I used to work near a small Brazilian market. I stopped by one day and discovered they had affordable prepared foods - perfect for a quick lunch when you're in a rush. They were selling delicious beef empanadas for a buck a piece! As a result, this became one of my favorite places for lunch. One bite of that empanada and I was hooked. What I loved was how simple yet flavorful it was. Main ingredients were ground beef with seasoning, peas, onion and that was pretty much it. There would sometimes be other versions with corn or potato, but that didn't appeal to me.
Why you should make a huge batch of beef and cheese empanadas
Of course, I had to try to make my own version of this and I tinkered with the recipe for years. Finally, I landed on the delicious beef and cheese empanadas I'm sharing here. This is so easy to make and everyone will love it. Seriously. It's crunchy shell exterior with the soft, flavorful beef and cheese center is the perfect combination. I realize you can make the dough from scratch, but why bother? The frozen shells at your local grocery store are perfect for this.
These delicious beef and cheese empanadas are a serious crowd pleaser, from movie night to Super Bowl Sunday. The empanadas freeze very well too. I usually make about 30 in one batch. Yes, you read that right: 30.
You might think 10 is enough, but it's not. Please trust me on this one. We pig out the night I make them. I usually give some away to my friends and family who have become addicted to them over the years. The rest I freeze for lunches and dinners when I don't have time to cook. To defrost, simply put them in the fridge overnight and reheat them in your toaster oven with a piece of foil resting on top so they don't burn. Seriously, just as delicious as the night you made them. Oh, and if you love the combo of sour cream, salsa, avocado, scallion, and cilantro: you must check out my Killer Chicken Quesadillas or my Southwest Style Chicken with Cheese Beans and Salsa.
I'm always cooking with leftovers in mind. Why waste money eating out when you can cook amazing food in your own kitchen? Cook for yourself and your loved ones - you're worth it.
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Delicious Beef and Cheese Empanadas
- Prep Time: 20
- Cook Time: 20
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: 30 empanadas 1x
Description
This easy beef and cheese empanada recipe is a real crowd pleaser and easy to put together. You'll have plenty of leftovers to freeze for future meals too!
Ingredients
- 2-2.5 pounds of 80/20 ground beef
- 1 ½ tablespoons Adobo seasoning
- 1 dark green poblano pepper, diced
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 6-8 ounces of Sofrito (More if needed. I buy the 12 ounce jar)
- 3-4 packages Goya empanada wrappers (10 in each pack – small size)
- 2 cups of shredded Mexican cheese
- 1 15 oz can of pigeon peas
- 2 eggs beaten with splash of water
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- Salt & pepper to taste
- Frying oil for empanadas (vegetable or canola work best)
Optional Toppings:
- ½ bunch of cilantro
- 5-6 scallions (garnish)
- sour cream
- salsa
- chopped avocado (or make some guacamole)
Instructions
- Dice onion – put in a bowl.
- Dice the pepper – put in a bowl.
- Drain water from the can of pigeon peas (you can leave in the can until ready to use).
- If you using any of the optional toppings – prep them now. Chop your scallions, cilantro and avocado and set aside. Have your favorite salsa on hand and sour cream too if you want!
- In one pan, start cooking the ground beef. It will need to be broken up so just use a wooden spoon or spatula. I don’t use any oil here because the beef has enough fat.
- In the other pan, add the diced onion and a drizzle of olive oil, along with salt and pepper to taste. Cook on low to medium heat for a couple of minutes then add the diced pepper and pigeon peas. I cook this separately because it gets lost in the beef mixture if you cook it all together and the pigeon peas turn to mush. Cook this for about 3-5 minutes on low to medium heat.
- Once your beef starts browning, add your Adobo seasoning and mix well.
- Add the cooked onion, pepper, and pigeon pea mixture into the ground beef pan and give it a good mix.
- Add 6-8 ounces of sofrito sauce and mix well. Have a taste and if you want more sofrito add it here. I think I usually end up using almost the whole jar, but that’s just my preference. Taste it after you’ve added half the jar and add more if you like! Cook the mixture another few minutes to ensure the beef is cooked all the way through.
- Once beef mixture is ready, pour half of it into a large bowl, add a cup of cheese and mix. The cheese will start melting right away. Next, add the rest of the beef mixture on top of that, plus the second cup of cheese. Toss around again. Your empanada filling is ready!
Finally Assembly:
- Beat eggs and a splash of water for an egg wash.
- Pour vegetable oil in a pan and let it heat up. The empanadas will fry in this oil. Fill the pan with about one inch of oil.
- Take one empanada wrapper and put on a cutting board. Put 1 heaping spoon of beef mixture (a little more if you can fit it) on the wrapper and fold it over.
- Brush the egg wash around the edge of the wrapper
- Seal the empanada by forking the edges.
- Repeat the process until you’ve stuffed all the empanadas.
Notes
- The serving size: I know 30 seems like a lot of empanadas, but it’s really not. If you’re cooking for a large group they will all get eaten. If you're cooking for 4-6 people and everyone has 2 the first night you make them, you’re already down to as few as 18 empanadas. And trust me: this is a great freezer meal for another night when you don’t feel like cooking.
- I finger-flick a little egg wash on the oil to see if it’s hot enough to start frying. If it crackles it’s ready.
- Stuff 6-7 empanadas and add them to the oil. While the first batch of empanadas is cooking you can stuff the next batch.
- Since the beef is still warm, the empanada dough may get gooey and sticky and they will be harder to lift up from the cutting board. If you have parchment paper, you could place the uncooked, stuffed empanadas there as a staging area before they go in the pan.
- You will probably have leftover beef mixture. You can freeze it and make more empanadas later or tacos.
- These empanadas freeze very well. Make sure you wrap them well before placing in the freezer. I usually double ziplock bag them.
- There are two sizes of empanada wrappers. I use the smaller ones. The larger ones say “Discos Grande.”
- The recipe calls for 2-2 ½ pounds of beef because I know the offerings at the grocery store can vary wildly. For this recipe, I could only get a 2 ½ pound package of ground beef the day I bought it. I definitely had leftover beef mixture and froze it for another time.
- In the video I mention making 20 empanadas, but I meant to say 3o! I just couldn't go back and re-record that - sorry! I made 20 for the video but I had enough mix for 10 more which I made at a later time.
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