Pupusas de Queso (Cheese-Stuffed Tortillas)

The ingredients for the recipe are authentic but the method is not. You'll get the same results but if you can master the authentic way of prepare them, you'll be able to make them much faster. You can take a golf ball sized piece of the dough, roll into a ball before patting back and forth between your hands. (Using a dusting of Maseca on your hands or a little water alternately to keep it from sticking to your palms or from becoming too dry.) Once you have a round disc about the size of your hand, place a good sized pinch of the cheese in the middle. Bring the edges of the dough up around it and pinch to seal. Now you will have a dough ball with cheese in the middle. Now repeat the process of clapping it back and forth between your palms to flatten into a (now slightly fatter) disc once more - and then it's ready to cook.

This is a good basic pupusa recipe. Pupusas can be difficult to make at first but if you're patient they can be restaurant-quality. Just to clarify, "masa harina" is commonly sold as the brand name "Maseca." This will recreate similar tastes to what you've tried before. Do not use regular flour or corn flour, stick to the flour used to make tortillas. Most authentic pupusas are made by folding the circular dough in on itself around the cheese, rather than covering it with a second one and crimping it. Slap a palm-sized ball of cheese onto the center of the flattened ball of dough and compress it, then fold the edges of the dough disk up around the cheese to form a ball. Crimp off excess dough at the top and then flatten the ball into a pupusa.

Both parents are from El Salvador and my mom traditional shapes it by hand and inserts the cheese into it and flattens it back up. She doesn't layer it with cheese in between. The cheese will occasionally brown as it comes out of the tortilla, but it's a wonderful salty flavor, especially fabulous with the curtido, which is onion, coleslaw, carrots and vinegar (think there's a bit of sugar she throws in too--not much). It sits for a few days and softens up and is wonderful with the pupusa. Traditionally, I believe adding refried beans is common, as well as something similar to bacon bits. I don't have the technique down with my hands making it perfectly round, something my mom can do, but if you can master it, it's a great treat!

My mom's friend owns and operates a pupuseria in L.A. She shared with us that to keep the pupusas from drying out or being too dry she adds one tablespoon of baking powder to the masa harina before adding the water. She adds a little salt as well. I have to say, adding baking powder made a HUGE difference in the consistency of the masa. I used cooking spray on the skillet before cooking and they turned out fantastic.

This gave me a good idea about what to do with the large amount of masa harina and queso fresco I happen to have. I found the proportion of flour and water off, and it is completely different from the instructions on the masa harina's package. On the package it's recommended mixing 1 cup of masa harina with 1.5 cup of water. I followed that after finding out 1 cup of water is way not adequate for 2 cups of flour. Regarding the techniques, I am used to making similar items in my native cuisine using the traditional method so I didn't follow the recipe at all. Instead I formed a ball of dough in my palm, made a large indentation in the middle by cupping my hand. I then added cheese in the indentation and pinched the edges together to close the cheese in and form a ball. I flattened the ball into more or less a disk before putting it on the skillet. I cooked mine for much longer than 2 minutes per side because I wasn't sure if it was done. But the results are very good nevertheless. For whatever reason I find these pupusas very mild yet surprisingly comforting. That's interesting since I didn't grow up eating it. I like to pop a leftover piece in the microwave to heat it slightly and snack on it. Will definitely make it again!

This gave me the idea for the base of what a pupusa is but the proportions don't work and the technique leaves you with a too-thick pupusa that doesn't cook all the way through without burning (especially given that the preferred stove setting is "medium high heat"). The first time I tried this recipe, the dough was just too dry -- it kept cracking when I rolled it out and couldn't hold its shape. It also burnt when I tried to cook it due, in great part, to its dryness. I made some changes that made it work a lot better. I added almost an entire cup of extra water to what is called for in the recipe. I also had to add about a quarter cup of canola oil to it to achieve a more workable consistency and to justify not having to grease the skillet. Salt brings out the flavor of food so I added 1/4 teaspoon of salt to the dough as well. As a few people have mentioned, the way to "seal" the cheese in the middle shouldn't be like making an empanada where you have to pinch edges together to seal the filling. As long as your dough is moist enough, it does work to create a disc from a golf-sized ball of dough on the palm of your hand, insert a ball of crumbled or shredded cheese in the middle (and other fillings of your choice), close the dough around the filling and flatten it down into about a half-inch thickness. These are delicious with curtido and a side of beans and rice. Mmmm.

