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Home / Recipes
55 minutes
4.59 from 146 votes
74 Comments

Beef Empanadas

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  • 964
by: Joanna Cismaru
07.21.20

This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy.

Baked Beef Empanadas made with puff pastry, so easy and so delicious. Don’t underestimate puff pastry, it’s quite versatile and makes some delicious empanadas.

beef empanadas stacked and cut in half with a bowl of salsa verde

Beef Empanadas

Beef Empanadas are  perfect little appetizers and great for any occasion which is why I like to make them as much as possible! The key to a flavorful juicy filling is to use a bit of beef broth and some heat, brought to the dish through chili powder or hot sauce. I wrapped these morsels in puff pastry to achieve flaky buttery layers!

What Are Empanadas?

Empanadas are a baked or fried Latin American savory pastry. They’re even popular in the Philipines too! They’re stuffed full of veggies, cheese, and sometimes beef, so feel free to get creative with this hand held delicacy.

What Is Puff Pastry?

This is a light and flaky pastry that involves placing butter within the dough, rolling out the dough and folding it over itself repeatedly. This achieves thin light layers sandwiched with lots of melty butter once it has cooked. If you like pastry dough that is crisp, flaky, and melt in your mouth good then puff pastry is for you.

a beef empanada dunked in salsa verde and cut in half

Ingredients In Beef Empanadas

Detailed measurements and instructions can be found on the printable recipe card at the bottom of the page.

  • Olive oil – We want a nice neutral tasting oil for this dish.
  • Beef – We want extra lean ground beef so that we don’t have to drain the fat out of it.
  • Spices – Cumin, smoked paprika, and chili powder.
  • Onion – We want an onion that cooks down well such as white or yellow.
  • Garlic – Use as much or little as you like.
  • Oregano – I used dried today as I want something that holds up to heat well and packs a great herby flavor concentrate.
  • Seasoning – Salt and pepper to taste.
  • Liquid ingredients – Beef broth that is low sodium and any hot sauce of your choice.
  • Sugar – Yes we need some sugar in this recipe. I used brown sugar today as the molasses notes cooks down and add complexity to our dish.
  • Puff pastry – Believe me you’ll want to use store bought for this recipe, it’ll save you time and energy.
  • Egg – We’re using an entire egg for an egg wash to top our Beef Empanadas.
finished beef empanadas on a baking sheet

How To Make Beef Empanadas

Detailed measurements and instructions can be found on the printable recipe card at the bottom of the page.

  • Brown the beef: In a medium skillet heat the olive oil and add the ground beef. Saute the ground beef until no longer pink, breaking it up with a wooden spoon. Add the onion and garlic to it and continue sautéing until the onion is soft and translucent.
  • Create the flavor base: Add the oregano, cumin, smoked paprika, chili powder, salt, pepper, beef broth, brown sugar and hot sauce to the skillet and stir. Cook for a couple more minutes then remove from heat and let the meat mixture cool until it comes to room temperature.
  • Preheat the oven: To 425 F degrees.
  • Prepare the puff pastry: Working with one puff pastry sheet at a time, roll it out so that it’s long enough to cut 6 circles, 2 on each row, see video. Using a 4 inch cookie cutter or bowl, cut 6 circles, 2 per row.
  • Assemble the empanadas: Fill each with about a tablespoon of meat mixture in the middle of each pastry round. Brush half of the pastry round edge with egg wash, then fold the dough over into a half-moon shape so the edges meet and then press them together with your fingers to seal. Use a fork to crimp the edge. Place it onto a baking sheet and repeat with remaining ingredients. You should get around 40 empanadas.
  • Finish the empanadas: Poke holes in each empanada using a fork then brush the empanadas with the egg wash and bake for about 20 to 25 minutes, or until golden brown. Serve warm with salsa or salsa verde.

What Else Can I Fill My Empanadas With?

There’s many things that can go in your delicious empanadas, whether it be traditional or not these Spanish delicacies work great with lots of flavors!

  • Ground beef and cooked cubed potato.
  • Cooked shredded chicken.
  • Browned mushrooms and cheese.
  • Argentinian style with ground beef, olives, and hard boiled eggs.
  • Beans and corn for a vegetarian style empanada.
  • Chocolate, dulce de leche, and cinnamon.
  • Blueberries and goat cheese.
finished beef empanadas with a bowl of salsa verde garnished with cilantro

Want To Make Your Own Puff Pastry?

For the sake of keeping things easy I used store bought puff pastry for this recipe which tastes just fine. If you’d like to make every element of this recipe from scratch however check out my Blueberry Goat Cheese Empanadas, which details how to make your own for this dish!

How To Make Salsa Verde

This is a perfect bright and acidic accompaniment for our little hand held treats, here’s how to make it!

