Easy Sopapilla Recipe Using Crescent Rolls
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All you need is 4 ingredients to make this easy sopapilla recipe using crescent roll dough. These crispy yet fluffy deep-fried pastries are coated in cinnamon sugar and served with a drizzle of honey.
I think we all have favorite snacks, desserts, beverages, etc, that we consider an extra special treat. On the occasion that we gift ourselves these delicacies we sit down, block out the world, and enjoy every second. That’s what sopapillas are for me. Still, as much as I love sopapillas, I don’t think about them that often. But a couple of times a year they pop into my mind and I just absolutely have to have one (or two).
Today I’m showing you my easy sopapilla recipe with a shortcut that is pretty stinking life-changing. Us Southerners love crescent roll dough and you know what? It makes the perfect sopapillas, I promise! The only other ingredients you need are oil for frying, cinnamon and sugar for the coating, and honey for the final drizzle.
When you see these ingredients, I bet you don’t think you know what they are going to taste like because you are in for a surprise. Turns out, these ingredients were just sitting there patiently waiting to reach the pinnacle of their existence and become sopapillas.
Do you want to know how quick and easy it is to make these homemade sopapillas? All you need to do is cut the flaky dough, deep-fry the triangles, coat them in cinnamon sugar, and add the honey drizzle. They take about 15 minutes, which is my kind of recipe.
Warm, crispy, light and fluffy sopapillas dipped in cinnamon sugar and drizzled with honey. Are you ready for some? Let’s get cooking!
Make sure to check out some of our other delicious cinnamon recipes: Cinnamon Twists, Easy Homemade Cinnamon Rolls, Stuffed Cinnamon Toast Sticks, and Cinnamon Tortilla Chips.
Recipe Ingredients
- Original crescent roll dough
- Vegetable oil for frying
- Granulated sugar
- Ground cinnamon
- Honey
Helpful Kitchen Tools
How To Make My Easy Sopapilla Recipe
Roll out your dough and separate it at the seams.
I like to cut along the seams to do this rather than pull it apart because I don’t want it stretching out too much.
Stir your cinnamon and sugar together in some type of dish that is big enough for a sopapilla to fit in and set it aside.
Note that I ended up changing to an 8×8 baking dish for my cinnamon sugar later on in this post because this bowl wasn’t cutting it.
Pour hot oil to a depth of about 1/2 inch (or so) in a large skillet. Place that over medium-high heat for a few minutes.
You know it is ready to fry when you sprinkle just a pinch of flour in it and the flour bubbles like it’s doing in this picture.
Then turn the heat down to medium.
When your oil is hot enough and you have turned it down to medium, fry your sopapillas by gently placing them in the hot oil without splashing.
Cook for a minute or two until golden brown. Then gently flip and cook them for another minute or two until golden brown on the other side.
Once done, remove the fried dough with tongs (which you were hopefully using to flip them) and place them on a paper towel-lined plate.
When you get around to it, you want to dip each side of each sopapilla into the cinnamon sugar mixture.
I prefer to do it while they are still warm but sometimes life doesn’t afford me that opportunity and I do it later. No big.
To serve, place them on a plate and drizzle them with honey.
Storage
- Store leftover sopapillas in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days and reheat them in the oven or air fryer so they crisp up once more.
- You can freeze them, but the crescent roll dough may be soggy once they defrost in the fridge.
Recipe Notes
- For a different spice twist, try using pumpkin pie spice or apple pie spice.
- For sopapilla cheesecake bars (with a cream cheese filling), check out this recipe that still uses crescent roll dough.
- If you’d prefer a richer flavor, use a combination of granulated sugar and brown sugar.
- Besides vegetable oil, canola oil and peanut oil are also good oils for deep-frying.
Recipe FAQs
What does sopapilla taste like?
Sopapillas are similar to beignets, funnel cakes, or doughnuts: deep-fried pastries with a cinnamon-sugar coating.
Is sopapilla a churro?
Sopapillas and churros are very similar. They’re both sweet fried dough pastries with a cinnamon-sugar coating.
Is sopapilla a dessert?
Yes, it’s a delicious dessert!
Are sopapillas a Texas thing?
Sopapillas are popular in New Mexican cuisine and originated there some 200 years ago. They’re served in most New Mexican and Tex-Mex-style restaurants across America these days.
What do you eat sopapillas with?
A lot of people eat homemade sopapillas (without the coating) as a side with a main dish, instead of tortillas or bread. But they’re typically served as dessert, so here are some serving suggestions:
- Honey
- Syrup, like maple syrup, strawberry syrup, or chocolate syrup.
- Homemade dulce de leche (caramel sauce).
- A dusting of powdered sugar like their cousin, beignets.
- Whipped cream and fresh berries.
- A scoop of vanilla ice cream
- Dip them in Mexican hot chocolate or coffee.
Why is it called sopapilla?
Sopapilla got its name from “sopaipa” a Spanish word that comes from the Mozarabic language, “xopaipa”, which means bread soaked in oil.
You may also like these cinnamon-spiced treats:
Cinnamon Roll French Toast Casserole
Ingredients
- 1 8-oz can original 8-count crescent roll dough
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
- honey for serving
- vegetable oil for frying
Instructions
- Pour vegetable oil to a depth of about 1/2 an inch into a medium to large skillet. Place over medium-high heat to preheat while you complete the next steps.vegetable oil for frying
- Roll out the crescent roll dough and cut it apart at the seams. In an 8x8 baking dish (or something similar), stir together sugar and cinnamon until well combined.1 8-oz can original 8-count crescent roll dough, 1 cup granulated sugar, 2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
- Test oil for readiness by dropping a pinch of flour in. If the flour bubbles, the oil is ready.
