As promised, here is the empanada recipe that I tried! I do have one confession, though. This recipe uses pie crust as the dough rather than making it from scratch. It was quick and easy to work with, but it definitely didn’t taste right. Don’t get me wrong, it was still good… just a little off. Empanadas aren’t that doughy. The crust was too thick and either not soft or crispy enough. 
These would be great for a party appetizer, though. Just label them as miniature meat pies rather than empanadas, deal? 
Even though these empanadas had a huge shortcut by using store bought dough, they still required a lot of work. Each one had to be rolled out, shaped, pinched, and then brushed with an egg wash. How Abuela makes a hundred of these for a party is beyond me. My abuela makes them 1/4 the size of these ones and the dough is from scratch! Talk about passion. 
Out of the twelve that I made, I could use maybe four for photos. The rest burst at the seam (as pictured above), didn’t quite get the right color, or the dough ripped somewhere. That’s a 33.3% success rate. Hey, I have to start somewhere, right? 
The more that I think about it, the more I am in awe of Abuela. She’s amazing. 
The meat mixture tasted right, though. I kept it simple and solely used ground beef, but I’d definitely add some hard boiled eggs and olives in my next batch. 
Do you have a tried and true empanada recipe? I’d love to give it another try! Recipe adapted from The Food Network.
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 pound ground beef steak
- 3/4 cup finely chopped onion
- 2 teaspoons crushed garlic
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1 package store-bought pie crust or your favorite pie crust recipe
- 1 egg
Directions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
- In a medium-sized skillet, heat the olive oil over high heat. Add the beef, onion, garlic, cumin, salt and pepper. Cook for 5 to 7 minutes, stirring constantly so that the ingredients are well blended. Set aside and let the filling cool.
- Roll out the pie crust dough and cut out rounds using a 3-inch cutter.
- Put 1 tablespoon of filling on half of the round. Fold the other half of the round over and using a fork, press down on the edge of the dough making sure it is sealed all the way around.
- Whisk the egg in a small bowl. Brush the top of each empanada with the egg wash.
- Arrange the empanadas on a nonstick sheet pan and bake until golden brown, about 15 minutes. Transfer the empanadas to a serving platter and serve.
