Baked Beef Empanada

This Baked Beef Empanada recipe features a crisp and flaky cheddar crust filled with tender potatoes, carrots, peas and raisins along with sweet, savory ground beef!

Course Appetizer, Lunch, Snacks

Cuisine American, Filipino, spanish

Keyword Empanada

Prep Time 50

Cook Time 20

Chill 2

Total Time 3 10

Servings

Calories 345kcal

Author sanna

Equipment

Pastry Cutter/ Pastry Blender affiliate!
Large Baking Pans affiliate!

Ingredients

The Cheddar Crust

2 cups all-purpose flour
¼ tsp salt
⅛ tsp baking powder
1 cup cheddar cheese grated
¾ cup unsalted butter cut into cubes, chilled
7 tbsp. ice cold water plus up to 3 tbsp extra, as needed

The Beef Filling

2 tbsp cooking oil
2 cloves garlic minced
2 tbsp onion sliced thinly
300 grams ground beef
1 small potato peeled and diced, about ½ cup
1 small carrot peeled and diced, about ½ cup
2 tbsp tomato paste
¼ cup peas
¼ cup raisins
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp pepper
2 tbsp brown sugar

Egg wash

1 tbsp milk
1 egg

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Make the Pie Crust

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Add the grated cheddar cheese. Using your fingers, rub the cheese against the powders until the mixture looks like coarse crumbs.
Add the cubed butter and use a pastry cutter to cut the butter into the mixture, until the butter is reduced into little clumps and the mixture like a coarse crumbs with bits clumps of butter and cheese all throughout.
Add 7 tbsp of cold water and mix everything, preferably with your hands, until the dough clings together. This may look still a bit crumbly. You can add up to 3 more tbsp of water if it really looks dry. But please note that the dough is supposed to look crumbly but mostly clings gathers together when pressed.
Lay a large piece of plastic wrap on a flat surface. Dump the dough in the middle and wrap the plastic over the dough, gathering it in the center. Press the dough down with your knuckles to knead until the dough has gathered and more compact inside the plastic film. Shape it into a 1 ½ inch thick disc. Alternatively, you can also put the dough inside a large sealable Ziploc bag, knead with your knuckles until gathered and compact.
Chill this in the fridge for at least 2 hours or up to 3 days. After chilling allow the dough to sit at room temperature for 5 minutes before rolling it out.

Make the Beef Filling

Heat oil in a medium skillet. Sauté garlic and onion until soft and aromatic. Add the ground beef. Cook, breaking the chunks apart, until browned and tender. Add the potatoes and carrots. Cook, for a few minutes, tossing occasionally, until soft.
Add the tomato paste and stir it in. Add the peas and raisins. Season with salt and pepper. Add the brown sugar. Taste and season/sweeten more as desired. Turn off heat and let this cool.

Shape your Beef Empanada

First, make the egg wash. Beat together milk and egg and set aside. Dust a clean surface with flour. Roll out your dough using a rolling pin until it is about ⅛ inch thick.
Using a 5 inch diameter cookie cutter or any bowl or mug with a 5 inch rim that can potentally shape circles, cut as many circles as you can from the rolled out dough. Use a pastry scraper or a wide metal spatula to lift the dough discs and transfer them to a parchment lined tray. Remember to keep your surface dusted to prevent too much sticking. Gather the scraps and roll it out again. Cut as many circles as you can. Repeat until the dough is used up. I am able to make up to 12 empanadas from 1 batch of dough.
Preheat the oven to 400 ℉. To fill the dough, work in 2 batches. Keep half the discs in the fridge while you shape the rest.
Spoon about 1 tbsp. of filling into the center of the disc. Fold it in half to cover the filling, creating a half moon shape. Then using the tines of a fork, press down the two seams together to seal ( see photos in the post).
Repeat with the remaining discs. Arrange the shaped and filled dough in a parchment lined baking tray, leaving about 1 inch of space in between. Brush the surface of the empanada with egg wash.
Bake at 400 ℉ for 15- 20 minutes, or until lightly golden and crisp. Allow the empanadas to cool slightly on a wire rack. Watch out for the hot filling. Enjoy!

Notes

The Filling. The filling can be made for up to 2 days ahead.

The Cheddar Crust. The crust can be made ahead and stored in the fridge for up to 3 days. You can also freeze it for up to 3 weeks.

Cheddar Cheese. You can use the packaged grated cheese, or you can grate your own. I find that the dough is more crumbly using pre-grated cheese, so that's why you may need a bit more water there.

Making the Crust. This can look like a dry, crumbly crust. However, most of the dough should cling together when pressed. It is vital to enclose the dough in a plastic film or Ziploc when knead with your knuckles to gather it.

Freezing Empanadas. You can freeze, shaped empanada dough. To bake, follow the same instructions but you may need to bake it for a little longer. No thawing required.

The crust is adapted from Rose Levy Berenbaum's Cheddar Pie Crust in her book The Pie and Pastry Bible.

Nutrition