Latin America & Caribbean

Pupusas: El Salvador's Bean-and-Cheese Stuffed Corn Cakes

Name: Pupusas: El Salvador's Bean-and-Cheese Stuffed Corn Cakes
Prep time: 45 min
Cook time: 35 min
Total time: 1 h 20 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: Salvadoran
Ingredients: 300 g Masa harina; about 360 ml Warm water; 1 tsp Salt; 2 tsp Vegetable oil; 350 g Cooked red kidney beans; 1/4 (about 50 g) Onion; 1 clove Garlic; 1 tbsp Vegetable oil; 1/4 tsp Ground cumin; from 1/2 tsp Salt; about 80 ml Water or bean cooking liquid; 160 g Mozzarella; 80 g Cottage cheese; 2 tbsp Loroco; 300 g Cabbage; 1/2 (about 80 g) Carrot; 1/4 (about 50 g) Onion; 500 ml Boiling water; 120 ml Vinegar; 120 ml Water; 2 tsp Sugar; 1 tsp Salt; 1 tsp Dried oregano; a little Chile; 200 g Canned tomatoes; 1/4 (about 50 g) Onion; 1 clove Garlic; 1 Green bell pepper or shishito pepper; 100 ml Water; 1/2 tsp Salt

How to make pupusas, explained through Salvadoran food culture. Covers choosing masa harina, substitutes for the bean-and-cheese filling and loroco, curtido and salsa, how to seal them, what to do when they crack, and storage, all organized for a home kitchen.

Published: October 24, 2026Total: 1 hr 20 minLevel: Intermediate

Cooking flow

Cooking steps

STEP 11 / 10

Make the curtido

Curtido, cabbage and carrot seasoned with vinegar — Make the curtido first. It is the prep for pairing cold acidity with freshly griddled pupusas

Cut 300 g cabbage, 80 g carrot, and 50 g onion into strips 2–3 mm wide, pour 500 ml boiling water over, and leave for 1 minute. Drain in a sieve, squeeze out the water, and mix with 120 ml vinegar, 120 ml water, 2 tsp sugar, 1 tsp salt, and 1 tsp oregano. Turn from the bottom until the pickling liquid coats everything, then refrigerate for at least 2 hours to soften the sharpness.

STEP 22 / 10

Simmer the salsa roja

Red tomato salsa simmered in a small pot — Make salsa roja thin and light. Spoon a little over the surface of the pupusa rather than dipping it

Put 200 g canned tomatoes, 50 g onion, 1 clove garlic, 1 bell pepper, and 100 ml water in a small pot and simmer over medium-low heat for 10 minutes. Puree in a blender, and adjust with 1/2 tsp salt and 1/2 tsp sugar. Make it thin enough to flow off a spoon, not thick like ketchup.

STEP 33 / 10

Mash the beans

Beans mashed in a skillet and reduced until thick enough not to fall off a lifted spatula — Cook off the moisture so the beans are a paste that will not run when wrapped

Put 1 tbsp oil, the onion, and garlic in a skillet and cook over medium heat for 3 minutes. Add 350 g cooked beans, 80 ml water or cooking liquid, 1/4 tsp cumin, and 1/2 tsp salt, and simmer for 8 minutes, mashing with a wooden spoon. The guide is a paste with about half the beans mashed, thick enough that it does not fall off a spatula when scooped.

STEP 44 / 10

Combine the cheese filling

Beans, cheese, and loroco filling divided into small bowls — Cook off the moisture and keep the fillings fine. Large pieces tear the dough

Mix 160 g mozzarella, 80 g cottage cheese, and 2 tbsp coarsely chopped loroco for about 2 minutes. The guide is that the cheese is evenly combined and one portion fits within 1 cm in height. The first time, it is easier to control the amount if you put 2 tsp beans and 1 tbsp cheese in separately.

STEP 55 / 10

Make the dough

Bringing masa harina and warm water together into a dough slightly softer than an earlobe — The dough dries easily, so cover it with a cloth as soon as it comes together

In a large bowl, put 300 g masa harina and 1 tsp salt, add 330 ml warm water first, and mix. Knead for about 2 minutes until it is slightly softer than an earlobe. If it cracks, add water 1 tsp at a time, and if it sticks to your hands, add masa harina 1 tsp at a time. Keep the remaining 30 ml water for adjusting.

