Beef Empanadas
with roasted chili-garlic broccoli
Smarts: Each pie crust has its own defrost instructions. Make sure to check these ahead of time so the pie crust will be ready to go when it's time to cook.
Ingredients
- Pie crusts, frozen or refrigerated (9" / 23cm) - 1
- Green onions - 2 stalks, chopped, green and white parts separate
- Oil, cooking - 1 Tbsp
- Chili powder - 1 tsp
- Oregano - 1/2 tsp
- Beef, ground - 3/4 lb
- Corn kernels, frozen - 1/2 cup
- Tomato paste - 1 Tbsp
- Adobo sauce - 2 tsp (usually found with canned chipotle peppers)
- Yogurt, plain or Greek - 1/2 cup
- Garlic - 2 cloves, sliced
- Broccoli florets - 12 oz
- Oil, cooking - 1 Tbsp
- Chili powder - 1/2 tsp
- Cumin - 1/2 tsp
Nutrition Facts
Prep
- Pie crust - Defrost pie crust according to package directions (most refrigerated crusts just need to rest at room temperature for 30 minutes).
- Garlic / Broccoli - If prepping right before cooking, get oven heating before continuing with prep. Prep as directed and combine. (Can be done up to 4 days ahead)
- Green onions - Chop, keeping green and white parts separate. (Can be done up to 2 days ahead)
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Make
- Heat oven to 400F / 204C degrees.
- Toss garlic and broccoli with cooking oil (the portion for the broccoli), chili powder (the portion for the broccoli) and cumin. Season with some salt and pepper. Spread broccoli on a sheet pan and transfer to oven. Roast broccoli until tender, 20 to 25 minutes, stirring halfway through cooking.
- While broccoli roasts, heat a skillet over medium-high heat. Add cooking oil (the portion for the empanadas) and then white parts of green onions, chili powder (the portion for the empanadas) and oregano. Saute until fragrant, ~1 minute.
- Add ground beef with some salt and saute until browned and cooked through, 4 to 6 minutes. Pour excess oil out of the pan. Add corn and continue cooking until corn is defrosted. Remove from heat and stir in tomato paste, adobo sauce and green parts of green onions. Taste and season with additional salt (if needed) and pepper.
-
Slice pie crust into four wedges (for 4 servings; adjust if customizing) and place on a second sheet pan. (See image below.) Divide beef filling between wedges (note: fill wedges just enough so that they will easily close without breaking; if you have leftover filling serve it on the side or save it for a taco or burrito bowl later in the week). Dampen your fingertips with water and run them over the edges of crust (a bit of water acts like glue to hold the crust together). Fold crust over filling and seal, using the tines of a fork to crimp the edges.
- Bake empanadas until pie crust is golden brown, 15 to 18 minutes.
- Serve empanadas with yogurt on top and broccoli on the side. Enjoy!
Nutrition Facts
Reviews
Ratings
59 reviews
We really liked them. I used puff pastry (both sheets, 8 pies) because that's what I had. I spiced mine up a little more, but basically followed the recipe. Broccoli was good too. I added more spice to it too.
I added a bit more adobo sauce based on the “dry” reviews. I thought they were really good. I don’t think one per person makes an adequate serving, however.
I could have used 4 pie crusts based on the amount of filling produced, so FYI. It was a really dry filling though, I'd modify in some way going forward. Makes excellent "walking empanada" lunch the next day.
Made with ground turkey. My kids LOVED the filling and ate it up without waiting for the empanadas to be ready. Broccoli was ok.