This Chicken Sopes (Sopes de Pollo) recipe or receta de Sopes de Pollo, is an all star easy to follow recipe that yields the best chicken sopes you will ever have. So yummy!
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Chicken Sopes are just flat out delicious! So these little guys go quite fast. And by the way they are not so little! These “mexican corn cakes” are about
the size of a fist.
This recipe makes about a dozen of these deliciously topped corn cakes.
Origin of Chicken Sopes and What are Sopes Made of…
It is said that “sopes” originated from the central and southern parts of Mexico. Although no one truly knows or can pin point their true origin, all we really know is that they originated in Mexico. They are made out of very fine cornmeal or corn flour, “masa harina” or “masa de maize.” They were originally also known as pillizcadas. Their distinction from other similar antojitos (appetizers) is the pinched raised sides, forming a bowl, that holds all the scrumptious “goodies.”
It is considered a common staple in most households and is eaten as a snack or starter to a meal. Also considered to be a very popular “street food.” They can be made with practically any kind of meat. Chicken, beef, pork, turkey and even seafood.
Chicken Sopes Recipe (Sopes de Pollo Receta)
Don’t be intimidated by this sopes recipe or any other. Sopes are not hard to make. Maybe some may look at this recipe and get a little concerned. Yes, maybe there are a few steps, but forming and making sopes is certainly not difficult. Once you have the dough made and fried, it’s one, two, three! And the outcome?! Well worth it!
and one last thing…
How do you prepare premade sopes?
That’s the beauty about making sopes, you can make an extra batch of the masa recipe and form them and then freeze them for up to three months. Whenever you get into the mood for some chicken sopes, steak sopes, pork sopes or maybe some shrimp sopes, the masa will be ready to go! Just defrost them for a few minutes, fry them up and top them with whatever you like! Or you can pop them in the oven at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 15 minutes.
So let’s get started!
Recipe below…. and some photos to help you better understand how to form the sopes.
📖 Recipe
Chicken Sopes
Ingredients
- 1 Pound chicken breast
- 1 can 20.5 oz refried pinto beans I used the
- 1 8 ounce can GOYA tomato sauce (could also use another brand of tomato sauce)
- 1 red onion chopped
- 1 green bell pepper chopped
- 1 cup lettuce chopped
- 1 or 2 roma tomatoes chopped
- ¼ cup cilantro chopped
- 1 serrano or jalapeño pepper chopped
- 1 green pepper chopped
- 2 cloves garlic finely chopped
- 1 avocado chopped
- 1 container sour cream
- queso fresco crumbled
- vegetable oil for cooking
- paprika to taste
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 lime cut into halves
SOPE DOUGH PREPARATION
- 2 cups MASECA Instant Corn Masa Flour will find in the flour aisle or the International food section of your supermarket
- 11/2 Cups water may need more as you go
SAUCES
- salsa roja mexican red sauce (found in the international or spanish aisle of supermarket)
- salsa verde homemade or store bought (found in the international or spanish aisle of supermarket)
Instructions
Boil Chicken Breasts
- Rinse chicken breasts under cool running water. Place in a pot with enough water to cover and cook over medium heat for 20 minutes. Once done, remove chicken and let cool for a few minutes. Reserve about half a cup of broth the chicken was cooked in. Shred chicken with two forks. Set aside.
Chopping
- Chop the onion, peppers, tomatoes, lettuce, cilantro and garlic. Cut avocado into small cubes and sprinkle with some lime (this prevents the avocado from discoloring). Set all ingredients aside.Be careful not to rub your eyes after cutting the serrano pepper.
Sope Dough Preparation
- Mix 2 cups of the MASECA Instant Masa Corn Flour with 1 ¼ cups of water in a bowl. With clean hands mix corn flour with water and knead until a uniform dough forms (until the dough is no longer sticky in you hands.) If the dough is to dry, add in a little more water and if dough is two sticky add more corn flour.