STEP 66 / 10

Divide the dough

Rolling masa dough in the palm of the hand — Do not let the rolled dough dry. Cracks are a sign it needs water

Divide the dough into 8 equal pieces in about 2 minutes, rolling each into a ball of 80–85 g. If cracks appear on the surface, it needs more water, so stroke it with a wet hand and cover with a damp cloth. Lightly wet your hands with oiled water and work one piece at a time so the dough does not dry out.

STEP 77 / 10

Fill the hollow

Beans, cheese, and loroco on the hollowed masa dough — Place the filling low in the center. If beans or cheese get on the rim, the seam cracks easily

Spend about 2 minutes opening each piece into a small bowl in your palm, and put in 2 tsp beans and 1 tbsp cheese. Keep the filling lower than the rim of the dough. Too much filling cracks the seam, so use less at first.

STEP 88 / 10

Close and flatten

Flattening a closed pupusa with wet hands — After closing, do not crush it; widen it gradually with your palms

Spend about 3 minutes gathering the edges to the center and pinching to close. Seam side down, press gently with both hands to about 12 cm across and about 8 mm thick. If an edge cracks, smooth it closed with a wet finger.

STEP 99 / 10

Cook

Pupusas browning on a griddle — Medium heat, 4–5 minutes a side. Spotty browning and a slight puff are the signs

Heat a griddle or skillet over medium heat and wipe on a very thin film of oil. Put the pupusas down and cook 4–5 minutes per side. They are done when the surface shows light browning with brown spots, the sides puff slightly, and cheese oozes out in thin streaks. High heat browns only the outside and leaves the inside cold.

STEP 1010 / 10

Serve

Place the fresh pupusas on a plate, slightly offset so they do not overlap. Add plenty of curtido and spoon a little salsa roja over them. Break them open by hand while hot and eat while the cheese stretches.

0 / 0

Ingredients

1 / 4

Pupusa dough

Ingredient	Amount	Substitutes & notes
Masa harina	300 g	MASECA, etc. Cornmeal will not work
Warm water	about 360 ml	35–40°C. Adjust to how much the flour absorbs
Salt	1 tsp	Mix evenly into the dough
Vegetable oil	2 tsp	For your hands. Basically none goes into the dough

2 / 4

Bean and cheese filling

Ingredient	Amount	Substitutes & notes
Cooked red kidney beans	350 g	Black or pinto beans also work. Not sweetened beans
Onion	1/4 (about 50 g)	Finely chopped
Garlic	1 clove	Optional
Vegetable oil	1 tbsp	Lard gives a richer result
Ground cumin	1/4 tsp	Too much leans Mexican
Salt	from 1/2 tsp	Adjust for the saltiness of the cheese
Water or bean cooking liquid	about 80 ml	To loosen the beans. Do not make them runny
Mozzarella	160 g	A cheese that stretches well
Cottage cheese	80 g	Drain well. A little feta also works
Loroco	2 tbsp	Chop if you have it. Omit if not

3 / 4

Curtido

Ingredient	Amount	Substitutes & notes
Cabbage	300 g	Thinly slice the thick core
Carrot	1/2 (about 80 g)	Cut into thin strips
Onion	1/4 (about 50 g)	Red onion works
Boiling water	500 ml	To wilt the cabbage lightly
Vinegar	120 ml	Rice vinegar works. Apple cider vinegar is gentler in aroma
Water	120 ml	Adjusts the acidity
Sugar	2 tsp	Rounds the edges. Do not make it too sweet
Salt	1 tsp	For the pickling liquid
Dried oregano	1 tsp	Mexican oregano if possible
Chile	a little	Omit if children will eat it

4 / 4

Salsa roja

Ingredient	Amount	Substitutes & notes
Canned tomatoes	200 g	2 fresh tomatoes also work
Onion	1/4 (about 50 g)	Roughly chopped
Garlic	1 clove
Green bell pepper or shishito pepper	1	Do not make it too hot
Water	100 ml	To keep it thin
Salt	1/2 tsp
Sugar	1/2 tsp	Adjusts the tomato acidity

0 / 0

The Story of Pupusas: A Bean-and-Cheese Lunch Sealed in the Palm of Your Hand

In the kitchen at dusk, when you drop masa harina into a bowl of warm water, the dry scent of corn comes softly back. You roll the dough that has taken up the water, make a dent with your thumb, and fill it with just a little bean and cheese. Get greedy and it will not close. Use too little and it feels lonely once cooked. A pupusa is a dish where you look for "just right" in the palm of your hand.

