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My Puerto Rican Baked Empanadas, or Pastelillos de Carne, are beef-filled baked meat pies with so much flavor! They’re easy to make a big batch of in under an hour and are perfect for lunch, dinner, and snacks. Everyone loves these tasty Spanish Beef Empanadas!
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Best Baked Empanadas
I’ve been making Puerto Rican Empanadas for years for my family as a lunch box treat and an after-school snack. They’re good hot or cold and are perfect for dipping in your favorite sauces. Sometimes I even make them as a special Sunday dinner idea.
These Puerto Rican appetizers are amazing for sharing, too. Empanadillas make a perfect party appetizer for a crowd.
This is a simple dish from start to finish, but its flavors are complex and so satisfying. Try it out and let me know what you think!
My kids thought these were better than the ones we buy from a restaurant. Thank you for this delicious and easy to follow recipe.
@kama410
What is an Empanada?
An empanada is basically a savory pie that’s perfectly hand-sized. You cook ground meat down with spices, then pack it into a pastry shell.
You can use homemade empanada dough, or save some time by using pre-made Goya empanada dough. They can be baked or fried, depending on your preference!
Puerto Rican Empanadas Ingredients
Empanada Dough Ingredients (or use 12 Goya Discos)
- All-purpose flour
- butter
- egg beaten
- water
- salt
Puerto Rican Empanadas Filling
- ground beef
- potato (parboiled, peeled, and diced small)
- sofrito
- tomato sauce
- Sazón con Azafra
- Spanish olives roughly chopped
- water
- salt
- 1Monterey Jack cheese
How to Make Baked Empanadas
Empanada Dough Recipe
We love to make our own empanada dough – it’s easy and fun! But it does take extra time, so if you’re short on time or just want to speed up the process, you can use the premade dough to make your Puerto Rican Empanadas.
You can purchase ready-made empanada dough like Goya Discos. They are sold in the frozen food section at most supermarkets. We love to make these baked empanadas with Goya discos!
Another easy option that works well is using refrigerated pie dough. Any of these methods work well because the filling is packed with so much flavor!
Follow our recipe for Empanada Dough or use a shortcut. We have tried it both ways and both work really well.
Puerto Rican Empanada Beef Filling
- Parboil potato for 7 to 10 minutes, then peel and dice into small pieces.
- Mince Spanish olives.
- Heat a large skillet to medium and add ground beef. Cook completely and chop it into pieces as it cooks. Drain any excess grease when finished cooking.
- Add the potato, sofrito, and water to the pan. Cook for 10 minutes, stirring often to prevent the potatoes from sticking.
- Add tomato sauce, Sazon con Azafron seasoning packet, and a pinch of salt. Cook for an additional 5 minutes, stirring often. Toss the olives into the pan and stir.
How to Assemble Empanadas
- Preheat the oven to 350° F.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Place the pastry rounds onto a clean surface.
- Spoon the meat filling into a pastry round. Top it with a sprinkling of Monterey Jack cheese.
- Rub the edges of the pastry round with a little bit of water.
- Pull one side of the pastry over the other and press the edges together with your fingers.
- Seal the edges tightly and crimp them together with your fingers or a fork. Try not to over-stuff the pastry rounds or they will break as they cook.
- Repeat with the remaining pastry rounds.
How to Bake Empanadas
- Spray baking sheet(s) with cooking spray.
- Place half of the empanadas on each baking sheet.
- Place the pan(s) in the oven and bake for 25-30 minutes or until the dough is golden brown. You can use two separate pans or bake them in two separate batches.
- Remove the pan(s) from the oven when the empanadas are finished baking and serve immediately.
Baked Empanadas Recipe Tips
- While you are making the filling, preheat your oven to 350°F to prepare the meat pies for baking.
- You can substitute making dough for frozen Goya pastry rounds. Make sure to defrost for at least 30 minutes before you begin cooking.
- Goya Sofrito and Sazón con Azafran can be found in the international aisle of most grocery stores. Sofrito is a Puerto Rican cooking base consisting of tomatoes, onions, garlic, peppers, and spices, while Sazón con Azafran means “seasoning with saffron”, and it’s a seasoning packet using salt, pepper, garlic or garlic powder, coriander, cumin, and other seasonings.
