Try this Beef Empanadas recipe, or contribute your own.
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 2 tablespoons distilled white vinegar
- 3/4 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1/2 medium onion finely chopped
- 2 hard-boiled large eggs chopped into bits
- 1 garlic clove finely chopped
- 3/4 pound ground beef chuck
- 2 tablespoons raisins (optional)
- 1 1/2 tablespoons chopped pimiento-stuffed olives
- 1 (14-ounce) can whole tomatoes in juice drained, reserving 2 tablespoons juice, and chopped
- 4 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (i used 1 1/2 cups wh
- 3 teaspoons salt
- 2 sticks (1 cup or 8 ounces) cold unsalted butter cut into 1/2-inch cubes
- 2/3 cup ice water
- 1 egg beaten with 2 teaspoons water (if baking)
- Carbohydrate 2.97963793113552 g
- Cholesterol 89.777675725 mg
- Fat 6.25207971884699 g
- Fiber 0.176729167678639 g
- Protein 7.51224176550396 g
- Saturated Fat 2.22482385985814 g
- Serving Size 1 1 Serving (65g)
- Sodium 43.3152280343215 mg
- Sugar 2.80290876345688 g
- Trans Fat 0.911965178152867 g
- Calories 99 calories
Step-by-step
- Sift flour with salt into a large bowl and blend in butter with your fingertips or a pastry blender until mixture resembles coarse meal with some (roughly pea-size) butter lumps. Beat together egg, water, and vinegar in a small bowl with a fork. Add to flour mixture, stirring with fork until just incorporated. (Mixture will look shaggy.) Turn out mixture onto a lightly floured surface and gather together, then knead gently with heel of your hand once or twice, just enough to bring dough together. Form dough into two flat rectangles and chill them, each wrapped in plastic wrap, at least 1 hour. Dough can be chilled up to 6 hours total.
- Cook onion in olive oil in a heavy medium skillet over medium heat, stirring frequently, until softened. Add garlic, cumin, and oregano and cook, stirring, 1 minute. Stir in beef and cook, breaking up lumps with a fork, until no longer pink, about 4 minutes.
- Add raisins, olives, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon pepper, and tomatoes with reserved juice, then cook, stirring occasionally, until liquid is reduced but mixture is still moist, about 5 minutes. Stir in hard boiled egg and spread on a plate to cool.
- Lay a large sheet of plastic wrap on a dampened work surface (to help keep plastic in place), then roll out an empanada disk on plastic wrap to measure about 6 inches. Place 3 tablespoons meat mixture on disk. Moisten edges of disk with water and fold over to form a semicircle, then crimp with a fork. Make more empanadas in same manner.
- Put oven racks in upper and lower thirds of oven and preheat oven to 400F.
- Lightly brush empanadas with some of egg wash and bake in upper and lower thirds of oven, switching position of sheets halfway through baking, until golden, about 25 minutes. Transfer empanadas to a rack to cool at least 5 minutes.
- Serve warm or at room temperature.
Cold unsalted butter is the functional driver of this pastry, requiring careful physical integration to ensure flakiness without toughness. When you cut the fat into the unbleached all-purpose flour until it resembles coarse meal with pea-size lumps, those solid pockets of butter melt during baking at 400°F, releasing steam that separates the surrounding starch layers into distinct, delicate sheets. Distilled white vinegar in the liquid component acts as a structural deterrent against gluten development, preventing the dough from becoming chewy while you knead it gently on a lightly floured surface.
Sequencing the Filling and Dough
Dividing the workflow into distinct thermal phases prevents structural failure in the final pastry. Chill the wrapped dough rectangles for at least one hour to allow the gluten network to relax and the melted fat to resolidify before rolling. Simultaneously, spread the cooked ground beef chuck filling on a plate to cool entirely before assembly; wrapping hot filling inside raw pastry will melt the butter prematurely and create steam pockets that rupture the crimped edges. Rolling the disks on plastic wrap prevents sticking without requiring excess flour that would dry out the dough.
- If the dough cracks while rolling, let it temper at room temperature for five minutes until pliable enough to shape.
- Bake until golden for roughly 25 minutes, rotating upper and lower baking sheets halfway through to ensure even heat distribution.
- Store unbaked assembled empanadas in the refrigerator for up to six hours before baking.
