Make a dozen delicious Ground Beef Empanadas with meat, potatoes, Mexican spices and peas stuffed inside a fried, flaky pastry dough crust.
Today I want to share a great recipe for ground beef empanadas with you. This recipe will yield 12 beautiful empanadas, perfect for lunch or dinner!
I found this recipe online a while ago and decided to give it a try. I have made fruit empanadas quite a few times but decided to make some with ground beef and Mexican-inspired spices.
My husband and I both LOVED them! We froze several of the empanadas and then reheated them in our air fryer a couple weeks later. They were still just as amazing!
I hope you enjoy trying these ground beef empanadas, too! Here’s how to make them.
Scroll Down For A Printable Recipe Card At The Bottom Of The Page
Prepare The Pastry Dough
Put a blade attachment on a food processor, then add all-purpose flour, salt and chunks of very cold butter. Pulse these ingredients several times until the butter has been reduced to about the size of peas in the flour.
Add one large egg and cold water into the food processor. Pulse these ingredients again, continuing only until everything comes together into a cohesive ball of dough.
Remove the dough ball from the processor and shape it with your hands into a flat round circle. Wrap the dough tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate it for one hour (at least!).
Make The Ground Beef Filling
While the dough chills, make the meat filling. Heat olive oil on medium in a large skillet. Once the oil is hot, add chopped red onion, chopped jalapeños and chopped green chiles.
Sauté them for a couple of minutes until they have softened slightly. Stir in salt, chili powder, paprika and ground cumin and stir to combine.
The next thing you will do is stir tomato paste into this veggie/spice mixture until it has been incorporated. Sauté these ingredients for another couple of minutes.
Add ground beef to the spice mixture and cook the beef until it is no longer pink. Break up the meat as it browns. This usually takes about 4-5 minutes.
When the meat is done cooking, take the skillet off of the heat and let the ground beef filling cool slightly.
After the filling has had the chance to cool a bit, add pre-cooked potato cubes, frozen peas, fresh chopped green onion and parsley to the meat filling.
Stir until all of these filling ingredients are well-combined. Now let’s make some ground beef empanadas!
Cut Out Pastry Dough
Remove and unwrap the refrigerated pastry dough and place it on a floured work surface. Roll the dough out until it is about ¼” thick.
Use a biscuit cutter, small bowl or a ring cutter that is approximately 4½”- 5″ in diameter. I ended up using a 4½” plastic jar lid for my empanadas, which worked great!
Cut out 12 circles of dough, approximately 5″ in diameter. Gather and re-roll leftover dough and cut out additional circles, until you have 12 total.
Fill The Empanadas
Use a rolling pin to roll the dough circles out just a little bit more to make them slightly larger (shown below). Spoon about ¼ cup of the filling in the center of each pastry round.
Avoid overfilling the empanada or it will make it a little bit harder to fully enclose and seal the filling with the pastry dough.
Seal The Empanadas
After filling the dough, fold each empanada in half by bringing one edge of the dough up and over the filling until it reaches the other edge. The empanadas should be in a half-moon shape now.
Pinch the edges together to lightly seal the edges, then crimp the outer edges of the dough with the tines of a fork (shown below), to tightly seal the filling inside the pastry dough.
Be careful not to puncture the dough with the fork and make sure the empanadas are fully sealed to prevent the filling from leaking out while frying them.
Fry The Empanadas
Fill an electric skillet OR a large, deep skillet or a large saucepan with enough vegetable oil until it is about 1″ in depth. Heat the oil until it registers between 360°-375°F. on a digital thermometer.
For best results do NOT add the empanadas to the hot oil until it has reached that temperature or level of heat.
Once the oil is at temperature, add 2-3 empanadas to the skillet at a time. Fry them for about 2-3 minutes, then carefully turn them over and cook the other side for the same amount of time.
When done, they should be lightly browned and crispy on both sides. Transfer them out of the skillet and onto a wire rack (on top of paper towels to absorb any dripping oil).
IMPORTANT: After cooking a batch, it is really important to let the oil come back again to the correct temperature before frying the next batch!
Let the hot empanadas cool slightly on the wire rack (for a minute or two) before you serve them. See how pretty and golden brown they are on the outside?
When they come out of the hot oil in the fryer the pastry crust is nice and flaky, too! Now it’s almost time to serve and enjoy them.
Serve The Ground Beef Empanadas
Serve the ground beef empanadas while they are hot. We serve them with sour cream and salsa on the side to dip each bite in, because they add even more flavor!
