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A staple in South American cuisine, homemade empanadas can be served as a main dish or a side. We keep this simple by focusing on the empanada filling and instead of making the dough from scratch, we achieve flaky empanadas with the help of refrigerated pie crust.

Source: EatingWell Magazine, October 2020

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Recipe Summary

active:
30 mins
total:
50 mins
Servings:
8
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Ingredients

Ingredient Checklist

Directions

Instructions Checklist
  • Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

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  • Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Add potato and water. Cover and cook until the water is evaporated and the potato begins to soften, 3 to 4 minutes. Add onion and oil and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft, about 2 minutes. Add tomato and scallions; cook until soft, about 3 minutes. Add cilantro and garlic; cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 30 seconds.

  • Push the vegetables to the sides and add chorizo to the center of the pan. Cook, crumbling with a wooden spoon, until brown, about 3 minutes. Stir the vegetables and chorizo together, and add vinegar and salt. Cook, stirring, until the liquid has evaporated, about 1 minute.

  • Roll each pie crust into a 12-inch circle on a lightly floured surface. Cut out eight 5-inch circles and roll each one out to a 6-inch circle. Mound about 1/4 cup of the filling onto the center of each circle. Fold the dough in half and crimp or pleat the edges. Place on a large rimmed baking sheet and coat both sides of each empanada with cooking spray.

  • Bake the empanadas, flipping once halfway, until golden brown, about 20 minutes. Serve with hot sauce or salsa for dipping, if desired.

Tips

To make ahead: Refrigerate filling (Steps 2-3) for up to 2 days.

Tip: Chorizo is a spicy pork sausage that you can find two ways: cured and smoked (perfect for slicing and eating as is) or raw. Use raw or "fresh" (aka Mexican-style) in this recipe. It's available in links or bulk in well-stocked grocery stores and Latin markets.

Nutrition Facts

1 empanada
380 calories; protein 8.7g; carbohydrates 23.8g; dietary fiber 5g; sugars 3.6g; fat 29.4g; saturated fat 11.3g; cholesterol 19.8mg; vitamin a iu 477IU; vitamin c 5.7mg; folate 9.6mcg; calcium 17.7mg; iron 1.6mg; magnesium 6.8mg; potassium 122.1mg; sodium 367.8mg.
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