A traditional and handy recipe for Empanadas, you can use it for baking or frying. Enjoy. Empanadas are a staple of Latin cuisine, found in all countries with different fillings.
Tips for some delicious empanadas:
Can I freeze the empanada dough?
I do not recommend it. The dough gets very difficult to work.
Is this dough good for fried empanadas?
Yes, the recipe for the dough is the same. Heat the oil to 350F or 180C, no more, or the empanadas will remain raw inside and very golden on the outside.
What can I do so that the empanadas do not burst in the oven?
It is essential to keep an eye on them and prick them with a toothpick when they inflate so that the steam escapes and does not burst.
Why do you recommend dividing the dough into portions, not rolling half the dough, and cutting the rounds with a plate?
The more times you roll the dough, gather leftovers, and use it again, the more difficult the dough becomes to work with, it loses flexibility, and if it develops a lot of gluten, the dough cooks hard.
Do you have a sweet empanada dough recipe to recommend?
Yes, this one is easy to work with and has a great flavor: Pear Empanadas.
Uses of Empanada Dough in Chile:
The most traditional ones are the Empanadas de Pino (onion, beef, hard-boiled egg, raisins). Many families eat them every Sunday for the big family lunch. Also, Fried Shrimp & Cheese Empanadas are found in coastal towns and restaurants. Kids are usually big fans of the Cheese Empanada.
For more filling recipes, I recommend:
Argentinian Empanadas (Mendocinas)
Homemade Empanada Recipe
A basic empanada dough, perfect for the oven or to fry.
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: 20
Ingredients
• 1 cup whole milk
• 1 cup of hot water
• 1 tablespoon fine salt
• 1 kilogram or 2 pounds of all-purpose flour
• 2 eggs
• 180 grams lard, butter or shortening, melted
Instructions
1. Make a brine with the milk, hot water, and salt, and stir to dissolve the salt completely.
2. Mix the flour and eggs in a large bowl or stand mixer with the paddle attachment, and mix for a minute to incorporate. Add the melted shortening and work a little more. At this point, you will see only crumbs.
3. To form the dough, add the brine with the mixer running on low speed until the dough is soft and flexible. If you need more moisture, keep adding water (1 teaspoon at a time).
4. Separate the dough into 20 portions and cover with a moist cloth. Work each piece individually, rolling until thin, cut in a circle of about 7″ and fill with your choice of filling and bake.
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Category: Savory
- Method: Baked
- Cuisine: Chilean
Nutrition
- Serving Size:
- Calories: 281
- Sugar: 0.8 g
- Sodium: 357.2 mg
- Fat: 10.8 g
- Saturated Fat: 4.3 g
- Carbohydrates: 38.9 g
- Fiber: 1.4 g
- Protein: 6.1 g
Keywords: Empanada dough, Chilean cuisine
It would be helpful to indicate how many empanadas this recipe makes, 1 dozen, 2 dozen ?
Depends on the size, for big (20 cm diameter) makes 12, medium (12 cm) 20.
It clearly states 20.
This is my favorite recipe of the dozens i’ve tried. I use King Arthur bread flour for its higher protein content (closer to Chilean flour) and fresh pork belly lard from a local Mexican grocery. I substitute a little white wine for some of the milk. I have had more reliable results measuring the ingredients with a digital kitchen scale set to metric. Our family prefers the typical Chilean jumbo rectangular empanadas and this recipe yields about a dozen (plus a couple more from scraps) so I make two batches and freeze some.
Thanks, Rick. I developed this recipe using King Arthur so I’m not surprised you have good results. It’s my favorite flour.
Thanks for sharing your tips and coming back to comment.
Can you please explain how you fold/seal the empañadas to look like the ones in the photo?
Hi, here you can see more on the pictures https://www.chileanfoodandgarden.com/chilean-beef-empanadas/
You seal them and then fold the sides. I will take a better step by step pictures of this soon.
Great site and recipes. Two things that I’ve found make a difference in this recipe: use real lard instead of shortening, and replace one of the egg yolks by a full egg. The egg white will add a slightly more brittle feel to the final product. Again, thanks for helping make our food more accessible to folks in English-speaking countries.
Thanks for your comments.
Thank you so much for sharing these recipes!!
I will try many of these when I get brave. This brings me so many memories of my childhood..
Thank you!
Meyling
I’m so glad. Let me know if you have any questions. Welcome to the blog.
Wonderful recipe! Thank you so much for this website. My mother never cooks with measured ingredients, and she doesn’t have the patience to write down her recipes:) I have made these empanadas 4 times now and I love them. I have adjusted the spices as I add more cumin , but otherwise it is similar. I made these yesterday and dropped them off at my parent’s house to stay socially distant during these quarantine times. They were so happy to have them. I look forward to your cookbook!
That is amazing Margot. Welcome to the site and let me know if you have any questions or more successes in the kitchen.
Can you please use something different from shortening. Shortening is like eating poison and it is forbidden in many places in the USA
You can use lard or butter, no problem.
Hola Pilar. Hice la receta para la masa de empanadas y me sobro y la envolvi en plastic wrap y la congele. La saque y me salieron 4 empanadas y tenia congelado pino que me sobro tambien, y salieron fantasticas. Vivo aqui hace como 50 anos y me encanta cocinar y lo que hare la proxima ves es usar la lucuma en polvo para la torta de merengue que a mi familia la enloquece( a mi tambien). Siempre me traia de Chile la Lucuma en pure y no habia tenido ningun problema, pero ahora no viajamos asi que no sabia que hacer. Compre la lucuma en polvo y hice una receta de flan de lucumas y no tiene nada que ver con the real thing. Pero voy a probar tu metodo de usarlo en crema batiendolo. Me gustaria comprar tu libro porque hago mucha comida chilena.
Liliana
Gracias Liliana por comentar. El libro sale el 6 de octubre y tiene 30% recetas del blog y el resto son nuevas. Gracias por el apoyo.
Thank you so much! This was the best recipe for Chilean empanadas!! Quedaron super!! 😋
I’m so glad!!! Viva Chile 🙂
I have tried this recipe and my empanada dough comes out like biscuits. Flaky and crumbles.. help what am I doing wrong?
★★★★★
Are you using the ingredients at the temperatures prescribe? that’s is very important, and no substitution. Also, it’s a lot easier doing it with a machine: bread machine, kitchenaid, even the food processor with the dough attachment, it requires over 20 minutes of needing by hand and vigorous.
Will this recipe work with gluten free all purpose flour?
Most likely, I don’t see why not, but I haven’t tried it. Let me know if you do, please.
Hi Pilar! I’m trying to think of how to save time with this recipe for part of Christmas dinner. Using a regular sized deep dish pie plate, could I use this recipe to bake my empanada dough and filling into a pie instead of individual empanadas? Let me know your thoughts!
P.S. your recipes have brought so much joy to our family!
Yes, you could do that.
Another option is to make the empanadas (the whole process baked them normally and all) now or a week in advance and keep them frozen. Then they go straight from the freeze to the oven to re-heat. They do very well.
I’m so glad the recipe is a hit with your family.