These are baked beef empanadas with a buttery, flaky homemade dough and an Argentine-style filling of diced sirloin, green olives, raisins, and chopped hard-boiled eggs. The filling sounds unusual if you haven’t had it before, but the combination of savory, salty, and sweet is genuinely good — not a gimmick. The whole batch takes under an hour and makes 18 empanadas, which is enough to feed a crowd or stock the freezer.
Before you start
Two things determine whether this recipe works. First, your butter and water must be cold when the dough goes together — not cool, cold. Warm butter blends into the flour instead of staying in small pieces, and those pieces are what create flaky layers when they hit the oven. Pull the butter out of the fridge right before you cut it. Second, the filling must be fully cooled before you assemble. Hot or even warm filling steams the dough from the inside and makes the edges hard to seal. Spread the filling out on a plate to cool it faster if you’re short on time — it goes from hot to room temperature in about 10 minutes that way.
Ingredient notes
- Sirloin steak: The recipe calls for it cut into ¼-inch dice, not ground. That texture is worth keeping — it gives the filling some bite. If sirloin is expensive, a chuck steak works fine; just trim the larger pieces of fat before dicing.
- Green olives: Use pitted olives packed in brine, not oil-cured. Brine-packed olives are saltier and sharper, which balances the sweetness of the raisins. Skip the garnish of sliced olives on top — not worth the extra dish.
- Raisins: The 10-minute soak in boiling water is not optional. Dry raisins pull moisture from the filling and turn leathery in the oven. Golden raisins work just as well as regular ones.
- Hard-boiled eggs: These are a traditional part of the Argentine-style filling. They add richness and bulk. If you have an egg allergy in the house, leave them out — the filling holds together without them.
Keeping and reheating
Baked empanadas keep in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days. To reheat, put them on a sheet pan in a 375°F oven for 8 to 10 minutes. The microwave works in a pinch but softens the crust. For freezing, let them cool completely, then freeze in a single layer on a sheet pan until solid before transferring to a bag — this stops them sticking together. They keep frozen for up to 3 months. Reheat straight from frozen at 375°F for 15 to 18 minutes. You can also freeze unbaked assembled empanadas the same way and bake them directly from frozen; add about 5 minutes to the bake time and watch for the edges to turn golden.
What can go wrong
- Empanadas burst open in the oven: The seal failed, usually because the edges had filling or grease on them when you pressed them shut. Wipe the edges clean with a dry finger before moistening with water, then press firmly with the fork. Overfilling is the other common cause — 1 to 2 tablespoons of filling is the right amount; more than that and the dough can’t close properly.
- The dough shrinks when you cut the rounds: The dough needs to rest in the fridge so the gluten relaxes. If you skip the chill or cut the rounds immediately after rolling, the dough will spring back and your circles will be smaller than 4 inches. Give it at least 15 minutes of fridge time.
- The bottom of the empanadas is greasy or soggy: Butter leaked out during baking, which is normal with a high-butter dough. Parchment paper handles this — foil does not absorb it the same way and can make the bottoms greasier. Use parchment.
- The filling tastes flat: The spices go in after the beef is browned, not before. If you added them too early and they burned, the flavor turns bitter. Season the finished filling and adjust salt before it cools — it’s easier to fix at that stage than after assembly.
- The dough is crumbly and won’t hold together: The water wasn’t enough, or the butter was too cold to incorporate. Add cold water one teaspoon at a time and pulse again. The dough should hold when you press a small piece between your fingers — if it crumbles, it needs more water.
Homemade Empanadas
Ingredients
Dough Ingredients
- 9 ounces all-purpose flour
- as needed all-purpose flour for rolling surface
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 10 tablespoons cold butter cut into 5 pieces
- ⅓ cup cold water
Filling Ingredients
- ⅓ cup raisins
- 1 cup boiling water
- 1 small onion (about 3 oz / 85g), finely chopped
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 8 ounces Sirloin steak boneless, cut into 1/4-inch dice
- 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper
- ¼ teaspoon cumin ground
- ½ teaspoon paprika
- 2 large hard-boiled eggs peeled and chopped
- 20 pieces green olives pitted and chopped or sliced
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper to taste
Instructions
Dough Instructions
- Add the flour and salt to a food processor. Pulse a couple of times to mix.
- Add cold butter to the mixture and pulse a few times until the mixture forms pea-sized pieces.
- As the machine runs, add water through the feed tube. Then, pulse for a few times until the dough ball forms.
- Remove the dough, put it in plastic wrap and store it in the refrigerator while preparing the filling.
Filling Instructions
- Soak raisins in the measured boiling water for 10 minutes. Drain. Set aside.
- Heat a medium skillet over medium heat. Add the olive oil. Add the onions and cook for 3-4 minutes, stirring occasionally, until translucent.
- Add the diced sirloin to the skillet and cook for 3-4 minutes until browned on all sides. Stir in crushed red pepper flakes, cumin, paprika, salt, and pepper. Remove from heat and fold in the reserved raisins, chopped eggs, and olives. Set aside to cool completely before filling.
Assembly Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400°F / 200°C (205°C fan-forced).
- Roll the dough on a floured surface to 1/8-inch thick. Cut out 4-inch rounds. The dough can be rolled a second time (after that, the dough gets too tough).
- Place 1-2 tablespoons of filling in the centre of each round. Moisten the edges with a little water, fold the dough over to form a half-moon, and press the edges firmly with a fork to seal.
- Bake empanadas on a parchment-lined sheet pan for 15-18 minutes until golden brown. Using parchment prevents sticking from any butter that leaks from the dough.
Nutrition
Common questions
Can I use store-bought pie dough instead of making the dough from scratch?
You can, but the result will be noticeably different. Store-bought pie dough is thicker and more tender than this recipe’s dough, which means the empanadas will be softer and less structured — more like a hand pie than a traditional empanada.
Can I make the dough and filling ahead of time?
Yes, both can be made a day in advance. Store the dough wrapped tightly in the fridge and the cooled filling in a covered container; assemble and bake the next day. Don’t assemble them more than a few hours ahead unless you’re freezing them, or the dough can get soggy where it contacts the filling.
Can I fry these instead of baking them?
Yes. Fry in about 2 inches of neutral oil at 350°F for 2 to 3 minutes per side until deep golden brown. The fried version has a crispier, more blistered crust, but baking is easier for a full batch of 18.
Do I have to use sirloin, or can I use ground beef?
Ground beef works and is faster to cook. Use 80/20 ground beef, brown it thoroughly, and drain off any excess fat before adding the spices — too much fat in the filling will make the dough greasy and harder to seal.
How do I know when the empanadas are done if my oven runs hot or cool?
Go by color, not just time. The empanadas are done when the tops and edges are a consistent golden brown — pale patches mean they need more time, even if the timer has gone off. The bottoms should also feel set and dry, not soft, when you lift one with a spatula.
More recipes to try
- Homemade pork tamales
- Street food-style crispy potato samosas
- Sizzling grilled chicken tacos
- Fresh vegetable spring rolls
