Updated January 07, 2022

Two bakes reminiscent of sunny Florida in one go? Who is she? Well…there were lamb dumplings from scratch too but that’s not a bake…so here we are. Empanadas are a magical treat. Even oven baked they bring forth happy memories and great flavors. This one in particular is chocked full of Cuban Picadillo to really round out the balance of flavor and bake-ability.

(Recipe jump link here!)

How Picadillo Calls Me Home

Call me sleepy, call me forever worried about those who wax poetic, but I don’t have any long fancy story about why picadillo filled empanadas really called to me. Maybe it was the Cuban food whispering to me, no longer a quick drive away hitting extra hard in this moment. Maybe it’s that no one really appreciates mi burrito here. Or the sighs of a Spanish dish that hits home for Cuban and Filipino (and many other) communities alike. Regardless, this dish persisted to be made, a longing cry deep in my…taste buds?

I wanted a piece of my home state. Florida may scream alligators, oranges, Disney, and reckless behavior to those not from the sunshine state. But for me, it screams reggaetón, reggae, Viet Town, and all the flavors that come from these wonderful things. So while there’s no family secret or childhood story in this dish, there’s a lot of heart for portable pastry and Cuban comfort food, which is the highlight recipe of this dish.

Who doesn’t love seeing some amazing empanadas right before they’re baked to their full flaky glory?

So, if I cannot drive another 4000 miles round trip to safely see family, I can bake it ’til I make it through this moment without my dearest fam-bam. The only thing is… out of those in my family…I’m probably the baker of the stateside lot. Memories of the one time my mom and I tried to make cookies from scratch will never leave my mind (let’s just say…they were memorable). So with me as the family baker, the laurels rest upon me to make this happen!

Picadillo Empanada Specific Craving

As such, I will not feign empanada dough expertise. Instead, enter Laylita! I actually found her site while looking up masa empanada al horno receta and very happily read her recipe in Spanish, proud I’m not that rusty with the language (it’s a goal to refresh my fluency to at least be solo-travel fluent). However, for those whose languages do not include Spanish, she has an English interface as well!

Picadillo Empanada Pastry Dough

For recipe please click here! As I do not have permission to use her content on my site–and her content is great–I highly support going to her page for empanada dough ratios. Feel free to fill with whatever you like but I will share the picadillo recipe I used to fill these empanadas in this bake below.

Picadillo Recipe

Ingredients

  • 1 medium onion, chopped
  • 6 oz (1 can) tomato paste
  • 1/2 cup liquid (can use water, vegetable stock preferred for extra flavor)
  • 6 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 medium potato, chopped
  • 1 Bell pepper, chopped
  • 12 oz (1 jar) pimento stuffed olives
  • 1 Tbsp Oregano
  • 1 Tbsp Cumin
  • 1 Lb ground beef
  • Salt and Pepper to taste
  • Olive or other neutral oil

Steps

  1. Heat oil on medium sized pan, once oil is hot add garlic and cumin at medium heat. Cook until garlic is browned.
  2. Add onion and cook until fragrant.
  3. Add liquid, tomato paste, and oregano; mix until saucy in consistency, add more liquid if needed.
  4. Add potatoes, bell pepper, olives and meat. Break up meat. (Remember you’re putting this in an empanada)
  5. Cover with lid and let stew on medium for 30 minutes or until liquid is mostly gone.
  6. Turn stove top off and set aside.

Notes:

– Bell pepper, onions, and tomato come together to make sofrito, the base to many LatinX and Caribbean dishes
– This recipe is a Cuban picadillo, as there are many variations of picadillo feel free to add other vegetables as desired (ex. carrots) or even raisins!

Picadillo please! Was very tempted to just eat this without continuing to empanada time. Filling suffices as it’s traditional dish, just maybe julienne the bell peppers instead.

Empanada Assembly

  1. Preheat oven to 400 F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
  2. Fill cooled picadillo into empanada dough…this is a lot like a dumpling or samosa so if you’re comfortable with those you can make some hearty empanadas, if not, take out some of the filling, you rather not have burst pastry in the oven.
  3. Use water to help seal the empanada, Laylita has suggestions on styles.
  4. (Optional) Brush egg wash on the top of the empanada to allow for browning.
  5. Bake in oven for 22-26 minutes, turning halfway to allow even bake (some ovens have cold spots).
  6. Enjoy! Empanadas are good for a couple of days but honestly these will fly!

Stay Hungry
XOXO
Mish ❤