Easy Empanadas

Easy Empanadas? Yes please! Argentina? Spain? Mexico? I have not traced the origin of these delicious little pockets of scrumptiousness, but I do know that my kids love them. This is the easiest recipe too. I usually divide the meat mixture up and make different versions. You can add green chillies, roasted red peppers, chipotles in adobo sauce, pimentos, olives,  red pepper flakes, whatever you like really! I like all the spicy stuff, my kids do not, so this is the perfect way to make everyone happy.

I usually serve this with rice and some black beans.  The sauce in the picture is called “That Green Sauce.”  It’s from our local HEB grocery store and is certainly one of our family’s favorite things. It’s like a creamy guacamole salsa. Sooooo sooooo good. If you want to order some for yourself, Amazon actually carries it…. it’s worth the price. Trust me!

You can find this recipe on our Weekly Meal Plan #3.  You can find all of our Weekly Meal Plans here!

Easy Empanadas

These quick and easy empanadas are so simple to make with the use of pre-made pie dough. My tip is to let the meat mixture cool off a little before spooning it onto the dough so that the dough doesn't get super thin from the heat. You can see in the picture that we didn't do that cause I was in a hurry... and leaky empanadas are what we ended up with! You can make these as big or small as you would like. They'd make the perfect little appetizers if you used a small cookie cutter shape. I wanted bigger ones, so I used a cereal bowl, turned it upside down on the dough and traced my knife around to make larger circles.

Servings 4

Prep Time 30 minutes mins

Cook Time 40 minutes mins

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Ingredients

  

• 1 Pound Lean Ground Beef
• 1 1/2 Tbsp Cumin
• 3 Tsp Chili Powder
• 1 small White Onion, chopped very small, or a scant one cup. Leave out or add separately if your family doesn't like onions.
• Box of refrigerated, rolled, pie dough Usually has 2 crusts. I was able to get six medium sized empanadas out of the two rolls by using my roller to re-roll scraps.
• 1 egg Slightly Beaten (to brush over the crust before baking)
• 2-3 Tbsp Tomato Paste

Optional Ingredients to add into meat

• Grated Cheese - cheddar, pepper jack... whatever you like.
• Green Chillies
• Bell Peppers, diced
• Diced Tomatoes
• Red Pepper Flakes
• Chillies in Adobo Sauce
• Olives
• Corn
• Pimentos
• Diced cooked potatoes
• Cilantro, Chives, any extra spices you like!

Instructions

 

• Preheat your oven to 350F.
• Start by browning the hamburger meat. If you are adding the onions, you can add them as the beef cooks. Same with the bell peppers. Add the cumin and chili powder and cook until meat is done. Turn the heat off and let the meat cool off some.
• If you are separating out the ingredients for individual, use about a tablespoon of olive oil to cook the onions/peppers and then set aside.
• Add the cumin and chili powder.
• Roll the pie dough out. Using a cereal bowl to trace (or a circle shaped cookie cutter depending on how big you want your empanadas), cut out a circular shape.
• Spoon the meat mixture onto the pie dough and add whatever toppings you'd like - more cheese, peppers, spices, olives... whatever floats your empanada boat!
• Fold the dough in half and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
• Brush each empanadas with the slightly beaten egg. I like to sprinkle the empanadas that are a little spicier with some paprika or chili powder to mark them. I also like to sprinkle each with a little sea salt to give an extra little boost of flavor.
• Bake at 350F for about 40 minutes or until the pie dough is nice and golden brown.

Course: Appetizer, Dinner

Cuisine: Mexican, Spanish

Keyword: Empanadas, Ground Beef, Spicy