Empanadas are a staple for get togethers and barbecues. These delicious meat patties most amazing when they’re hot, fresh, and flaky.
Pastelitos, better known as empanadas, can be filled with a variety of different fillings. The most common kinds of empanadas you will find are beef, chicken, and cheese. But empanadas can also be created to be incredibly unique. Some examples are sweet corn empanadas and shrimp empanadas.
But is it all about the filling?
While the filling is the part of the empanada most of us pay attention to, the dough is the show stopper. A great filling inside a mediocre dough is just a poor excuse for an empanada. And while most use those frozen, premade dough disks from the grocery store, here I will be showing you how to turn it up on notch.
This recipe is so simple and only takes a few ingredients to make. Everybody always thinks that empanadas are very difficult to make, but the concept of an empanada is straight forward, you fill, fold, and press.
It’s a very simple technique, so don’t go buy pre-made dough at the store (but you do you). People always think that the from scratch process is going to be very time consuming, but honestly the most tedious part of this recipe is waiting 30 minutes for the empanada dough to rest!
Going the extra step goes a long way with certain recipes, and this is definitely the case when it comes to empanadas. Frozen dough is no competition for fresh, homemade dough. Make everyone remember who brought the best empanadas to the cook out!
Shredded Chicken Empanadas From Scratch Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 cups flour all-purpose
- 1 stick butter chilled
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 egg
- 1 chicken breast shredded
Instructions
- In a bowl, mix together flour and salt.
- Once mixed, add butter and combine into flour with hands until there is no dry flour left.
- Once combined, add egg and combine with hands until a dough is created.
- Kneed dough for 5 minutes, then cover with plastic wrap and set aside to rest for 30 minutes.
- After 30 minutes, separate dough into 10 pieces. Roll pieces into balls.
- Take one ball, press down to create a circle shape, and ,using a rolling pin or anything cylindrical, roll the dough until it's flat and round.
- Add chicken filling to one half of the circle, fold the other half over the filled half, and press down the edges (on both sides) with a fork.
- Repeat steps 6 & 7 for the rest of the filling and dough. Set aside.
- Add vegetable oil to a pan over low to medium heat, and add the empanadas.
- Cook until golden brown on both sides, remove from oil and transfer to a paper towel covered plate. Let cool and enjoy!
Video
Thank you for reading my recipe, if you decide to try it out tag me on instagram @breakthrukitchen. Be sure to subscribe down below to get notified when I post more recipes like this!
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