Fried Empanadas Recipe

[Kylee Mccandrew]

Manyrecipes ask you to roll out dough and cut circles with something to make your empanadas, but I find that wasteful and, well, just harder than it is to make your dough, measure out balls about 50 grams, which is a little less than 2 ounces, set those balls in a plastic bag for an hour or two, then using a tortilla press to make perfect rounds every time.

Also keep in mind that while this is an empanada dough for frying, it will work if you decide to bake empanadas instead. You will want to mix a beaten egg with 1 tablespoon of milk or cream and brush that on top of each empanada, so it will get pretty and golden.

I have a wide selection of other fantastic meat pies you might want to try. Some are bready, others use pie crust, some use other doughs. Keep in mind the filling meat can really be whatever you have lying around.

When i did the tortilla press with my cold, rested dough it felt as though the dough was resistant to pressing, and when we made the empanadas you could see/feel it wanting to contract (leading to several broken empanadas, que lastima)

I am truly embarrassed to say I missed an entire paragraph, even though I let them rest closer to an hour and a half. I am thinking for whatever reason, probably the cold garage, they simply needed to rest longer.

First, make the empanada dough. In a mixing bowl, add the melted lard or shortening, flour, and hot water. Mix it until it comes together into a smooth ball of dough, adding a little more flour if necessary (depending on the humidity in your kitchen). Refrigerate the dough for one hour.

Next, make the empanada filling. Heat the oil in a frying pan over medium high heat. Brown the ground beef. Add the onion and garlic and cook until translucent. Next, add the Spanish olives, the chili peppers, the sun-dried tomato, the spices, sugar, and salt.

Next, prep your dough! On a clean, floured work surface, roll the dough into a 1/8-inch layer. Using a round cookie cutter (or cup/bowl) in the size of your choice (you could make teeny tiny finger food empanadas instead of the bigger ones we made!), cut out as many rounds as you can. Peel away the spare dough and transfer back into the refrigerator.

For each empanada, spoon filling into the middle of the dough and top with a generous amount of cheese, ensuring you have enough margin around the edge of the dough to fold it over and seal the empanada. You can also stretch the dough out a bit into an oval shape and put the filling on one half of the dough, to make the folding process easier. Fold in half and crimp the edges, either with a fork, or if you want to be fancy, with a traditional twisting technique. (YouTube is your friend!) Repeat these steps with all of the dough rounds, and repeat the rolling out & cutting process until there is no leftover dough.

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Kaitlin is the younger daughter/sister in The Woks of Life family. Notoriously unable to follow a recipe (usually preferring to freestyle it), Kaitlin's the family artist, knitter, master of all things chili oil/condiments, and trailblazer of creative recipes with familiar flavors.

Well for starters, this is not the first time that we have made them. The last time was with leftover turkey, which was delicious! That being said, empanadas are delicious meat filled pastries that are staple-piece food for most Spanish, South American & Central American cuisine. I fell in love with these, through a friend that is Argentinian. That is was inspired these Fried Pancetta Empanadas. There are, however, many different varieties of empanadas with tons of different ingredients, fillings and styles of cooking. Feel free to find some unique ones that you might enjoy (youtube is your friend).

As for these Fried Pancetta Empanadas, we will start by sauteing up some pancetta with jalapenos, onions and garlic. Once that is nicely browned, we will pull the hot fillings off the fire and mix them with cream cheese, shredded cheese and scallions. Mix that all together, and then we will pull out the Empanada discs. I do not have a recipe for making empanada discs, but you can easily find good unbaked dough for this at your grocery store in the Frozen International Food section.

Placing a large scoop of filling onto a disc, we will fold them over and seal them. You can either use the edge of a fork or the twisting method (again, google/youtube is your friend). Finally, we are ready to start cooking again. Getting the fire hot again, we will preheat some canola oil to 350F. Once the Fried Pancetta Empanadas are ready, we will fry them up in some canola oil at about 350F for only 1-1.5 minutes per side. Once they are golden brown, we will pull them off and bite right into them! Served with a side of Citrus Herb Chimichurri and you are ready to go. Cheers!