- Form about a 2 inch balls of dough and place one at a time in a Ziploc bag. Flatten with a rolling pin and with the rim of a glass, or biscuit cutter, press down to cleanly cut a disk (circle). Remove dough circle from the Ziploc bag. Incorporate the dough scraps left in bag back into a bowl and form into more balls (whatever is left). Repeat all the same process with the rest of the balls. Lay out your circles on a tray. Cover with a damp paper towel to keep moist while you start to heat disks and form sopes.
Forming Sopes
- Add a teaspoon of oil to a cast iron pan and spread oil around pan with a napkin. Heat cast iron over medium heat for a few minutes until pan is quite hot. Add NO MORE than two sope dough circles at a time to pan and cook for about 3 to for 4 SECONDS on each side. Remove from heat and lay on a plate. Immediately, using your fingers, spread dough from the center out to edge to form a wall, pinch along the sides. Be careful dough is hot. Repeat with second sope. You must work quickly to form walls or dough will harden…this is why we do two at a time. Set aside. Now go back and repeat the same exact process with the rest of the dough circles.
Frying Sopes
- Now you are ready to fry the sope bowls. In a frying pan or cast iron pan, add about an inch or a little more of vegetable oil. Heat oil over medium heat. Cook a few sopes at a time and fry on each side for a few minutes until golden brown and sides are a little crispy. Remove and drain on paper towels.
Chicken Mix
- Time to finish the chicken. In a pan add about two tablespoons of oil and heat over medium heat for a minute. Add half the mixture of the red onion, all the bell pepper and serrano. Saute for about 5 minutes and add garlic. Cook for 2 minutes. Now add the chicken and paprika, salt and pepper to taste and mix all together. Add the whole can of Goya sauce to chicken and the ½ cup of reserved broth. Continue cooking for 10 minutes until broth evaporates.
Filling Sopes
- Warm the refried beans in the microwave for 1 minute or in a saucepan over low to medium heat for a few minutes. Add about 1 tablespoon of bean mixture to each sope bowl and spread. Now add chicken mixture to each. Mix the lettuce, tomato and remaining red onion together and now top each sope with salad mixture. Add a teaspoon of sour cream to each (optional.) Slice queso fresco and crumble with fingers. Add queso fresco to sopes. Add avocado cubes (optional). Finally sprinkle cilantro on each.
- Serve 1 to 2 chicken sopes per person with sauces. Enjoy!
Nutrition
Dough and sope masa recipe preparation:
Mix dough until you have formed a ball and dough is not sticky. If dough is to dry, add a little water at a time and continue kneading to smooth. Should only take about 3 minutes time.
Take some dough and form about two or three inch balls, may need to wet fingers to make them smooth.
Place individual balls into a large ziploc bag and use a rolling pin to roll into a circular disc.
Roll out into about an ⅛ inch. Use a cup to press down on the disc.
In a cast iron skillet or any similar pan, cook sopes 2 at a time (no more! Sopes have to be hot to form wall! Otherwise it will harden some and you will not be able to work with it). Cook for about 3 to 5 seconds on each side and remove immediately to form the actual sope.
Quickly work with your fingers to form a wall. Start from the the inside of sope, spreading out towards edge. The sopes must be hot still in other to do this step. Caution: quite hot but just move quickly. Fast, fast, fast!!!
Please note: You can make a batch of sopes and freeze them up for up to 3 months! That way whenever you are in the mood to have these delicious sopes, you can just defrost them for a few minutes and fry them as you normally would or you can pop them in the oven at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 15 minutes.
Fry sopes in about an inch of vegetable oil until golden brown with crispy edges.
More toppings for sopes? → more topping ideas for sopes by The Spruce Eats
For more recipes made with masa harina or masa de maize, take a look at these recipes:
Easy as Pie Chicken Empanada Recipe
Mexican Empanadas with Green Sauce
When will you be making chicken sopes?
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