5 Ingredient Empanada Dough
Today we’re making homemade empanada dough that can be used to make pastelillos, empanadas, and so much more! It’s made with just 5 ingredients (flour, butter, salt, egg, and water) and comes together in less than an hour.
If you’ve ever had Puerto Rican cuisine, you know how special empanadillas are.
This 5 ingredient empanada dough is super easy to make and so fun to roll out and fill with whatever you’re craving (like these apple pie stuffed empanadas)!
They are traditionally stuffed with a seasoned ground beef filling called picadillo and make a wonderful snack, appetizer, or side dish.
Keep reading for more ideas on how to fill your empanadas.
Ingredients
Here are the five ingredients you’ll need to make your own empanada dough:
- all purpose flour
- salt
- butter (unsalted), melted
- egg yolks
- water
See recipe card for quantities.
Instructions
Tip: If the dough feels too wet, add flour a one tablespoon at a time until it no longer sticks to your hands.
Keep reading for more ideas on how to fill and fry/bake.
Featured Review
Prepared this dough yesterday after several failed attempts at finding empanada discs/wraps at the store. Filled with beef, cheese, and coated them in egg wash before putting them into the air fryer in batches of eight. They turned out great and I was pleased with the quantity this recipe provided! I have saved it in my recipe list in my notes app…my new “go-to” for empanada dough!
Olivia
Filling Ideas
These are some of my favorite routes of inspiration to take when picking a filling for my empanada dough:
- Keep it Classic – a classic Puerto Rican picadillo filling will never disappoint
- Guava & Cheese – guava and cream cheese is a pairing we know works and it’s absolutely delicious stuffed inside this empanada dough
- Apple/Cherry Pie – I’m a huge fan of sweet empanadas, and using any kind of fruit that’s in season and available! Highly recommend making your favorite pie filling and adding a scoop to the middle of your empanadas.
Folding & Closing Your Empanadas
An easy and visually satisfying method is using a fork to crimp the edges shut.
That said, there are many fun ways to close and seal your empanada dough.
In my family, we place the filling in the inner section of half of the circular section of dough and add a dab of water to the outer edge of half the circle.
From there, it’s as simple as folding the empty half over the filling and it’s time to seal them.
If you’re feeling adventurous, I recommend closing the edge starting at one end, folding the extra dough over your finger, then continuing this motion until the entire empanada is sealed (pictured above).
This method takes some practice but is a lot of fun to make!
How to Cook the Dough (Baked vs. Fried)
There are a few options to consider when cooking your empanadas. You can bake them, fry them in shallow oil, or deep fry.
If baking in the oven or air fryer, you’ll need to brush with an egg wash (equal parts egg and water, whisked together). I like to bake at 400 degrees for at 20-30 minutes in the oven or 10-15 minutes in the air fryer.
You can also fry them on each side in shallow oil over medium high heat or deep fry like I do in my empanadilla recipe.
In all instances, you’ll know the dough is done when it appears golden brown and flakey.
Store Bought Empanada Dough
If you’re really in a pinch, you can find empanada dough at the store or online.
If you can’t find it in a store locally and don’t want to purchase online, I recommend using store-bought pie dough.
Empanada Dough vs. Pie Dough
As mentioned above many people will use their favorite pre-made pie dough to make empanadas.
This is because the ingredients for most dough recipes are very similar. Most pie doughs use flour, butter, salt, water, and sometimes egg; an ingredient list almost identical to those needed for this recipe!
Equipment
You will want something to roll out the empanada dough, like a rolling pin. You can use your hands if you don’t have one.
If you plan to bake the empanadas, you will also need baking sheets and a pastry brush to brush on the egg wash.
Freezer Tips
This empanada dough is freezer friendly.
It’s actually an excellent recipe to make ahead and have stored in the freezer for whenever you have some leftover picadillo, fruit that’s overripe and needs to be used, or have a random empanada craving!
I recommend stacking the discs with squares of parchment paper in between them so they don’t stick.
Wrap tightly but gently in plastic wrap and thaw completely before using.
Buen provecho,
Foolproof 5 Ingredient Empanada Dough
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: 16 servings 1x
- Category: Entree, Dinner, Lunch
- Method: Processed
- Cuisine: Puerto Rican
Description
Today we’re making homemade empanada dough that can be used to make pastelillos, empanadas, and so much more! It’s made with just 5 ingredients (flour, butter, salt, egg, and water) and comes together in less than an hour.
