Chicken and Chorizo Empanada
I absolutely love that time of the month when we feature something for the Kulinarya Cooking Club. From a small group of three we are now around 14 and counting! It is just amazing how many bloggers there are who are just as passionate about promoting Filipino food as we are. In fact, I am so happy that we even have an “adopted” member (she isn’t Filipino but she can’t absolutely cook like one!).
This month we feature the empanada – those little filled pastries which originated in Spain. The Philippines, being colonized by the Spaniards for over three hundred years, has embraced the empanada and have made these little turnovers their own.
The first time I blogged about the empanada I strayed away from the “normal” empanadas that I grew up with and made one using flaky pastry. While it was delicious, it was a bit more time consuming (it requires making two types of dough and deep frying).
Empanada using flaky pastry
This month I decided to concentrate my energy instead on making a much simpler dough. Something that didn’t require deep frying, was easy to roll out and was virtually fool proof. Of course it also had to be delicious!
I tried three variations of the empanada dough before I came up with THE ONE. The first dough I used lard which made the dough easy to roll out but was a lacking in flavour. The next dough I used butter which resulted in a delicious pastry but not very flaky. The result of a look at my pastry books was a suggestion to add vinegar to the dough. The vinegar (or acid like lemon juice) inhibits the development of gluten resulting in a more tender and flaky dough.
So for this recipe I used butter instead of lard to make sure the pastry would have that lovely buttery taste and added some vinegar so that the pastry would be tender and flaky. The addition of salt and sugar (yes sugar!) adds flavour to the dough… and the result? Maybe not everyone’s idea of a perfect empanada dough but this is the one I’m sticking with!
For the filling, I used one of my very favourite empanada fillings – chicken, chorizo, mushrooms, carrots and a creamy béchamel sauce. In the Philippines, this filling is called “pastel de pollo” or chicken pie.
The instructions seem long but I have detailed it as much as possible – no need to be scared. This is one of the easiest doughs to work with and the filling is easy to make. The filling actually makes more than you will need but it can be frozen and used for another time (it is even delicious on toast!), otherwise, triple the quantity of dough to use up the filling. The empanadas, once filled can be stored in the freezer served for future use (just make sure to bake them around 15 minutes longer).
The end result? A portable chicken pot pie – Filipino style!
Kulinarya Club makes Empanadas
For the pastry
- 220 grams plain flour
- 100 grams cold butter, diced
- 2 teaspoons vinegar
- 3 tablespoons ice cold water
- 1 teaspoon sugar ** thanks for pointing out the error – this should be sugar!
- Pinch of salt
- 1 egg for the dough
- 1 egg for egg wash
Special Equipment – food processor, cookie cutter or glass, with a rim 5 cm wide
- Place the flour, butter, salt, sugar and vinegar in a food processor and pulse until the dough resembles fine crumbs.
- Add the egg and continue to pulse.
- Add the water, a tablespoon at a time until the dough starts to look clumpy. Stop adding the water when you can pinch off some dough and it manages to come together. Don’t blend the pastry too much. Stop just before it seems like it is coming together like a ball on the blender blades.
- Place the dough in a lightly floured work bench and knead the dough one or two times just until you can form a disc with the dough. Pat it down until it is around 1 cm high.
- Wrap in cling wrap and allow to rest in the refrigerator for at least two hours to overnight.
- When the dough is ready, roll it out on a floured work surface until it is around ½ cm thick.
- Using a cookie cutter or glass, cut the dough. I also used a rolling pin to lengthen the dough slightly.
- Place the cut dough on the palm of your hand and a spoonful of filling (see below). Fold the dough over like a half moon to enclose the filling.
- Press the dough to seal and crimp the edges with your fingers or use a fork to make indents on the dough.
- Place the filled empanadas on a baking sheet.
- In a small bowl, whisk the egg and using a pastry brush, lightly brush the tops of the empanadas.
- With the leftover scraps, shape them into a disc and roll out as above.
- Allow the dough to rest in the refrigerator as you pre-heat the oven to 180c (fan forced)
- When the over is ready, bake the empanadas for 25 minutes or until golden brown.
Notes:
- When making the dough, make sure to use ice cold water and ensure that the butter is cold when using it.
- Handle the dough as little as possible.
- Make sure the let the dough rest before rolling it out. This allows the gluten in the dough to rest so when it is rolled out, it does not “bounce” back.
- The scraps after the first roll can be used to make more dough. Form the dough into a disc and roll out as per instructions above.
Chicken and Chorizo Empanadas
Chicken and Chorizo Filling
- 50 grams butter
- Olive oil
- ½ onion, diced
- 1 small carrot, diced
- 1 chorizo (around 125 grams), diced
- 80 grams mushrooms, diced
- ½ cup white wine
- 50 grams flour
- 2 chicken marylands, boiled, skin removed, chopped ** see note
- 1 cup milk
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Heat the butter and some olive oil together. Add the onions and saute over medium heat until translucent, around 4 minutes.
- Add the carrots and saute until soft, another 5 minutes.
- Add the chorizo and the mushrooms and cook for around 5 minutes. Making sure to stir constantly.
