Fried Beef Empanadas Recipes

BEEF & CHEESE EMPANADAS: BAKED OR FRIED

Steps:

• First, make the empanada dough. In a mixing bowl, add the melted lard or shortening, flour, and hot water. Mix it until it comes together into a smooth ball of dough, adding a little more flour if necessary (depending on the humidity in your kitchen). Refrigerate the dough for one hour.
• Next, make the filling. Heat the oil in a frying pan over medium high heat. Brown the ground beef. Add the onion and garlic and cook until translucent. Next, add the Spanish olives, the chili peppers, the sun-dried tomato, the spices, sugar, and salt. Stir to combine, and let cook for an additional few minutes.
• Add the water and bring to a boil. Add the tomato paste, stirring the entire mixture thoroughly to dissolve it, and let cook until the water has cooked off and the filling has thickened. Remove from the heat and cool completely.
• Next, prep your dough! On a clean, floured work surface, roll the dough into a 1/8-inch layer. Using a round cookie cutter (or cup/bowl) in the size of your choice (you could make teeny tiny finger food empanadas instead of the bigger ones we made!), cut out as many rounds as you can. Peel away the spare dough and transfer back into the refrigerator.
• For each empanada, spoon filling into the middle of the dough and top with a generous amount of cheese, ensuring you have enough margin around the edge of the dough to fold it over and seal the empanada. You can also stretch the dough out a bit into an oval shape and put the filling on one half of the dough, to make the folding process easier. Fold in half and crimp the edges, either with a fork, or if you want to be fancy, with a traditional twisting technique. (YouTube is your friend!) Repeat these steps with all of the dough rounds, and repeat the rolling out & cutting process until there is no leftover dough.
• If you are baking the empanadas, heat your oven to 400 degrees. Brush the empanadas with oil prior to baking, and bake for 10-15 minutes. If you are frying the empanadas, heat a small, deep pot with enough oil to submerge a couple empanadas. Heat the oil to 350 degrees, and fry the empanadas until golden brown, in small batches of 2-3 (depending on the size of your pot and your empanadas). When they're cooked through, transfer to a wire rack or a plate lined with a paper towel to drain.
• Eat these empanadas on their own or with a nice salad!

PUERTO RICAN FRIED MEAT PIES: EMPANADAS

Steps:

• DOUGH: combine all the dry ingredients in electric mixer, add all the wet ingredients. Mix for about 3 minutes until well combined. Dough will form.
• Take it out and knead for about 3 minutes, let sit wrapped in plastic-wrap for another 15 minutes.
• Divide into 12 pieces, then roll into 4 inch circles.
• FILLING: Brown ground beef (drain excess grease), or sauté shredded chicken in 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil. Add all the ingredients and cook for an additional 10 minutes stirring occasionally. Let cool.
• COOKING: Preheat the oil in a frying pan at about a medium temperature. Place about 2 tablespoons of the filling in the dough and seal the edges with a fork.
• Fry for about 5 minutes on each side, then place on dish lined with paper-towels.

FRIED EMPANADAS

Steps:

• In a medium bowl, stir together the flour and salt. Cut in shortening using a pastry blender, or pinching into small pieces using your fingers, until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Use a fork to stir in water a few tablespoons at a time, until the mixture forms a ball. Pat into a ball, and flatten slightly. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.
• Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and cook until tender. Crumble in the beef, and season with salt, paprika, cumin and black pepper. Cook, stirring frequently, until beef is browned. Drain excess grease, and stir in the raisins and vinegar. Refrigerate until chilled, then stir in the hard-cooked eggs.
• Form the dough into 2 inch balls. On a floured surface, roll each ball out into a thin circle. Spoon some of the meat mixture onto the center, then fold into half-moon shapes. Seal edges by pressing with your fingers.
• Heat oil in a deep-fryer to 365 degrees F (180 degrees C). Place one or two pies into the fryer at a time. Cook for about 5 minutes, turning once to brown on both sides. Drain on paper towels, and serve hot.

