Flat discs of simple flour dough, slit in the centre and fried in beef fat until puffed and golden. A humble Río de la Plata snack, eaten warm with mate, dusted with sugar or spread with dulce de leche.
Torta frita is the food of grey afternoons—Argentines famously fry them on rainy days, when staying indoors calls for warm dough and a round of mate. Rooted in the gaucho pantry of flour, fat and salt, it is a frugal countryside tradition that became a beloved nationwide comfort.
Crisp and blistered outside, the dough inside stays soft, chewy and faintly savoury from the beef fat. A dusting of sugar makes it sweet-salty; dulce de leche makes it indulgent. Plain and warming, it is the edible equivalent of a rainy-day blanket.
Beef fat gives both flavour and high-temperature crisping power, while the central slit lets steam escape so the disc fries flat and evenly instead of ballooning into a hollow puff.
Variations
Made with butter or vegetable shortening, sweet versions with sugar or dulce de leche, savoury with cheese, paired with mate, known as chipá cuerito in northeast Argentina and Paraguay, and as sopaipilla in the Cuyo region
On the Palate
Where Torta Frita Argentina sits in the Argentinian flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 6How it's made
8 steps · 20 min
- 12 min
Dissolve salt in warm water and set aside.
- 24 min
Rub or work melted beef fat into the flour until crumbly.
Watch outRub the beef fat into the flour until it looks like coarse crumbs — that even coating is what fries up flaky.
- 35 min
Gradually add the salted water and knead into a smooth, soft dough.
- 430 min
Cover and rest the dough about 30 minutes.
- 55 min
Divide and roll into thin discs about 15cm across.
- 62 min
Cut a small slit in the centre of each so it fries evenly.
Watch outDon't skip the little slit in the center — without it the disc balloons into a hollow puff instead of frying flat.
- 76 min
Fry in hot beef fat, turning once, until puffed and golden on both sides.
Watch outFry in fat hot enough that the dough sizzles and rises on contact — too cool and it drinks oil and turns greasy.
- 81 min
Drain and serve hot, dusted with sugar or with dulce de leche.
