Homemade Alcapurrias (Puerto Rican Fritters)

If there’s one thing that Puerto Ricans do best, it’s fritters! Learn how to make these alcapurrias at home. The dough (masa) is filled with flavorful homemade picadillo (the meat filling), and the assembly plus frying process are easy!

Why We Love This Recipe

Alcapurrias are popular Puerto Rican fritters, made with taro or yuca, green plantains, sofrito, stuffed with picadillo, and fried to perfection.

As a savory over sweet kind of person, it’s no surprise how much I love the concept of deep fried, meat stuffed fritters. 

What makes Alcapurrias unique to Puerto Rico lies not only in the super flavorful meat filling, but in the fritter dough itself.

If you like classic Puerto Rican recipes like this one, you will probably also love empanadillas and pastelón, two other island staples that feature similar ingredients.

Ingredients

This is one of those dishes where you’ll either have to find a local Latin market, or do a bit of digging to find all the necessary ingredients. I promise they are 100% worth the work. 

Here’s what you’ll need:

• Vegetable oil for frying
• Nonstick cooking spray 

For the Picadillo (filling):

• Sofrito 
• Ground beef
• Tomato sauce 
• Pimento stuffed olives, sliced
• Sazon seasoning
• Adobo seasoning

For the Masa (dough):

• Green plantains, peeled and chopped into large pieces
• Taro or yucca root
• Achiote oil or olive oil
• Sazon seasoning 

You will also need parchment paper to make the frying process easy.

See recipe card for exact measurements.

How to Make Alcapurrias (Step by Step Instructions)

Tip: To prevent your hands from getting stained brown, use a pair of gloves when peeling and processing the plantains and yucca.

What to Eat with Alcapurrias

Freezer tips 

I’ve tested out freezing Alcapurria before frying a few times and I can confirm that this method will work 👍

The biggest difference to note when frying at room temperature vs. frying from frozen is that the cook time will vary. 

Thankfully the picadillo meat is already fully cooked, so once the Masa appears golden brown, you’re good to pull them out and cool on a paper towel as usual. 

Air fryer ideas

While I haven’t experimented with air frying these just yet, I’m pretty certain that it would be a bit of a mess due to the consistency of the dough. 

The best approach to air frying your Alcapurria would be to freeze them first, and then air fry at around 375 until golden brown and crispy on the outside.

Buen Provecho,

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