Derek is the driving force behind Over the Fire Cooking. He started cooking with live fire in 2016 and decided to start a social media page so his friends and family could follow the journey. Fast forward to today and Over the Fire Cooking has spread across multiple platforms with millions now following Derek's fire cooking journey. He's a southern fellow who enjoys everything from classic BBQ to Central and South American inspired dishes. Whatever he's cooking up, it's guaranteed to be so freakin' delicious!

I previously shared a recipe for baked empanadas, which are delicious and have a distinct flavor. Today, I am going to share how to make the more common type of empanadas in Mexico, which are made with corn masa and fried to perfection.

Empanadas are made by pressing freshly prepared corn masa into a tortilla, filling it, sealing the edges and then frying it until it is golden brown. You can fill it with cheese, beef, chicken, or anything else that you are craving.

Most commonly, you will find cheese empanadas and ground beef empanadas in Mexico. After they are fried, you can top them with fresh lettuce, pico de gallo, salsa, and crema.

The first step to make empanadas is to purchase prepared corn masa. You can usually find this in any Mexican market if you are in the US, and in Mexico of course you can find it just about anywhere. To get it ready for empanadas, you should add 1 cup of flour for each pound of masa, 1 teaspoon of salt, and about 1/2 cup of water. You will add the water a little at a time until reaching the desired consistency as shown in the images below.

The easiest way to make the tortillas is to get a high-quality tortilla press like this one. With the tortilla press, you will be able to make multiple tortillas in short order and have them ready to fill, seal, and fry. I always add plastic wrap or a cut up ziploc bag to the bottom of the tortilla press and the top to prevent the masa from sticking.

After preparing each tortilla, add your desired filling. If you are making cheese empanadas, you will want to use a cheese that melts easily. Some examples are Queso de Oaxaca or Queso Asadero, or even Mozzarella Cheese. I usually make some cheese empanadas and some ground beef empanadas. For my ground beef filling, check out the recipe below.

After the empanadas are prepared, you will heat the oil (vegetable, avocado, or another type of frying oil will work). The ideal temperature is between 350 and 365 degrees fahrenheit. If the oil it too hot, you will risk burning your empanadas, so you will want to avoid that.

The empanadas turned out great. I baked instead of frying and added ricotta to the meat.Why are the dough(s) different from your baked vurses the fried empanadas? I opted for this one because you have the corn masa in the ingredients. I find the taste more authentic.

@Rae, Agreed! I have never found a recipe that uses masa that includes enough water to wet the dough. When a friend in Mexico showed me how she makes her dough, it was clear it is all by feel. She doesn't measure anything, and she starts with a very wet dough (like mashed potatoes consistency) and kneads it as it absorbs water and thickens, gradually adding a bit of masa if needed, until it doesn't stick to her hands. I start with about 2.5-3 cups of water and a rough estimate of 1 cup of flour with 4 cups of masa, a ratio loosely based on observing a kind Mexican vendor who showed my inquisitive daughter how to make empanadas. The vendor also did not measure anything, just eyeballed it.

These fried apple empanadas are the perfect handheld dessert. Fried pie dough pockets filled with warm apple pie filling, dusted with cinnamon sugar and dipped into dulce de leche, what's not to love?!

Lately, I've gotten really into combining American and Latin food. Two things I love are apple pie and my mom's empanadas. So I've decided to combine the two by making fried apple empanadas, using pie crust dough and homemade apple pie filling.

Not a fan of Dulce de leche? You can use caramel sauce or simply omit the dipping sauce and enjoy the fried apple handpies without it. You can also serve these hand pies with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Don't want to fry your empanadas? Opt instead for air fryer empanadas instead. Spray the empanadas with cooking spray or brush them with oil and air fry them at 350 for about 4 minutes on each side or until golden brown.

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!

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