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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Amy
I tried this recipe tonight and it was so good! I dialed back the Chipotle because I was planning to feed it to my preschoolers, but it really wasn't that spicy so I will probably do it as advised next time, I think they can handle it! 😊
The crust, I followed every instruction exactly, and omg it was so delightful and flaky!! Thank you so much for this recipe, and I will definitely be using the crust recipe for other recipes too.
Patrick
Thank much for your note Amy! Now craving these empanadas 🙂
Natalie Kelly
Hi, i am medically required to eat gluten free. Has anyone tried or provided feedback on a gf version? Not sure if I’d need to add anything different besides gf flour to keet it flaky & yummy. Thanks
Patrick
Hi Natalie! I'm hoping someone can chime in with a trip report for you on this as I haven't tried these empanadas with gluten free flour yet. Cheers.
Becky
I’ve made these twice so far and they are absolutely divine!! They will definitely be a regular event in our household. My whole family loves them! Thank you for sharing!
Patrick
Thanks Becky, so glad they were a hit with the fam!
Wayne
For the flaky empanada dough can I substitute veg shortening like Crisco instead of the butter?
Thanks
Patrick
Hey Wayne, yeah I think you could but to be honest I've never tried this recipe with shortening and I usually stay away from products with hydrogenated oils. You would prob get a downgrade in flavor though because, well, butter is awesome. If using shortening I would be tempted to add a small amount of butter just for flavor purposes. Cheers.
Bethany
Hi! Did you use a pound of ground beef or half a pound? The original recipe that you referenced called for half a pound but on your ingredients list you listed stated a full pound.
Patrick
Hi Bethany! I used a full pound for the empanadas -- this is a double batch of the ground beef mixture from the tacos recipe that I mentioned.
Note that I doubled most everything except the onion and that probably looks a little confusing at first. I was concerned about the onion taking up too much space inside the empanadas so I stuck with using 1/2 onion.
The other thing to note is that I use pure chili powder, so if you are using store-bought chili powder you probably won't want to use as much as it usually comes loaded with lots of additional ingredients. (See here for more chili powder info.)
Okay I hope that helps. I'm a huge fan of that ground beef mixture so let me know if you have any additional questions about it. Cheers.
Leslie
Just made these! This dough is awesome, trying to think of what else I can make it for! These were great, had to use a little less chipotle peppers as my husband does not really do spice, but they were still amazing. I used Monterey jack cheese and pepper jack cheese and I used salsa Verde salsa to dip them in while I ate and that was delicious. Thanks for sharing!
Patrick
Thanks Leslie, so glad they were a hit!
Alison
A good tip with pastry is to freeze the butter then grate into the flour. You handle it less and the grated butter gives a nice rough flaky pastry.
Jen
I recently made a less spicy version of this recipe. The dough came out great but the filling was somewhat dry. When I had empanadas before, made by someone who obviously knew how to made empanadas, the filling was much more moist. I even added a bit more water than the recipe called for. How would I make them more juicy?
Patrick
Hi Jen thanks much for your note -- it's super helpful for peeps to hear your feedback!
If the fat content of the filling is low, I could see where it might dry out a little bit. Did you by chance drain all the fat when making the beef mixture? I usually leave quite a bit of fat in but mostly for flavor, but it's also a good reminder for me that this is probably helping the filling retain some moisture too.
I probably use more fat than most people so if you liked the flavor of the beef mixture it might be worth experimenting with a fattier cut of meat (or draining off less fat) and seeing how much this affects the final product.
Of course, a final workaround is to dip the empanadas into a goopy sauce before eating so keep that in mind even though it's not a permanent fix.
Hope that helps a bit. Let me know how it goes!
P.S. I typically use chunks of cheese, but shredding the cheese and surrounding the beef filling with the cheese (and fat) might help it retain some moisture, but I haven't tried that recently with this recipe.
Teena
Hello I am making a very mild version but I don’t want to lose the flavor the chipotle pepper just the heat. How much of the peppers should I use or just the adobo sauce?
Patrick
Hi Teena! I would use a single chipotle plus 1 tablespoon of the adobo sauce. This should give you some chipotle flavor without too much heat. Good luck!
Ellie
Hello, I don’t know if you will answer, but I was wondering if you were the one who created this recipe, and if not, what area of the world is it from and if you did make it, is there a region that it is inspired from? I am doing a project for my Spanish class and I made these.
Patrick
Hi Ellie, thanks for getting in touch! I put together this recipe but I'm not sure I can be much help for your project as it isn't necessarily inspired from a particular region. But here are the details...
My first encounter with empanadas was down in Cozumel. Once I was back in the States I tried to recreate them using some home-rendered lard as the fat but somehow they didn't taste "right" to me so I've started using a more common butter-based recipe for the dough (region of inspiration: Epicurious!)
The spicy beef mixture is a recipe I've been fiddling with whenever I get the craving for some hardshell beef tacos. It's a fiery, chipotle-based recipe and it's a perfect fit for these empanadas -- see here for recipe.
I hope that helps a bit, and more importantly I hope they tasted good to you! Feel free to get in touch if you have any other questions. Cheers.
Patrick