Authentic Beef Sopes

Featured Food Storage: Refried beans, canned shredded beef, masa .
Suggested Pantry Item: Masa Harina or Instant Corn Masa Flour. A great item to have on hand for homemade tortillas or sopes.

I have been searching for this recipe or even this item on a menu for the past 14 years. Once, a long time ago,my college roommate's sister-in-law made us these fried masa bowls filled with refried beans and taco toppings called sopes. I was in Mexican food heaven. I have searched every Mexican restaurant I have visited since then for a similar item. Did you realize you could have a craving for longer than a decade? I recently found sopes on the menu at a new restaurant in town and it is possible I drove my husband crazy with my excitement. However, they totally charred my shredded beef. I vowed to find the recipe myself. After an online search I discovered I needed that Masa Harina stuff. I grabbed a bag and lo and behold the recipe was on the back of the bag. Wow! If only I had known. So I rolled up my sleeves and made myself some of these delicious little sopes, that were loved by one and all in my family. I do however intend to leave them a little thicker next time when I roll them out.

For the meat, I actually used leftovers from my sister-in-law's crockpot shredded beef recipe but I fully intended to use the canned shredded beef in my food storage. I just didn't know I would have so many leftovers from the crockpot beef roast. I love the Costco shredded canned beef and that is why this recipe would be perfect to add to your food storage recipe arsenal.

RECIPE for 8 sopes
1 Cup Instant Masa flour
2/3 Cup water
1/8 tsp salt.


1 to 2 Cups shredded beef
1 can of refried beans or 1 1/2 Cups
shredded cheese
shredded lettuce
tomatoes
salsa and sour cream


Combine water, masa, and salt. Mix thoroughly for about two minutes or until a soft dough forms. If dough is too dry add a little more water, a tablespoon at a time. Divide dough into 8 balls and cover with a damp towel. To form tortillas use a tortilla press or, as I did, place balls between two pieces of plastic wrap and press down with a heavy frying pan to form a ball appx. 3" in diameter and about 3/8 inch thick. I accidentally made mine too thin.

Cook each sope for one minute on a preheated ungreased skillet. Turn and cook second side until lightly browned.

Remove from heat and carefully pinch the sides on the first cooked side to form a raised rim about 1/4 inch high. Be careful, sopes are hot. Repeat with each heated sope. Heat 3/4 inch of oil or just toss in the deep fryer and fry sopes until light golden. Drain on a paper towel-lined cookie sheet kept in a warm oven.

Heat beans and spread on sope. Top with shredded meat and toppings.

Tip: Shredded pork or chicken are also great on these.