How to Make Empanadas
Loosely translated, the word "empanadas" means "wrapped in bread." And what you wrap in that bread is up to you. From savory meat and veggies to sweet fruits and nuts, there's no limit to the possible fillings.Fun fact: Empanadas are especially popular in Latin America, though they are thought to have originated somewhere near Galicia, Spain, where they still host an annual empanada festival.
Empanadas are often cooked by frying, but the baked version below means less hassle, less mess, and a healthier finished product.
Transcript
-Hey everyone, I'm Judith with recipe.com. Today, I'm gonna be
showing you how to make Southwest Beef Empanadas, a really
delicious snack or appetizer at any party. So, what you
gonna need for this is 1 pound of ground beef,
4-1/2 cups of pancake mix, 2/3 cup of water,
1 cup of boiling water, 1 package of taco seasoning,
1 tablespoon of dried minced onion, 1 can of sliced
carrots, and 1 cup of refrigerated hash brown. We preheated
our oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit, but let first of
all get or skillet ingredients going. So, we got a
large skillet here. We're gonna put it to a medium
heat, and we just wanna put in our ground beef
to get it nice and brown.
So, we'll just break that apart a little, and we'll
brown the beef for about 5 to 7 minutes. Well,
our ground beef is brown nicely, cook all they way
through. So, now it's time to add in some of
our other ingredients. So, our 2/3 cup of water goes
in there, not the boiling water. Our taco seasoning also
goes in and before we add in all these ingredients,
don't forget to drain any excess fat, which we did
before.
Our potatoes and veggies go in there. Throw the carrots
in there too. It's gonna give them nice color and
just a really great filling for empanadas and our dried
onion of course. So, we gonna give that a good
stir, got everything together, and we're gonna reduced this heat
to medium, and we're gonna cook for another 5 minutes.
So, now it's time to make our dough, which is
gonna be the outside of our empanada. Now, for all
those who don't know what an empanada is,
it's basically a pastry or a dough, which is folded
in half with a filling inside, and the filling can
vary. Obviously here, we're doing a nice beef and vegetable
filling, but they can vary to eggs, ham, and cheese,
depending on which country you are in actually. They really
do vary. They use a lot in Latin America or
in southern Europe, and today, we're making a creole cuisine
kind of empanada, a southwestern one. So, we're gonna sprinkle
some of our pancake mix onto the board so it's
gonna help us when we knead it,
and we're gonna put the rest into a large bowl
with our boiling water. So, this mix up a little
bit, but we're gonna use our hands in as second
and to form a nice dough. We got a nice
consistency. This is actually one of my favorite, favorite snacks
to eat. Contrary to the accent that you hear, I
am half Latin, and these are really staple
in the Latin diet, in South America, particularly Paraguay where
I'm from and Argentina too. They ate it almost daily
as a snack or as an appetizer just to keep
them going throughout the day. So, that dough is pouring,
so we're just gonna transfer it onto our board, and
we're just gonna knead it with our hands about 2
times just to get all formed. So, once that is
done, we want to get about 6 folds from this
dough,
so you can just take, break it up, take it
with your hands, we're just gonna form our dough into
6 balls. So, we have the balls prepared. We wanna
roll this out so it gets nice and flat about
7 inches length way. So, we got a rolling pin
or a nice bottle of wine as we do, and
we'll just gonna roll it flat.
So, now, our dough is flattened out, it's time to
put in our filling. So, our meat is brown nicely.
Our veggies are nice and tender, so we can just
put them in there in the middle. Mix sure not
overpack your empanada. You just want just small amount, the
right size filling, so our empanada doesn't burst when it's
expanding in the oven. Now, with some water, you can
just get your fingertips and spread
around the edges of your dough and that's gonna help
our empanada to seal nicely. So, and then we're just
gonna fold, so as delicately as you can, have a
nice fold in there. You can indent it a little
bit with your fingers. There we go. That is looking
good. What I like to do is get your fork,
make a nice pretty pattern
around the edge like so. We're just gonna trim the
edges as well now just to make it a little
bit more aesthetically beautiful. There we go, and last but
not the least, we're gonna put 3 holes into the
top of the empanada to allow the steam to escape.
So, just do it like so. There you go, that
is a beautiful empanada.
So, you can place all of that on the cookie
sheet. So, we'll do the same thing with our remaining
dough and we'll put it in the oven at 400
degrees Fahrenheit for about 18 to 20 minutes until our
empanadas get nice and light brown. Well, our empanadas are
out of the oven and they look delicious. They are
really nice light golden brown just beautiful as we write
like them. Now, you should get about 6 empanadas from
this recipe. We've got 3 here on our baking dish.
So, let's transfer that.
We'll put one on plate here and cut it open,
and this is just gonna be a really great snack
or appetizer. You can serve with a great salad eat
it just like that, and there you go, you can
see that beautiful meat and vege in there all cooked
through and that's it. This is how you make your
Southwest Beef Empanadas.
What You'll Need
- 1 pound lean (at least 80%) ground beef
- 1 package Old El Paso® taco seasoning mix (1 ounce)
- 2/3 cup water
- 1 cup refrigerated hash brown potatoes
- 1 can sliced carrots, drained (8 1/4 ounces)
- 1 tablespoon dried minced onion
- 4 1/2 cups Original Bisquick® mix
- 1 cup boiling water
Step By Step
1
Heat oven to 400 degrees F. Grease cookie sheet with shortening or cooking spray.
2
In 10-inch skillet, cook beef over medium-high heat 5 to 7 minutes, stirring occasionally, until thoroughly cooked; drain. Stir in taco seasoning mix, 2/3 cup water, the potatoes, carrots and onion. Reduce heat to medium; cook 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
3
In medium bowl, stir Bisquick mix and boiling water until dough forms. On surface sprinkled with Bisquick mix, roll dough in Bisquick mix to coat; knead 20 times. Divide dough into 6 balls. Pat or roll each ball into 7-inch round. Place on cookie sheet.
4
Spoon about 1/2 cup beef mixture onto half of each round. Moisten edge of round with water. Fold round over beef mixture; press edge with fork to seal. Cut 3 small slits in top of each crust to allow steam to escape.
5
Bake 18 to 20 minutes or until light golden brown.
6
High Altitude (3500-6500 ft) No change.
Once you get the hang of how to make empanadas, you'll find they're a welcome change to the weeknight dinner menu; you can also make miniature finger-food versions if you're having a party.
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