The pupusa is El Salvador's signature stuffed corn cake cooked on a griddle. The outside is toasty like a thick tortilla, and inside goes beans, cheese, chicharrón, loroco, and more. On the plate there is almost always curtido, a lightly pickled cabbage slaw, and a thin red tomato sauce.

A plate of Salvadoran pupusas with curtido and red salsa — A pupusa is eaten with the freshly griddled corn dough, melted cheese, and tangy curtido together

The first stumbling block when you make this outside Central America is the flour. It is not cornmeal, not cornstarch, and not dry taco tortillas. What a pupusa needs is masa harina, flour made from corn treated with lime (nixtamalized). With it the dough holds together with water alone, and once cooked it is toasty outside and crumbly inside.

Among Central America's flour-based dishes, Honduras's baleada (in Japanese) folds beans and dairy into a wheat tortilla. Venezuela's arepa makes a staple bread from precooked cornmeal. The pupusa looks like something between the two, but the difference is that it is "stuffed first, then cooked." The fun of the dish is in the moment the filling warms inside the dough and the cheese oozes out a little at the edge.

This article keeps to the Salvadoran basics while giving a formula you can make with supermarket and online ingredients. Centered on bean-and-cheese pupusas, it covers how to use loroco if you can find it, how to make curtido quickly, how to seal them so they do not crack, and storage and reheating.

Treated as a national dish in El Salvador

El Salvador's Legislative Assembly, in Decree No. 655, declared the pupusa the national dish of El Salvador and set the second Sunday of every November as Pupusa Day. It is street food and home cooking, and for Salvadorans living abroad it is a taste that recalls home.

First, Understand the Relationship Between Masa Harina and Curtido

A kitchen with masa harina, beans, cheese, cabbage, and tomatoes laid out as pupusa ingredients — With so few ingredients, pupusas are easier if you think of the roles of flour, cheese, beans, and acidity separately

Before the name of the dish, there are three things to think about when making pupusas at home: dough, filling, and acidity. Once those three are settled, you can get a fairly good result even the first time.

Role	Ingredients needed	Realistic choice	Limits of substitutes
Dough	Masa harina, water, salt	MASECA, PAN masa harina, etc.	Cornmeal does not hold together well
Filling	Cheese, beans, loroco, chicharrón	Mozzarella, kidney or black beans, frozen loroco	Melting cheese alone tastes light
Acidity	Curtido, salsa roja	Cabbage, carrot, vinegar, canned tomatoes	Mayonnaise or heavy sauces make it something else

King Arthur Baking's pupusa recipe also explains that masa harina is a specially treated corn flour that is hard to replace with cornmeal or ordinary corn flour. The reason is that lime treatment changes how the flour holds together once it absorbs water. Made with baking-grade cornmeal, the grains are coarse and the dough cracks easily in your hand.

Curtido is not just a cabbage salad. It is a tangy side, wilted with salt and vinegar and seasoned with plenty of oregano. Freshly cooked pupusas get quite heavy with cheese and beans. Cold, sour cabbage restores the lightness that makes you reach for a second one.

Local-Style or Home-Style: Where the Paths Split

Approach	Good for	How to think about the filling
Basic bean and cheese	First-timers	Refried beans and white cheese. Easy to seal
With loroco	Those who want aroma	Mix chopped loroco into the cheese. Do not overdo it
Revuelta style	Those who want a more filling meal	Beans, cheese, and pork combined finely
Vegetable-leaning	Those who want something lighter	Cook zucchini or mushrooms down to drive off moisture first

The more filling you add, the better pupusas look, but in practice they get harder to seal. For your first time, we recommend succeeding with beans and cheese alone. Once you know the feel of the dough closing, the heat at which it browns, and how to repair a crack, it is easier to move on to loroco or pork.

Loroco is a small amount for aroma

Loroco is a bud-like aromatic vegetable used in Central America, and pupusa de queso con loroco, with cheese, is the well-known version. Frozen or jarred loroco can sometimes be found at Latin American grocers. If you cannot get it, a little scallion and a little green bell pepper add a green aroma, though it will not taste exactly the same.