Taco sauce and guacamole are two more delicious toppings or dips for the empanadas, so serve them with whatever toppings you prefer.
Dip or spoon some sour cream and salsa on the empanadas and take a big bite. YUM! We think these ground beef empanadas are amazing!
The empanadas freeze very well (after they have cooled completely) if wrapped well. We reheat them (thawed) in our air fryer at 340°F. for about 3-4 minutes.
I hope you have the opportunity to make this delicious recipe and trust you and those you love will enjoy these empanadas as much as we do.
Thanks for stopping by, and I invite you to come back again soon for more family-friendly recipes. Take care, may God bless you, and have a wonderful day.
Looking For More Recipes Using GROUND BEEF?
You can find ALL of my recipes in the Recipe Index, which is located at the top of the page. I have a nice variety of ground beef recipes to choose from, including:
- Hawaiian Meatballs and Rice
- Cheesy Beef Potato Casserole
- Instant Pot Ground Beef Stroganoff
- Really Good Meatloaf
- Easy Stuffed Beef Rolls
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Original recipe source and with thanks to: Alyssa Rivers at: https://therecipecritic.com/empanadas
↓↓ PRINTABLE RECIPE BELOW ↓↓
Make a dozen delicious Ground Beef Empanadas with meat, potatoes, Mexican spices and peas stuffed inside a fried, flaky pastry dough crust.
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup COLD butter cubed (=one stick or 8 Tbl.)
- 1 large egg
- ¾ cup cold water
- 2 Tablespoons olive oil
- ½ cup chopped red onion* *finely chopped
- 1 Tablespoon fresh jalapeño pepper seeded/finely chopped
- 1 Tablespoon diced green chiles
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- ½ teaspoon ground cumin
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 Tablespoon tomato paste
- 12 ounces ground beef (90% lean)
- 6 ounces russet potato (pre-boiled and diced)
- ¼ cup frozen peas (do not thaw)
- 1 Tablespoon chopped green onions
- 1 Tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
- OIL, for frying empanadas enough for a 1" depth in skillet
Put blade attachment on food processor. Add flour, salt and cold butter chunks. Pulse several times until butter is reduced to the size of peas, then add egg and cold water. Pulse again, continuing only until mixture comes together in a cohesive ball of dough. Remove dough; shape it with your hands into a flat round circle. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap; refrigerate dough one hour (at least!).
Heat olive oil on medium in a large skillet. Once hot, add red onion, jalapeños and green chiles. Sauté until they've softened slightly (2-3 minutes). Stir in salt, chili powder, paprika and cumin. Add tomato paste; stir until combined. Sauté 2 more minutes. Add ground beef. Cook until meat is browned/fully cooked, breaking up the meat as it cooks (about 4-5 minutes). When done, take skillet off the heat; let the filling cool slightly (3-4 minutes). Stir in cooked diced potato, frozen peas, green onion and parsley until combined.
Unwrap cold pastry dough; put dough on floured work surface. Roll dough out until it is about ¼" thick. Use a biscuit cutter, small bowl or ring cutter that is approx. 5" in diameter. Cut dough into 12 circles, approximately 5" in diameter. Gather/re-roll leftover dough; cut additional circles until you have 12 total. Roll dough circles out just a little bit more to make them slightly larger.
Spoon about ¼ cup of the filling in the center of each dough round. Avoid overfilling or it will be harder to fully enclose and seal in the filling. Fold empanadas in half by bringing one half of the dough up and over the filling until it reaches the other edge (half-moon shape). Pinch edges together to seal, then carefully crimp edges with the tines of a fork to tightly seal filling inside. Make sure empanadas are fully sealed to prevent filling from leaking out while cooking.
Fill an electric skillet OR a large skillet or large saucepan with vegetable oil until oil reaches 1" in depth. Heat oil until it registers between 360°-375°F. on a digital thermometer. Do NOT add empanadas to the oil until it has reached the correct temp. (for best results). Once oil is at temp, add 2-3 empanadas to the oil at a time. Fry for 2-3 minutes, then turn them over; cook the other side 2-3 minutes. When done, both sides should be lightly browned and crispy. Transfer them from the oil onto a wire rack (over paper towels to absorb any oil drips). IMPORTANT: After cooking a batch, it is really important to let oil re-heat to the correct temperature again before frying the next batch!
Let empanadas cool slightly before serving. Serve with favorite condiments (guacamole/sour cream/salsa, etc.). Enjoy!
Here’s one more to pin on your Pinterest boards! 
