Love Mexican Sopes? Then you will love these Chilapitas Mixtos (Mixed Chilapitas)! This is a ceviche, beef and chicken Mexican sampler appetizer. Make all three for a variety sampler or choose one or two! Deliciously light and so full of flavor! Excellent appetizer!
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Chilapitas Mixtos or Mixed Chilapitas are so yummy and the perfect appetizer for a gathering, a party, Cinco de Mayo, or just Friday night drinks. Make a Mexican Sampler appetizer!
Chilapitas are a lot like Sopes.
Remember those?? How delicious are those?! Well these are a smaller scale version of the famous Sopes. Less packing but just as delicious!
In case you unimaginably forgot about those or haven’t had the opportunity to make my Chicken Sopes, let me explain a little.
Sopes are like a three to four-inch corn flour or masa basket filled with refried beans, chicken, beef, seafood, pork or whatever yummy concoction of meat you like, topped with lettuce, avocado, queso fresco, cilantro and a red or green hot sauce. Absolutely delish!
But if you are going to make these as an appetizer, you would probably make one or two per person, NOT more because they are deceptively filling!
Okay so back to Chilapitas.
Chilapitas are very similar in that the masa is made with the same ingredients as Sopes but Chilapitas are much smaller. They are about two inches around and don’t have or need the same toppings. Hence they are less filling and require less toppings but do require a tasty meat or seafood balance. Remember this is a small shell with A LOT of flavor!
I have decided to make Chilapitas Mixtos or Mixed Chilapitas. I wanted to give you some diversity! Make all three as a sampler appetizer or make just one! I chose, Chilapitas de Ceviche (Ceviche Chilapitas), Chilapitas de Res (Beef Chilapitas) and Chilapitas de Pollo (Chicken Chilapitas).
Ceviche Chilapitas (Chilapitas de Ceviche)
Beef Chilapitas
Chicken Chilapitas
If you do decide to make all three, it may be a little time intensive but well worth it! But what’s great, just like sopes, you can make everything in advance! You can also make the chilapita masa shells and freeze them, just use them when you have leftover meat or seafood and make a quick snack or appetizer!
Chicken Chilapitas by MexGrocer
Note: If you love tilapia ceviche as much as I do, you may want to check out these two other recipes,
Tilapia Ceviche with Guacamole and Tortilla Chips
Masa (Dough) Steps:
Recipe below…
After making your masa (corn flour dough) form into 1 ½ inch balls.
If you do not have a tortilla press just use a plate. Place dough ball in between two sheets of wax paper and press down with a plate to form round disk. Disk should be about 2 inches around.
Should look like this.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Place on top of muffin tin to form scoops cook to harden a little for 5 to 7 minutes. Can also skip this step and just fry flat chilapita shells.
If you do place them in the oven to harden a little, the shells will look like this before frying. Then fry in a pan with a little bit of oil until golden brown.
Beef Chilapitas
now scoop prepared chicken, beef and ceviche to shells. Top beef with tomatoes and red onion. Sprinkle with cilantro if desired.
Chicken Chilaquitas
Top with lettuce, tomatoes and red onion.
Top with extra green sauce if desired.
Tilapia Ceviche Chilaquitas
Top with avocado cubes
Sprinkle with cilantro if desired.
LOVE, LOVE, LOVE CHILAPITAS MIXTOS!!
📖 Recipe
Chilapitas Mixtos
Ingredients
- ½ cup lettuce shredded
- 1 to 2 roma tomatoes chopped
- ¼ cup red onion chopped
- 1 avocado cubed
- lime for avocado
- vegetable oil for frying
TILAPIA CEVICHE CHILAPITAS
- ½ lb fresh or frozen tilapia cubed into small pieces
- ½ red onion chopped
- 2 roma tomatoes chopped
- 1 jalapeño deveined, seeds removed and finely chopped
- 2 garlic cloves peeled and finely chopped
- ¼ cup fresh cilantro chopped
- 2 to 3 limes juice squeezed
- salt to taste
BEEF CHILAPITAS
- 1 lb beef chuck or beef roast even sirloin steak works (cubed and shredded after cooked)
- 2 to 3 garlic cloves peeled
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 small onion peeled and cut in quarters
- salt and pepper to taste
RED SAUCE FOR BEEF
- 3 dry guajillo peppers stem and seeds removed
- 2 dry ancho chile peppers stem and seeds removed
- 2 to 3 dry arbol peppers stem and seeds removed
- 1 onion peeled and quartered
- 3 garlic cloves peeled
- ½ cup reserved broth from pot peppers are cooked in
- salt to taste
CHICKEN CHILAPITAS
- 2 small chicken breasts skin removed, boiled and shredded
- ¼ cup reserved chicken broth
- salt and pepper to taste
SALSA VERDE/GREEN SAUCE FOR CHICKEN
- 1 lb tomatillos husks removed
- 2 to 3 serrano peppers stems and seeds removed
- 3 garlic cloves peeled
- ¼ cup water tomatillos were cooked in
- ⅓ cup cilantro
- 1 white onion quartered
- salt and pepper to taste
KITCHEN AIDS
- muffin tin
- wax paper
- cooking vegetable spray for muffin tin
MASA DOUGH
- 2 cups Maseca Corn Flour found in the international aisle
- 1 ⅓ cups water
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Instructions
Masa Dough
- In a bowl mix 2 cups of Maseca corn flour with the water and salt. Form into a dough until all dough is off the sides of bowl (may need to add a little more water or a little more corn flour). Form into 1 ½ inch balls. You should yield about 35 balls.
