New Mexican sopaipillas are made from a pressed dough, like a tortilla, made of flour, a chemical leavener (normally baking powder), salt, and a solid fat. This dough is deep fried until "golden brown and delicious" (like a doughnut), causing the dough to puff and crisp, and creating a large air pocket in its center, unlike tortillas of the same region, which remain flat following preparation. The resulting fried bread is similar to Native American frybread.
The distinctive New Mexican cuisine that developed in that state relies heavily on sopaipillas. The "stuffed sopaipilla" is a common entrée, particularly for lunch, in which the fried and risen sopaipilla is opened and filled with ingredients such as refried beans, cheese, diced chile peppers, and various cooked meats, commonly carne adovada, ground beef or chicken. Sopaipillas are also served as a side dish with other regional dishes such as enchiladas and burritos, taking the place of tortillas. It is common in New Mexican cuisine to fill a side sopaipilla with a bit of honey or honey butter. In Texas and Oklahoma, restaurants tend to differ from traditional New Mexican practice, and they add powdered sugar or cinnamon sugar.
Thought to have originated in Albuquerque in the late 18th century, sopaipillas are served in nearly every New Mexican-style restaurant, and have spread into other areas where New Mexican and Tex-Mex cuisine is served. They are less common in restaurants specializing in other genres of Mexican food such as even in neighboring Arizona and Utah, and are practically unknown in Mexico itself, where the closest equivalent would be the buñuelo. Utah also refers to this fried bread as a sopapilla.
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