I had never tried empanadas until I was married to my husband. Actually I had never even heard of empanadas until I married my husband. Empanadas are stuffed pastries that are baked or fried. They are popular in South Europe, Latin America, and South East Asia, with each country having their own version. After marrying my husband, I was introduced to Cuban (my husband’s parents are both from Cuba) empanadas and was immediately hooked. In Cuba, they typically fill the pastry with seasoned meat, cheese, guayava (fruit paste), or fruit.
Unfortunately, my mother-in-law doesn’t make these very often because it can be quite a process. So, my husband and I took it upon ourselves to figure out an easier way to make them. Instead of making the dough from scratch (which my mother-in-law does), I found Goya discos in the freezer section of the grocery store which makes these so make easier to make. And then my husband and I experimented and made our own meat mixture. So here is what you need and how to make Cuban style empanadas.
Ingredients:
Seasoned meat:
2 pounds ground beef
1 cup tomato sauce
2 tablespoons water
1 1/2 tablespoons Red Hot sauce
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon onion powder
2 teaspoons garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon chili powder
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
40 Goya Discos, thawed
32 oz. loaf of Kraft Velveeta Cheese, cut into slices
Flour
Cooking oil
* We have a large family, so you could just cut the recipe in half if you need to.
1. Brown the ground beef and drain. Add all the seasonings, sauces, and water to the meat and mix well. Simmer the meat mixture and stir occasionally for 6-8 minutes. (You can make the meat mixture ahead of time and freeze or refrigerate until you are ready to use).
2. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the discs slightly. Place your desired filling on half of each disc (we like to make meat ones, cheese ones, and meat & cheese ones).
3. Fold the other half of the disc over the filling and pinch closed with a fork.
4. In a deep, large frying pan, heat the cooking oil over medium heat for several minutes. Then place as many empanadas as will fit in the pan (my pan fits 3-4).
Sarah, I have pinned these….they look so good. I appreciate your blog so much. I have given you a blog award…
http://homeschooljournal-bergblog.blogspot.com/2013/02/awards-from-sylvia-of-living-and.html
Have a nice day.
These sound yummy and look strangely like Cornish pasties. I suspect they are rather hotter though.
I LOVE empanadas, and these looks SO good. I’m going to pin this right now so I can add them to my menu for March.
Or Cubans put Piccadillo inside. A ground beef mixture with olives and spices.
We’ve Americanize them a bit and also catered to our picky eaters that don’t like olives. Your recipe sounds similar to my husbands grandmother’s.
Yum! My husband had empanadas when he spent time in Chile as a missionary. I’ve actually never made them for him: I should! Chilean empanadas have hard-boiled eggs and raisins as well as ground beef.
These look wonderful! We’ve made them, but I’d like to try this recipe. 🙂
I live in Peru – our empanadas her are baked instead of fried, and probably very similar to the Chilean empanadas that Dianna mentioned – they have diced onion and ‘aji’ chili peppers, black olives, a piece of hard-boiled egg and raisins in them. They make another kind here with a creamy chicken sauce inside that I LOVE (the sauce is called aji de gallina). I like the idea of frying them – seems like they’d be so crisp and crunchy – maybe I’ll try that sometime!
I love using the empanada wrappers to make baked apple turnovers but I suspect DH would like these even more lol
Oh these look so good! I am pinning these from Diana Ramble’s party. Love this recipe and am following you on Twitter 🙂
Yumm! Looks delicious!
You just reminded me of something similar that I make. This is a terrific Pin!! Thanks for linking this up over at WholeHearted Home where I find that you are a real blessing each week.
They look so good!!!
Yum! Those look awesome! My only experience with empanadas are the cherry ones that Taco Time makes. I’m thinking yours are probably just a *little* yummier than those! Ha! 🙂
Yummy! I got tired of standing over the fryer at Christmas. (We usually do an American Thanksgiving and Cuban Christmas.) You can bake them at 400 degrees for 12-15 minutes with an egg wash. Still satisfying, but you can do them all at once. Occasionally we still break out the fryer but now we have to fry the gluten free stuff before doing any of the gluten-filled empanadas and papas rellenas or croquetas. It kind of depends on how busy my mom is since she likes to hostess the Christmas meal.
I think I just found your blog via Pinterest.
I’ll have to try baking them sometime; I’m sure it’s healthier and less mess!
We also have a Cuban Christmas, at my in-laws. I’m terrible because I don’t even remember the names of the food that we eat on Christmas! But it’s good and I don’t have to cook!
I’m glad you stopped by!
The thought occurred to me that perhaps these could be baked, but now I’m definitely trying it that way next! 🙂 Where are you from Sarah?
OK I am Cuban and have made empanadas for over 30 years. I agree that using the frozen empanada disks is a great idea and so much simpler. I have to say that your picadillo filling is so not Cuban at all sorry, but that’s not to say that yours isn’t tasty. Just thought people should know that it’s not a typical Cuban empanada filling. Good luck!
I’m sure there are many variations of Cuban Empanadas and this recipe is passed down from my Cuban mother-in-law, which was passed down from her Cuban mother.
Does anyone have a recipe for the empanada dough from scratch? I have never seen these Goya frozen discs that you refer to. Are they only available in a specialty grocery store, or perhaps only in certain areas of the country? I live in Michigan. Thank you.
I’ve just gotten them at my regular grocery store in the freezer section. I’ve bought them in upstate NY and in the DFW area.
In Spain are empanadillas. The big ones typical dish from Galicia are made with Tuna, and sea food, chicken, beef etc. Are made with bread dough, feeds the whole family.
This empanadas that you talk about are all over south America.
Bartolillos are for dessert my grandma used to make filed with pastry dream.
I’m looking to know how many this makes? Thanks.
It makes about 30.
We had them for dinner on Easter Sunday night my nephews wife and mother in law made them I loved them..they had bef and chicken ..
I made these in February when my husbands cousin from Georgia was visiting us in Florida. He’s a Floridian himself but rarely comes to visit and when they do they are always looking for empanadas or pastelitos. So I decided to buy the stuff needed to make them and let him partake in the process lol. He was amazed of how easy they were! They end result was I made 20 of them and they were gone in 3 days time. I added cheese this last time and they were a hit. Thanks for the great recipe.
These didn’t turn out as nice looking as yours but they taste yummy, even made a few blueberry dessert ones too
If you like empanadas you should also try Jamaican Beef Patties… Same concept but different & DELICIOUS taste!!!!!!!