Empanadillas — Print Recipe — The Culinary Codex

Crescent-shaped turnovers with a thin, crispy dough filled with seasoned ground beef, olives, and sofrito, deep-fried until golden.

Ingredients

For dough: 3 cups flour, 1 tsp salt, 3 tbsp shortening, 1 cup warm water
For filling: 500g ground beef, sofrito, tomato sauce, sazon, olives, recao
Vegetable oil for frying

Instructions

1 Make dough by mixing flour, salt, and shortening. Add warm water gradually until a smooth dough forms. Rest fifteen minutes.
2 Cook filling by browning beef with sofrito, tomato sauce, sazon, and olives until well-seasoned. Cool.
3 Roll dough thin and cut into circles about five inches in diameter.
4 Place a spoonful of filling on one half of each circle. Fold over and crimp edges with a fork.
5 Heat oil to 350F. Fry empanadillas in batches until golden brown on both sides, about four minutes.
6 Drain on paper towels and serve hot with pique sauce.

Did You Know?

Puerto Rican empanadillas differ from South American empanadas in their thinner, crispier dough, which puffs slightly during frying to create a flaky texture.