. We just want to form a really soft ball of dough, one that doesn’t stick to the fingers.
Important Tips
Kneading the dough is vitally important to making sopapillas. Flour a flat surface and knead the dough for 3-5 minutes. Personally, I recommend 5 minutes.
Roll the dough back over itself and then stretch it, pull it back and stretch it again. You want it to be sort of elastic, so stretching is a very important step in these. You can’t leave out this process, folks. Check out how we do this process in the video below.
One more very important step: Let the dough set for 20 minutes after you’re done kneading it. If you don’t want it to dry out, you can put a wet paper towel on it before covering it with a towel.
Time to Roll It and Cook It
After 20 minutes has passed, put the dough on a floured surface, give it a little mashing to get it flat. Let’s roll it out to 1/8 to 1/4 – inch thick. I prefer 1/8 of an inch, because I think the thinner ones puff up best.
After the dough is rolled out, cut it into 3-inch squares. Today, I used a 10-inch Dutch oven, but you can do it in a cast iron skillet on the stove, too. I like to use peanut oil, but you can use whatever frying oil you prefer. The important thing is to have enough oil for the sopapillas have room to float up to the top. I used about 2-inches of oil heated up to 365 to 370 F degrees.
If your dough squares start to pull back together before frying, just take the rolling pin to them one more time to keep them at an even thickness.
Frying: The Final Frontier
When frying the sopapillas, don’t put more than two at a time in the Dutch oven. It shouldn’t be a deep fry, but there’s another reason why we need at least a couple of inches of grease the oven or skillet.
Once the dough is put in the hot oil, wait for it to pop up to the top. When that happens, you will need to splash some oil on top of them, using a spoon or spatula. That’s what’s gonna make them start that puffing and bubbling. The thinner they are, the more they will puff. Just try not to get them too thin. Remember to splash that oil on them as soon as they pop back to the top – this is key.
When they are done they will have a light golden brown color. Remove them from the oil and place on a rack to drain. Tear off one of the corners and you can pour some honey inside , or you can fill them with vegetable and/or meat. You also can drizzle honey on top or sprinkle with powered sugar, whatever suits your taste.
Get these fellers to puff up and watch our how-to video below.
Traditional Sopapillas - Cowboy Kent Rollins
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons lard or shortening
- 3/4 cup warm water
- Oil for frying
- Butter honey and powdered sugar for serving
Instructions
- In a large bowl, stir together flour, baking powder and salt. Cut in the shortening or lard with a spoon until there are no large pieces.
- Stir in the water slowly until until a soft ball forms. With your hands, knead the dough for 4 to 5 minutes. Cover with a towel and let rest for 20 minutes.
- Meanwhile, place about 2 inches deep of the fry oil in a Dutch oven or cast iron skillet. Heat to 360 to 370 degrees F.
- Roll the dough out on floured surface to about ⅛-inch thick. Cut the dough out into about 12 (roughly 3x3-incsquares.
- Place the squares in the oil, a few at a time. When they float and slightly begin to puff up, take a spoon and flick oil up on top of the squares repeatedly until they puff up and turn a light golden brown, about 2 to 3 minutes. Drain on paper towels and serve warm with butter, honey and/or powdered sugar.