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My Puerto Rican-style Baked Empanadas, also known as pastelillos de carne, can be made in a big batch in under an hour! Perfect for lunch, dinner, and snacking, these beef empanadas are a must-try.
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Baked Empanada Recipe
I have been making these incredible beef baked empanadas for years for my family as lunchbox treats and after-school snacks. They’re delicious hot or cold, and are honestly so good I sometimes even serve them for Sunday dinner.
My beef empanadas are Puerto Rican-style empanadas. They’re amazing for sharing and make a great party appetizer. I love them for game day!
Pair them with my other empanada recipes, like my chicken empanadas for dinner and my pumpkin or apple empanadas for dessert.
My kids thought these were better than the ones we buy from a restaurant. Thank you for this delicious and easy to follow recipe.
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What is an Empanada?
To put it simply, an empanada is basically a hand pie. They’re half-moon shaped pastry shells packed with a filling; you can make empanadas using everything from savory fillings like beef, chicken, and beans, to sweet fillings like pumpkin and caramel apple.
Empanadas are easy to make at home using either homemade pastry dough or store-bought Goya empanada discs (also referred to as discos). You can either bake or fry empanadas, based on your preference!
Empanadas Baked Ingredients
For Dough
- All-Purpose Flour
- Butter
- Egg
- Water
- Salt
For Filling
- Ground Beef: I prefer to use an 80/20 mix ground chuck beef. The fatty content enhances the flavor.
- Potato: You will need to peel, parboil, and dice your potatoes small. I prefer Yukon gold potatoes, but you can also use russet potatoes.
- Sofrito: This is an aromatic sauce consisting of onions, garlic, tomatoes, peppers, and spices.
- Tomato Sauce: Any tomato sauce will do, but if you can find El Pato hot tomato sauce, I recommend it.
- Sazón con Azafran: This is a unique seasoning containing Mexican saffron, garlic, salt, and a handful of other ingredients. Look for Goya sazon con azafran.
- Spanish Olives: I know olives aren’t for everyone; leave them out, if you prefer. But, they add great flavor to the mixture if you do like olives or aren’t sure yet if you do!
- Water: Both for parboiling potatoes and adding to the pan.
- Salt: Kosher salt or sea salt flakes work best. I recommend avoiding table salt.
- Cheese: I’m using Monterey Jack cheese. You can use pre-shredded cheese or grate your own.
Baking Empanadas Instructions
Empanada Dough
If you want to make your own empanada dough, follow the instructions included in my recipe for empanada dough. You can also use pre-made empanada dough. Goya discos are a great choice and are typically sold in the frozen food section at most supermarkets.
Beef Empanada Filling
To save yourself some time, preheat your oven to 350°F while you prepare the filling.
- Bring a pot of water on the stove to a boil and add potatoes. Boil the potatoes for 7 to 10 minutes, then allow them to cool enough to handle. Peel and dice into small pieces.
- Mince Spanish olives into small pieces if using.
- Heat a large skillet over medium heat on the stove. Once hot, add ground beef. Cook until completely browned, chopping it into pieces as it cooks. Drain any excess grease once finished cooking.
- Add potato, sofrito, and water to the pan with the ground beef. Cook an additional 10 minutes, stirring often to prevent the potatoes from sticking.
- Add tomato sauce, a packet of Sazon con Azafran seasoning, and a pinch of salt. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring often.
- Toss the olives into the pan and stir.
Filling Empanadas
- Preheat your oven to 350°F if you haven’t already preheated it.
- Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Or, spray with cooking spray. You can also use one baking sheet and bake in batches if you prefer.
- Place the pastry rounds onto a clean surface.
- Spoon meat filling into each pastry round. Top with a sprinkling of Monterey Jack cheese.
- Rub the edges of each pastry round with a little bit of water.
- Pull one side of the pastry over to the opposite side. Press the edges together using your fingers.
- Seal the edges tightly, and crimp them together using your fingers or a fork. Try not to over-stuff the pastry rounds, or they’ll break open as they bake.
