EMPANADILLAS
Perfectly fried homemade empanadillas.
In order to keep my family safe during the first year of COVID, I stayed in my little apartment and cooked a large meal for myself and my partner. Because I’m not super festive about the traditional Thanksgiving thing, I wanted to cook something not-so-traditional. I wanted to cook something that I wouldn’t normally cook because it takes too much time on any given week night. I wanted something different from the candied yams, green bean casserole, and stuffing.
That’s where the empanadilla came into play.
When researching which fried, doughy Puerto Rican food I wanted to make, I felt confused about all the different types. I’d eaten empanadas in the past, but had never heard of empanadillas. Everyone seemed to have a different way of explaining what an empanadilla was and how it differed from other fried treats. For example, some internet sources said empanadillas were miniature empanadas. Others stated that empanadillas were rolled at the edges while pastelillos were crimped. Some other differences I found varied from dough thickness, area where they were made, and meat vs fruit fillings. I still don’t really know the answer to what makes an empanada different from an empanadilla that’s also different from a pastelillo. Do you?
Blurry picture, but filling prep for the empanadillas.
Anyway, I had to settle on something, so I tried a recipe for “Puerto Rican Beef Turnover Empanadillas” that I found on Pinterest. Although I’m still not sure if empanadillas are actually mini, bite-sized empanadas, these sure were tiny. The dough was also pretty basic and easy to make, which is quite a statement coming from someone who manages to screw up chocolate chip cookies. If you can afford it, I highly recommend using organic flour as it really took these things to the next level.
The filling for Puerto Rican empanadillas includes ground beef, red bell pepper, onion, potato, and sofrito. Cook them all together in a pan and let them cool before scooping them into the dough circles.
Here is the recipe I used: https://thelatinahomemaker.com/mini-empanadillas-beef-turnovers/
A few empanadillas crimped and ready for the fridge/fryer.
After filling each dough round with a spoon’s worth of filling, I folded them over and crimped the edges with a fork. If you’re a perfectionist like me, I recommend keeping the dough and ready-to-fry empanadillas in the fridge while waiting for the oil to heat up, so the butter in the dough stays cold.
I hadn’t fried anything before, so this was a scary task. I fried three empanadillas at a time in a small pot of oil. I was thankful to own a splatter guard because these things popped oil around like crazy. If you don’t have a splatter guard, get one. I also highly recommend using a larger pot and frying more empanadillas at once so your house doesn’t smell like old oil for days.
Even though the act of frying was new to me, they turned out delicious. Not to mention how good they were as reheated or cold leftovers.
Fried empanadillas on a paper towel to remove some excess oil and cool off.
What’s your favorite empanadilla recipe? For those of you who make empanadillas/empanadas/pastelillos regularly, what are your frying tips? Any luck making these in an air fryer? Share your pro tips in the comments!
Want to learn more about my search for identity, good food, and heritage? Be sure to subscribe to my blog to follow more posts like this.
