Beef and Chorizo Empanadas

These beef and chorizo empanadas are packed with smoky spices, savoury meat, and rich tomato flavour wrapped in golden pastry. Perfect for snacks, picnics, or party food!

David made these delicious beef and chorizo empanadas...he's definitely the homemade pastry master!!  I much prefer using shop bought ready made pastry.

The pastry has a lovely texture with a delicious buttery taste, and combined with a filling that is full of smoky, spicy flavours and a hint of salt from the olives, it's the perfect South American pasty! 

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How to make these Beef and Chorizo Empanadas

Ingredients

For the pastry:

• 350g plain flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 0.5 tsp salt
• 175g unsalted butter, diced
• 1 medium egg, beaten (for the pastry)
• 100ml cold water
• a small bowl of water, for wetting the pastry
• 1 medium egg, beaten (for glazing)

For the filling:

• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• 250g beef mince
• 2 tsp smoked paprika
• 2 tsp ground cumin
• 1 red chilli, finely chopped (seeds left in!)
• 2 tbsp tomato purée
• 65g cooking chorizo, skin removed and chopped
• 10 black or green pitted olives, roughly chopped

To serve (optional):

• sour cream
• guacamole

Instructions

1. Combine the flour, baking powder and salt in a large bowl. Add the butter rub it with cold fingertips until you have a fine breadcrumb mixture.
2. Add in one of the beaten eggs and the water to bring it together (note: the dough will appear loose and sticky, however, it is easy to work with due to the quantity of butter in it), and then wrap it in cling film and refrigerate for 1 hour.   
3. Meanwhile, mix all the filling ingredients together in another bowl. Heat a medium or large frying pan over a medium heat and fry the filling mixture for 7 minutes. Remove from the heat and allow to cool.
4. Preheat the oven to 220C/200C fan/gas 7 and line a baking tray with baking paper. Roll the pastry dough into a large log and then divide it into 10 equal portions. Roll each portion into a ball with your hands, flatten and then roll into approx. 10cm circles using a rolling pin. 
5. Share the filling into the centre of each dough circle (approx. 1.5 to 2 tbsp each). Wet the edges of each circle with water, fold the pastry over to enclose the filling and use a fork to crimp the edges.
6. Arrange the empanadas on the lined baking tray, brush with the other beaten egg and bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until the pastry is golden. When the empanadas are ready, remove from the oven and transfer them onto a cooling rack for 5 minutes before serving.   They can be eaten hot or cold, and are delicious with some guacamole or sour cream on the side!