  • Roast veggies: Roast tomatillos (little green tomatoes from Mexico) and jalapeños under the broiler for about 5 minutes. Flip them over with tongs and broil for another 4 – 6 minutes.
  • Combine salsa ingredients: Place diced white onion, cilantro, 1/2 teaspoon, and 2 tablespoons of lime juice in a food processor and combine. Place the roasted peppers and tomatillos and their juice in the food processor and blend all ingredients together. Place in the fridge to allow to thicken and you have your own salsa verde!
beef empanada

What To Serve With Empanadas

These meaty morsels pair well with lots of side dishes and sauces, although if you’re an empanada purist feel free to eat these treats all on their own!

Salad
  • Mexican Chicken And Rice Salad
  • Mexican Street Corn Salad
  • Kale And Quinoa Salad With Lemon Vinaigrette
  • Avocado Salsa Shrimp Salsa
Sauce
  • Salsa verde, store bought is fine but the recipe up further is fresh and delicious.
  • Queso Dip
  • Enchilada Sauce
  • Strawberry Salsa
  • Homemade Salsa

Want To Make Empanadas Ahead?

Fridge

This dish can be stored in an airtight container and placed in the fridge for up to 3 days.

Freezer

If you’d like to make these empanadas a few months ahead of time, arrange them unbaked on a baking sheet and place in the freezer till frozen through. Place them in a freezer bag or in an airtight container and this dish will keep for up to 3 months. When ready to eat just pop these on a baking sheet and bake straight from frozen!

a beef empanada cut in half

More Delicious Mexican Inspired Dishes To Try:

  • Chicken Enchilada Quesadillas
  • Taco Lasagna
  • Pork Carnitas
  • Shrimp Avocado Salsa
  • Tres Leche Cake
  • Albondigas Soup
  • Chicken Tortilla Soup

Looking for more recipes? Follow on… My Newsletter Pinterest Facebook Instagram

beef empanadas surrounding a bowl of dip

Beef Empanadas

4.59 from 146 votes
Prep: 10 mins
Cook: 45 mins
Total: 55 mins
Author: Joanna Cismaru
Serves: 40
Print Pin Rate
Baked Beef Empanadas made with puff pastry, so easy and so delicious. Don't underestimate puff pastry, it's quite versatile and makes some delicious empanadas.

Equipment

  • 4-inch Cookie Cutter
  • 12-inch Cast Iron Skillet
  • 11×17-inch Cookie Sheet

Ingredients

  • 2 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 pound ground beef extra lean
  • 1 large onion chopped
  • 3 cloves garlic minced
  • 1/2 teaspoon oregano dry
  • 1 teaspoon cumin ground
  • 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
  • 1 teaspoon chili powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt or to taste
  • 1/2 teaspoon black pepper or to taste
  • 1/2 cup beef broth
  • 1 tablespoon brown sugar packed
  • 2 tablespoon hot sauce I used Sriracha
  • 4 sheets puff pastry (2 packages, 2 sheets per package)
  • 1 egg for egg wash
US Customary – Metric

Instructions

  • In a medium skillet heat the olive oil and add the ground beef. Saute the ground beef until no longer pink, breaking it up with a wooden spoon. Add the onion and garlic to it and continue sautéing until the onion is soft and translucent. 
  • Add the oregano, cumin, smoked paprika, chili powder, salt, pepper, beef broth, brown sugar and hot sauce to the skillet and stir. Cook for a couple more minutes then remove from heat and let the meat mixture cool until it comes to room temperature.
  • Preheat oven to 425 F degrees.
  • Working with one puff pastry sheet at a time, roll it out so that it’s long enough to cut 6 circles, 2 on each row, see video. Using a 4 inch cookie cutter or bowl, cut 6 circles, 2 per row. Fill each with a about a tablespoon of meat mixture in the middle of each pastry round. Brush half of the pastry round edge with egg wash, then fold the dough over into a half-moon shape so the edges meet and then press them together with your fingers to seal. Use a fork to crimp the edge. Place it onto a baking sheet and repeat with remaining ingredients. You should get around 40 empanadas. See notes.
  • Poke holes in each empanada using a fork then brush the empanadas with the egg wash and bake for about 20 to 25 minutes, or until golden brown. Serve warm with salsa or salsa verde.

Video

Recipe Notes

After cutting rounds from each pastry sheet, re-roll the leftover dough and cut it into more rounds, you should get about 10 rounds in total from each pastry sheet.
This dish can be stored in an airtight container and placed in the fridge for up to 3 days.
If you’d like to make these empanadas a few months ahead of time, arrange them unbaked on a baking sheet and place in the freezer till frozen through. Place them in a freezer bag or in an airtight container and this dish will keep for up to 3 months. When ready to eat just pop these on a baking sheet and bake straight from frozen!
Please keep in mind that nutritional information is a rough estimate and can vary greatly based on products used.
 