Ingredients (serves 4): Bean-and-Cheese Pupusas and Curtido

Pupusa fillings of beans, cheese, loroco, and chicharrón-style pork divided into small bowls — Keep pupusa fillings low in moisture, fine, and thick enough to wrap, and they rarely fail

This makes 8 pupusas about 12 cm across for 4 people. Two each gives a satisfying lunch or light dinner. For a light breakfast, make it one each and refrigerate the rest to reheat the next day.

Allergen information

This dish uses dairy. Check the allergen labels of the cheese, canned beans, masa harina, and any processed products used for the salsa. If you add pork, take care with cooking and storing the ground meat or chicharrón.

Flour and cheese are the base of the flavor. The first time, it is easier if you gather the masa harina, a good stretchy cheese, beans, and cabbage first.

How to Make Them: Seal Without Overfilling, and Cook Over Not-Too-Weak Medium Heat

Rolled masa harina dough resting under a damp cloth — Masa harina dough dries out easily. Once rolled, cover it with a damp cloth and keep your hands damp too

For pupusas, you make the curtido and fillings in the first half and wrap and cook the dough in the second half. If you make the dough first and then prepare the fillings, it dries out, so do not reverse the order.

What You Can Do Ahead

Curtido can be made the day before and the bean filling by the morning of the day. In fact, curtido improves after a few hours, as the acidity settles in. Only the pupusa dough is easier to handle if made right before cooking.

Troubleshooting: Fix Cracking, Leaking, and Hardness Separately

Comparison of smooth pupusa dough and dry, cracked dough — Pupusa failures are easier to fix if you sort them into dry dough, wet filling, and heat

Pupusa failures fall into roughly three kinds. The dough cracks. The filling leaks. The finished pupusa is hard. If you mix up the causes, you will stall at the same place next time.

The dough cracks

If the edge snaps when you press it, the dough needs water. How much masa harina absorbs varies by product and humidity. There are days it is still stiff even with all the water in the recipe. Besides fixing it with wet hands, add water to the whole dough 1 tsp at a time, rest it 2 minutes, and feel it again.

Conversely, if it sticks to your hands and will not hold shape, there is too much water. Add masa harina 1 tsp at a time. Adding it all at once makes floury layers, so small amounts are safer.

The filling leaks

Leaks come from quantity, moisture, and particle size. Make the beans thick enough that they do not fall off a spatula, and chop the cheese finely. If you add pork or vegetables, drain the liquid and chop them fine. Epicurious's introduction to pupusas also says it is important to keep meat and fillings small and to drain excess moisture.

A little cheese that spills out makes a tasty browned crust. But if beans leak a lot, they burn and turn bitter in the pan. If filling touches the seam, do not force the seam to stretch; leave the seam on the thick side.

They turn out hard

Hardness comes from high heat and overcooking. A pupusa is not a thin pancake but a thick, filled dough. Rushing over high heat dries the outside and drives off moisture before the inside warms. Cook over medium heat for 4–5 minutes a side, and do not press down after flipping. If the browning is pale, raise the heat a little for only the last 30 seconds.

Choosing a pan

At home, a griddle or heavy skillet suits. A thin pan swings in temperature, so the first one scorches and the second and later ones stay pale. If you use an electric griddle, start at 180–190°C and raise it a little if the browning is pale.

Do not throw out torn ones

A pupusa with a small tear can be closed by gathering the dough with wet fingers. For a large tear, do not force it back neatly; just cook it as is and call it a "tasting piece." Treat the first one as a test pancake for checking heat and moisture, and it feels easier.

Variations: From Beans and Cheese to Loroco and Revueltas

Pupusas stacked on a plate with curtido, salsa, and lime on the table — You can change pupusa fillings, but starting with bean and cheese keeps the flavor from wandering

Pupusa fillings vary by home and shop. But you do not need to chase them all at once. Settle on bean and cheese first, then expand to aroma, meat, and vegetables, and you will fail less.

Queso con loroco

The classic: loroco mixed into cheese. Loroco can feel too strong in aroma, so start with 2 tbsp for 8 pupusas. Mozzarella alone tastes flat, so mixing in cottage cheese or a little feta brings it a little closer to the local white cheese.

