Round, golden discs of fried dough enriched with cooked pumpkin, which gives them a soft, faintly sweet crumb. A rainy-day Chilean ritual, eaten with pebre or drenched in spiced chancaca syrup.
The Chilean style is distinguished by pumpkin in the dough; the dish traces to the Arab 'sopaipa' brought via Spain, then adapted across the Americas.
The outside is thin and crackly, the inside soft and pillowy with a gentle pumpkin sweetness. Dunked in chancaca, they turn lush and sticky like a warm doughnut; smeared with pebre, they go savory and bright. Either way they vanish fast.
Pumpkin adds moisture and natural sugars, keeping the crumb tender and helping it brown. Resting the dough relaxes the gluten so the discs roll thin and puff cleanly; pricking with a fork stops large air pockets from forming.
Variations
Sopaipillas pasadas (soaked in chancaca syrup), savory plain sopaipillas without pumpkin, served with mustard or ketchup, and versions topped with pebre
On the Palate
Where Sopaipillas Chilean sits in the Chilean flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 6How it's made
8 steps · 30 min
- 115 min
Peel, cube and boil the pumpkin until very soft, then drain and mash it smooth.
Watch outDrain the pumpkin really well and mash until no lumps — extra water here makes a sticky dough that won't puff.
- 24 min
While warm, mix the pumpkin with flour, melted lard or butter, baking powder and salt.
- 332 min
Knead into a smooth, soft dough, adding flour only as needed, then rest it 30 minutes.
Watch outGive the dough its full rest — poke it and the dent should ease back slowly; rushed dough tears instead of rolling thin.
- 44 min
Roll the dough out to about half a centimeter thick on a floured surface.
- 55 min
Cut out rounds with a glass or cutter and prick each one a few times with a fork.
- 65 min
Heat oil to a steady medium-high and fry the discs in batches.
Watch outTest the oil with a scrap of dough — it should rise in a steady stream of small bubbles, not fizz violently or just sit there.
- 76 min
Turn each sopaipilla once, until puffed and golden on both sides.
Watch outThe disc should balloon within seconds and stay pale gold — flip once it puffs; wait too long and it goes brown and hard before it cooks through.
- 83 min
Drain on paper and serve warm with pebre or chancaca syrup.
