Yes, the spicy beef mixture combined with some gooey cheese makes these empanadas total keepers. And yes, adding a dipping sauce will take them into a culinary stratosphere.
But first things first...
The unsung hero of these empanadas is the dough. A few simple tricks will ensure that you are always pulling out a tray full of tender, flaky empanadas. Spend a few minutes reading this post and you'll be able to bypass tough, dense empanadas and head straight for the flaky, melt-in-your-mouth version.
Beef and Cheese Empanadas Recipe
It can be so discouraging to take a bite of a freshly baked empanada and instead of sheer delight your first reaction is...Wait, what happened? They look good, they smell good, but why are they so dense and tough?
It turns out that pastry dough is a finicky bird and I've learned the hard way on that one. Here's a summary of the mistakes I've made in past versions:
Disintegrating all the fat into the flour. Kneading the dough as if it were bread dough. Using warm ingredients instead of cold ingredients, i.e. cold butter and cold water. Not chilling the dough before rolling it out because you're hungry 🙂
In other words, you have total permission to leave the pastry dough unkept and scatterbrained as long as you are chilling it before use.
The Joy of Cooking says it with a bit more eloquence:
Handle your dough lightly, for two reasons: to incorporate as much air as possible and to inhibit the development of gluten. The aim here is a flaky and tender crust.....Chilling pastry dough after mixing tenderizes it, keeps it from shrinking during baking and makes it easier to handle. Joy of Cooking, pp. 588-89.
So please don't skimp on chilling your dough before rolling it out, it's the key to creating layers of flaky, tender goodness.
One other thing I want to mention before we build a batch. You'll occasionally see empanadas made with lard, but when I tried that it didn't taste familiar to me. I think I was trying to recreate some empanadas I would get from a restaurant in Cozumel so eventually I started over with a butter-based version that is popular on Epicurious. It's a good starting recipe to help get familiar with the basics of empanadas so we'll be adapting that here today. I may go back to using some homemade lard at some point, or combining lard and butter, but this version will use only butter.
Start by mixing 1.5 teaspoons of salt into 3 1/4 cups of flour. Dice up 6 oz. of butter (1.5 sticks) into small 1/2" chunks and plop them into the flour. You can use a mixer here but I use my hands. Use your fingers to mix it in just enough to make the mixture crumbly with a few chunks of butter laying about. No need to worry about disintegrating all of the butter into the flour, leave it a bit shaggy.
In a bowl, combine 2 small eggs, 1.5 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar (or white vinegar), and 1/2 cup of ice cold water. Add this mixture to the flour and use a fork or spatula to roughly combine.
Dump onto a work surface but resist the temptation to knead! Just combine it enough to form a cohesive ball.
Admit it, you are tempted to knead that together 🙂
Cover with plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for at least two hours. You could also chill it overnight and use the next day.
This gives you plenty of time to work on the fillings. We're using a fiery beef mixture that we also use in our Hardshell Beef Tacos. It has real kick but you can always dial back on the chipotles if you want a milder version. (You could also use Mexican Picadillo as a filling.)
I'll put instructions for this in the recipe box below, but basically you are cooking off onion with the ground beef and adding garlic, chipotles, adobo sauce, chili powder, cumin, black pepper, and salt. It has great flavor and is a natural fit for these empanadas so it's definitely worth trying.
For cheese we are using Monterey Jack, but Mozzarella is a good option too. One thing to note about the cheese... Cutting the cheese into chunks, as opposed to grating, will help the cheese flavor stand out more inside the piping hot empanadas.
Okay, your empanada dough is chilled and it's time to roll it out. Large work surfaces where you can roll out half the dough at a time will work best, but rolling out 1/4 of the dough at a time on a big cutting board works too. Give it a light sprinkling of flour and gently flatten the dough down to 1/4" or less using a rolling pin.
You've got quite a bit of leeway on the size of your empanadas. You can use a biscuit cutter but I just grab whatever is laying around. A four inch diameter bowl will give you a medium-sized empanada with plenty of room for filling.
Add 1-2 Tablespoons of the beef mixture and plenty of cheese.
