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Homemade 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! 

  • Author: Salima Benkhalti
  • 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

Units Scale
  • 4 cups vegetable oil for frying
  • Nonstick cooking spray

For the Picadillo (filling):

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

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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. 
  4. 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. 
  5. 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. 
  6. 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