ARGENTINE EMPANADAS

Steps:

• Heat olive oil over medium-low heat. Add onion and cook for 10 minutes, stirring often.
• Add garlic and diced red pepper. Cook for another 10 minutes, stirring often. Add chili powder, cumin, sweet paprika, and oregano. Cook for 2 minutes.
• Increase heat to medium and add the ground beef. Season with salt and pepper and cook, crumbling into small pieces, until browned. Stir in beef boullion.
• Remove from heat and transfer mixture to a bowl to cool for 10 minutes. Then, stir in green onion, olives, parsley, and hard-boiled eggs.
• Cover and chill mixture for at least 1 hour or up to 3 days (depending on freshness of ingredients). It's important that the mixture is chilled before filling the empanadas.
• Add flour and salt to a large bowl and stir to combine. Add egg and butter and stir well to combine. Add oil and warm water and stir until the mixture starts to come together into a dough ball. Add more water if it's too dry.
• Place dough in clean greased bowl and cover tightly. Allow to rest at room temperature for 1 hour. (Or, refrigerate for up to 1 day, removing from the fridge 20 minutes before using.)
• Divide the dough into two pieces. On a greased countertop roll each piece into a very large circle, about 1/8in thick (not so thin that it might break when filling or baking).
• Use a small bowl or round cookie cutters to cut the dough into circles about 6in in diameter for regular size empanadas or 3 inch for mini empanadas (empanaditas).
• Remove the excess dough from around the cut circles and keep the circles where they are for filling them (so they hold their perfect circle shape). Leftover scraps can be re-rolled to make more dough to cut out.
• Place about 2 tablespoons of filling (for regular size empanadas) in the center of each circle, leaving plenty of space around the border. Moisten the edges of the circle with water, then fold the dough over and match the ends together to form a semi-circle.
• Pinch the edges together and then seal the ends by crimping them with a fork or pinching and twisting/folding it over.
• Baked Empanadas: Place empanadas on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Brush with a little bit of egg wash and bake at 375° For 25-30 minutes until golden brown and fully cooked.
• Fried Empanadas: (I've found it best to refrigerate the empanadas for 20 minutes before frying to help the dough firm up and hold its shape before placing in the hot oil). Add several inches of hot oil to a pot and heat to about 365° F. Fry one or two empanadas at a time, flipping once, until golden on both sides (1-2 minutes per side). Place on a paper-towel lined plate.

QUICK FRIED BEEF EMPANADAS (PASTEL DE CARNE)

Steps:

• In a medium non-stick skillet, heat the oil and sweat the onion over medium heat for about 2 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the garlic and let cook for about 1 minute, stirring occasionaly (NOTE: The purpose is to cook the onion and garlic, NOT to brown them). Increase heat to medium-high and brown the ground beef, stirring every now and then. Stir in both the salt and pepper, and then the tomato paste. Stir in the vinegar or lime juice. Let ground beef cook, uncovered, for about 5-7 minutes or until cooked throughout, stirring occasionally. Stir in the olives (optional) and the chopped cilantro or parsley. Let cool a bit before filling the wonton wraps.
• Place the wonton wraps on preparation surface. Fill each with 1/2 to 1 Tablespoon of the cooked ground beef mixture and brush the egg white around the edges.
• Overlay another wonton wrap on top on the filling and seal edges well, pressing firmly with your fingers. Using a fork, make a pattern over the edges.
• Heat a frying machine or a heavy-bottom pot to 350 degrees F (about 180 degrees C). If you don't have a thermometer to measure the temperature, dip a small piece of a wonton wrap into the heated oil. If you hear a sizzling sound, the oil is ready. Fry the filled beef empanadas, a few at a time, turning them while frying so that they brown evenly on both sides. The first and second batches will take about 3-4 minutes while the next batches will only take 1-1/2 to 2 minutes to fry because the oil will be hotter. They should be lightly golden and crisp. They will darken further once they are draining on paper towels.
• Transfer empanadas to a baking sheet lined with a double layer of paper towels to absorb any excess oil. Serve empanadas hot by themselves, with ketchup or rosé sauce,, or accompanied by guaraná soda, cane juice, or beer.

FRIED BEEF EMPANADAS

Steps:

• Heat olive oil in a large frying pan over medium-high heat; add onion and bell pepper. Cook and stir, 3 to 4 minutes. Add beef, garlic, and adobo; continue to cook and stir until meat is browned, crumbly, and no longer pink, 5 to 7 minutes. Drain mixture in a colander to remove most of the liquid and allow to cool for 10 minutes.
• Transfer cooled mixture to a mixing bowl with raisins, tomato paste, eggs, olives, and vinegar. Mix to combine and season with salt and pepper.
• Lightly dust a work surface with flour and lay out empanada discs on top. Place a spoonful of stuffing on the bottom half of a disc and moisten the edges with water. Fold disc in half over the stuffing and press with a fork to seal the edges. Dust with flour and transfer to a plate. Repeat to form remaining empanadas, stacking on the plate between layers of waxed paper.
• Heat vegetable oil (3/4 inch deep) in a large frying pan over medium heat. Place empanadas in the hot oil, working in batches, and fry until browned and crisp, 2 to 4 minutes; flip. Continue frying on opposite side until browned, 3 to 5 minutes more.