- Repeat with the remaining pastry rounds.
Baking Empanadas
- Place half of the empanadas on each prepared baking sheet.
- Place the pans in the oven and bake for 25-30 minutes, or until the dough is golden brown.
- Remove the baking sheets from the oven when the empanadas are finished baking. Serve, and enjoy!
Expert Tips for Baking Empanadas
- You can either make your own dough or use frozen Goya pastry rounds. Make sure to thaw the dough for at least 30 minutes before 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.
- Parboiling the potatoes makes it easier to peel and chop them. They cook more quickly in the filling this way, which will save you time overall.
How to Parboil Potatoes for Empanadas
Parboil, meaning to partly cook food by boiling, is a technique used to soften foods (like potatoes) before cooking with them. I parboil the potatoes before using them for the empanada 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 you’re done!
Empanada Recipes FAQ
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.
Baked empanadas are typically easier to make than fried empanadas, because you can make a large amount in one batch. It is also much easier to clean up after baked empanadas. However, you might prefer the taste and texture of fried empanadas.
Turned out really well. Very flaky and buttery. Used some of the dough to make berry tarts.
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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.
Keep them in the freezer until frozen solid, then transfer them to a freezer bag or other freezer-safe container. I 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. Add approximately 5 minutes to the baking time.
What to Serve with Empanadas
This recipe was a hit and it was something different for dinner. Thank you!
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Recipe
Baked 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
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 azafran 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 pastry 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.
Sara DeLeeuw says
Your pies look beautiful! It’s it fun to do the things that remind us of childhood? Delicious!!
Lauren Everson says
Baking is definitely the way to go, thank you for sharing your memories. My dad went to high school in Puerto Rico, I’ll have to see if he’s had these and make them next time he visits.
Sue Lau says
Love these little empanaditas!
Mike Benton says
The smells and taste of the foods of Puerto Rico. My father was USCG, we lived there from 1950 to 1957 and again from 1963 to 1967 in a little “hole” called San Pat (ya had to be there). Mom (Tennessee girl) would make rice and chicken and rice and pork. I finally got up the courage a few years ago to try and make it, not bad, but needed work, second batch was much better. I REALLY missed /miss the pan de agua and Pastelillos de Carne (meat pies) we used to buy off the little street vendor carts, now I am gonna try it. They used to tell us NOT to eat foods from those carts, didn’t kill me and it was some of the best cooking. Wish me luck. hahaha Thanks for the post and ideas, all I have to do is find the Goya Discos here in NC. Mabe sub cresent rolls?
Anjali says
I absolutely love empanadas — and I love that these are baked and not fried!!
Em Beitel says
Thank you so much, Anjali! We really prefer baking them – agreed.
unicornsinthekitchen says
We made this the other day and everyone loved it.
Em Beitel says
Thank you so much!
Kelly Anthony says
My husband loves empanadas so I know these baked puerto rican meat pies will make him the happiest man alive.
Em Beitel says
Thank you so much, Kelly! We hope so- these are delicious.
Andrea Metlika says
These look fantastic. I’m worried the filing won’t make it in to the dough, LOL. My family is going to love these.
Em Beitel says
Ha! Every time we make a batch of these, some of the filling always manages to disappear. Thank you for the lovely comment- we hope you and your family enjoy them!
Alexis says
Would I be able to freeze these and cook st a later date?
Em Beitel says
Definitely! Thank you for your question, Alexis! To freeze, we recommend placing 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, though). You can bake them straight out of the freezer, but be sure to add a few extra minutes to the cooking time – I wouldn’t say more than 10 extra minutes. Enjoy!
MO says
Hello, do I need to brush egg on the dough to make it look like yours, or do the Goya discs look like that after baking? Thank you!
Em Beitel says
Hi there! Thank you for your question! To make them look like ours, we do recommend brushing with a bit of egg mixed with water. An egg wash will help brown and crisp the surface. Happy cooking! We hope you love them!