Giant Beef Empanadas
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These Beef Empanadas have a flavorful and savory filling inside a tenderly flaky crust. What’s even better is that this recipe is an easy one and y’all know those are my favorites.
Now here is our recipe for delicious Beef Empanadas. A flavorful and savory filling inside a tenderly flaky crust. What’s even better is that this recipe is an easy one and y’all know those are my favorites. Life is complicated enough without bringing all that mess into our kitchens!
You’ll need: Pie Crusts (You can make your own or use store brand roll out crusts), Cheddar Cheese, Salt, Diced Tomatoes, Pepper, Onion, Chili Powder, Cumin, and Ground Beef.
Brown your beef and onion in a large skillet over medium high heat, breaking it up really well as you do.
Like this. 
Add your tomatoes and seasonings and stir together. Return to heat.
Simmer uncovered stirring occasionally for 20-25 minutes until mixture thickens and most of tomato juice is absorbed.
Karen says it is important to place your pie crusts exactly where you want them because once you put the filling in there will be no moving without tearing. So I hung each over a bit on a large cookie sheet. That way I can just flip the top over and be done.
Place one unrolled pie crust at one end of greased cookie sheet. (If baking both giant empanadas on same cookie sheet think ahead about placement. Once beef is added you cannot move empanada).
Place half of beef mixture on half of pastry leaving one inch border around edges.
Note: This is way too much filling. You can read about why below. 🙂 You should use about 2/3 of what you see here. If you have extra you can freeze it and have Empanadas for another day…
Sprinkle with about ½ of cheese (careful not to over fill with either beef or cheese) Carefully pull remaining dough over, covering meat and cheese meeting the edge of bottom crusts.Spoon your filling into each one.
And now more about the blow out…
Karen says not to overstuff your pie crust or you’ll have a blow out. These photographs are excellent examples of me overstuffing. I did have a blow out. Don’t overstuff. You need about 2/3 the amount of filling shown here.
If you do have a blow out you can patch it with more pie dough or cook it as is, it will be fine and still taste wonderful.
It drives me crazy when folks tell me something didn’t turn out perfectly and they threw it away. Seriously. I actually gasp in horror whenever I read one of those comments. Threw it away? Even my goofs get eaten. To this day I have never had a meal so bad that we couldn’t manage to eat it and call it supper.
Okay so you fold your beautiful pies over and then fold the edges up and press them to seal a bit. You can use a fork or just your fingers. Then, beat an egg and brush that over it, too.
Wanna see my blow out?
I patched it up with a little dough and smoothed it over a bit. A little meat and such popped out when I was cooking it but you know what?
It still ate just fine!
The world did not end.
No one felt the least bit horrified at the supper table when they saw it. They smiled and said it looked good and ate it up.
And if anyone had of thrown it away or acted horrified at my house…. well lets just say they know better because they were raised to know better :).
Bake these at 400 for 20-30 minutes, or until golden brown.
Serve with your choice of toppings. After one bite of these, I can see why it is one of her husband’s favorite recipes. My husband said “WOW! This is amazing!”
Ingredients
- 1 pound lean ground beef
- 1 cup onion chopped
- 1 cup green pepper chopped
- 1 can 14.5oz Diced Tomatoes, undrained
- 1 Tablespoon chili powder
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon pepper
- 2 cups of grated cheddar cheese
- 2 refrigerated ready made pie crusts Karen uses Pillsbury
- 1 egg yolk mixed with 1 Tablespoon water Optional
Instructions
- Cook beef, onions & green pepper in skillet until meat is no longer pink; drain.
- Return beef mixture to skillet and stir in tomatoes, chili powder, cumin, salt, & pepper.
- Simmer uncovered stirring occasionally for 20-25 minutes until mixture thickens and most of tomato juice is absorbed.
- Place one unrolled pie crust at one end of greased cookie sheet. (If baking both giant empanadas on same cookie sheet think ahead about placement. Once beef is added you can not move empanada) Place half of beef mixture on half of pastry (like half moon shape ‘D’ ) leaving one inch border around edges. Sprinkle with about ½ of cheese (careful not to over fill with either beef or cheese)
- Carefully pull remaining dough over, covering meat and cheese meeting the edge of bottom crusts. Crimp edges with fork to seal all around.
- Brush top with yolk mixture. (You should have a half moon shape) Repeat above with remaining pastry.
- Bake at 400 for 20 – 30 minutes or until golden brown.
- Serve with shredded lettuce, chopped tomatoes, sour cream and guacamole.
Notes
Nutrition
“Good people bring out the good in other people.”
~Unknown
You might also enjoy this recipe! Pull Apart French Dip Sandwiches
Everyone should give these a try. Our grandsons love them. We have made them to have during football games. They are perfect since we can hold them and enjoy them during the games. I’m su r email your family will enjoy them as much as ours does. Thank you so much Karen for sharing this recipe with us!
Mama
Hi mama!
Oh Mrs. Momma….you are welcome!! So glad you enjoyed them! I love southern plate & it’s hospitality! Thanks for having me. 🙂
Hi Christy. I wrote to you a couple of years ago, or whenever it was that you updated this website before. At that time I pointed out that I could not find an index to look through like you previously had. You fixed that. Thanks! But since this last update (which I like very much), I have not had need to look through the index for something until today. It seems I am having the same problem as I did after the previous update. Is there a way to look for something that I don’t know the exact name of without having to go through pages and pages to find it? Maybe I am just missing where there is an index list by category but with no photos. Thanks for any help. Love your recipes!
Hey Shelley!