- Parboil your potatoes for an easy experience peeling and chopping them. They will also cook more quickly in the filling, costing you less time overall. If you’re not sure how to parboil a potato, it’s easy to do. Parboil, meaning to partly cook food by boiling, is a technique used to soften foods (like potatoes) before cooking with them. You can also parboil foods with skins like potatoes, for example, to easily peel them. In this case, we parboil potatoes to partially cook them in addition to making them easier to peel and cut.
How to Parboil Potatoes
Parboil, meaning to partly cook food by boiling, is a technique used to soften foods (like potatoes) before cooking with them.
To make these Puerto Rican beef empanadas, we parboil potatoes before cooking them in the filling.
- Place your potatoes in a pot and cover them with cold water.
- Add a pinch of salt, cover the pot with a lid, and turn the stove on high heat.
- Once the water starts to boil, reduce the heat slightly to keep it from boiling over. Continue boiling for approximately 5-10 minutes. Shorter if you diced the potatoes and longer if you left them whole.
- Test your potatoes with a fork, if it goes in with only a little resistance, you’re done.
- Remove the boiled potatoes from the heat and drain your pot. Let the potatoes cool a little. And that’s it, your potatoes are parboiled!
Baked Empanada Recipes FAQs
Sofrito is a Puerto Rican cooking base consisting of tomatoes, onions, garlic, peppers, and spices. You can easily find it in the international aisle of most grocery stores.
Sazón means “seasoning” in Spanish. It is usually a mixture of salt, pepper, garlic or garlic powder, coriander, and cumin.
Sazón con Azafran, or Sazón with Saffron, is a seasoning packet sold in an orange and yellow box by the Goya brand. You can easily find it in the international aisle.
Yes! You can easily fry empanadas in a skillet. Make sure the empanadas are nicely sealed and then fry them until golden-brown and crispy in neutral oil. The best oils for frying are oils like vegetable oil, canola oil, peanut oil, or any neutral oil. Fill a skillet with enough oil to cover the empanadas and fry them just so the skillet isn’t overcrowded. You may need to fry in batches.
Turned out really well. Very flakey and buttery. Used some of the dough to make berry tarts.
@crystalyn3
Can you freeze empanadas?
Yes! To freeze baked pastelillos, place them next to each other on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
Be careful they aren’t touching or they’ll wind up sticking together!
Let them freeze that way, then transfer them to a freezer bag or other freezer-safe container. We recommend bags so they don’t get any freezer burn. Label with the freezing date.
How to Reheat Empanadas
For frozen empanadas, you can bake them straight out of the freezer, but be sure to add approximately 5 minutes to the cooking time.
What to Serve with Empanadas
This recipe was a hit and it was something different for dinner. Thank you!
Susan on Pinterest
These empanadas are one of my favorite football foods – get more Super Bowl Food Ideas!
Best Empanada Recipes
📋 Recipe
Baked Puerto Rican Empanadas
Ingredients
Dough (or use 12 Goya Discos)
- 2.5 cups All purpose flour plus more for sprinkling
- 1 stick butter
- 1 egg beaten
- ¼ cup water
- 1 pinch salt
Filling
- 1 pound ground beef
- 1 medium potato (parboiled, peeled, and diced small)
- ¼ cup Goya Sofrito plus 2 additional Tablespoons
- 1 8 oz. can tomato sauce
- 1 packet Goya Sazón con Azafran
- 20 Spanish olives roughly chopped
- ¼ cup Water
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ cup Monterey Jack cheese shredded
See our Cooking Conversions Chart for help converting measurements!
Instructions
Forming Empanada Dough
- Add flour, cubed butter, egg, water, and a pinch of salt to a food processor. Pulse until it resembles coarse crumbs.2.5 cups All purpose flour, 1 stick butter, 1 egg, ¼ cup water, 1 pinch salt
- Pour the dough mixture onto a piece of plastic wrap. Use your hands to form the mixture into a ball. Once shaped, wrap the dough tightly in plastic wrap, then place in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
- Remove dough from the fridge after 30 minutes. Sprinkle some flour on a clean surface and on a rolling pin, then roll the dough out as thinly as possible.
- Place a 5 to 6-inch round bowl or plate onto the dough. Run a knife along the edge of the bowl to cut a disc into the dough. Set the disc aside.
