🥟 Beef empanadas
Empanadas are hand-sized pastry turnovers baked until golden and flaky. This classic Argentine-style filling combines seasoned ground beef with softened onion, green olives and chopped hard-boiled egg. The edges are folded into a decorative braid called a repulgue, and empanadas are eaten by hand as a snack, starter or party food.
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 ground beef
- 2 onions, finely chopped
- 60 g green olives, sliced
- 2 hard-boiled eggs, chopped, plus 1 egg for brushing
- 1 tsp ground cumin, 1 tsp sweet paprika
Method
- Mix flour, salt, oil and water into a smooth dough; rest it covered for 30 minutes.
- Soften the onions in 1 tbsp oil, add the beef and spices and cook until browned; cool, then stir in olives and chopped egg.
- Roll the dough thinly and cut 12 cm rounds.
- Place a spoonful of filling on each round, fold and crimp the edges.
- Brush with beaten egg and bake at 200 °C for 18–20 minutes until golden.
How to make it lighter
- Use lean ground beef (5% fat) and drain the fat from the pan after browning.
- Roll the dough thinner and fill generously so each bite has more meat and less pastry.
- Count empanadas, not plates: one is a snack, two with a salad make a meal.
History
Filled pastries of this kind came to Latin America with Spanish settlers, and the word comes from the Spanish verb empanar, “to wrap in bread”. Today almost every Argentine province has its own style of filling and folding.
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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 →