Ingredients
- 4 cups all purpose flour
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup butter (unsalted), melted
- 4 egg yolks
- 1 cup water
Instructions
- Mix dry ingredients. Mix the flour with the salt in a large bowl to combine.
- Add wet ingredients. Add the melted butter, egg yolks, and water to the flour mixture.
- Work the dough. Mix together until a dough begins to form. Transfer to a flour dusted surface and continue to knead until a consistent ball of dough forms. If the dough feels too wet, add flour a one tablespoon at a time until it no longer sticks to your hands.
- Chill. Cover the dough with a towel and let chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.
- Roll. Divide the dough into quarters, then into eighths, then sixteenths, then into 32 pieces. Roll each piece into a ball. On a flour dusted surface roll each ball into a round circle using a rolling pin.
- Fill & fry or bake. From here, you’re ready to fill your empanada dough with whatever you like. Make sure to not overfill your empanada dough and crimp the dough shut using a fork. You can pan fry, deep fry, or bake them (just make sure to use an egg wash to get that golden brown color). See post details for more ideas on how to fill, fry or bake!
Notes
This recipe makes about 16 large empanadas or 32 small ones.
Recipe was spot on simple and perfect my guests were amazed! Filled with a beef and raisan filling.
I’ve made them with store bought dough but this way were way better Thanks girl,,😊
Can I prep this and leave it in the fridge for a day?
I recommend freezing the dough instead of refrigerating. Prep the dough, roll out your discs, and stack between squares of parchment paper so they don’t stick. From there you can wrap tightly but gently in plastic wrap and thaw before using. This will prevent the dough from drying out in the fridge.
If u wanted them done before 5pm what time would u take the discs out of the freezer?
I would make sure to give these about an hour to thaw before using.
Thank you!!! Making for dinner right meow 😻
Perfect blend 👌. My son loves empanadas. And he loved
can a food processor be used instead of hand kneading
Yes it can.
This recipe is outstanding. I live in Virginia but miss my Puerto Rican friends in my he Bronx. You brought the palette back to me and I thank you for sharing. You are awesome
I am so glad this recipe brought you back to the Puerto Rican palatte! It’s really special to be able to recreate that at home. Thank you for your review Zeb!
This recipe is awesome! I cannot find Empanada discs in my area so I‘be been making the dough myself. I tried one other recipe and I wasn’t a fan. THIS RECIPE WAS PERFECT and what I was looking for! Thank you!
I’m so glad to hear this recipe has been helpful to you Monica! Thank you for your review.
I’m making them now. After I fill the empanadas can I freeze them before baking?
Hi Nancy, I recommend freezing the discs of dough, defrosting, filling and frying when ready to consume. I haven’t experimented with freezing the filled empanadas, best of luck to you!
Did you try freezing them after filling?
I did and they came out perfect. I have pan-fried them and also did the air fryer. For that, I sprayed oil generously on both sides and cooked at 325 until golden.
This was the easiest dough I have ever made and tasted delicious!!
First time making empanada dough. Never buying them again. Absolutely delicious and easy to make. Thank you
I am so glad you enjoyed this recipe Glenda! Thank you for your comment.
What temperature do i bake them at and how long do i cook them.
If baking, you’ll need to brush with an egg wash (equal parts egg and water, whisked together). I like to bake at 400 degrees for at 20-30 minutes or until they look golden brown and flakey on the outside.
Can I fill the empanadas, cover them well, refrigerate them and bake the next day?
Thank you.
I recommend filling them when you’re ready to bake, to prevent the dough from drying out. Best of luck!
This recipe is literally perfect, reminds me of the ones you can buy at the store but…. better cause it’s homemade 🥲 I was looking at so many different recipes online, one even had orange juice in it 😐, but this one is a winner and I’ll be coming back to it every time
I am so glad this recipe was exactly what you were wanting Jessica! Thank you so much for your comment and review.
This will be my first time making this sounds pretty simple. I can’t wait to try it. I’m making it with fresh sweet potatoes. Thank you for the recipe. God bless you I’ll be getting back on and let you know how it came out. Marix from San Antonio Texas.
Thank you Marix I hope you love it!
Hi Salima. I love your recipe – it takes me back to PR! I noticed that my dough once I have rolled it out, shrinks significantly. Do you have any tips how I can avoid this? I use flour that is 10gr in protein and let the dough rest at least 30 min before I use it. Please advise! Thank you
Hi Liz, thanks for your comment! I haven’t had this issue while rolling these out. That said, you can try stacking the rounds after rolling out (with parchment paper squares in between to prevent sticking) to add some weight to them to hopefully prevent this from happening. Hope this helps!
