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
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My husbands aunt once made stew so salty the dogs wouldn’t eat it, we had to throw it out, it got that way because she couldn’t taste the salt and kept adding salt to it, I am not sure why all of a sudden she couldn’t taste it, but my older cousin had a head injury and he lost his sense of taste, he said the only good thing from the whole accident was that he could now drink rum, for some odd reason he never could stand the taste before, and since he couldn’t taste now, he could indulge in a drink of rum now and then! AS IF it was any good to drink it without tasting it?? I do not understand the concept!
This made me LOL!! I am not understanding what the point is either Eva, but since I don’t drink I am not sure I will ever understand that but it did make me laugh!!
Oh Christy, you’re the best! I was just sitting here rolling my eyes with you (and reading aloud so my husband would have the benefit of hearing you too and get to roll HIS eyes) over people who “throw the stew out”… when I recalled my daughter’s cookies from a few months back. She was 8 then, and a 1/4 teaspoon of salt was easily turned into a quarter cup… and hearing her tale of woe (I thought), and thinking “She doubled the salt? How bad can that be?”, I proceeded to double all the other ingredients… so we wouldn’t waste, you know. : ) We made cookies for MONTHS with our “pre-salted cookie dough starter”. I threw a wad into all my bread rather than salt (I make bread every day), I used that stuff and USED THAT STUFF… and finally I gave up and threw the last of it away! So, I guess there are limits… but STILL, try not to throw the stew away!!! : )
Hey Christy! Love you, love your blog, love your recipes, love your attitude!!! You are delightful! This recipe looks great and I can’t wait to try it. Just wondering how many you think it would serve. I have 3 teenage boys who I know would love this, but they eat a lot! Also, I just found out something that everyone else may know but I didn’t. We have a grocery store here in middle Tennessee called Fresh Market, and they sell ground chuck for $2.99 a lb. every Tuesday. It’s a great deal for all your wonderful ground beef recipes. Have a great week, and thanks for sharing!!
As with most every recipe it really depends on how much each person eats. With 3 teenagers, I would probably double it. I have found that teenage boys tend to eat a LOT!! Thanks you for sharing your ground beef tip, I am going to have to check into that!!
I usually plan 4 servings per Empanada. As Christy stated depends on how hearty your eaters are… teen boys could possible think one whole Empanada is a snack!! LOL 🙂
oh goodness, ain’t that the truth! Sometimes when Brady is done eating I look to see if he took a plug out of the table…
The ingredients are now on my shopping list and I just can’t wait to try these! We recently had an empanada chain open up in our neighborhood. Theirs are about the size of the palm of your hand and rather pricey. It’d cost half a paycheck to take care of my hubby’s appetite in there.
And I am with you about wasting food! Would no more happen than me emptying my wallet into the trash can. We take my daughter and her family out to dinner for their birthdays and they know to set aside anything they’re not going to eat ‘cuz Grandma’s putting all the leftovers in a box and serving it for tomorrow night’s supper! 😉
I have been cooking meat pies like this for years. Try a can of Rotel instead of diced tomatoes. Spicier but good.
I’m going to have to try this one! Maybe tonight if I get a gluten free crust made. 😉
What is that interesting black tool you used with the burger? Can’t wait to try another of your recipes! I haven’t had a flop from you yet! And that’s saying something with 3 picky kids and a relatively picky hubby. 😉
I have one of these tools and it is a Pampered Chef Mix n Chop. I is good for many mixing job but excels at chopping hamburger and sausage. I think Christy did a full recipe and blog on this some time ago..
Thanks for the question and the answer. I also wondered what it was. Love this web site. Love the recipes. The comments are always wonderful and helpful. I just have to read all of them.
Hi Tracy, I find that a thin wood spoon works fairly well in separating ground meats if you don’t have one of these tools.
A potato masher works great. Not the kind with a grid full of holes but the one with the little back and forth metal lines.
I’ve printed this recipe out and will try it very soon, looks delicious!
I hope you enjoy them Shelli!!!