- Add the white wine and allow to evaporate until ½ of the liquid is left.
- Add the flour and cook it out for around 3 minutes, making sure to stir constantly so that the flour doesn’t catch on the bottom of the pot and burn
- Add the chicken now. Note: If you prefer, if the chicken hasn’t already been boiled, you can add the raw chopped chicken after step three (after the chorizo)
- Add the milk, a little at a time until well incorporated and the sauce is thick. Mix constantly to ensure the milk doesn’t catch and burn at the bottom of the pot.
- Add salt and pepper to taste.
Empanadas
Don’t forget! For more empanada goodness – check out my Kulinarya page to find out who are members are!
Trissalicious 
Hi Trissa, these empanadas look delicious and I’d like to make some very soon. The filling looks especially delicious! However, my question, what is chicken marylands? I saw the note, but don’t understand what it is Thanks!.
These empanadas look like the bomb! Yummy!
I love the look of these gorgeous pastry pillows but making the pastry sounds like a lot of work…. May I just order a batch from you next time, Trissa?
I’ll dream of them tonight!
♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥
How yummy, Trissa! Good for you for trying the dough so many times to find your ideal one. I don’t use it myself, but I’m surprised to hear you found the lard lacking in flavor. I usually hear that Chinese foods made these days have less flavor than traditional versions just because lard is no longer used.
These look absolutely amazing. I’m so hungry right now. I wish I had one!! I will make these for sure.
Magda
I would love to join your cooking club. Coincidently, I actually just posted a blog post about empanadas earlier this month but I wanted to post another version I had. Thanks! Your dough is very similar to my recipe. Great filling!
Being half Filipino, I love Filipino food. Just not the deepfrying…. Thanks for a not deepfried recipe!!
WOW! These look so scrumptious! I know they will be a hit with family and friends. The perfect picnic food! And BTW I love the choc blinis you posted just before this one. Yum!
I’m crazy about these little pastry-pies. Empanadas or pasties, every country has its own. Your chicken and chorizo stuffing is like a delightful pot pie! Yummee!
absolutely wonderful photos and i like what you made for the filling…i have to try that one out..=)
looking forward to more of Kulinarya! =)
I miss eating empanada. I grew up watching my mum make these, but regret not having learned properly! Well, at least I have sinigang right?
Glad to have found your blog fellow pinoy. I look forward to drooling more. My mum would love this site…if only she would learn how to use the computer! Mum makes the best kare kare…she uses Lamb Shanks and tenderises them until they fall off the bone. I’ll post it up soon! Promise.
Hello! I am new to your website and I am in love! You take some really beautiful food photos and just have a wonderful blog overall! I one day want to be a food photographer as well but I have A LOT of work to do to get me there haha. These empanadas are making me drool… =)
these empanadas looks fab! This is quite similar to the “curry puffs” in Singapore. The fillings inside yours look really delectable ^_^
Oh I’m always hesitant to make my own pastry but yours look so delectable that the effort seems definitely worth it. I love your inclusion of chorizo in these too. Gorgeous photos – the light seems to be cast perfectly on each shot!
Hey Trissa, these look wonderful. I love the way the egg wash makes them look so perfect-that shine makes me happy when I open the oven and the egg is getting all golden and shiny like it should. Hope you had time to sit and eat one of these hot while not worrying about photographing, etc (sigh)…Stella
Wow, love the flaky pastry…Trissa sure this empanadas look so yummie, mouth watering 🙂 Nice pictures as well!
I don’t think I’ve ever had a Filipino style empanada before but I love the Cuban ones we get here. To be honest, yours look MUCH better. Love how flaky the crust looks.
Ooh yuummm! They look so nice and crispy but bursting with chicken adn chorizo mmmm
yum. I love chorizo. I should give your filling a go. Looks amazing
Great job on your empanadas. I love that these are baked, flaky & most of all filled with chicken pastel! Your pastel recipe is very similar to my family’s and have not eaten it in a long time. Great idea about using it to fill the empanadas.
It was my first time making empanadas from scratch, I am sure to keep making more. Besides, I need to work on my crimping. 🙂
One more thing, shouldn’t it say Asha “isn’t Filipino but she CAN absolutely cook like one!” instead of “can’t”??
your empanadas look perfect Trissa, even better than the ones I usually buy from Red Ribbon 😉 ..you’re really good .. I will try these baked empanadas next time, it takes longer to cook but definitely healthier.. Great Job!!
we’re now 14?! Great..way to go Kulinarya!! : )
Your flaky pastry looks amazing! I really love empanadas… usually when someone else makes them for me though (hint hint) !
I call these the perfect snack food! Add a beer and we’re in paradise…they look so scrumptious Trissa!
It’s so nice that you’ve experimented all the possibilities of making the empanada dough. We can have the short cut and save time by trying your recipe, hehe…Thanks a lot.
I instantly bookmarked this recipe as soon as I saw the first picture! They look so delicious! I love empanadas!
NO deep frying sounds good to me. Great recipe and a portable pie sounds pretty good to me.
