Description
Savory beef & cheese empanadas blend Argentine culinary traditions with rich, flaky pastry and spiced meat filling. Crisp golden edges and melted cheese inside promise a delightful journey through flavor that will excite your taste buds.
Ingredients
Scale
Meat and Cheese:
- 1 pound (450 grams) ground beef
- ½ cup shredded cheddar or monterey jack cheese
Spices and Aromatics:
- 1 small onion, finely chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- ½ teaspoon chili powder (optional, for heat)
- Salt and pepper, to taste
Dough and Liquid Ingredients:
- 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ cup unsalted butter, cold and cubed
- ½ cup ice-cold water
- ¼ cup tomato paste
- ¼ cup water
- 1 egg, beaten (for egg wash)
Instructions
- Heat a spacious skillet over medium temperature and thoroughly brown the ground beef, ensuring complete rendering of fat by carefully draining excess grease.
- Introduce finely chopped onions and minced garlic into the skillet, gently sautéing until vegetables transform into a translucent, tender consistency, approximately 3-4 minutes.
- Incorporate aromatic spices including cumin, smoked paprika, and optional chili powder, blending seamlessly with tomato paste and a modest splash of water to create a rich, concentrated filling.
- Allow the meat mixture to simmer and thicken, stirring occasionally to prevent scorching and develop deep, complex flavors for 2-3 minutes.
- Remove skillet from heat source and permit the savory mixture to cool slightly, preventing cheese from immediately melting when added.
- Fold shredded cheese into the warm beef mixture, ensuring even distribution and creating a creamy, cohesive filling that will meld perfectly within empanada pastry.
- Transfer the prepared filling to a holding container, allowing it to reach a workable temperature for subsequent empanada assembly.
Notes
- Drain ground beef thoroughly to prevent soggy empanada filling and ensure a crispy texture when baking or frying.
- Replace ground beef with plant-based crumbles for a vegetarian version that maintains the rich, spicy flavor profile of the original recipe.
- Use pre-made pie dough or empanada wrappers to save time, cutting them into circles for easy folding and sealing.
- Experiment with different cheese blends like pepper jack or queso fresco to add unique taste variations and customize the filling’s complexity.
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Category: Appetizer, Snacks
- Method: Sautéing
- Cuisine: Latin American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 14
- Calories: 205
- Sugar: 1 g
- Sodium: 250 mg
- Fat: 12 g
- Saturated Fat: 5 g
- Unsaturated Fat: 6 g
- Trans Fat: 0 g
- Carbohydrates: 18 g
- Fiber: 1 g
- Protein: 8 g
- Cholesterol: 35 mg