Description
Delicious Brazilian-style beef empanadas with a flaky shortcrust pastry and a flavorful filling of beef, chorizo, potatoes, and aromatic spices. These empanadas are perfect as appetizers or main courses and are baked to a golden, crispy finish. Served hot with a homemade empanada sauce or your favorite dipping sauces, they capture vibrant South American flavors in every bite.
Ingredients
Scale
Empanada shortcrust pastry:
- 2 1/2 cups plain/all-purpose flour
- 175 g cold unsalted butter, cut into 1 cm cubes
- 1 tsp cooking/kosher salt
- 1 egg yolk
- 1/2 cup warm full fat milk
Empanada filling:
- 1 1/2 tbsp olive oil
- 1/2 onion, finely chopped
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- 300 g beef mince (ground beef)
- 120 g chorizo
- 2 tsp tomato paste
- 1 tsp fresh thyme, finely chopped
- 1/2 tsp dried oregano
- 1/2 tsp cumin
- 1/2 tsp paprika
- 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
- 1/4 tsp cooking/kosher salt
- 3/4 cup low sodium chicken stock/broth
- 1/2 cup tomato passata (or US tomato sauce or crushed tomato)
- 150 g potato, peeled and cut into 8 mm cubes (~1 cup)
- 1/3 cup green onion, finely sliced
Other:
- 2 hard boiled eggs (cooked 9 minutes)
- 1/4 cup green olives, roughly chopped
- 2 eggs, separated (yolks whisked for sealing and brushing pastry)
Dipping sauces:
- Empanada sauce
- Ketchup
- Ketchup + sriracha
- Pink sauce
- Taco sauce
- Salsa dip
Instructions
- Blitz chorizo: Roughly chop chorizo into 1.5 cm pieces and blitz with a stick blender until it forms a paste to meld flavors deeply into the filling.
- Sauté aromatics: Heat olive oil in a large non-stick pan over high heat. Cook onion and garlic for 2 minutes until softened and fragrant.
- Cook meat mixture: Add chorizo and cook for 2 minutes, then add beef mince and cook until no longer pink. Stir in tomato paste and cook for 1 minute.
- Add spices and liquids: Add fresh thyme, dried oregano, cumin, paprika, cayenne pepper, salt, chicken stock, tomato passata, and potato cubes. Stir well to combine.
- Simmer filling: Bring to a simmer, then reduce heat to low and cook gently for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally until the potato is tender and filling is juicy but not watery.
- Add green onion and cool: Stir through sliced green onion, transfer filling to a bowl, and cool completely for about 2 hours or until cold and spreadable.
- Make pastry dough: Whisk warm milk with egg yolk. Pulse flour, salt, and cold butter in a food processor until mixture resembles fine crumbs with pea-sized lumps. Add milk-egg mixture and pulse until dough just comes together.
- Chill dough: Turn dough onto a floured surface and form into a smooth 20 cm log. Cut in half and shape into 2 cm thick discs. Wrap in cling film and chill in refrigerator for 30 minutes or overnight for best results.
- Roll and cut rounds: Roll one disc out on a floured surface to 3 mm thickness. Cut 15 cm rounds using a bowl or cutter. Keep cut rounds covered and chilled while working through dough to get 10–11 rounds.
- Preheat oven: Heat oven to 220°C (425°F) or 200°C with fan.
- Fill empanadas: Place 3 tablespoons (55 g) of chilled filling on top half of each pastry round, spreading into a half moon shape and leaving a 1.5 cm border. Sprinkle with chopped green olives and crumbled hard boiled eggs.
- Seal empanadas: Brush edges with egg white and fold pastry over filling, pressing edges to seal tightly. Optionally pleat edges or crimp with a fork to decorate.
- Bake: Place empanadas on two baking trays. Brush tops with whisked egg yolk for shine. Bake 20 minutes until golden brown and crisp on the base.
- Serve: Serve hot with your chosen dipping sauces like homemade empanada sauce or salsa dip for a tasty accompaniment.
Notes
- Blitzing chorizo creates a smooth paste that enhances flavor integration better than chopping.
- For the dough by hand: rub butter into flour with fingers, mix in milk and egg yolk then knead to smooth dough.
- The dough can be made 2 days ahead; if very hard from fridge, let soften 30 minutes before use.
- Empanadas are traditionally large (15 cm rounds) but you can make smaller ones; maintain baking time.
- If filling is too cold and stiff to wrap, allow it to warm slightly or microwave briefly to soften without melting butter in pastry.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 empanada
- Calories: 325 kcal
- Sugar: 2 g
- Sodium: 430 mg
- Fat: 18 g
- Saturated Fat: 7 g
- Unsaturated Fat: 9 g
- Trans Fat: 0 g
- Carbohydrates: 26 g
- Fiber: 2 g
- Protein: 15 g
- Cholesterol: 85 mg