- Reduce the temperature to medium and carefully add dough triangles in batches, leaving plenty of room for each to cook without touching. Brown for about a minute or so on the first side and then flip to brown on the other side. Remove to a paper towel-lined plate when both sides are golden brown.
- Dip each fried pastry into the cinnamon sugar mixture on both sides and place on a serving platter. To serve, drizzle with honey.honey for serving
Nutrition
“The happiness of your life depends on the quality of your thoughts.”
~Marcus Aurelius
Looks good
Hey, Christy. I made these today and they were great! So quick and easy. We skipped the honey, and my husband enjoyed a couple with a bit of ice cream on top. So good! Thanks!!
I forgot to mention that I used half sugar and half Splenda and they came out good, in case anyone might like to try that.
I am so glad you liked them!! It is also good to know that they work using half splenda, half sugar, that is going to thrill a lot of people!!
Christy: I had to do something with my sourdough starter today, so I made my usual “Buttery Sourdough Buns” dough and took half of the dough and made your Sopapillas with it. Oh, my!
I generally have a black thumb with deep frying, even with a thermometer, but I used a really big kettle and the recommended 1/4 to 1/2″ of oil and they were better than fine. I ate two. Two large ones, since I am confessing. They are nearly better than a glazed doughnut-and that’s saying something, and better than almost anything at the donut shop.
I need to wrap and freeze the rest in a ziploc rectangular, or I will be in deep, deep trouble. I already have freezer space cleared for the ziploc. They are light, fluffy, not greasy, and I even like the cinnamon sugar on them. I am a glaze person normally-glaze as in Glazed Doughnuts glaze, not chocolate as I can’t have that. I did try the honey and I am totally with Katy Rose on that issue.
Some of them really puffed-perfect for putting a filling in, but I am definitely NOT going there. They are too good as it is without introducing cream cheese, lemon curd, jam, etc. My diet is not thanking you at the moment, but my mouth and stomach certainly are.
I will try the crescent roll version sometime, but this is a nice use for my recipe. I am looking forward to your new cookbook with the homemade recipe in it. In case you are wondering, my sourdough starter isn’t very sour, but that’s another story, and I’m sure it would work with a more sour starter. THANKS!
What a great idea Kathy!!! Thank you so much for sharing with us and I am so glad you liked them!!!
UPDATE: I was a bit bummed because they don’t freeze/reheat as well as my regular doughnuts. They seem a bit soggy, no matter how I reheat them. However, where there’s a will, there’s a relative.
I made up my sourdough dough this week, divided it into baggies, flattened them, and put them in a big ziploc in the freezer. I took one baggie out yesterday.
I had intentions of making that dough into 2 “tacos” with refried beans and the fixings. It worked very well for that and I think pizza, loose meat sandwiches, etc, would too. However, one ended up in the cinnamon sugar. 8) It works much better this way. Instant “Cinnamon Puffs” as I call mine-still no honey on them-they don’t need it.
If you forget to thaw the dough, a monitored, very judicious use of “Defrost” in the microwave will work, and 1 small cast iron skillet and a small amount of oil so there’s no mess, and you can recycle the oil for the next Cinnamon Puff.
I think that you could definitely freeze the crescent dough flat and cook those this way too. That way, it would be easier for single people or couples to do them. It’s WAY too easy to want to scarf the whole batch and be guilty of poor etiquette, as you said 8), and they are really better fresh and hot although the crescent roll version might reheat better. I haven’t tried that yet. I will have to experiment with fresh ones, reheated ones, reheated frozen, and cooked from thawed dough. 8)
Made these today. Definitely a new family favorite. My 13 yr old grandson, Brandon, walked thru the house eating one and going :mm, mm, mmm”.
Oh Christy, this looks so good. What a great idea! I’ll have to make them real soon. Thanks to you and your Shortcut Butter Rolls, I always have crescent rolls in my fridge. My husband loves those and they’re so quick and easy to make. I’m sure we’ll love these sopapillas too. Have a great weekend!
I so love sopapillas and could eat them everyday. If this works (and I am sure it will), my local mexican restaurant will be seeing less of me.
These look fabulous. Also, I can’t seem to find your blue instagram button on your home page anymore. Did it get moved somewhere? Thank you.
Hey! That is odd. I haven’t moved anything around on the homepage in almost a year. I’ll have to see if a plugin needs updating or something. Where was it when last you saw it? There are usually buttons in multiple places on the page.
The instagram button was blue and used to be located on the right side of the screen near your words of the day. I just checked again. I do not see an instagram button anywhere on the homepage. I do enjoy clicking on that every day or couple of days! Please let me know if I am missing it somewhere? Thanks so much Christy!
OH! Okay, you were telling me the right thing but I was thinking of something entirely different so I wasn’t following like I should have. I looked into it and that is an Instagram Widget, it’s a little bit of coding that lets my instagram show up on the site. The makers of the widget changed it recently and I needed to update on my end in order for it to continue to work. I missed that until you mentioned it and am working on it now. Hopefully I’ll get it going again soon! I’d like for that to happen today but I may have to cross my pinky toes 🙂 Thanks so much for letting me know, I’m on it! 😀 😀
I fixed it!!!!! Yay!!
Yeah! Thank you so much, I found the little blue button again. Have a wonderful weekend. I really appreciate you doing that. Fun stuff on your instagram!!!
🙂 Thank you Teresa!! I hope you have a fabulous as well!!