Beef Empanadas
Argentinian empanadas with a juicy, gently spiced beef filling, olives and egg, baked in a short pastry that stays crisp. Chilling the filling overnight is the trick to a juicy centre without a leaking crust.
Photograph credit: Beef Empanada - Malo Argentinian Empanadas, Brighton 2023-11-25 by Andy Li · CC0 · Wikimedia Commons
The filling is deliberately made loose and then chilled overnight, so the fat sets solid and can be sealed inside easily — but melts during baking to baste the meat, giving that juicy centre. Warm filling would soften the dough and leak through every seam.
What People Ask
How long does Beef Empanadas take to make?
40 minutes of preparation and 50 minutes to 55 minutes of cooking, plus 9 hours of chilling, so allow 10 hours 30 minutes to 10 hours 35 minutes from start to finish. The method also needs time for cooling completely, which it does not time, so treat that as a minimum. The recipe serves 12.
Photograph credit: Beef soup with hard-boiled egg, empanadas,Barreirinhas by Gerda Arendt · CC0 · Wikimedia Commons
How to Make Beef Empanadas
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Rub the butter into the flour and salt until it resembles coarse crumbs. Beat the egg into the cold water and add gradually, bringing it together into a firm dough. Chill 1 hour.
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Cook the onions in the olive oil over medium-low heat for 15 minutes until soft and sweet.
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Raise the heat, add the beef and brown for 8 minutes, breaking it up.
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Add the paprika, cumin, oregano, chilli flakes and salt and cook 2 minutes, then the stock. Simmer 5 minutes — the mixture should be moist, not dry.
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Cool for no more than 2 hours, then refrigerate overnight. This is the step that makes the difference.
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Fold the chopped egg, olives and spring onions into the cold filling.
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Roll the dough to 3 mm and cut 13 cm circles.
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Place 2 tablespoons of filling on each, brush the rim with water, fold into a half-moon and press firmly to seal.
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Crimp the edge with the traditional repulgue twist, or press with a fork.
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Brush with beaten egg and bake at 200°C / 390°F for 22 to 25 minutes until deep golden. Rest 5 minutes before eating — the filling is molten.
Related guide: Prep, cook and total time.
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A Few Pointers
- Chill the filling overnight. A warm or even room-temperature filling will leak and soften the pastry.
- Seal firmly and completely; any gap becomes a blowout in the oven.
- Chopped hard-boiled egg is traditional and adds richness — do not leave it out.
If You're Missing Something
- Out of spring onions? A small regular onion, finely sliced, or a few chives stirred in at the end both cover the job.
- Fresh herbs work in place of the dried oregano at roughly three times the quantity — a teaspoon of dried is about a tablespoon of fresh, chopped.
Serve It With
A Malbec, naturally, or a cold lager · Serve with chimichurri for dipping · Follow with dulce de leche pancakes
Leftovers and Storage
Unbaked empanadas freeze 3 months — bake from frozen, adding 8 minutes. Baked ones keep 3 days; re-crisp at 190°C / 375°F for 10 minutes.
Beef Empanadas Nutrition
Per serving, calculated from the ingredient list with USDA FoodData Central figures (SR Legacy). A calculation, not a laboratory analysis: brands, cuts and how you measure change the real numbers. How the figures are worked out.
Your notes on this recipe
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Compiled by Turab
Checked by script for timings, diet labels and nutrition arithmetic. How the recipes are checked. Found a mistake? Tell us.
First published ; last changed .
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