I find it easiest to pull up both sides of the dough and let gravity hold the fillings in place as you pinch the empanada shut using your fingers.
Then you can use the tip of a fork to seal the edges further. This will ensure that you don't get any leaks while they bake.
This batch made about 16 medium-sized empanadas.
Brush them with some eggwash and bake in a 400F oven for 20-25 minutes or until they are golden brown. This batch took the full 25 minutes.
Let cool for a couple minutes and then take a bite. If you bypassed all of my mistakes then you are left with a tender, flaky empanada with incredible flavor.
Take a bite. Tender, flaky goodness?
You can gobble these up as is or serve with a dipping sauce. There's an Argentinian chimichurri sauce that was served with the empanadas I would get in Cozumel and I'm hoping to put up a recipe for that in the coming weeks. (Recipe here.)
Remember, the dough is the key! If for any reason your first batch doesn't fulfill your expectations then send me an email or ask any questions in the comments section below. Once you've got the basics of the dough down you'll quickly move onto thinking about the endless possibilities you've got to fill up these beauties.
Buen Provecho.
Beef and Cheese Empanadas
Ingredients
- 3 1/4 cups all purpose flour
- 6 oz. butter (1.5 sticks)
- 1.5 teaspoons salt
- 2 small eggs
- 1/2 cup ice cold water
- 1.5 tablespoon apple cider vinegar (or white vinegar)
- 1 cup Monterey Jack cheese (or Mozzarella)
- 1 egg (for the eggwash)
For the beef mixture:
- 1 lb. ground beef
- 1/2 onion
- 2 cloves garlic
- 2-3 chipotles in adobo
- 1 tablespoon adobo sauce
- 1-2 tablespoons chili powder
- 1/2 teaspoon cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- freshly cracked black pepper
- splash of water
Instructions
- Start by mixing 1.5 teaspoons of salt into 3 1/4 cups of flour. Dice up 6 oz. of butter (1.5 sticks) into small 1/2" chunks and plop them into the flour. Use your fingers to disintegrate some of the butter into the mixture but don't worry about getting all of the butter dissolved. Mix it in just enough to make the mixture crumbly with a few chunks of butter laying about.
- In a bowl, combine 2 small eggs, 1.5 tablespoons vinegar, and 1/2 cup ice cold water. Add this mixture to the flour and use a fork or spatula to roughly combine.
- Dump onto a work surface but resist the temptation to knead! Just combine it enough to form a cohesive ball. Cover with plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for at least two hours.
- For the beef mixture, saute 1/2 onion in a dollop of oil over medium-high heat for a few minutes. Add ground beef and cook until browned. Drain any fat if you want. Add 2 cloves minced garlic and saute briefly. Add 2-3 minced chipotles, 1 Tablespoon adobo sauce, 1-2 Tablespoons chili powder (I used New Mexican), 1/2 teaspoon cumin, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and freshly cracked pepper. Add a splash of water and let simmer over medium heat, stirring well.
- Once the dough has been chilled you can roll it out. If using a cutting board roll out 1/4 of the dough at a time. Sprinkle your work surface and rolling pin with flour before starting. Roll the dough down to 1/4" thickness or less.
- Use a biscuit cutter or bowl to cut out circles of empanada dough. Fill each round with 1-2 Tablespoons of beef mixture and plenty of cheese chunks. Lift both edges of the round and seal the edges using your fingers. Use a fork to seal the edges further.
- For the eggwash, crack an egg in a bowl, add a splash of water and whisk. Brush the empanadas with the eggwash.
- Bake at 400F for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. Let cool for a few minutes before serving.
Notes
You could also try our latest empanada combo: Spicy Chicken and Pickled Jalapeno Empanadas.
And in a pinch you can always use some homemade taco seasoning for the ground beef.
Still hungry?!
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Joe
Could I make these and just freeze some of them to bake for later you think?
Patrick
Hey Joe! Although I never freeze these, I think you should be able to build them and freeze just before baking. Then if you want to bake them directly from the freezer just add a few minutes to the total baking time. Hope that helps a bit. Cheers.
Joe
It does thank you.
