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
I’m going to put one crust in a pie plate, add the beef mixture and cheese and put the second crust on top. That way it can be baked like a double crust pie and just sliced and served like pie with toppings on the side. Thanks for the recipe! I’m going to try it tonight!
What a wonderful idea!!
I have made empanadas for dinner many nights but making them the regular size can be tedious. I like this idea of giant pastilegios. I always add a bit of sofrito which you can buy in the Spanish food section or make your own. Chopped green olives also add a nice taste to them. I am going to try them with crescent dough sheets or thin crust pizza in the tube as it may hold up a bit better. I always seem to overstuff things too. Thanks for a great recipe.
Looks good! Bet you could make this low carb with the miracle dough recipe that is popular with low carbers & easily found all over the internet. It’s the one with mozzarella & almond flour. Surprisingly good!
I agree about throwing food away. I’ve watched people put leftovers in the trash. Around herd we often have planned overs. We don’t mind eating something we like more than once & it gives me a cooking break.
Pam!! That is a great idea, I bet it would work too!!
I’m a “the fewer ingredients the better gal”, so I did the hamburger, onion and pepper and just used a packet of taco seasoning. Family loved it! Thanks for all your good Southern recipes; lived in Georgia for 20 years.
Thanks for sharing this post & recipe. My husband & I became friends with Karen & Glenn in the mid-80’s when we all lived in the Ft. Worth area. They are great people, even if Glenn likes to torment me at times ;). I have a few of her recipes. You should get her to share her recipes for taquitos and banana pudding.
Made this for supper tonight and my family loved it! So very good, thanks for the recipe!
Thank you Christy for sharing your recipes and your true Christian spirit. There is so much negativity out there and we especially Christians in America have so much to be thankful for.
Blessings on you and your family.