Cheesy Salvadoran Pupusas with Chorizo

If you've never had Salvadoran Pupusas, you're in for a very delicious treat. Crispy corn flatbreads are stuffed with gooey oaxaca cheese and spicy chorizo, pan-fried until irresistibly crispy and then served with a simple slaw. Simple, but so delicious.

Course Appetizer

Cuisine Salvadoran

Keyword pupusas, cheesy pupusas, salvadoran pupusa

Prep Time 15

Cook Time 15

Total Time 30

Servings pupusas

Calories 255kcal

Author Nicole

Cost $10

Equipment

Mixing bowl
Cast iron skillet or griddle

Ingredients

1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp sriracha
2 cups packaged slaw mix (without dressing)
10 oz shredded oaxaca cheese
8 oz mexican chorizo
2 cups masa harina
2 cups cold or room temp water, plus a little more if needed
1 tsp kosher salt
canola oil for cooking

Instructions

Add vinegar, oil, salt, pepper, and sriracha to a medium bowl. Whisk to combine. Add slaw mix. Toss. Let the slaw sit while you make the pupusas.
Add the the chorizo to a small sauté pan. Turn the heat to medium-high and use a wooden spoon to break up the meat. Brown the chorizo until cooked through, drain on paper towels. Set aside. Shred the cheese
Add the masa harina to a medium bowl. Stir in salt. Slowly drizzle in the water while stirring the masa. Continue to stir until the water is incorporated. If needed add a little bit more water to the dough. The dough should be slightly sticky and wet, and form into balls easily. (See photo for consistency.) Wet hands with cold water and continue to mix the dough until it comes together. If the dough seems dry, add a few drops of water until it comes together. Keep your hands wet to prevent the dough from sticking.
As before, keep your hands slightly wet, so the dough doesn’t stick to your skin. Use your hands to grab a heaping 1/4 cup of the dough. Roll into a ball and slightly flatten.
Place three tablespoons of the cheese in the middle. Spoon another two tablespoons of the chorizo on top. Use your hands to enclose the dough around the filling. Once the filling has been covered, again use your hands to flatten the dough into a disc about 1/4-inch to 1/2-inch thick. Repeat with remaining dough.
You can use a few different cooking vessels to cook the pupusas, but I prefer to use a cast-iron skillet. It conducts heat beautifully and you need very little oil to make the pupusas very crispy. If you want to cook a bunch at the same time, I’d also recommend using a large griddle you can set on your stovetop.
Heat the skillet or griddle to a medium heat. Drizzle the skillet or griddle with enough oil to coat the bottom of the pan or skillet. (For a large cast-iron skillet, I used about 2 tablespoons of oil.) Once the oil is hot, add the pupusas. Cook until super crispy and brown, about 3-4 minutes per side.
Serve the pupusas with a little bit of slaw and eat right away while gooey and hot.

Nutrition