Almira
What if i don't have an oven, can i deep fry it?
Patrick
Hi Almira! Although I always bake these empanadas they should do quite well when fried.
jsm1269
How would you suggest to reheat them the next day?
Patrick
Hmmm after reluctantly admitting that they aren't going to be nearly as good as fresh out of the oven, I would probably put them back in the oven to reheat and keep a close eye on them. I think nuking them will make them too tough. Hope that helps a bit.
Nate
Just made these with a couple small changes, mainly because i suspected the heat might be a bit much for my kids. I only used 1 chipotle chili and replaced the other with about a half teaspoon of chipotle chili powder I had on hand. Also used a tad less regular chili powder. The taste of the beef fill was great! I'm sure it's even better with the heat turned all the way up. The crust worked out great too. Only change I would suggest is to actually use shredded cheese, and something a bit gooier. The Monterrey Jack tastes good, but it didnt spread well throughout the fill. As a result, some of the bites were a bit drier than I'd hoped. All in all, a great start for someone who likes to tweak to their own tastes!
Patrick
Awesome, thanks much for your notes Nate! So glad they worked out for you and that you were able to steer clear of the empanada obstacles I ran into.
Using some cheese that is a bit more gooey is a great suggestion. Mozzarella would probably work pretty well, and I would think Oaxaca cheese would work well too. I'm going to mention that in the recipe box so people know there are lots of good cheese choices.
Thanks again for the feedback Nate, it's very helpful to me. Cheers.
Nate
You're quite welcome. Thank you for sharing the recipe.
Is mozzarella used much in Mexican dishes? I was thinking of just using oneof those pre packaged Mexican cheese blends next time (Monterey Jack, mild cheddar, queso quesadilla, and asadero seem to be the norm). Not sure if that could be considered "authentic", but mozzarella doesn't seem like a natural fit to me. I'll definitely consider Oaxaca for next time as well.
Patrick
Hey Nate, it's kinda like....I'm in the habit of using Jack and Mozzarella in these recipes because most people don't have easy access to Mexican cheeses (including me). But after living in Cozumel for a couple years and trying out all sorts of local cheeses, I don't think you lose anything at all by substituting Jack and Mozzarella in the vast majority of Mexican recipes.
Sure, maybe there are some cases where traditional Mexican cheeses would make or break the dish (Queso Fundido) but more often than not it's the sauce and other flavors that make or break the dish, and the cheese is just in a supporting role.
But I know what you mean about Mozzarella not feeling like a natural fit, maybe cuz mozzarella = pizza. It might be worth trying out though. The other thing worth noting is that the pre-packaged cheese blends sometimes use anti-caking agents to prevent clumping. Probably not a huge issue in the big picture but I tend to stay away from them for that reason. Cheers.
Kim
OMG delicious!! I wish I hadn't left the dough rolled out in the fridge overnight, as some of it stuck to the wax paper. Nice light crispy texture though. Thank you for sharing the recipe!
Patrick
Thanks for your note Kim! Glad they turned out well for you 🙂
Zora
They look delicious! Can you freeze these? And if so before or after cooking?
Patrick
Thanks Zora! I would try freezing them before you bake them but have to admit I haven't tried that with this dough recipe yet. Be sure to add in a few extra minutes cooking time if you are baking them directly from the freezer. Let me know how it goes 🙂
Diane
Can these be frozen?
Patrick
Hi Diane! I haven't tried freezing with this dough recipe but I think it would work quite well. I would freeze them after building them but before you bake them, and then bake them directly from the freezer and add a few minutes to the total bake time. Let me know if you try it 🙂
Patrick
savor the best---Pat
Ohh, those look so good, I want! Great photos 🙂
Patrick
Thanks Pat! Hope you enjoy them 🙂
Vinny @ Dream Kitchen Solutions
The thing I like about Mexican dishes are the stuffing's-the whole mixture of all the ingredients that tickles to the nerves. Will definitely try making it at home. Thanks for sharing Patrick!
Patrick
Thanks Vinny, hope they treat you well!
Hank
Awesome, looks delicious
Patrick
Cheers Hank 🙂