Colombian Style Beef Empanadas
These savory crispy empanadas are filled with beef and potato filling dipping in a creamy avocado cilantro dipping sauce.
This recipe is a simple recreation of Colombian inspired style empanadas. They are filled with lots of flavor and crunch. I am all about simplicity, with great flavors. These are inspired by Colombian empanadas I had at a Colombian restaurant- they were amazzinng. A traditional Colombian empanadas would have a crunchy cornmeal dough. You will see that in my recipe I opted for a store bought empanada wrapper, but be free to experiment with homemade cornmeal dough if you like!
Disclaimer- This may not be traditional 100% Colombian ingredients, but it is 100% delicious. The empanada wrapper I used is not a traditional cornmeal dough.
I consider these empanadas large compared to the average empanada. Depending on the empanadas wrapper you purchase from the store can vary the amount of filling you add to the wrapper. Be sure to not overstuff. Overstuffing the empanadas can allow empanadas to pop open and spill all the delicious filling.
The avocado cilantro dipping sauce is perfect with the beef empanadas. The creaminess to the dipping sauce matches with the crunch of the empanadas. If you like more spice then feel free to add more jalapeños to the sauce.
These are perfect as a snack or appetizer!
Colombian Style Beef Empanadas
Ingredients
For the filling:
- 2 white potatoes peeled and diced
- 1 chicken bouillon
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 2 chopped sweet peppers
- 1 small chopped vidalion/sweet onion
- 1 to mato diced
- 1 garlic clove peeled and chopped
- 2 tbsp cilantro chopped
- ¼ tsp salt or to taste
- ¼ tsp black pepper
- ½ lb ground beef
- vegetable oil for frying
For serving:
- Lime
Wrapper:
- Any store-bought empanada wrapper or homemade dough or masa- Note: I used La Fe dough wrapper
Avocado Cilantro Dipping Sauce:
- 2 avocados
- 1 lime small, or half a large
- ¼ salt or to taste
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1 bunch cilantro roughly chopped
- 1 jalapeno chopped
- 5 tbsp water
Instructions
For the filling:
- Cook potatoes in a pot with water with bouillon for 15 minutes or until tender. Drain and slightly mash the potatoes. Set aside.
- In separate pan or skillet on medium to low heat add oil and onions. Cook onion until it becomes translucent and soft.
- Add the sweet peppers, tomatoes, garlic, and cilantro to cooked onions. Cook for 10-15 minutes or until soft.
- Add ground beef to cooked vegetables. Cook, breaking up the beef with a spoon for 10 to 15 minutes until all liquid is gone. Meat should be dry. Add salt and pepper.
- Transfer potatoes to meat mixture and stir well.
Assembling the empanadas:
- Lay out one empanada wrapper on a cutting board adding about 3 to 4 teaspoon of filling in the center. Note: Follow empanada wrapper for thawing instructions. If you use smaller empanada wrappers, then less filling may be required.
- Tightly seal edges by crimping empanada with fork.
- Heat oil in large pot or in deep fryer to about 340-360 F.
- Fry empanadas until golden brown.
Avocado Cilantro Sauce:
- Add avocados, squeezed lime juice, salt, sugar, cilantro, jalapeno, and water to blender.
- Blend until smooth. May add additional water if prefer a thinner sauce.
- Serve on side of empanadas.