Recipe: How to Make Alcapurrias de Yuca
Alcapurrias de yuca are indulgent, crispy treats you can find throughout the island, especially at the beach. I am sharing my family’s alcapurria de yuca recipe in this post.
- Prep Time: 60 Minutes
- Cook Time: 10
- Total Time: 1 hour 10 minutes
- Yield: 12 1x
- Category: Appetizers
- Cuisine: Puerto Rican
- Diet: Gluten Free
Ingredients
Scale
For the masa:
2–3 lbs yuca
1 tsp sazon
1 tsp adobo (to taste)
1 tbsp Achiote oil (optional)
Cooking Oil
Picadillo
Note: you can use different fillings such as corned beef, ground beef, or crab.
For this recipe, I used a ground pork/beef mix.
1 lb ground pork
2 tbsp tomato sauce
1 packet of sazón
1/2 cup of sofrito
1 small onion 1/3 cup of finely chopped olives (optional)
Cooking oil to fry
Banana leaf to shape the alcapurria (if you can’t find it, brush some olive oil on the parchment paper.
Instructions
Make Picadillo
- Heat olive oil in a large frying pan, add onions and cook until translucent
- Add the ground meat and use a spatula or wooden spoon to break it down
- Add tomato sauce, sazon, sofrito and olives and stir well until all the condiments have been integrated.
- Cook picadillo until cooked through. Around 12-15 minutes. Set aside.
Make Masa
- Peel yuca (see video), and cut it into pieces that you can easily feed into the food processor. You can also use pre-peeled frozen yuca (thawed)
- Add the yuca to the food processor in small batches in the shredder attachment. Then run it through the bottom blade for a smooth masa. In between batches, add sazon and achiote oil. Be patient. This process will take several minutes as the yuca is very tough. Keep pulsing at high until the masa is smooth.
- Place the masa in a storage container and refrigerate for an hour. You can bypass this step if you’re hangry, BUT it helps make the masa more pliable. If you have the time, do it!
Prepare the alcapurrias
- Add enough oil (I use canola oil) to fill the frying pan and set to medium heat.
- While the oil heats up, start to make the alcapurrias. Use a banana leaf or greased parchment paper to mold the alcapurrias. Place on your palm like a cradle and spoon the masa evenly.
- Add the filling on top of the masa and with your hand, start bringing the masa together, covering the filling. Make sure it’s fully covered, as you don’t want your alcapurria de yuca falling apart.
- Cook on each side for 3-4 minutes until golden and crispy. Place on a plate topped with a paper towel to absorb excess oil.