Frijol con queso

The combination of beans and cheese. In a home kitchen it is the easiest to make, and its flavor is easy for children too. Red kidney beans, black beans, or pinto beans all work, but do not use sugar-sweetened beans. Sweet beans push it in the direction of a dessert.

Revueltas

A filling that combines beans, cheese, and pork. It is hard to find chicharrón as is, so thoroughly cook 150 g ground pork with garlic, salt, and a little tomato, and drive off the moisture before using. If you wrap it with lots of meat juice, it leaks. Meat versions also keep a shorter time in the refrigerator, so it is safer to finish them by the next day.

With ayote or vegetables

If you add squash, zucchini, or mushrooms, chop them finely and cook off the moisture. Raw vegetables release water while cooking and tear the dough. For a lighter filling, use fewer beans and bind it with cheese and vegetables.

Rice flour pupusas

El Salvador also has pupusa de arroz, made with rice flour. It is whiter than corn and slightly chewy. But it is hard to get the same texture with rice flour alone, and it needs adjusting the oil and water. Make it with masa harina the first time and leave the rice flour version as the next challenge.

For comparison with other dishes that "wrap in flour," Argentina's empanada (in Japanese) is wheat dough baked or fried, and Trinidad's doubles (in Japanese) is a fried bread sandwiching beans. The pupusa's character is that it is not deep-fried; the filling is sealed inside the dough and cooked on a griddle.

Storage and Reheating: Divide Make-Ahead Into "Before Cooking" and "After Cooking"

A cut section of freshly cooked pupusa with curtido and salsa — Store filled dough, cooked pupusas, and curtido separately and the texture comes back more easily

Pupusas are best fresh. But since the curtido and fillings can be made the day before, it is quite an easy dish to put together for a weekend lunch.

What to store	How	Guide
Curtido	Refrigerate in a clean container	3–5 days
Bean filling	Refrigerate in an airtight container	2–3 days
Dough only	Refrigerate sealed, not under a damp cloth	Same day
Filled, uncooked pupusas	Wrap one at a time in plastic and refrigerate	Same day
Cooked pupusas	Cool slightly, seal, and refrigerate	2–3 days

USDA leftover food-safety guidance says to cool cooked leftovers quickly, to treat 3–4 days in the refrigerator as the guide, and to reheat thoroughly to the center. Homemade pupusas contain cheese and beans, so do not leave them long at room temperature, and move them to the refrigerator within 2 hours of cooking.

The best way to reheat is in a skillet. Cook 2–3 minutes per side over medium-low heat, then cover for 1 minute to steam. In a microwave alone the dough turns limp. If you use a microwave, heat for 20–30 seconds and then restore the surface in a skillet for a better texture.

To freeze, wrap cooked pupusas one at a time in plastic and put them in a storage bag. To eat, thaw in the refrigerator for half a day and warm in a skillet. Curtido does not freeze well. It releases water and the cabbage texture breaks down.

Keep meat versions short

Pupusas with pork or chicken spoil more easily than bean-and-cheese ones. Avoid leaving them at room temperature, and finish them by the next day to be safe. If you freeze a meat version, reheat it until it is hot at the center.

Background: Corn, Migration, and the Pupusería

A Central American home-style table around pupusas, curtido, and salsa — Pupusas are a Salvadoran dish carried on at home, at street stalls, and at pupuserías abroad

El Salvador's Decree No. 655, in its reasons for declaring the pupusa a national dish, treats corn as a food culture inherited from ancestors. Tamales, atol, tortillas, riguas, and pupusas. Corn is not merely a staple but a material that shapes the country's table.

Seeing the pupusa only as an "old dish," however, misses its present form. Today's pupusa lives on at street stalls, homes, diners, and pupuserías abroad. In Salvadoran communities in the United States, going out for pupusas with family on weekends can be a link to the homeland. The New Yorker's profile of a Salvadoran restaurant in New York also portrays mozzarella, beans, pork, loroco, curtido, and a thin tomato salsa as important clues at the table in the new country.

A word about the name. The origin of "pupusa" is often tied to Nahuatl-family words, but the details vary. This article emphasizes how it is eaten today rather than asserting an etymology. A thickness you can hold in your hand, cooking on a griddle, and curtido and salsa alongside: with these three, you have a pupusa table.

