Casa Sanchez papusas
When I was in Costco last week I noticed a new product in the prepared food section: Casa Sanchez pupusas. A pupusa is a thick, closed tortilla made of masa that’s stuffed with various things, like beans, meat and/or cheese. There are 10 griddle-ready cheese papusas shrink-wrapped in the package available at Costco.
According to most sources, Pupusas originated in El Savador, but are popular across Latin America, with numerous variants. If you want to claim that pupusas originated in another country, I won’t be suckered into a fight. The memory of something I wrote about the history of the chile pepper and its resulting warfare is still fresh in my memory.
I like some of the Casa Sanchez salsas, so I thought I’d give these a try, particularly because decent non-homemade pupusas are not easy to come by.
They’re good, but don’t microwave them. Wipe a cast iron pan or griddle with a little canola oil and dry-fry the pupusas on each side until the cheese melts and they have some texture. I also made them successfully on my baking stone in a hot convection oven. Don’t overcook or the cheese will bake out.
I like the fact that they are plain, and work well as a quick side to something like chili or a salad; we even had them for breakfast one day. Casa Sanchez is generous with the mild, white melting cheese (Cotilla), and the masa is slightly salty.
If you don’t have access to homemade cheese pupusas, these will suit your needs at a cost of $9.99.
I tried these and they are very tasty indeed! But is the calorie count they give accurate? The nutritional information on the packet says they’re only 100 calories each! I have a hard time believing that, but as a calorie counter, I really need to know…..
I was also questioning the calorie count for these. I think there’s 100 calories of cheese alone in one of the pupusas. I’m guessing something more like 200 calories a piece at least but that is just a guess.
I LOVE these pupusas. However, I am almost certain that their caloric content is VERY inaccurate on the label. I’ve done a little research, and I think they’re at least 250ish calories each.
I’m trying to verify the calorie count with the company. I know what you mean, though – they are too good to be so low in calories!
They just updated the nutritional information on the package: 205 calories and 11 grams of fat. I knew the 110 calories was too good to be true….
Thanks! My calls to the company went nowhere! Really nice people, but I could never get the right person.
Has anyone noticed that along with having almost twice the calories that they previously were said to contain, that they are also about a third smaller than they used to be? Double the calories, a third smaller, and still the same price!? Of course I still buy them though, cuz they’re so darn yummy and convenient :/ The larger ones must have had at least 300 calories in them.
I have not purchased them recently, but I’ll check them out the next time I’m at Costco. It’s very hard to find a decent pupusa that’s not homemade, so I agree with you about continuing to buy them!
I’ve been buying these since Feb 2010. Today they had none… That’s the thing about Costco, don’t get attached to anything at Costco, because it may not be there next week.
I know what you mean. Sometimes, though, things go away for a short time. I don’t think Casa Sanchez is a huge operation, so maybe they were just unable to produce enough to meet demand. I hate it when Costco has something you love, and they “tease” you with it for a time and then it goes away for a long time or forever. I have this issue with smoked whitefish. I lament about this on the blog a couple times a year!!! Honestly, though, it is hard to find a good packaged pupusa. Until Costco carried these, I had to get extra from the take-out place near me to toss in the freezer.