It is also traditional to use harina de arroz (rice flour) to make your dough.

Added salt to the masa as well as some oil(next time I'm thinking manteca de puerco instead). The first few came out pretty dry(why we added the oil). Used queso cotija as one of the fillings, & another mixture of beans and chicharrones.

My husband is El Salvadoran the first half of his life so I am not. I wanted to make something near and dear to his heart and this worked. Thank you so much. BTW, I used fresh mozzarella and he said it was great.

Last year my friend for El Salvador made these for us on Thanksgiving while we cooked the actual dinner. It was supposed to be a light snack to keep us going until dinner was ready. Well... we ended up eating so many of these that we really didn't "tackle" Thanksgiving dinner full force like we usually do. She did use the two-tortilla method described in this recipe so...I guess it is also an authentic way of preparing them. Maybe she is from the side of the country that makes them this way...who knows. However, I do think that the single tortilla method described by our fellow reviewers must yield a better, less doughy result. My friend used beans along with the cheese as filling. The beans were kind of like a homemade refried beans. She prepared curtido to go with them (served on the side) and also a very plain and bland tomato sauce (she just pureed a couple of roma tomatoes). The sauce by itself was nothing but it worked very well together because of the strong flavor of the curtido. It helped mellow out the vinegary taste of the curtido. Pupusas are not my favorite thing in the world, they are just Ok for me (no matter who makes them, and I've had plenty). However, when compared to others I've had, these are very good.

I wish I had a tortilla press because these pupusas took a lot of time to make. I added salt to the dough and refried beans to the filling. Instead of using two pieces of tortilla, I only used one. I also cooked half of them in a little bit of oil because the first half were coming out too dry. I served it with homemade curtido on the side because I can't eat pupusas without it.

The ratio of masa to water is wrong here. It will result in dry, cakey, cracking pupusas. You will require enough water to make a soft, play-dough like dough, easy to shape. For me, the ratio was one cup water to one cup masa, plus a little salt. Also, we use chopped green peppers and goat cheese.

Decent basic recipe. We added jalapenos to about half of the ones we made....pretty good.

love this with the "curtido". I like to just buy "mexican crumbling cheese" and just slice it and put it between the "harina dough" and pan fry with a couple tbs olive oil and 1 tbs of real unsalted butter..yummm!

Not enough water. I followed another reviewers advice and added water until the dough reached a cookie dough consistency. That ratio was 2:2, and the pupusas were far easier to make. My second time around I gave up the two disc method and just did the ball up and reflatten method.

I love making papusas! I made the cheese papusas with queso blanco and lorocco(found at a latin supermarket) and the others I filled with chicharrones(fried pork belly) blended with a little tomato sauce, my husband devoured these and he's Salvadoran!!!

I tried a mixture of traditional vs. easy and what I did was use a tortilla maker. After making the ball I would put it in the mold and then fill it up with the cheese. Fold it over and make another ball and then put it back in the mold. Some of the filling can come out but it definitely looks really nice this way.

I had a bit of difficulty getting the masa harina/water ratio correct. High altitude + dry climate = crumbly dough. These took longer to cook and turned out a little tough. I served them with the Calabacitas con Elote recipe from this site, and that saved the dish!

I'm not sure about the proportions of masa to water. I added more water and they were still too dry so I dumped leftover cheese on top. Probably just takes making this a few times to get the right feel of the dough, more by feel, less by measure. Kids liked it and I look forward to"making it mine". Used black beans and jack for the trial run.

I have never had these, but wanted to use up some of the masa harina I had. The family loved them. I would give 5 stars, but I found there wasn't enough water to form a dough. I had to add almost another cup of water to be able to work the dough.

I'm from Honduras and pupusas is a stable there. What gives it is unique flavor is that It is cook in lard or pig fat. If you can't find any at the store just cook bacon for the grease and use it. I have not made el curtido because is a time process, you have to let it ferment for some time before eating it. As it ferments the flavors come together.