How It Differs From Similar Dishes

Dish	Country/region	Dough	How the filling goes in
Pupusa	El Salvador	Masa harina	Stuffed inside, then cooked
Arepa	Venezuela/Colombia	Precooked cornmeal	Cooked, then split and filled
Cachapa	Venezuela	Whole kernel corn	Cooked, with cheese folded in
Baleada	Honduras	Wheat flour	Folded in a cooked tortilla
Chipa guasu	Paraguay	Whole kernel corn	Baked set in a baking dish

Knowing these differences keeps you from getting lost when shopping. Pupusa is masa harina. Arepa is masarepa. Cachapa is whole kernel corn. Baleada is wheat flour. Chipa guasu is frozen corn. The names are not alike, but in the kitchen these are ingredients you can easily get confused about in front of the same shelf.

If you want to keep making Latin American flour-based dishes, going on to baleada (in Japanese), arepa, cachapa, and chipa guasu (in Japanese) shows you in three dimensions how corn and wheat are used differently. To pair with a stew, Guatemala's pepián and Mexico's pozole rojo (in Japanese) make good partners.

FAQ

Cooked pupusas stacked on a plate with curtido and salsa — Questions about making pupusas center on flour, filling moisture, cooking, and storage

Q1. If I do not have masa harina, can I use cornmeal?

We do not recommend it. Cornmeal is coarse and absorbs water differently from lime-treated masa harina. If you try anyway, think of it as a different kind of corn bread. To get the sealable quality that makes a pupusa, having masa harina is the shortcut.

Q2. Is shredded pizza cheese enough?

You can make it, but the flavor is a little monotonous. Mix pizza cheese or mozzarella with any of cottage cheese, a little feta, or a little grated hard cheese to bring out saltiness and dairy flavor. Feta is very salty, so reduce the salt overall.

Q3. Can I make curtido the day before?

Yes. In fact, if you make it the day before, the cabbage softens and the acidity settles in. There is an authentic fermented version, but at home the vinegar-pickled version is easier to handle. Refrigerate it in a clean container and finish it within 3–5 days.

Q4. Are pupusas eaten by hand?

In El Salvador they are often eaten by hand. While hot, the cheese inside is very hot, so wait a moment, then top with curtido and eat. Using a knife and fork is fine, but you feel the steam and stretching cheese when you break it open better by holding it in your hand.

Q5. What should I serve with them to make dinner?

Two pupusas, curtido, and salsa make a light meal. To add vegetables, avocado, tomatoes, and bean soup go well. For a Central American menu, compare with baleadas (in Japanese); for a South American direction, pick corn dishes from the South American cuisine overview (in Japanese) to build the flow.

Wrap-Up: For Pupusas, Prepare the Acidity Before the Flour

A pupusa table with curtido and salsa — Freshly cooked pupusas come together as a meal only with curtido and salsa

Looking at the ingredients alone, pupusas are humble: masa harina, water, salt, beans, cheese. But curtido and salsa are indispensable when you eat them. The cold sourness of cabbage catches the toastiness of griddled corn dough, the weight of melted cheese, and the fluffiness of the beans.

The first time, bean and cheese alone are enough. Loroco, chicharrón, and the rice flour version can wait. Bring masa harina together with water, wrap a modest amount of filling, and cook patiently over medium heat. If an edge cracks, smooth it with water. If a little cheese leaks, enjoy that browned crust too. A dish with that much room is the one that stays in the kitchen.

To widen your Central American table next, go on to baleada (in Japanese), which folds beans in a thick wheat tortilla, seed-sauce pepián, and red hominy pozole rojo (in Japanese), and you will see how the combination of corn, beans, acidity, and meat changes from country to country.

Sources

Asamblea Legislativa de El Salvador, Decreto No. 655, accessed 12 May 2026.
King Arthur Baking, Pupusas Recipe, accessed 12 May 2026.
Earth Eats, Salvadoran Pupusas Con Curtido, accessed 12 May 2026.
Epicurious, Pupusas, accessed 12 May 2026.
Bon Appetit, Curtido Salvadoran Cabbage Relish, accessed 12 May 2026.
USDA FSIS, Leftovers and Food Safety, accessed 12 May 2026.