Ground beef empanadas are irresistible little pastry pockets filled with a delicious mixture of meat and seasonings. This succulent ground beef mixture comes together quickly on your stove top. Savory hand held tasty treats that are the perfect appetizer, midday snack or perfect for a potluck as they feed a crowd.
Next time try these delicious Lebanese fatayer.
Traditional empanadas use a homemade dough and are fried, but I'm going to show you an easy short cut method of using pie crusts that will result in a flaky and undeniably satisfying homemade empanada that you will want to make again and again.
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❤️ Why You'll Love It
- Easy beef empanadas appetizer.
- Fun finger food perfect for a game day snack.
- Super versatile recipe with variation ideas.
- A perfect picnic lunch idea.
- Can feed a crowd with these delicious hand held treats.
Ground beef empanadas are just plain good! Each bite provides a delicious taste of comfort and flavor. Homemade empanadas are easy to make and able to stuff with all your favorite fillings for a different treat every time you make them.
📝 Ingredients
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- Ground beef: You can also use ground chicken or ground turkey. Use your favorite.
- Onion and garlic : flavor base.
- Olive oil.
- Green onions and parsley for some greens.
- Cilantro: Fresh cilantro is best for flavor, but if it's not your favorite you can leave it out.
- Smoked paprika, cumin, salt & pepper and tomato sauce for flavoring.
- Refrigerated pie crusts
- Egg: Used for an egg wash before baking. This gives the empanadas a nice golden brown color.
🥄 Instructions
- In a large skillet over medium heat, sauté onion and garlic in oil. Add beef and cook until no longer pink.
- Add spices, green onion, parsley, cilantro and tomato sauce. Stir to combine and cook for about 5 minutes.
- On a lightly floured work surface, unroll one pie crust. Using a cookie cutter, cut out rounds of the crust.
- Put about 1 Tablespoon of the meat mixture in the center of each circle.
- Brush the outer edge of the circle with water and then fold over the filling. Seal edges by pressing with a fork.
- Place on a cookie sheet lined with aluminum foil or parchment paper and sprayed with oil. Brush top lightly with a beaten egg and bake.
💡 Expert Tips
- The number of rounds you will get, depends on the size of the cookie cutter you are using. You can make empanadas bite sized like I do or you can make them fit perfectly in the palm of your hand.
- You can use any meat you want such as ground beef, ground turkey or ground chicken.
- If you don't like cilantro, you can leave it out of the recipe.
- If the pie crusts are frozen, they should be thawed according to the package directions.
⌛ Make Ahead
- Homemade empanadas' meat mixture can be made ahead of time. Then wrap and keep in the frig for up to one day until you are ready to make the empanadas.
🍽️ Serve With
- Serve empanadas with your favorite sides like rice, salad, corn on the cob or roasted veggies.
- They can be also served with a number of dips and sauces like Chipotle sauce, avocado sauce, salsa and chimichurri sauce.
👩🍳 Variations
- There are so many ideas for making meat filled empanadas. Really the sky is the limit. You can use traditional fillings or get a little creative by adding beans, cheese or a variety of spices.
- Add diced sweet bell peppers, mushrooms, corn or potatoes
- Add diced olives, nuts or raisins.
- Use a variety of fresh herbs or your favorite spices.
🧺 Storage
- Leftover empanadas can be wrapped tightly and stored in the refrigerator for up to 3 or 4 days.
💬 FAQs
Traditionally, empanadas are flaky and crusty turnovers with a flavorful filling made with ground meat which is browned with seasonings added. Then you can add your favorite toppings like cheese or favorite herbs as well. The meat mixture is folded into dough and then fried or baked until golden brown.
I like to take a shortcut and use packaged pie dough. It is easy to roll out and results in a flaky crust. You can also use pastry dough, puff pastry, biscuit or pizza dough or even bread dough. It is worth noting that this is not an authentic empanadas recipe as empanada dough is not as flaky as pie crust. Not traditional but still perfectly tasty.
Yes, unbaked empanadas can be frozen. Lay the empanadas on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper. Freeze until solid and then they can be put into freezer bag and sealed shut for up to 3 months.
📣 Related Recipes
- Try these easy cheese fatayer soft and very tasty.
- These classic Lebanese spinach pies are tangy with a crunch.
- Spanakopita puffs.
I hope you'll like this recipe and please if you make this recipe, snap a pic and hashtag it #amiraspantry — I love to see your creations on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter!
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Ground Beef empanadas
Ingredients
- 2 Tablespoons oil
- 1 small onion diced
- 2 garlic cloves crushed
- 1 lb ground beef
- ¾ cup chopped green onion from 4 medium ones
- ¼ cup chopped parsley
- ¼ cup chopped cilantro
- 2 Tablespoon smoked paprika
- ½ Tablespoon ground cumin
- ¾ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- Salt to taste
- 1 cup tomato sauce
- 1 box refrigerated pie crusts
- 1 egg beaten
Instructions
- In a large skillet over medium heat, sauté onion and garlic in oil. Add beef and cook until no longer pink.
- Drain the fat then return to stove top.
- Preheat oven to 400°F.
- Add spices, green onion, parsley, cilantro and tomato sauce. Stir to combine and cook for about 5 minutes.
- On a lightly floured surface, unroll one pie crust.
- Using a cookie cutter, cut out rounds of the crust.
- Re-roll dough and cut rounds, you'll be able to get about 12 circles.
- Put about 1 Tablespoon of the meat mixture in the center of each circle.
- Brush the edges of the circle with water then fold over the filling.
- Seal edges by pressing with a fork.
- Repeat with the other pie crust.
- Place on a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil or parchment paper and sprayed with oil.
- Beat an egg with a dash of ground black pepper.Brush top lightly with the beaten egg.
- Bake for 11-14 minutes until nicely browned on top.
- Let it cool down before serving.
Notes
- The number of rounds you will get, depends on the size of the cookie cutter you are using. You can make empanadas bite sized like I do or you can make them fit perfectly in the palm of your hand.
- You can use any meat you want such as ground beef, ground turkey or ground chicken.
- If you don't like cilantro, you can leave it out of the recipe.
- If the pie crusts are frozen, they should be thawed according to the package directions.
- Storage
- Leftover beef empanadas can be wrapped tightly and stored in the refrigerator for up to 3 or 4 days.
- Leftover beef empanadas can be wrapped tightly and stored in the refrigerator for up to 3 or 4 days.
- Serve empanadas with your favorite side like rice, salad, corn on the cob or roasted veggies.
- They can be also served with a number of dips and sauces like Chipotle sauce, avocado sauce, salsa and chimichurri sauce.
- There are so many ideas for making meat filled empanadas. Really the sky is the limit. You can use traditional fillings or get a little creative by adding beans, cheese or a variety of spices.
- Add diced sweet bell peppers, mushrooms, corn or potatoes
- Add diced olives, nuts or raisins.
- Use a variety of fresh herbs or your favorite spices.
Nutrition
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First published April, 2018 . Last updated April 30, 2022 with important tips, clear step by step instructions and readability.
Annette
My husband and I really loved this recipe. We made it together and had lots of fun. I'm going to fill them with spinach and feta next. Thanks a bunch!
Adeline Martin
The empanada came out very well I used to make them a long time ago am happy that am able to try it again using your recipe which was a success
Amira
Glad you liked it Adeline. Thanks for the feedback.
Dalia
This has been my go to recipe for this week. I've made a big batch over the weekend and now we are consuming them as lunch and dinner. Thank you.