These beef empanadas take me back to my childhood when I lived in Latin America, which is where I was introduced to these delicious filled turnovers. Empanadas are pastries that can be filled with meat, vegetables, cheese, or even fruit. They are popular in Spain, Portugal and Latin America.
I love filled pastries and dumplings of any kind: samosas, pierogis, empanadas, wontons. This empanada recipe calls for ground beef. I sometimes make the filling a day ahead, to save time.
I have also frozen (unbaked) beef empanadas and baked them directly from the freezer, with great results. And then I reheat them in the oven or air fryer.
On a busy weeknight, these beef empanadas and a side salad make for a satisfying meal. The original recipe for these beef empanadas uses a homemade empanada dough.
I always have the best intentions of making the dough from scratch, but just never seem to get around to it! Store-bought pie crust works just great for the pastry.
Feel free to use your own homemade pie crust recipe or you can buy frozen empanada wrappers.
Beef Empanadas
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- ⅓ cup onion diced
- 1 bell pepper chopped
- 2 teaspoon minced garlic
- ½ lb ground beef
- 2 tablespoon raisins
- 1 tablespoon paprika
- 1 teaspoon cumin powder
- ¾ teaspoon kosher salt
- 4 tablespoon tomato paste
- 1 tablespoon fresh parsley
- 2 tablespoon chopped green olives
- ⅔ cup diced tomatoes (canned) drained
- 1 jalapeno pepper seeded and chopped (or to taste)
- ½ cup shredded cheddar cheese or Mexican blend cheese
- 4 refrigerated pie crusts
- 1 egg beaten
Instructions
- Heat oil in a large non-stick skillet and saute onions over medium heat until softened, about 5 to 7 minutes.
- Add bell pepper and cook for another 5 minutes.
- Add garlic and beef and cook, stirring with a wooden spoon, until beef is browned.
- Add raisins, paprika, cumin, and salt, and stir until fragrant, about 30 seconds.
- Add tomato paste, parsley, olives, diced tomatoes and jalapenos and cook for 5 minutes, stirring frequently.
- Remove from heat and stir in cheese. Allow filling to cool.
- Heat oven to 375 degrees F and line a couple of baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Unroll 1 pie crust onto a lightly floured surface.
- Roll into a 15-inch circle.
- Cut into 4-inch circles.
- Brush circle lightly with beaten egg.
- Place a rounded tablespoon of meat mixture in the center of circle.
- Fold circle in half and seal edges with a fork.
- Place empanada on a baking sheet and brush top with beaten egg.
- Repeat procedure with remaining circles (about 24 to 30 circles), re-rolling dough scraps as needed.
- Bake until golden brown, about 30 minutes.
Nutrition
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Katrina Christensen
I’ve started making empanada’s a few months ago because they’re so darn good. I’ve been using a Goya recipe as when I was looking for one ot was rated by 117 people at a 4.9. Today I came across your recipe when I was looking up if I could freeze leftovers and I got my answer from you, so Thank you. I then figured I’d take a look on what your recipe included in the beef ones (although I make both). I read you had said that you use Goya discs sometimes and also Trader Joe’s discs. You stated that Goya discs are smaller and TJ’s are large. I figured I’d let you know that they (Goya) actually have 2 sizes, small and large. I probably use half of what you use for a beef filling plus other ingredients, but I never thought to put cheese in them darn it. Cheese makes everything good.
Paint the Kitchen Red
Katrina, thank you for the tip!
grace
Where are the nutrient values??
Paint the Kitchen Red
Grace, I’m sorry but that recipe was one of the first I posted on my blog. Before I started entering nutritional values. I’ve updated the recipe to include them now. Hope that helps.
Lindsay
Great time-saving tips. These are a must!