I love love love Pupusas!! Recipe is great and simple

So, I don't think I did it right, maybe didn't use enough cheese or something.... My first attempt after allowing the dough to rest yielded something that could not be rolled at all, and quickly fell apart, so I added water till the recipe was workable. Then, I spread a layer of cheese on the bottom half, then rolled another to put on top...my result was a lot of masa flavor that really just made me think I was eating like a cornmeal porridge or hard tack. I might be a cow boy, but come on. And based on other reviews, it sounds like it's actually pretty good, I must have done something wrong.

I used this recipe as a basis for my pupusas. I found I needed more water than the 1 cup required. I added about 1/3 cup more. I ended up filling my pupusas with black beans and queso fresca. They were really good. Something I would like to try again. I think it would make a great breakfast food w/ an egg on top?

I totally agree with all of the other reviewers that making pupusas must be an art. I attempted, and my results weren't very pretty. Plus, I just don't think I am that big of a fan in general. I gave it a try because my son was begging, and even he didn't want to eat them in the end. He said that they don't taste like what he gets in restaurants.

I only gave this 4 stars because the water to masa is a bit off, however it's a great recipe with alterations. When making this I add as much water as needed to keep the masa from crumbling. I also use the technique that another person suggested by making the dough into the size of a golf ball and then pat it between my hands add my cheese, round it again around my cheese then pat it out. I also use a bit of water on my hands when patting it out to keep it more formed and from crumbling, it's very helpful. I fry mine in a bit of oil, they are so delish.

Definitely needed more water! I've never made pupusas before, so I didn't know what to expect. Should have read the reviews, because I got very heavy, dry, crumbly, cracking pupusas by following these directions. Still, I love the idea and I will try them again! Thanks for introducing me to a new type of food!

thank you for sharing Jenny :) I was looking for a better dough recipe then what I had. My favorite pupusa is pork or chicarron and cheese. In the past I've had trouble with the dough so I started using a tortilla press, for me this works really well, also because my hands aren't great from carpal tunnel. Your Curtido is awesome as well.Thanks again for sharing

Didn't like at all.

This turned out too dry and bland for me. Next time I i will try making with a little more water, maybe add salt, cilantro, jalapeno for a filling.

Yummmm

What an delightful new way to eat cheese stuffed in carbs !! It makes quesadillas seem so bland! And you must eat it with curtido, a slaw that is so quick and easy to make while the pupusas are frying.

Came out really dry. My boyfriend is salvadoran and he told me it was missing oil and salt

Queso Fresco and MONTERREY jack are good substitute, not as greasy as mozzarella. Mix the two cheeses together after grating the monterrey cheese.

I've tried three times to make these and I just can't :-(

For my first time making these I added re-fried black beans and Monzarrella cheese in the middles :) The Pupusas were delicious, even my toddler ate some!

The dough was very crummy and I couldn't make a tortilla shape without it breaking

These were pretty good and pretty easy. I think they will be better with more practice. My dough was pretty thick compared to the filling. Maybe pupusas are supposed to be like that, but I think I'll add some water and maybe some oil next time to make it possible to roll the dough thinner.

This was yummy! I put beans and meat in some of them, like I ate in El Salvador. I do agree that the dough was a little dry. I will add some more water next time. These were still very enjoyable with curtido and hot sauce!

I used 3 cups masa harina to 2 1/4 cups water and the consistency was perfect. Reading the comments here led me to also add about a teaspoon of salt and a little less than a tablespoon of baking powder. Filled with black beans and cheese, fried in a little (OK, a lot) avocado oil at or slightly above medium heat for about 4 minutes per side: awesome!! Next time I'll do the same but at medium heat. They will burn if too hot and your attention is on something else!

I love papusa's and thrilled to see this recipe. It is wonderful, you can shredded beef, chillies or pork as well to give more flavor. I love the cheese the best. Yumm Thanks for this post.

I added too much cheese in mine and they tasted amazing.

These were pretty good and pretty easy. I think they will be better with more practice. My dough was pretty thick compared to the filling. Maybe pupusas are supposed to be like that, but I think I'll add some water and maybe some oil next time to make it possible to roll the dough thinner.

Turned out great! My teenager loved this recipe. We added beef chorizo. Next time we plan on making a sauce or salsa with it to complete the dish! We have so many different combinations of stuffings that we want to try for next time.