sopaipilla

[ soh-pahy-pee-uh; Spanish saw-pahy-pee-yah ]

noun

, Mexican Cooking.

, plural so·pai·pil·las [soh-pahy-, pee, -, uh, z, saw-pahy-, pee, -yahs].

1. a small pastry made of deep-fried yeast dough and usually dipped in honey.

Word History and Origins

Origin of sopaipilla¹

First recorded in 1935–40; from Latin American Spanish, equivalent to Spanish sopaip(a) “fritter or thick pancake soaked in honey” (earlier also xopaipa, from Mozarabic, derivative of šúppa, súppa “piece of bread soaked in oil,” Spanish sopa, from Germanic; sop, soup ) + -illa diminutive suffix

Example Sentences

Arizona Sopaipilla Sopaipillas are similar to frybread—invented by Arizona’s original residents, the Navajo—which is to say that they’re deep-fried circles or squares of leavened dough.

From Slate

“Who are you gonna scream to when the chotas pour honey all over you and start eating you like a sopaipilla?” she asked grimly.

From Literature

For 100 pesos—about a quarter—you can buy a deep-fried sopaipilla, a round quickbread that is Chile’s favorite rainy-day comfort food.

From Scientific American

Vega, a two-year-old Mexican restaurant in Hartsdale, however, cooks up an excellent sopaipilla.

From New York Times

Real Mexican Cuisine, Right Down to Dessert THE first place I had a sopaipilla — that puffy pillow of fried dough popular in New Mexico — was in a restaurant in a nondescript strip mall outside Santa Fe.

From New York Times