Inside: Learn how to make these delicious baked beef empanadas, which are perfect as an appetizer, main dish, or even as a dessert if you change the filling to something sweet!
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There is no doubt that some of the best food in the world comes from Mexico. That is why I love sharing the recipe that my mom and my grandmother made for me while I was growing up there. Of all of the recipes on this website, the Mexican “antojitos” or street foods are without a doubt some of the most popular.
Within that category are the following recipes:
- Traditional Mexican Tostadas
- Quick and Easy Mexican Sope Recipe with Chorizo and Potato
- How to Make Authentic Mexican Tamales
- How To Make The Best Mexican-Style Chicken Flautas
- Crispy Potato Flautas Recipe
- Smoked Pork Taquitos Smothered In Salsa Verde
These are all delicious and traditional in Mexican cuisine.
Another of these street foods that I loved growing up are empanadas. My mom used to make them filled with cheese, meet and even fish sometimes! They were definitely delicious.
There are many different types of empanadas around the world and depending on where you are from they may have different names. In Mexico, the most common way to prepare them is fried, which I will include as another recipe later.
Today, however, I want to share a recipe for baked beef empanadas, which are also delicious, easy to make and they look great too! These are sold throughout Mexico, and you can make modifications to the filling for other savory types, or you can modify the dough slightly to make sweet empanadas filled with fruit jelly or even dulce de leche.
What Are Baked Beef Empanadas
As the name indicates, these empanadas are baked instead of fried. That is why the dough needs to be made differently. For fried empanadas you will use corn flour, but for the baked variety you will use regular flour. Regardless of whether you want fried or baked, you will love this recipe!
How Do You Make Baked Beef Empanadas
There are two common types of baked empanadas – savory and sweet. The recipe I am sharing today if for savory empanadas, which are filled with a delicious ground beef mixture. I will be sharing the recipe for sweet baked empanadas in the future, but I hope you enjoy these for now.
They are made by preparing the dough, filling it with delicious ground beef, and then carefully closing it up before baking until golden brown.
Baked empanadas are also made in other Latin American companies such as Chile, Argentina, and Colombia. They may have different names and different preparations, but they are all delicious!
Let me know in the comments below how these turn out.
Baked Beef Empanadas
Ingredients
For The Ground Beef Filling
- 1 lb ground beef
- 2 cloves garlic finely chopped
- 1/2 white onion finely chopped
- 1/2 red bell pepper finely chopped
- 1/2 bunch cilantro finely chopped
- 1/2 tsp ground cumin
- 1/2 tsp smoked paprika
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/4 cup tomato sauce
- 1 tbsp olive oil
For the Empanada Dough
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1/4 cup cold butter cut into small pieces
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 - 1 cup cold milk
Additional Ingredients
- 1 egg beaten, for applying to empanada prior to baking.
Instructions
To Make The Ground Beef Filling
- Add the olive oil to a frying pan and then sautee the onion and garlic.
- Add the red pepper and cook for about 1 additional minute.
- Add the ground beef and the seasonings and cilantro and cook until the ground beef is cooked through.
- Add the tomato sauce and mix well. Continue cooking for 3-5 more minutes.
For the Empanada Dough
- Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for about 30 minutes.
- Combine the flour, salt, and baking powder in a large bowl. Slowly add the butter and combine.
- Add the milk a little bit at a time until the dough forms.
- Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
To Form The Empanadas
- Take a ball of dough that is about 1-1.5 inches in diameter and flatten it with a rolling pin or a tortilla press. Use a cup or some other dough cutter to make a perfect circle.
- Add some of the beef filling to the center and brush a small amount of the beaten egg along the edges.
- Fold over and secure the edges using a fork.
- Add to the baking sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes.
- Serve with Salsa.
Nutrition
Step 1 begins in English, but is partly in Spanish. I can’t read the Spanish part. Thank you, David McNeely
Thanks, David. I accidentally left some text that I had copied over when translating the post to English. The instructions that were in Spanish were the same as what follows in the recipe. I just removed the Spanish text – thanks for the heads up!
Hola!
My son, who’s 21, just made these yesterday with my supervision.. haha! They turned out amazing and the recipe is a keeper!!
He followed your recipe pretty much exactly. He did bake them which I think is awesome because so much of our delicious food is fried so of course he couldn’t help himself. Once he baked the, he did opt to quickly flash fry some in Manteca which made him feel better I guess… it did add that fried crunch and hint of grease he was looking for without completely frying them.
Thanks for sharing. I’ve said it before in my comments to you that you’re my go to For all things authentic and appreciate you sharing your wealth of information and passion for keeping that going
Oh and we cheated and used the Goya empanadas shells but next time we’ll use your recipe!!
Thanks, Jessica! I am glad that you and your son enjoyed these 🙂 Thanks for the comment.
When you mention red pepper, do you mean red bell pepper or something else? These sound easy & delish so I definitely want to try!
Yes, red bell pepper. I just updated the recipe. Thanks!