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 fillimg), and the assembly plus frying process are easy!
This post may contain affiliate links; this means if you purchase an item linked, I may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. Click here to learn more about my disclosure policy.
If you like classic Puerto Rican recipes like this one, you will love these empanadillas that are also stuffed with homemade Puerto Rican picadillo and this Puerto Rican sofrito recipe.
Alcapurrias: Puerto Rican Fritters
Alcapurrias are popular Puerto Rican fritters, made with yucca, 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.
This is one of the dishes that made me fall in love with my heritage on a deeper level.
What makes Alcapurrias unique to Puerto Rico lies not only in the super flavorful picadillo (meat filling), but in the fritter dough itself.
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 it’s 100% worth the work.
Here’s what you’ll need...
- 1 yellow onion
- 1 green bell pepper
- 4 cloves garlic
- 1 cup cilantro (you can also use ½ cup of culantro if you have it!)
- 1 jalapeno (optional)
Masa (dough):
- 4 large green plantains, peeled and chopped into large pieces
- 2 lbs yucca
- 1 tsp sazon with achiote
- Nonstick cooking spray
- 4 tbsp sofrito
- ½ cup tomato sauce
- 1 lb ground beef
- 2 tsp adobo seasoning
- ½ cup pimento stuffed olives, sliced
- 2 tsp sazon with achiote
- 2 tsp oregano
- 1 tsp salt (optional as the olives, sazon, & adobo are naturally salty)
- 2 tsp cumin
- 4 cups vegetable oil for frying
How to make Picadillo (the delicious meat filling)
Making it starts with building a super flavorful base with sofrito. Once the sofrito becomes fragrant in a pan over medium heat, add in the tomato sauce and ground beef.
At this point it’s up to you if you’d like to add diced potatoes or not, I am not super into this addition so I choose to leave them out. If you do decide to add them, continue to cook until the potatoes and meat are fully cooked.
From there, add the chopped pimento olives and all of the seasonings. Just like that, you’ve got a delicious pan of picadillo. Best of luck with not eating the entire contents of the pan before assembling your Alcapurria and frying!
How to make the dough (masa)
While finding the ingredients to make the dough can feel like a journey in itself, making the dough for Alcapurria (also known as Masa) is actually quite simple.
Using a food processor helps process the dough and brings it all together in under 15 minutes.
Start by prepping the plantains and yucca. If you've never worked with yucca before, this video helped me learn how to peel and process the root easily.
Peel the veggies and chop into medium sized pieces before adding to your food processor and pulsing until a consistently smooth dough is formed.
Add in your seasonings before pulsing a few more times to incorporate.
Assembling the Alcapurrias
Cut out squares of parchment paper. One at a time, spray a square with nonstick cooking spray, add a ½ cup scoop of the masa dough and spread out flat with a spatula.
Next top with a few small spoonfuls of the picadillo filling, making sure to add a small enough amount that you have a few inches of dough around all edges of the filling.
Using the parchment paper to help you, carefully fold the masa over the dough, pinching the edges until fully sealed and no picadillo is visible. Continue this process until you’ve used all of your dough and/or filling.
Heat vegetable oil in a heavy bottomed, wide mouthed pan. Fry the Alcapurria at 350 degrees until dark golden brown on the outside. Cool on a paper towel lined plate and enjoy!
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.
I think 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,
Salima
PrintHomemade Alcapurria (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!
- Prep Time: 1 hour
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 10 minutes
- Yield: 2-3 servings 1x
- Category: Appetizer, Snack, Small Plate
- Method: Fried
- Cuisine: Puerto Rican
- Diet: Gluten Free
Ingredients
For the Sofrito: (get the recipe here)
- 1 yellow onion
- 1 red bell pepper
- 1 green bell pepper
- 4 cloves garlic
- 1 cup cilantro (you can also use ½ cup of culantro if you have it!)
