Chalupa – The Crispy Mexican Bread

Living in US and being a vegetarian at the same time was not always that easy. Initially I thought that my options to eat out were limited and thus I stuck to home-cooked meals for a while. But as I explored, I realized that there were plenty of vegetarian choices. In fact, I found out that I could go to ANY restaurant and eat a vegetarian meal there, be it a fast food joint or a steak house!

But coming back to my initial days where I was eating out with limited options, I discovered Mexican cuisine. There were two chains in particular – Chipotle and Taco Bell. For a long time I preferred Chipotle over Taco Bell as I always found former fresher, crunchier and thus better. And then Taco Bell’s Chalupa caught my attention. I loved it. So much so, at one point of time, I was kind of addicted to it!

So even today when I plan to cook Mexican at home, chalupa is often my top choice. It is easy too – just fry some chalupa shells, prepare some stuffing and you are all done.

Chalupa Shells

Serving Size

8 chalupas

You Would Need

 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (to make the recipe a little more healthy, I often use 1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour and 1 cup wheat flour)

1 tbsp baking powder

Salt to taste

1 tbsp butter or vegetable shortening

1 cup milk

Oil for frying

Tongs for shaping (tongs should be able to withstand high temperature of boiling oil)

How To Go About It

For Making Dough

Mix all the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder and salt) together.

Add in butter and mix it thoroughly throughout the dough.

Knead the dough using milk. Add 3/4 cup milk at one go. Add the remaining 1/4 cup as required. If you need a little more liquid to knead the dough, you can used water. Keep kneading till it all comes together and dough feels soft.

For Making Shells

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1. Flour your hands and shape the dough like a flattened cylinder. Cut it into 8 equal parts.

2. Roll each part between both palms to make a ball. Roll out each ball using a rolling pin into a 7-8 inch (diameter) disc.

3. Heat oil over medium flame in a shallow skillet. Oil should not be more than 2 inches deep.

You can check if the oil is hot enough by dropping a little dough ball (of the size of a peppercorn) in oil. If the dough ball rises immediately, the oil is ready. If it takes time, let the oil heat for a couple of minutes more.

Once the oil is ready, drop the rolled out disc in the oil.

4. The disc will rise up on the oil and will puff up. Let the disc fry on this side for 1 minute and no more.

5. With a pair of tongs, pick up the disc and flip it to the other side.

6. Immediately, pinch up a side of the disc with tongs and gently fold it in half. Cook this half side for 1-2 minuets. Flip it to cook the other half for another 1-2 minutes till both sides are golden and crunchy.

Chalupa Stuffing

After everything’s prepared, all you need to do is stuff it in your fried shell.

I have also realized that my sense of eating right or wrong has heightened to a whole different level after having Little B. And thus I love dinners like this. With chalupa, Little B ate bread, beans, yogurt, avocado and multiple vegetables. What else can a mother ask for!