Easy Beef Empanadas Recipe
Tender, flaky empanada dough surrounding a mixture of warmly-spiced ground beef and veggies, our beef empanada recipe is the best ever.
Ingredients
- 2 ½ cupsall purpose flour
- ½ teaspoonsea salt
- ½ cupunsalted butter, chilled, cut into ¼- inch cubes
- 2 largeeggs, room temperature
- ⅓ cupice water, plus more as needed
- 1 mediumrusset potato, peeled, ⅓ -inch diced (about 1½ cups)
- ¾ pound80/20 ground beef
- ½ mediumyellow onion, grated
- 1 mediumcarrot, grated
- 1celery rib, minced
- 2garlic cloves, minced
- ½ teaspoonchili powder
- 1 teaspoonground cumin
- ½ teaspoonground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoonsea salt
- ½ teaspoonfreshly cracked black pepper
- ½ cupfrozen peas, thawed
- ¾ cupbeef stock
Directions
- 1
Make the empanada dough. Add the flour and salt to a food processor and pulse until combined, about 5 pulses. Add the butter, 1 egg and the ice water. Pulse until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs, about 20 pulses. If the dough won’t come together add more ice water 1 tablespoon at a time and pulse until incorporated. Shape the dough into a ball. Tightly cover the dough in plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes, up to 2 hours.
- 2
Meanwhile, make the filling. Fill a medium size saucepan with water and bring to a boil over high heat. Add the potato and boil until tender, about 3-4 minutes. Drain.
- 3
To a large skillet set over medium-high heat, combine the beef, onions, carrots and celery and cook, breaking the meat up with a wooden spoon, until the beef is browned and the vegetables are softened, 8-10 minutes.
- 4
Stir in the potatoes, garlic, chili powder, cumin, cinnamon, salt, pepper, peas and beef stock. Cook, stirring, until most of the liquid has been absorbed, about 5 minutes.
- 5
Prepare the dough. Remove the dough from the refrigerator and divide it into 10 equal pieces—roughly 2.2-ounces each. On a lightly floured surface, roll each piece of dough very thin into a circle roughly 7-inches wide. Add a heaping ⅓ cup of the beef mixture onto one side of each of the dough rounds.
- 6
Preheat the oven to 375°F with a rack in the center position.
- 7
In a small bowl, whisk the remaining egg. Using a pastry brush, brush the egg on the exposed edge of the dough. Fold the dough in half over the filling. Using a fork, firmly press and seal the edges together. Alternatively you can make empanada pleats. Repeat this process with remaining dough and filling, arrange on a parchment lined baking sheet.
- 8
Stir 1 tablespoon of water into the bowl with the remaining egg. Lightly brush each empanada with egg wash. Bake until golden brown, about 35 minutes. Serve warm.
- 9
Leftover empanadas will keep in an airtight container, refrigerated for up to 3 days. To freeze, cool the empanadas to room temperature, wrap tightly in plastic wrap, then store in an airtight container for up to 3 months. To reheat, place in a 300°F oven or toaster oven for about 10 minutes, or until warmed through.