For the Picadillo (filling):
- 4 tbsp sofrito
- 1 lb ground beef
- ½ cup tomato sauce
- ½ cup pimento stuffed olives, sliced
- 2 tsp sazon with achiote
- 2 tsp adobo seasoning
- 2 tsp cumin
- 2 tsp oregano
- 1 tsp salt (optional as the olives, sazon, & adobo are naturally salty)
- 4 cups vegetable oil for frying
For the Masa (dough):
- 4 large green plantains, peeled and chopped into large pieces
- 2 lbs yucca root
- 1 tsp sazon with achiote
- Nonstick cooking spray
Instructions
- Make your sofrito by pulsing all ingredients in a food processor. You won’t be using all of the sofrito for this recipe so store the leftovers in your fridge for later use in stews and rice dishes.
- Make the picadillo. Start with 4 tbsp of sofrito in a hot pan over medium heat. Once fragrant, add in ground beef and simmer until beef is fully cooked. Add the tomato sauce and cook another 10 minutes. Add in olives and all seasonings and mix until evenly combined.
- Make the masa. In your food processor, combine the yucca and plantain pieces and pulse until a smooth and consistent dough is formed. Add in seasonings and pulse a few more times to combine.
- Cut out squares of parchment paper. One at a time, spray a square with nonstick cooking spray, add a ½ cup scoop of the masa dough and spread out flat with a spatula.
- Next top with a few small spoonfuls of the picadillo filling, making sure to add a small enough amount that you have a few inches of dough around all edges of the filling.
- Using the parchment paper to help you, carefully fold the masa over the dough, pinching the edges until fully sealed and no picadillo is visible. Continue this process until you’ve used all of your dough and/or filling.
- Heat vegetable oil in a heavy bottomed, wide mouthed pan. Fry the Alcapurria at 350 degrees until dark golden brown on the outside. Cool on a paper towel lined plate and enjoy!
Keywords: Alcapurria, Alcapurrias
Comments
Milagros Ortega
Thanks you was delicious
Salima Benkhalti
I'm so glad you enjoyed the alcapurrias Milagros!
David Irizarry
Very good and delicious thank you for the recipe
★★★★★
Salima Benkhalti
Thank you for trying it Milagros!
Milagros Ortega
First time i make alcapurrias
David Vazquez love easy understanding instructions
Love that is easy to understand the instructions and step by step of making these Spanish ingredients great job love it
★★★★★
Salima Benkhalti
Thank you David! I'm so glad you liked it.
Steve
This was my first time trying alcapurria and they are so good! Thanks for the recipe.
★★★★★
Salima Benkhalti
I'm so happy to hear you're loving Puerto Rican food!
Ahmed
Congratulations! Which food processor would you recommend using?
★★★★★
Salima Benkhalti
Use whatever you've got! I got mine for under $40 on Amazon I believe.
Jared
Love them thank you. Took me back when I was a kid. I made these with my grandmother. We also ended up making yuca and yautía ones with crab and ginger mango filling.
★★★★★
Salima Benkhalti
Thanks for your comment Jared, I love that you made these with your grandmother. The yautía ones with crab sound seriously delicious!
F Cordero
These are absolutely mouthwatering, and you have made them accessible!
Thank you for unpacking this recipe and sharing your skills.
Really appreciate your descriptions and beautiful photography.
I always thought these would be too difficult to make, but you inspire confidence.
Gracias!
★★★★★
Salima Benkhalti
Thank you so much for your kind comment! They take a bit of planning and patience, but the result is totally worth it 🙂
Beatrice Totimeh
Is the yuca and plantains cooked before adding to the food processor
Salima Benkhalti
Nope, just peel, chop roughly and add to the food processor raw.
Nancy Nalbandian
5 stars!! My PRican sweetheart loved them, and so did I. The recipe was easy to follow and I am so proud to have cooked something so authentic and delicious without knowing what it's supposed to be like! Thank you for your great recipe and your help in the kitchen!
★★★★★
Salima Benkhalti
Thank you so much for your review Nancy!
Ana
I've been looking for an easy way to make this so thank you. One question, I live in Tennessee where yucca is not available in fresh form, could I use frozen yucca? I miss these, I grew up with this food but it's so hard to find ingredients.
Salima Benkhalti
Hey Ana, thanks for your question. To be honest, I haven't experimented with frozen yucca. I would try defrosting it and pulsing it in your food processor to see how it behaves. If it comes together to form a paste, it should work. Best of luck!