Ultimate empanada recipe: How to make empanadas (Mendoza-style)

The ultimate empanada recipe is different for every chef in South America - every region has its own twist on the infamous pocket of stuffed pastry. We share our ultimate recipe for empanadas from Mendoza, but there are many regional variations that are worth exploring too! In Chile, the empanadas come large, fried and are often stuffed with seafood. Along the coast, you'll find empanadas de jaiba (crab), empanadas de camaron (shrimp), empanadas de ostiones (scallop), and empanadas de mariscos (mixed seafood). These often come stuffed with soft, buttery cheese as well. While, further inland in Chile, you'll more likely find the ubiquitous empanadas de pino (meat empanadas), which are usually square pockets filled with minced beef, and sometimes egg, black olive, spices and herbs. An Argentine empanada is generally small, baked and filled with beef (and gets spicier in the north!) Empanadas Salteñas, from Salta, usually include lots of aji pepper and cooked potato with their beef; while in Mendoza it is the inclusion of onion that makes it notably different. Perhaps the most famously different beef empanadas are the empanadas of Cordoba which are slightly sweet - stuffed with not only beef but also raisins, carrot and a dusting of sugar. In Catamarca, goat empanadas are more common, made of chivo or cabrito, and Patagonian empanadas are often of lamb or seafood. In Buenos Aires, you get a big mix of empanadas with humita (corn), jamon y queso (ham and cheese) and chicken empandas very popular, alongside the classic beef empanadas. Uruguayan empanadas come both fried and baked and can either be quite similar to the Argentine empanada, or (further east in the country) they are closer to the Brazilian empanada (or pastel or pastéis). Brazilian pastéis are commonly made of cheese; chicken; or beef. But my favourite is the rarer Pastel de Carne de Sol made with dried meat. There's a whole world of empanadas to discover, but last week I visited Alpasión in Mendoza's Uco Valley to get Chilean-born, Argentine-bred chef Héctor Ordenes' take on the perfect empanada recipe and a guide on how to make empanadas. Recipe below!

How to make empanadas

Empanadas take preparation and the act of making, or folding, your empanada is the last and easiest part. Before you get started on making empanadas you need to prep your dough and your filling. You want to start prepping your filling before your dough because you need the meat to be room temperature or even chilled before you use it. Héctor also says you can prepare the filling and the dough earlier in the morning, or the night before. Just keep each part wrapped in cling film and airtight in the fridge. Prep time all in all is about an hour of dough-making and cooking off the meat filling. Then the empanada assembly will take you about 30 mins for a dozen empanadas. Baking is about 20 minutes, depending on the heat of your oven. Eating requires at least a bottle of wine and an hour of siesta afterwards.

This recipe makes approximately 10 generous-sized empanadas (one is enough for a starter, two for a main). You could also make smaller dough disks and make 15-20 small empanadas.

My visit to Alpasión was in collaboration with Wine Paths: offering luxury and exclusive wine tours and experiences in wine regions around the world. You can book your own wine and food experience at Alpasión online here.

Hungry for more empanadas?

Check out another recipe for empanadas from Mendoza and our video guide to empanadas Salteñas!