My boyfriend Gabe’s secret recipe for empanadas filled with savory beef, briny salty olives, fluffy potatoes, perfectly melty cheese, and seasoned with adobo, sazon and sofrito.
Empanadas can be filled with anything you like, from sweets like apple pie filling and chocolate to savories like ground meat, tuna, and cheese. These particular empanadas are my boyfriend Gabe’s recipe and they are loosely based on the empanadas of his childhood, filled with ground beef and briny chopped olives and seasoned with adobo, sazon and sofrito. But being the over-achiever in the kitchen that he is, Gabe couldn’t just stick with a beef and olive filling. He went ahead and added potatoes (even though Gabe is Dominican/Puerto Rican and potatoes are traditional to Colombian empanadas), and cheddar and monterey jack cheeses. The result is a deeply flavored savory empanada that still manages to be light and fluffy with a perfect ooey gooey cheese-pull when you bite into it.
These empanadas really do have the perfect balance of flavors. They get most of their seasoning from a combination of staple ingredients in Caribbean and Latino cuisine: sofrito, adobo, and sazon. Sofrito (a sauce) and adobo and sazon (seasoning blends) are perfect for this recipe because they come preloaded with tons of flavors and spices like cumin, coriander, annatto, and garlic just to name a few. You could definitely make the sofrito and seasoning blends yourself, but it’s so much easier to buy them pre-made, especially in a recipe that’s already time consuming. Then the potatoes act as a blank canvas to soak up all that great flavor, and the olives are the perfect briny bite to balance out the richness.
WHAT IS SOFRITO?
Sofrito is a base sauce made up of simple ingredients that can be used to start any dish. We often hear of a mirepoix, the French sauce base of onions, carrots and celery; or the holy trinity, a base of onion, celery, and green bell pepper that is the foundation of Cajun and Creole cooking. Sofrito is essentially the same thing, only made up of garlic, onions, peppers, cilantro, culantro (an herb similar to a very strong cilantro), sometimes tomatoes and other seasonings, and is the base of many Latino dishes. Essentially it provides deep, layered flavor while only having to use one ingredient.
TO BAKE OR TO FRY
Traditionally you fry empanadas. And I’m certainly not going to sit here and tell you that they don’t taste better when they’re fried, because they do. But the same way we chose to use premade sofrito and seasoning blends to save us a little time in a time consuming recipe (filling and crimping 30 empanadas is no small feat!), we chose to bake our empanadas rather than fry them. They still come out suuuuuuper crispy and golden brown, especially when brushed with an egg wash before baking, and you’re not standing over a pot of hot oil for 30+ minutes. And yea, I guess they’re a little healthier for you too. If you want to fry them instead, you can shallow fry them in 2 inches of neutral oil until golden brown, about 3 minutes per side.
TIPS AND TRICKS FOR THE PERFECT BEEF EMPANADAS
- DON’T SKIP THE OLIVES!
Ok, I guess you can skip the olives if you really don’t like them. But even if you don’t think you’ll like them in the empanadas, I implore you to give them a shot. Olives provide the perfect acidic bite to balance out an otherwise very rich filling.
- USE PRE-MADE EMPANADA ROUNDS
Empanada dough is simple enough to make; here’s a great recipe if you’re feeling ambitious. But don’t feel bad using the pre-made empanada rounds. It will save you tons of time, and it doesn’t compromise any flavor. You can usually find them in the frozen section of the grocery store. Some are white, and some are red with the addition of annatto (a slightly sweet and peppery spice) but they essentially taste the same so you can use either or both.
- DON’T OVERFILL YOUR EMPANADAS
Stuff each empanada to the brim with filling but be careful not to overstuff, which will cause the empanada to burst, especially if frying them. We used 2-3 heaping tablespoons of filling per each 5-6 inch round of dough, but use your best judgment. Don’t stretch your dough too thinly, and make sure there’s enough space to properly crimp them. You can always add more filling or take some out if you’re having trouble sealing the empanadas.
- USE AN EGG WASH WHEN BAKING
While frying these empanadas will make them perfectly brown by default, if you’re baking them, don’t forget to brush them with an egg wash before they go in the oven. This ensures they come out a perfect golden brown.
- FILL YOUR FREEZER
This recipe makes a whopping 30 empanadas. You could certainly downsize the recipe to make less, but since you’re already putting the work into making them, you might as well make a lot and fill your freezer. You can reheat them in the toaster for the perfect snack or quick dinner.
Gabe’s Beef and Olive Empanadas
Ingredients
For the beef filling
- 1 bell pepper, finely diced
- 6 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 lb potatoes, peeled and cut into small pieces
- 1 large onion, finely diced
- 1 1/2 lb ground beef
- 1 cup spanish olives, diced
- 1/2 cup plain tomato sauce
- 1/2 cup red sofrito
- 1/2 tbsp oregano
- 1/2 tbsp cumin
- 1/2 tbsp adobo seasoning
- 1 packets sazon seasoning
- 1/4 tsp chilli powder (to taste)
- olive oil
- salt and pepper
For forming the empanadas
- 30 empanada discs (can be found in the frozen section of the grocery store)
- 2 8 oz bricks cheddar or monterey jack cheese, thinly sliced
- 1 egg, beaten for egg wash
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350. Set a pot of salted water over high heat.
- In a large pan or wok over medium heat, saute peppers and onions until just beginning to brown, 5 minutes. Add garlic and saute one minute more.
- Add ground beef, oregano, cumin adobo, sazon, and chili powder. Cook, breaking beef up into small pieces, until beef is cooked through.
- While the beef is cooking, boil the potatoes in the water until potatoes are fork tender, then drain and set aside.
- Add tomato sauce and sofrito to ground beef mixture. Cook until the sauces have incorporated and thickened, 5-10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper as needed.
- Remove filling from heat. Mix in boiled potatoes and chopped olives. Allow to cool slightly before stuffing empanadas.
- Stuff empanadas. On a floured work surface, lay out one disc of empanada dough. On one side of the dough, lay out a slice of cheese and then mound 2-3 tablespoons of filling. Fold the other side of the dough over into a half moon shape, pressing edges to seal. Using the tongs of a fork dusted in flour, press down along the edges. Repeat with remaining empanada discs.
- Brush empanadas with beaten egg. Bake on 350 for 20-25 minutes until crusts are golden.
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