Forming Disks
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees (177 degree celsius)On a flat surface place a sheet of wax paper. Place a ball on top of wax paper. Add another sheet of wax paper on top of ball and press down gently with a plate to form a circular ⅛ inch flat disk. Remove gently and place disk on an upside down greased muffin tin. (Refer to pictures)Repeat steps with other corn flour balls. Place muffin tin in oven with chilapita shells for 5 minutes to harden.
Frying Disks
- In a skillet add a ¼ cup of vegetable oil and heat over medium heat. Fry disks until golden brown. Drain on paper towels. Set aside.
Beef
- Cut beef into cubes and season with salt and pepper. In a pot over medium heat add enough water to cover beef. Add quartered onion, garlic cloves and bay leaf. Cook for about 2 hours until beef is fork tender. Remove beef and shred beef. Set aside.
Red Sauce for Beef
- Add your guajillo peppers, ancho chile peppers, arbol peppers, onion, and garlic to a saucepan with plenty of water to cover and cook over medium heat for about 20 minutes or until the peppers soften up. Remove peppers from pot. Under running water, remove all seeds from peppers. Remove stems. Add all peppers, onion, garlic and reserved broth to a blender and blend until smooth. Strain sauce through a strainer to remove extra seeds and skin. You will now have a sauce.Add sauce to shredded beef and mix together. Season with salt to taste.
Tilapia ceviche
- Cut tilapia into small cubes and set aside in a plastic bowl. Cut all limes. Squeeze and juice all limes over tilapia, stir together and refrigerate.
- While tilapia is marinating (cooking in the acidity from the limes) cut the tomatoes, red onion, jalapeño, cilantro and garlic. Add and mix all to tilapia with salt to taste. Refrigerate again for another hour until tilapia is cooked and flavors are well blended.
Chicken
- Rinse chicken breast and remove skins. Place chicken in a saucepan with enough water and salt to taste. Cook for 20 minutes.
Remove chicken and let cool for a few minutes. Reserve a ¼ cup of broth chicken was cooked in.
Shred chicken with two forks or cut into very small cubes. Set aside.
Salsa Verde/Green Sauce for Chicken
- Remove husks from tomatillos and rinse them well (Note: once husks are remove, tomatillos are sticky, this is normal) Remove stems from serrano peppers (remove seeds and membrane too if you don’t want it too spicy) and peel garlic cloves.Note: Could also use half of one serrano for the sauce to start with and if you realize you want more heat continue adding more serrano until you find your heat level.
- Add about 3 cups of water to a saucepan. Heat over medium heat and gently add tomatillos, garlic, onion and serrano peppers. Cook for 15 to 20 minutes until tomatillos are soft. Transfer all to a blender with a ⅓ cup of cilantro and the ¼ cup of water. Blend well together and season with salt and pepper to taste.
- Add about half of the green sauce to the shredded chicken breast. If chicken seems to dry, add a little bit of the reserved chicken broth.Note: Reserve some sauce for topping for Chicken Chilapitas. Set aside.
Toppings
- Cut and shred the lettuce. Chop the tomatoes and red onion. Cut avocado into cubes and sprinkle with lime to prevent avocado turning brown.
Final Step
- Now we are ready to prepare the chilapitas. Warm up chicken and beef in the microwave for a minute or two. Remove tilapia ceviche from refrigerator. Scoop mixtures onto shells. Top with lettuce mixture and avocado cubes. Sprinkle with cilantro if you like. Enjoy!
Nutrition
So which Chilapita will you be making this weekend?
Lori says
Can’t wait to try these! They look delicious! Thanks for sharing.
Cathy says
Thank you Lori! These are fabulous! You could try all three or just one! They are all delicious! Thank you again!