🥟 Chicken empanadas
Chicken empanadas are baked half-moon pastries with a juicy filling of shredded chicken, onion, olives and hard-boiled egg, warmed with cumin. The crust is flaky and lightly crisp, the inside savoury and soft. They are sold at bakeries and street stalls across Latin America and eaten hot or at room temperature as a snack or light meal.
Diets
Allergens
Contains (in a typical recipe):
What it is made of
Recipe
Ingredients
- 500 g plain flour
- 120 ml vegetable oil
- 200 ml warm water
- 1 tsp salt
- 400 g chicken breast
- 1 large onion, chopped
- 50 g green olives, sliced
- 2 hard-boiled eggs, chopped, plus 1 egg for brushing
- 1½ tsp ground cumin
Method
- Knead flour, salt, oil and water into a smooth dough and rest for 30 minutes.
- Poach the chicken in salted water for 15 minutes, then shred it.
- Soften the onion in 1 tbsp oil, add cumin and the chicken; cool and mix in olives and egg.
- Roll out the dough, cut 12 cm rounds, fill, fold and seal the edges.
- Brush with beaten egg and bake at 200 °C for about 20 minutes.
How to make it lighter
- Chicken breast keeps the filling lean; skip extra oil in the filling, the poaching liquid adds moisture.
- Make smaller empanadas so a portion is easier to control.
- Serve with a large tomato and onion salad instead of a second empanada.
History
Empanadas spread through Latin America from Spain, and chicken fillings are popular from Argentina and Chile to Colombia and Venezuela, each with local seasoning.
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Values are estimates per 100 g for a typical recipe; home and restaurant versions vary. Diets and allergens are worked out from the ingredients of a typical recipe — always check with whoever cooked the dish. Not medical advice. Nutrition data: Me Nutrition dish database v13. How we count →