Easy Beef Empanadas Recipe | The Modern Proper (2024)

FAQs

Is it better to fry or bake empanadas? ›

Both cooking methods produce delicious empanadas. If you want a healthier merienda, bake them in the oven. If you're working with less time, frying them is the way to go. Try both and ask your loved ones to vote on their favorite.

When the Spanish hit the New World in the 16th century they shared their empanada recipe with the Aztecs and Maya. The Spanish recipe was made with bread dough, the Mexican recipe with corn masa dough. This is where Mexican empanada history takes over. Each region in Mexico has their own version of the empanada.

Argentine empanadas with beef, cheese, or chicken. Chilean empanadas with beef, cheese, or seafood. Mexican empanadas with spicy beef, potato, or pumpkin.

If you're looking for a shortcut, store-bought pie dough can be used to make empanadas.

While pie dough is designed to be flaky, empanada dough is meant to be more tender. Pastry for empanadas has a higher flour-to-fat ratio, making it sturdy and perfect for wrapping around meaty fillings. Some recipes use lard or an additional egg as the fat source, but our recipe keeps it simple and easy with butter.

Oil that is too cool will make your fried empanadas greasy and sad. I normally use canola oil for fried empanadas because it's flavorless and has a high smoke point. Lard tastes better, but you end up frying very close to lard's smoke point, which is tricky; when oil gets too hot it will taste acrid.

Argentina has become world-famous for their empanadas which are widely available in Buenos Aires and across the country as fast-food options and restaurant staples. As with many recipes, that of empanadas was shared through generations and carried to many other nations.

For instance, Americans call them meat pies, and Jamaicans call them beef patties. At the same time, Indians call them samosas, and people in Latin America or Spain call them pastelillos or pastelitos.

The typical Chilean empanada, the baked version (“empanada de horno”), was stuffed with ground beef, olives, raisins, onions and hard-cooked egg, a mix that was seasoned with paprika and cumin.

What is the most common empanada? ›

The most iconic variety being the oven-baked empanada de pino, which is filled with ground beef, minced onion, half or a quarter of a hard-boiled egg, and a single unpitted black olive. Empanadas in Chile are eaten year-round and are either oven-baked or deep-fried; the latter is a popular street food.

These are a few of the known names: Meat Pies (American) Empanadas (Latin/Spanish) Pastelillos (Latin/Spanish)

Adding a little vinegar to your dough will result in a tender, pliable, and flaky crust because it slightly inhibits gluten development, leading to a crust that is flakier and easier to work with. The great thing about vinegar is that you really only need a little bit of it to help your pie/empanada dough.

Baked empanadas are easier because you can bake a whole ton at once and certainly lighter without all that deep fried goodness but they don't have quite the same flavor as the fried version. So I leave it up to you! Don't skip the egg wash if baking because it is what helps give the empanadas their color!

Enjoy homemade recipes with the delicious and convenient GOYA® Empanada Dough-Puff Pastry for Baking. This flaky round pastry comes ready to make wonderful empanadas, cakes, tarts, and endless recipes. Just fill with your favorite sweet or savory ingredients and bake. Try them! Learn more about GOYA® Empanada Dough.

There is another unique benefit to baking over frying. Since frying, both deep-frying and pan-frying alike, use higher temperatures than baking, there is some loss of important nutrients.

The oxidised oils can cause many possible health problems including damage to the heart, kidney and lungs. Consuming oxidised oils can also lead to the increased risk of high blood pressure and atherosclerosis. As baking requires no addition of oils, it does not cause any oxidation.

The best way to keep fried foods crispy? Just place them on a cooling rack set over a baking sheet. If you're frying multiple batches, throw the whole setup into a low oven to keep everything warm as you keep frying and adding to the rack.

Famous for their flavorful filling, these Argentinean-style empanadas are made with ground beef perfectly seasoned with GOYA® Adobo All-Purpose Seasoning with Pepper, garlic, raisins, onions, eggs, and chopped olives. Wrap the mixture in GOYA® Empanada Dough-Puff Pastry for Baking and bake. They'll be a total hit!