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!
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.
Why We Love This Recipe
Alcapurrias are popular Puerto Rican fritters, made with taro or 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.
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)
Make the picadillo. Start with 4 tablespoon 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 the achiote oil and sazon and pulse a few more times to combine.
Tip: To prevent your hands from getting stained brown, use a pair of gloves when peeling and processing the plantains and yucca.
Prep the masa. 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.
Fill the alcapurrias. Next top the masa 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.
Close the fritters. Using the parchment paper & spatula, carefully fold the masa over the filling, spreading the edges until fully sealed and no picadillo is visible. Continue this process until you’ve used all of your dough and/or filling.
Fry. Heat vegetable oil in a heavy bottomed, wide mouthed pan. Fry the Alcapurria at 350 degrees over medium heat until golden brown and crisp all around. Cool on a paper towel lined plate and enjoy!
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,
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 picadillo meat filling, and the assembly plus frying process are easy!
- Prep Time: 1 hour
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
- Category: Appetizer, Snack, Small Plate
- Method: Fried
- Cuisine: Puerto Rican
- Diet: Gluten Free
Ingredients
- 4 cups vegetable oil for frying
- Nonstick cooking spray
For the Picadillo (filling):
- 4 tbsp sofrito
- 1 lb ground beef
- ¼ cup tomato sauce
- ½ cup pimento stuffed olives, sliced
- 2 tsp sazon seasoning
- 2 tsp adobo seasoning
For the Masa (dough):
- 4 large green plantains, peeled and chopped into large pieces
- 2 lbs taro or yucca root
- 1 tsp achiote oil or olive oil
- 1 tsp sazon seasoning
Instructions
- Make the picadillo. Start with 4 tablespoon 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 the achiote oil and sazon and pulse a few more times to combine.
- Prep the masa. 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.
- Fill the alcapurrias. Next top the masa 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.
- Close the fritters. Using the parchment paper & spatula, carefully fold the masa over the filling, spreading the edges until fully sealed and no picadillo is visible. Continue this process until you’ve used all of your dough and/or filling.
- Fry. Heat vegetable oil in a heavy bottomed, wide mouthed pan. Fry the Alcapurria at 350 degrees over medium heat until golden brown and crisp all around. 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!
CeilL
Hello Salima,
I followed your recipe to a “T”. The filling after it was done was too salty.
I will do it again but would decrease the amount of the seasonings.
Thank you for sharing!
★★★★★
Anthony Martinez
I haven't made it yet but I will be making it. I hope it brings me back to Salinas, PR. Where my cousin made them and sold it to people coming in to the beach and enjoy them.
★★★★★
Margarita
I've been wanting to try making them. They were great!!!
★★★★★
Nelida
I tried it and it was a good idea to freeze then fry. Thanks
Eric Wade
I made these and they were so freaking good