- Cut as many rounds of empanada dough as you can this way, reforming the dough into a ball and rolling it out again to cut more as necessary, until you have used all your dough.
Making Empanada Filling
- Bring a pot of water to boil and boil potato for 7-10 minutes. Peel and dice into small pieces. While the potato boils, mince olives.1 medium potato, 20 Spanish olives
- Heat a large skillet to medium heat and add ground beef. Completely cook the beef, breaking it into pieces with a spatula as it cooks. Once browned and cooked through, drain any excess grease.1 pound ground beef
- Add potato, sofrito, and ¼ cup water to the pan. Cook for 10 minutes, stirring often to prevent the potatoes from sticking.1 medium potato, ¼ cup Goya Sofrito, ¼ cup Water
- Add tomato sauce, sazon con azafron seasoning packet, and a pinch of salt. Cook for another 5 minutes, stirring often. Toss in the olives and stir.1 8 oz. can tomato sauce, 1 packet Goya Sazón con Azafran, 1 teaspoon salt, 20 Spanish olives
Sealing Empanadas
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Place the pastry rounds onto a clean surface. Spoon 2 Tablespoons or so of the meat filling into each pastry round. Top with a sprinkle of cheese.½ cup Monterey Jack cheese
- Rub the edges of the patsry round with a little bit of water. Pull one side over the filling and press the edges together with your fingers.
- Seal the edges tightly and crimp them with your fingers or a fork. Repeat this process until all pastry rounds are filled and sealed.
Baking Empanadas
- Add empanadas to baking sheet with some space between them. If necessary, use more than one baking sheet and bake together or in batches.
- Place the pan(s) in the oven and bake for 25-30 minutes, or until the dough is golden brown. When ready, remove, serve, and enjoy!
Video
Notes
- You can substitute making dough for frozen Goya pastry rounds. Make sure to defrost for at least 30 minutes before you begin cooking.
- Goya Sofrito and Sazón con Azafran can be found in the international aisle of most grocery stores. Sofrito is a Puerto Rican cooking base consisting of tomatoes, onions, garlic, peppers, and spices, while Sazón con Azafran means “seasoning with saffron”, and it’s a seasoning packet using salt, pepper, garlic or garlic powder, coriander, cumin, and other seasonings.
- Parboil your potatoes for an easy experience peeling and chopping them. They will also cook more quickly in the filling, costing you less time overall. If you’re not sure how to parboil a potato, it’s easy to do. Parboil, meaning to partly cook food by boiling, is a technique used to soften foods (like potatoes) before cooking with them. You can also parboil foods with skins like potatoes, for example, to easily peel them. In this case, we parboil potatoes to partially cook them in addition to making them easier to peel and cut.
Quarantined 71 says
Great Taco Tuesday recipe!! I used O’Brian potatoes and it turned out DELICIOUS 😋
Em Beitel says
Awesome! Thank you so much for your comment, we’re glad you enjoyed them!
Marie says
Absolutely fabulous!
Em Beitel says
Thank you so much, Marie!
Sharon says
Great recipe.Instead of parboiling…put the potato in the microwave..no cleanup.
Em Beitel says
That’s a great tip, Sharon! Thank you for your comment!
Edale says
Filling ingredient list lists ¼ cup water once, but directions have you adding it twice. Once with the potato and sofrito, and once with the tomato sauce and Sazon con Azafron.
So do you add it with the potato and sofrito, the tomato sauce and Sazon con Azafron, or both? My guess is with the potato and sofrito, since I’m not sure 5 min is enough time to boil away the water if added with the tomato sauce…
Em Beitel says
Hi Edale! Sorry for the confusion. The water does go in with the potatoes and sofrito and we’ve updated the recipe to reflect that. Thank you and enjoy!
Marie says
Do you have to use parchment paper
Em Beitel says
Hi Marie! No, you can simply spray the baking sheet with cooking spray. Either way works fine. Thank you for your question!
Boo says
A different taste, very nice, was mouth watering. i enjoyed making it, better yet, eating it so did everyone else. thank you so much for sharing, an empanada so favorable, now everyone request I make and bring to the parties. A little time consuming, but well worth it.
Isabel Laessig says
I am so glad you enjoyed it! Thank you so much for your wonderful comment and review!