Sope and gordita are popular Mexican street foods.

They are made from masa; a dough made from ground nixtamalized corn which can also be used to make tortilla.

These handmade street foods are much thicker that tortilla and contain other ingredients.

Sope and gorditas are quite similar, in addition to fried masa, they also contain a variety of meats, vegetables, and other ingredients which are mainly used as fillings and toppings.

In this post, we talk about the differences between sope and gorditas.

Sope vs gordita

Gordita and sope both consist of a thick, flat base that is made from fried masa.

In gordita, a pocket is made in the fried masa for stuffing a variety of ingredients while the masa base is topped with meats, vegetables and other foods in sope.

The sides of the fried masa in sope are also pinched so that the base would be able to support the toppings.

What is sope?

Sope is a traditional Mexican dish that can be found all over Mexico and in some central American countries

It is a street food that looks like tortilla; however, sope is thicker than tortilla.

The meal consists of two parts; a thick flat base with pinched sides that is made from masa, and a topping.

The topping in sope could include different ingredients such as chicken, beef, refried beans, vegetables, salsa and cheese.

There are many versions of this dish, and a mixture of different ingredients could be used as topping to make sopes with unique flavors.

There are also variations in this street food from one region to another.

To make sope, masa is molded into thick flat cakes with pinched sides to provide a large surface and to hold the ingredients used as topping in place.

The masa cakes are fried in a pan until the outsides are cooked properly, and then the various toppings are added to the dish.

What is gordita?

Gordita is a stuffed corn cake.

The term gordita means ‘chubby or fat’ in Spanish. It is a tasty street food that is popular in Mexico.

Gordita is a street food that made using masa. It is also similar to tortilla but is thicker.

Variants of this dish can also be made with wheat flour.

Gordita is commonly stuffed with chicharron; chicharron is stewed pork rind.

There are also gorditas that are stuffed with stewed beef or stewed chicken.

The masa dough is molded into thick, flat shape; and then it can be fried or baked. Some of the stuffing may also be mixed into the dough while it is being made.

Gordita is traditionally cooked on a comal. It is fried until it is golden and crispy on the exterior,  and then a slit is made through the fried dough to create a pocket which can be stuffed with a variety of ingredients.

After cooking the corn dough, the gordita is stuffed with a mixture of different ingredients.

It could be stuffed with cheese, potatoes, beans, guacamole, salad, it could also be filled with eggs and salsa

There are so many variations of gordita based on the mixture of ingredients in the stuffing that is used.

In conclusion

Finely ground nixtamalized corn kernels are used in a variety of foods in Mexican cuisine.

Dry corn kernels are cooked in an alkali solution in a process known as nixtamalization. The softened corn kernels are then ground until they form a dough known as masa.

The traditional recipes for sope and gordita are made using freshly made masa, however, masa could be ground again and dehydrated to a powdered form known as masa harina which is widely available in grocery stores and could also be used to make these foods.