Empanada Dough Is as Easy as Pie (2024)

FAQs

Is empanada dough the same as pie dough? ›

While pie dough is designed to be flaky, empanada dough is meant to be more tender. Pastry for empanadas has a higher flour-to-fat ratio, making it sturdy and perfect for wrapping around meaty fillings. Some recipes use lard or an additional egg as the fat source, but our recipe keeps it simple and easy with butter.

The technique to making empanada dough is very similar to that of making pie dough. It conveniently uses pantry staples and ingredients you probably already have on hand. Butter is cut into flour and salt, then mixed with olive oil and a bit of cold water to bind.

An empanada is a type of hand pie that is usually made up of a combination of meats, vegetables, and cheese contained in a flaky dough. Though empanadas are common in Latin America and Spain, most other countries have their own version of hand pies. Samosas, turnovers, and Jamaican patties are just a few examples.

Empanada dough is a type of shortcrust pastry. It's buttery and flaky, similar to the pastry used for pies like pumpkin pie, apple pie etc, but it's not sweet. You will love how it's so easy to work with. It's easier to work with than store bought puff pastry!

Our line of ready-to-use flour dough discs are the #1 ingredient for preparing a wide variety of empanadas, a favorite in Latin America and around the world. Discover our extensive line of products in the freezer section, which includes discs that can be baked or fried, and come in a variety of sizes and colors.

Prepare flavorful homemade empanadas easily with convenient GOYA® Tapas Criollas – Dough for Turnover Pastries, which are perfect for baking or frying.

Both cooking methods produce delicious empanadas. If you want a healthier merienda, bake them in the oven. If you're working with less time, frying them is the way to go. Try both and ask your loved ones to vote on their favorite.

Baked Beef Empanadas made with puff pastry, so easy and so delicious. Don't underestimate puff pastry, it's quite versatile and makes some delicious empanadas.

Empanadas have their origins in Galicia (Spain) and Portugal. They first appeared in Medieval Iberia during the time of the Moorish invasions. A cookbook published in Catalan in 1520 mentions empanadas filled with seafood among its recipes of Catalan, Italian, French, and Arabian food.

Adding a little vinegar to your dough will result in a tender, pliable, and flaky crust because it slightly inhibits gluten development, leading to a crust that is flakier and easier to work with. The great thing about vinegar is that you really only need a little bit of it to help your pie/empanada dough.

Can I make empanadas using pizza dough? ›

And while we love traditional empanadas, fussy pastry dough is a lot to tackle on a busy weeknight. Here, we use our favorite dough hack, ready-made pizza dough, for a quick-ready-to-roll crust. It's crisp and tender and works perfectly to enclose the grass-fed ground beef, bell pepper, and golden raisin filling.

When the Spanish hit the New World in the 16th century they shared their empanada recipe with the Aztecs and Maya. The Spanish recipe was made with bread dough, the Mexican recipe with corn masa dough. This is where Mexican empanada history takes over. Each region in Mexico has their own version of the empanada.

If you know how to make homemade flour tortillas, you know how to make empanada dough for frying. There's not a lot of difference — chief one being that you use ice water with empanada dough, and hot water for tortillas. Another difference is the flour.

The main ingredients in pastry dough are similar to those in standard pie dough, with one exception. You may notice that this recipe does not have any sugar in the ingredient list. A little bit of sugar actually tenderizes the pastry in addition to adding a bit of sweetness.

Shortcrust is a type of pastry often used for the base of a tart, quiche, pie, or (in the British English sense) flan. Shortcrust pastry can be used to make both sweet and savory pies such as apple pie, quiche, lemon meringue or chicken pie.

While empanadas are a type of hand pie, they're not made with the exact same dough you'd use for an apple pie crust. There are key differences in empanada dough that affect its texture, structure, and flavor. The main difference is that, unlike the flaky and crisp pie dough, dough for empanadas is meant to be tender.