There’s nothing like a hot, fresh empanada straight out of the oven! And this recipe is everything you dream an empanada to be: golden, buttery, flaky pastry that’s crispy all over. Inside, a juicy beef filling with an extra flavour punch from chorizo, plus the traditional little bits of chopped egg and olives.
Empanadas recipe
Great empanadas are hard to come by here in Sydney. They should be hot and crunchy on the outside, with juicy flavourful fillings on the inside.
But all too often the pastry is dry and lacking in the signature crispiness, and the filling is dry and bland. Why-oh-why are so many empanada fillings so dry?? To protect the crispy pastry, I guess. But a dry filling is a high price to pay!
So, that ranting introduction is a good foray into what to expect from my empanadas!
Author:Nagi Prep: 45 minutes mins Cook: 50 minutes mins Dough chilling + filling cooling: 3 hours hrs Appetizer, Mains Brazilian, South American
Recipe video above. This dough is easy to work with and comes together in seconds using a good processor. While I really encourage you to make the dough, you’ll still get an excellent empanada fix making this with store-bought puff pastry or shortcrust pastry.
Ingredients
Empanada shortcrust pastry:
▢ 2 1/2 cups plain/all-purpose flour
▢ 175g/ 12 tbsp cold unsalted butter , cut into 1 cm / 1/2″ cubes
▢ 1 tsp cooking/kosher salt
▢ 1 egg yolk
▢ 1/2 cup warm milk , full fat (30 sec microwave)
Empanada Filling:
▢ 1 1/2 tbsp olive oil
▢ 1/2 onion , finely chopped
▢ 1 garlic cloves , minced
▢ 300g/10 oz beef mince (ground beef)
▢ 120g/4 oz chorizo
▢ 2 tsp tomato paste
▢ 1 tsp fresh thyme , finely chopped
▢ 1/2 tsp EACH dried oregano, cumin, paprika
▢ 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
▢ 1/4 tsp cooking/kosher salt
▢ 3/4 cup chicken stock/broth , low sodium
▢ 1/2 cup tomato passata (sub US tomato sauce or crushed tomato)
▢ 150g/5oz potato , peeled, cut into 8mm/ 1/3″ cubes (~1 cup)
▢ 1/3 cup green onion , finely sliced
Other:
▢ 2 hard boiled eggs (9 minutes using this method)
▢ 1/4 cup green olives , roughly chopped
▢ 2 eggs , separated, yolks whisked (for sealing and brushing pastry)
Dipping sauces:
▢ Empanada sauce
▢ Other options – ketchup, ketchup + sriracha, pink sauce, taco sauce, salsa dip
