Baked Puerto Rican Empanadas

Your family will love these Puerto Rican empanadas. They make a great appetizer for a party or are perfect for a weeknight supper!

Course Appetizer

Cuisine Puerto Rican

Keyword baked empanada recipe, baked empanadas, Puerto Rican Empanadas

Prep Time 10

Cook Time 45

Resting time 30

Total Time 55

Servings Servings

Calories 298kcal

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.

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

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.

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!

RECIPE TIPS:

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.