This is hands down the best and easiest recipe ever!!! Thank you so much. I’m using this recipe for my food truck 🚚.
Can I make one big pie-like empanada like the ones in Galicia. Rolling a bottom, filling it and rolling a top/
Hi Angela, I haven’t tried this before, but it should work. I recommend rolling the dough out with a rolling pin to ensure it’s an equal thickness throughout (this should help it bake evenly) and expect that the cook time will be longer than it is for the individual empanadas. Best of luck!
Can you use salted butter instead? I don’t mind if the dough is saltier but I’m not sure if cooking wise it’ll make a big difference with the texture..
If you use salted butter you can skip the additional salt.
This is one of the best empanada recipes I’ve tried – made our own filling (ground beef, spices, peppers, onion, garlic) hand filled/hand-crimped, brushed with olive oil and air-fried to perfection – will come back to this recipe every time – even made dessert version (blueberry and apricot jam) used butter/sugar on the crust instead of olive oil – just so tasty – highly recommend
Thank you for your comment & review Jan! So glad to hear you enjoyed this recipe.
Hi, can’t wait to make this – but first wondering how many empanadas
this recipe makes…? I might want to half it… I have had good & bad results reducing recipes. Does the dough freeze well?
Thank you for sharing this recipe, like other commenters I can not find
the dough discs in my area.
Hi Stephanie, this recipe makes 16 empanada dough discs. I recommend rolling the discs out and stacking with parchment paper in between each disc, than wrapping tightly with plastic wrap before freezing. Thaw completely before using.
Love the simplicity of this dough recipe. I will be making a batch as is, but I’m also looking to make a gluten free batch. Can I just swap out the flour with an all-purpose gluten free?
Hi Norma, I haven’t tried making this recipe with gluten free flour yet – if you’d like to test it out, I recommend halving the recipe and using an all-purpose gluten free flour (as you mentioned) to reduce wasted ingredients if it doesn’t work. Best of luck!
I can’t find the notes if you want it to bake. Thanks
If baking, you’ll need to brush with an egg wash (equal parts egg and water, whisked together). I like to bake at 400°F for at 20-30 minutes or until they look golden brown and flakey on the outside.
I made empenadas for the first time ever tonight. This recipe was super easy and tasty! Thanks for sharing! I will make these again!
Thank you for your comment Erica. So happy to hear you enjoyed this recipe and will be making it again!
Made Empanadas today using your dough recipe. They were fabulous! My family loved them and my adult daughter said she would gladly pay for those at a restaurant.
Thank you for taking the time to leave a comment and review Gaby. I’m so glad to hear your family loved the recipe!
I simply loved the simplicity of this recipe. I made half of it and still I got nine good sized empanadas. I’m so happy I ran into your website. Thank you so much for sharing this great recipe. I will certainly make it again, and this time, I will make ground beef filling. Thank you, Salina! 🙂
Can you freeze the dough you don’t use?
Hi Dolores, yes you can freeze the dough. I recommend stacking the discs with squares of parchment paper in between them so they don’t stick. Wrap tightly with plastic wrap and thaw completely before using.
Easy to put together and is delicious! Since I’ve found this recipe, it is the only one I use when making empanadas.
This dough recipe is fantastic! Thank you so much for this, they come out perfect every time!!!
This is the most simplest empanada dough recipe ever and it was so crispy, flaky and delicious!! I had to pass it on to my colleagues. Thank you for sharing your recipe 🙂
I have just mixed the dough and am letting it rest before filling. So far it is an easy recipe. Has anyone ever air fried it?
I have been using this recipe for about a year and absolutely love it!! It is easy to make and is delicious!
Tastes Great!
Very Simple yet extremely satisfying!
Thank you for the Wonderful recipe.
Sincerely,
Richard and Family
Excellent empanadas dough! Great recipe. Thank you.
Prepared this dough yesterday after several failed attempts at finding empanada discs/wraps at the store. Filled with beef, cheese, and coated them in egg wash before putting them into the air fryer in batches of eight. They turned out great and I was pleased with the quantity this recipe provided! I have saved it in my recipe list in my notes app…my new “go-to” for empanada dough!
Dough was perfect! Kids loved it. This dough can be rolled thinner, easy to handle, doesn’t tear or crack and accommodates occasionally overstuffed empanadas. I only had one of the cheese and bacon ones ooze, the rest kept their insides..inside. I did add a bit more salt on the second recipe. I mark my empanadas with a dot of gel food color to tell one flavor from another.
