skinnymixer’s Chicken Empanadas are full of flavour, easy on the budget and super easy to make.
We thought to celebrate the release of our SkinnyAmerica cookbook, we would continue with the South American recipes this week with a Chicken Empanada recipe.
These Argentinian-inspired Chicken Empanadas make a fantastic hand-held party food, lunchbox snack or anytime food that the whole family will love.
The pastry is buttery but works perfectly with dairy-free spread. When making the gluten-free version we recommend adding some xanthan gum and the recommended flour amount. If you need to add more, add a little at a time – this will depend on the flour used.
The filling is all about simple ingredients and bold flavors. Nothing out of the ordinary here— just grab some chicken mince from the supermarket and the rest should be pantry staples!
Feel free to use the pastry with any of the taco section in SkinnyAmerica to make delicious lunchbox pastries with your leftovers.
Other great filling alternatives:
Equipment
- frypan
- oven
- baking tray
Ingredients
Filling
- 500 g chicken mince
- 3 tsp smoked paprika
- 3 tsp cumin powder
- 2 tsp dried oregano leaves
- 1/8 tsp ground chilli powder - optional
- 30 g light tasting olive oil
- 80 g potato - cubed very small
- 80 g carrot - cubed very small
- 80 g brown onion - chopped small
- 50 g frozen peas
- 2 tsp salt
- 30 g tomato paste
Dough (makes 12-14)
- 440 g plain flour (gluten-free if required) - Gluten Free: use gluten-free 400 g + 1 tsp xanthan gum
- 160 g water
- 100 g butter (dairy-free if required) - cubed small
- 1 egg
- 1/4 tsp salt
Baking
- 1 egg - whisked for egg wash
Instructions
Filling
- Add chicken, paprika, cumin, oregano and chilli powder to a frypan over medium-high heat and brown chicken mince. Set aside.
- Add oil, potato and carrot, sauté on medium heat for 5 min.
- Add onion, peas and salt, saute until onion is translucent.
- Add back in chicken mixture and add tomato paste. Combine over medium heat.
- Set aside to cool or refrigerate until ready to make empanadas.
Dough - thermo cooker
- Add dough ingredients to mixer bowl, mix for 3 sec/speed 6/MC on. Scrape mixer bowl down and repeat 3 times.
Dough - conventional
- Add dough ingredients to a feed processor and pulse. Scrape mixer bowl down and repeat 3 times.
Assembly & Baking
- Compress into a dough with your hands. Shape into a long roll about 30-40 cm long and refrigerate for 30 min.
- Preheat fan-forced oven to 200°C and line a baking tray with baking paper.
- Remove and cut into 50 g pieces, roll into balls and then flatten into a circle approximately 12-14 cm in diameter.
- Using either a dumpling press or by hand place approximately 2 Tbsp of your empanada filling and fold into shape.
- Brush the outer rim of the pastry with water, fold and seal by crimping the edges. This can be done with a pinching motion or automatically with the dumpling press.
- Arrange on baking tray, brush with egg wash.
- Cook for 20-25 min or until golden.