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Chilean Sopaipillas with Pebre

Chilean sopaipillas are a delicious street food made up of fried dough with sweet or savory toppings, like pebre, a Chilean chopped salsa. Sweet or savory, round or square. Sopaipillas are a delicious part of the heritage of Chilean cuisine.

Chilean Sopaipillas with Pebre

What are sopaipillas?

Sopaipilla is the name given to a traditional fried dough in Chile and other countries in the Americas.

The Chilean version is very popular during the rainy months, but in recent times it has become a typical snack that you can find throughout the year.

Sopaipillas are sold in the streets in little carts carrying large pans full of boiling oil that offer clients fresh, just made, warm sopaipillas.

The possibility of toppings is very varied: chili sauce, pebre, mustard, cheese, icing sugar, honey, sauerkraut, mayonnaise, just to mention a few.

Where do sopaipillas come from?

The recipe for this fried dough treat arrived in the Americas with the Spanish colonizers who called them sopaipa, a word of Arabic origin that means “bread dipped in oil”.

The Araucanians (nomadic hunters in Chile) named them sopaipilla in honor of a bird from the region.

The South American contribution was to serve them soaked in a syrup made with chancaca (unrefined sugar and molasses) flavored with cinnamon and orange or lemon peel.

The traditional recipe, typical of central Chile, uses cooked squash which gives the dough a little bit of an orange color.

Chilean Sopaipillas after frying

Chilean sopaipillas sureñas (southern sopaipillas)

Northern and southern sopaipillas are often made without squash. The recipes vary from house to house, some making them with yeast and others with baking powder.

The recipe I am sharing today is for southern sopaipillas.

These sopaipillas have a spongy, donut-like texture in the center and some crispiness on the edges.

The dough comes together very quickly. It’s a soft dough, easy to handle, made with ingredients you might already have in your pantry.

Once the dough is ready, you have two options.

  • You can roll out the dough with a rolling pin and use a round cutter or a glass to cut as many sopaipillas as you can. Bring the rest of the dough together and roll it out and cut again, until all the dough has been used.
  • The second option is to divide the dough into 8 equal portions and flatten each one with your hands or a rolling pin.

Chilean Sopaipillas dough

No matter how you shape the sopaipillas, make sure to prick each one with a fork before frying.

As any fried dough, these are best eaten the same day they are made.

What are some toppings for sopaipillas?

As I mentioned before, there is a great variety of toppings in Chile for sopaipillas.

Here are a few:

  • mustard and hot sauce
  • butter
  • mayo
  • ketchup
  • sauerkraut
  • avocado
  • pebre (fresh salsa)
  • icing sugar (powdered sugar)
  • jam
  • manjar (dulce de leche) my favorite
  • soaked in syrup right after frying (use the syrup recipe from Chilean picarones)
Chilean Sopaipillas with dulce de leche

Chilean sopaipillas with dulce de leche

If you love the idea of topping these sopaipillas with sweet toppings and making them more like a donut, you’ll want to try out picarones — Chilean pumpkin donuts that are soaked in an orange syrup.

Chilean pebre

Pebre is a Chilean spicy sauce (similar to pico de gallo) that is typically accompanied by bread. Although, it is so versatile that it can be enjoyed as an accompaniment to salads, rice, beans, empanadas, and sopaipillas.

The basic recipe for Chilean pebre has onions, cilantro, and chili peppers. It’s fresh and flavorful.

Pebre can be made a few hours before it’s served to let the flavors come together.

The vegetables for pebre are chopped very small by hand. Some prefer to use a food processor and make it runnier.

Chose your favorite method! 

Chilean Pebre salsa

 

While in the States it is common to first think of New Mexican sopaipillas, that sweet donut-like treat coated in cinnamon sugar, give this traditional Chilean version a try and see what you think about savory sopaipillas or different sweet toppings!

 

Yield: 8 sopaipillas

Chilean Sopaipillas with Pebre

Chilean Sopaipillas with Pebre street food

Chilean sopaipillas are a delicious street food made up of fried dough with sweet or savory toppings, like pebre, a Chilean chopped salsa.

Prep Time 15 minutes
Resting Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes
Total Time 40 minutes

Ingredients

For The Pebre

  • 1/2 c tomato, seeded and diced
  • 1/2 c white onion, diced
  • 1/4 c fresh cilantro, chopped
  • 1 tsp garlic, minced
  • 1 jalapeno, finely chopped
  • 1 Tbsp olive oil
  • 1 Tbsp lime juice
  • Salt and black pepper (to taste)

For The Sopaipillas

  • 1 1/2 c flour
  • 1/2 tsp instant yeast
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1/4 tsp baking powder
  • 1/4 tsp baking soda
  • 1 Tbsp butter, at room temperature
  • 1/2 c warm water
  • 2 c vegetable oil, for frying

Instructions

For The Pebre

  1. Mix all the ingredients in a medium sized bowl. Cover, and place in the refrigerator until ready to use. Pebre is best eaten the day it is made.

For The Sopaipillas

  1. In a large bowl, add flour, yeast, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. Whisk to mix.
  2. Cut the butter into the dry ingredients using a pastry cutter or two forks. Add the warm water and mix until the dough comes together.
  3. Knead the dough for 3 to 5 minutes with your hands. Cover and let it rest for 10 minutes.
  4. Divide the dough into 8 equal portions; shape each piece into a smooth ball. Cover and let it rest for 5 minutes.
  5. Flatten each sopaipilla with the tip of your hands or use a rolling pin (to 1/4 inch thick). Prick with a fork.
  6. Heat the oil on medium-low, until hot, but not smoking. Fry 2 to 3 sopaipillas at a time for 1 to 2 minutes on each side, or until golden brown.
  7. Transfer the fried sopaipillas to a paper towel-lined baking sheet to drain and cool slightly.
  8. Serve with pebre.

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

8

Serving Size:

1 sopaipilla with pebre

Amount Per Serving: Calories: 364

 

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Cassondra

Monday 20th of July 2020

These were seriously the best things I've ever put in my mouth! SOOO good! My whole family loved them!

Sarah Ozimek

Wednesday 22nd of July 2020

So glad you enjoyed them!

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