This is a terrible recipe. Crust is like cardboard.
Are you sure you followed the
Recipe correctly because everyone else including myself says how great it is so your 1 stars rating wasn’t the norm. I’d try it again if I were you maybe you left something out
Sometimes overworking the dough can cause this to happen. 🙂
I used exact ingredients and baked them per instructions. They were beautiful and easy to work with. But they were dense & tough. Does the flour type need to be “self rising”? Is it possible to over knead? What are your thoughts here. I’m not going to rate it super low because it felt like something went wrong…
Hi Mitch, I’m sorry to hear the recipe didn’t work out for you. You shouldn’t need any self rising flour – I recommend all purpose. Definitely only knead the ingredients until a consistent dough forms, and try to avoid over kneading as this can result in a tougher end result. Best of luck next time and thanks for taking the time to leave a review.
Christmas eve we ran out of Goya pastelillo shells. Found this recipe and they came out perfectly! Thank you so much for saving the day!
I’m so glad this recipe helped you, I absolutely love using this dough for pastelillos. Thank you for your comment and review JP!
This dough is a dream to work with!
I made chorizo empanadas as well as guava empanadas. Both are excellent!
Thank you Salimas kitchen.
I have made this recipe a few times and it’s turned out great each time. The last time we were feeling like empanadas I bought the pre made Goya wraps at my local Hispanic grocery store what a mistake I will never do that again this recipe is pretty simple and definitely worth the effort thank you for sharing
Dough was simple to mix up and turned out stretchy and easy to roll out. I used organic white flour, then dusted with wheat flour for rolling it out. I baked the empanadas at 350 for about 15-20min and I don’t have any complaints about the dough. Will definitely be using this recipe again!
This recipe is amazing! It’s so much better than having to worry about whether the store has the ones I need in stock. It’s very simple to make. I highly recommend.
Thanks for your review and comment Erika! So glad you enjoyed the recipe.
I divided this recipe into “4ths”
New Quantities:
1 cups (120g) all purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 cup (28g/2Tbsp) butter (unsalted), melted
1 egg yolks
1/4 cup of water
At fifth step, divide until eights. You end up with 8 pieces (~27g each)
Filled these with Dominican cheese and fried them. The flavor of the dough is REALLY good, the texture is good. the ONLY thing missing is the “airy” texture.
Amazing look recipe! I need to make a lot of these for a college culture day;how much empanadas does this make?
One batch should make approximately 16 empanada dough discs. Thank you for your comment and I hope you enjoy your college culture day!
So quick, easy, and delicious!
Absolutely simple, easy and delicious! This is the first recipe I tried and now the only one I will ever use. Made this at least a dozen times since discovering it. I divide the dough into 18 pieces, each piece weighs about 55-60 grams. That’s just the perfect size for my filling scoop. My simple filling is usually a pulled and diced, store bought rotisserie chicken sautéed with fresh minced garlic, diced red and green peppers and various spices, some tomato paste and a bit of water. Amazing baked but oh so crispy, flaky and decadent when fried! Also, one time I had a couple leftover dough rounds and a couple servings of leftover pumpkin cheesecake in the fridge and figured…why not? Fried them up and coated them in cinnamon sugar. Man, they were good. Thank You sooo much for sharing this recipe.
Lov had found empanada crimper at Ross bought for a friend never gave it am
venturing the fork trim recipe soon still , thanks
Best recipe ever!My friends and family wanted the recipe.
O HOW easy and delicious, I couldn’t stop myself from eating them
This recipe was absolutely perfect. Thank you for sharing. Last night as we ate the empanadas we were dreaming about all the other things we could make with the dough.
I’m so glad to hear it Sharon!
Let me preface this by saying I am baker, and specifically I bake a lot of pies so I am kind of picky about pastry doughs. Normally I make my regular pie dough for empanadas but it is a processes and I was making these on a weeknight after work so I was looking for dough that came together quickly to use up some ground turkey I had defrosted. I wouldn’t say this dough as bad, but I also wouldn’t say it was good. It really had NO flavor and the texture was OK. I personally really missed the flakiness you get from a more traditional pastry dough. We baked them as we don’t eat a lot of fried foods so perhaps that would help with the crispy/flakiness I was missing. Personally, I won’t make this one again, but if you plan to fry them and don’t have the patience to make a flaky pastry dough, this works.
I used this recipe yesterday to make cherry empanadas and it was the best dough ever. I’m actually making more today😊