Nutrition Information:

Serving: 1empanadaCalories: 175kcal (9%)Carbohydrates: 11g (4%)Protein: 3g (6%)Fat: 12g (18%)Saturated Fat: 3g (19%)Cholesterol: 12mg (4%)Sodium: 129mg (6%)Potassium: 59mg (2%)Vitamin A: 50IU (1%)Vitamin C: 0.8mg (1%)Calcium: 7mg (1%)Iron: 0.9mg (5%)
Course:Appetizer
Cuisine:Mexican
Keyword:beef empanadas, empanadas
Tried this recipe? Rate it belowtag @jocooks on instagram and hashtag it #jocooks!
  • 964

Meet Joanna Cismaru

I’m Joanna (Jo for short) and this is my blog where I share with you my culinary adventures. Here you will find a variety of recipes using simple everyday ingredients and creating wonderful, delicious and comforting meals, including some decadent desserts.

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Comments

  1. Natalie says

    March 13, 2022 at 5:36 am

    Can I add a bit of grated cheese to these?

    Reply
    • Joanna Cismaru says

      March 13, 2022 at 11:00 am

      Yes, absolutely!

      Reply
  2. Pam says

    August 7, 2021 at 11:20 am

    5 stars
    Just made them.. Followed recipe and they turned out great and delicious!

    Reply
  3. Gloria says

    August 9, 2020 at 7:09 pm

    5 stars
    I made this recipe tonight and it was delicious! My husband and I both loved it.

    Reply
  4. Ashly says

    July 26, 2020 at 8:16 pm

    5 stars
    These were easy to make and delicious!! Thank you!

    Reply
  5. E A says

    May 17, 2020 at 5:50 pm

    5 stars
    This was delicious! Served it with techina.

    Reply
  6. Julie L. says

    April 26, 2020 at 5:43 pm

    5 stars
    This recipe is very good! I used pastry puff dough for the first batch and for the remaining meat I ate it with some naan bread I had on hand, both ways were really good. The meat mixture is seasoned just right, I didn’t need to tweak the ingredients. Thank you!

    Reply
  7. Carol says

    February 19, 2020 at 8:06 am

    Does the pastry sheet have to thawed before using?

    Reply
    • Jo Cooks Team 2 says

      February 19, 2020 at 9:56 am

      Yes!

      Reply
  8. Chuck says

    December 22, 2019 at 3:02 pm

    Can i make these the day before and keep them in the fridge till I amready to bake them?

    Reply
    • jo says

      December 22, 2019 at 3:08 pm

      Yes, for sure!

      Reply
  9. Malisa says

    October 8, 2019 at 11:22 pm

    5 stars
    This is the exact same puff pastry technique my mom use to do and I’ve been trying to find it all over the internet! We made it using a Thai curry filling. It never occurred to me that I could make these in advanced. I do have a question about the cooking process. When baking them from frozen, what temperature did you use to cook them? Does it alter the cooking time/temperature when baking them fresh verses frozen? Would love to hear your thoughts, I’m definitely wanting to make this for my company potlock!

    Reply
    • Jo Cooks Team says

      October 9, 2019 at 11:33 am

      You can use the same temp! Every oven is different so add time in 5 minute intervals until they turn nice and golden brown.

      Reply
  10. Sam says

    August 23, 2019 at 2:20 pm

    Excited to try this for a baby shower! Question, did you have a video for this? Would like to see the cutting process. Thanks!

    Reply
    • Jo Cooks Team says

      August 26, 2019 at 12:14 pm

      We do have a video! It’s right in the recipe card below the instructions. If you have an ad blocker enabled on your browser you’ll have to pause it on our site- they block the recipe instruction videos.

      Reply
      • Sam says

        August 27, 2019 at 2:26 pm

        Ah it was definitely ad blocker, couldn’t see it before. Thanks so much!!

  11. LaVonda Like says

    July 29, 2019 at 6:15 am

    5 stars
    Wow. This just popped up on my news feed. I guess my phone is listening-or reading my mind.😱

    Reply
    • LaVonda Like says

      July 29, 2019 at 6:16 am

      Great recipe. Thanks for sharing.

      Reply
  12. Tash says

    July 6, 2019 at 5:15 pm

    If your allegric to eggs what is an alternative I can use?

    Reply
    • Nicole Beaulieu says

      July 8, 2019 at 10:09 am

      You can use milk instead 🙂

      Reply
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I'm Joanna (Jo for short) and this is my blog where I share with you my culinary adventures. Here you will find a variety of recipes using simple everyday ingredients and creating wonderful, delicious and comforting meals, including some decadent desserts.

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