You know, most suggestions that folks make about the site are good suggestions, but would cost thousands and thousands of dollars to implement. I was relieved today that you suggested one that took me five minutes and was doable by myself 🙂 If you look up in the very top right of the page, above the book, you will see a link to the written index of all categories now (no pictures). Thanks for letting me know this would be helpful and I hope it proves to be so!
Gratefully,
Christy
Christy, what an awesome idea that index is! Thank you for creating it for us! 🙂
Cheers from Aus!
Thanks so much Christy and Shelley! What a great idea, very helpful. 🙂
Woohoo I’m internet famous again! Lol. Karen is the awesomest! I bet those empanadas are fantastic!
Miss you both tremendously. Wish we all didn’t live so far away from each other. Thanks for making my day, dear sister. Great post!
These look delicious, can’t wait to try!
Thank you Peg!! Let me know how you like them!
Hey Christie, I made the Empanadas tonight. I had a big problem with the dough. It was dry & broke apart. We had a store brand pie dough. Will try Pillsbury next time. But it was very good & I will try again. I was thinking about putting the meat mixture on top of Tostito chips along with the cheese, tomatoes, lettuce & sour cream next time. I did make refried beans & it all was delicious, even though it looked a wreck. Lol! Thanks for the recipe.
Oh & thanks for the index of recipes, so much easier!!
Sorry about you initial results…I would first make sure your dough was in date. Another thing could be if the dough was to warm when you put mixture in it. Or the mixture was to hot. Let it cool to warm. I take pie crust out of box. With it still rolled in wrapper I leave it at room temp about 5 to 10 minutes. You can gently roll it with rolling pin just a little to stretch it or place on pan and pull gently just to make it a little more pliable for the fold over. Fill with cooled meat mixture..careful don’t over fill. My daughter made it & had troubles & said she took her dough out of freezer & she thinks hers breaking a part was because the pie dough was partially frozen when she filled it. Hope this helps…btw I use the Pillsbury but I don’t think it matters. Also your use of the meat mixture on top of Tostitos is a great idea. It’s only my hubby & I at home so I will make one empanada & freeze remaining meat for later.
Looks great, although the term “blow out” reminds me of memorable diaper changes! Just curious, have you ever shared how you keep your pans so shiny clean without using parchment? I would love your secret formula! I’ve tried every magic potion on Pinterest and my cookie sheets are still dark and grungy-looking.
Oh oh oh! Lesley I’m glad you asked that (and I am very familiar with that type of blow out as well!)lol.
It’s all in the pans themselves. I never do anything special to them. In fact, half the time I wash them in the dishwasher and half the time I wash them in the sink but have never had to scrub them or use anything special to them. I get them from Sam’s club in the restaurant supply section and my mother and I both LOVE THEM. I think I pay around $15 for two and I have some I’ve had for close to ten years that look just as new as when I bought them. I even take them with me when I travel to do TV and have sent some home with food stylists who fell in love with them as well. I hope you can get some soon! If you don’t have a Sam’s club, look for restaurant grade baking sheets and they should be pretty cheap (ten or less each). I can’t wait for you to get some now!
I too love, love, love those pans. I paid about the same and have had mine for 9 years, I use them for everything. If I’m baking something in a flimsy tin pan I use them to set the pan on.
I really like the Sam’s pans as well. Mine are still going strong and have been used numerous times and are still shiny. Like you, mine are cleaned either in the dishwasher or sink and are great all-purpose pans.
I to use the Sam’s pans…they are a gift to every bride or first apartment person I know.
Smart & Final also carries them. I’ve had mine about a year, and they still look new, and I’ve never touched them with S.O.S.-just soap, water and a scrubby sponge. They are very reasonably priced there, too, around $15.00 if I remember rightly.
I do like my Dishpan Cookies better on my old, darkened cookie sheets, though, but that’s the only thing. I got racks for them at Amazon and nothing could be better.
They only fit sideways in my oven though, otherwise, the door won’t shut, so I can’t use two of them side by side. Bummer! I don’t think a full-size one would even fit in my oven. (Of course I thought about it.) 8)
These look awesome! If I have any ground beef in the freezer (and I better!), this recipe will be tomorrow night’s dinner!
Oh I’m excited! let me know what you think! They are so good!
They were delicious! My son loved it and I will definitely make them again. Very easy and quick!
I am so glad you liked them Susan!! They are always a hit here too!!
I’ve never had leftover pie crust, but I like your idea! Those are so cute. I’m tinkhing something with Nutella if I did have any leftover. I have never made crust from scratch, though!
Oh Christy, I near have a heart attack if I hear somebody say they threw food out. I tell them “eat it, it ain’t gonna kill ya”. Not like I confused the salt with Decon.
LOL!! LOVE IT and love you!!!
Hey I am new to this blog! I love it! So far I have only made the stuffed pepper soup. I was wondering if you thought these empanadas would turn out ok as indiviual ones using cresent dough folded over ?!
I have never used crescent dough to make them but I think it would work fine. You might want to pat it down or roll it to make a little thinner so it won’t be doughy after baking. I think crescent dough puffs up more & might lend to a longer bake time as well. I would also make sure that most of the liquid as cooked out meat mixture. Let us know your results. Thanks
I made the Empanadas last week. They turned out good and my wife and I enjoyed them. But to me even eating them with lettuce, tomato, a little hot sauce and sour cream, they seemed to taste dry. Maybe I cooked the meat mixture too long? Maybe I didnt add enough meat mixture to each one? Any suggestions?
Eat them with some salsa. Wet ingredients do not make flaky crust, just soggy. Dry is a good thing in this case.
Do you know if I could use rotels instead of diced tomatoes and would these freeze well?
Yes to both of your questions.