That pastry is so flaky and golden – I would gobble them all up in an instant. I love that you made the dough and filling yourself, it sounds so much better than the frozen stuff.
Trissa, these look scrumptious! Great job on this.
I’ve probably never eaten empanada but it looks absolutely delicious. I like savoury tarts and pies. This I will definitely try. It would make a wonderful picnic food.
Such a perfect empanada! I was thinking to attempt the flaky version, but too lazy to get me moving. I will adopt this recipe instead 😀
Gorgeous looking empanadas Trissa! I would never even have guessed that those are also eaten in the philippines… But there is so much I don’t know..lol.. Looks absolutely delicious and I will be trying that pastry soon!
trissa, i really like your chicken filling…and nice pics too, i feel like reaching my hands towards my computer screen and stealing a empanada from you..hehehehehhe
oh. trissa. these beauties could be filled with cotton lint and i’d still devour them whole–that pastry crust is AMAZING. the filling you’ve concocted is indeed superior to cotton lint, however…in fact, it’s superior to pretty much everything!
Very nice…. Was going to make It right after reading your blog but unfortunately I had ran out of flour in my cupboard…. Shall try tomorrow. It s really like the chicken pastel we do. Should be delish.
Your earlier version with the flaky pastry is like the Holy Grail of awesome empanadas for me! I’ve been commenting at other KCC members’ posts that I’ve never made the dough from scratch before, so I am diligently collecting all the ones you are presenting and will be trying each. One of these days, that flaky pastry (and the resulting, fantastic pattern it forms) will be mine!
Love this creamy pastel filling!
Trissa, your empanadas look so perfect and golden, it’s making my mouth water! Great that it doesn’t need deep frying as well. And I love love love your plates.
I love visiting when it’s the KCC too, learn something new each time! Wow, you’re persistent with finding the perfect dough, and it looks like the effort has paid off – the empanadas look sensational! (By the way, that flaky version looks so much like a Malaysian style curry puff called karipap pusing).
Portable chicken pot pie… I like! The addition of vinegar does seem like a strange idea but hey! If it works, then you’re right… stick with it! I had problems with my dough but I think it was more of my error than recipe error. This was the first time I made empanadas and surely not the last! Thanks for a great KCC dish, Trissa!!!
Go the kulinarya club! I think i have developed a fetish for empanadas since i saw it on forager’s blog…. I think the technique is very similar to the curry puff but with different fillings. I love those flakey pastry 🙂
Beautiful empanadas Trissa. The crust is flaky and buttery and the filling is gorgeous. To me, you’re an expert in your field even if you’re not doing it professionally. 🙂
Sugar can be a surprisingly useful addition to many recipes, it seems! Little question… is the “teaspoon salt” in the pastry recipe meant to be “teaspoon sugar”?
Love the pie mix! Great dish!
These look like our curry puffs… such beautiful shots… yes, now I can differentiate and appreciate the finish and can understand why you were able to tell when I shot with a DSLR 🙂
Wow! These look amazing Trissa. I will need to remember them next time I am making party food.
Looks very delicious. Reminds me of curry puffs. Trissa, could it be 1t sugar in the dough ingredients as there are 2x salt there? Thanks for the lovely recipe.
Although I love Empanadas, I haven’t tried making them at home. I love to try your version of pastry and gosh how I like adding the chorizo in the fillings.
Your empanadas look absolutely perfect and so delectable!! What a great idea on the filling. I love the addition of bèchamel. I must make these very soon. I also love the edges of the empanada. I can’t want to make those type of designs. Beautiful job on these.
The pastry does look beautifully flaky and I’m all for baking stuff as I’m scared of deep-frying!
I bet these chicken Empanada taste as fantastic as they look!
Your empanadas are so pretty. Mine was ugly ehehe. I just cant do the fancy twirly wirly like you can. We need to have a pastry lesson at your house one day ehehe. I like the combination chicken, chorizo and mushroom. Cheers to another successful Kulinarya month yay…
Your empanadas are do pretty. Mine was ugly ehehe. I just cant do the fancy twirly wirly like you can. We need to have a pastry lesson at your house one day ehehe. I like the combination chicken, chorizo and mushroom. Cheers to another successful Kulinarya month yay…
Love the crusty, savory empanadas that you have Trissa. It was my first time to make a dough for my empanadas now I know why you have to let the dough rest before kneading… thanks for sharing that bit of an info that makes a lot of difference.
As I was having a Vietnamese Banh Mi the other day I thought how lucky we were to have the French colonised Vietnam as they have influenced our cuisine. I guess the same is with you and the Spaniards..
Thanks for sharing what Filo food has to offer as I’ve never had anything like it before. Are there Filo restaurants in Sydney that you’ve been to? Those empanadas look delicious; I reckon I can scoof a dozen of those babies down 🙂
Golden and delicious! We have a very similar version in SG and M’sia called Curry Puff, and those are deepfried. I can’t believe you baked your empanadas! They look so beautifully crisp I was so sure you deepfried them until I read your recipe.
Great recipe, thank you for sharing, Trissa!! I love empanadas and I love chorizo, so that should work for me 😉
And the Kulinarya cooking club sounds like a great idea – I’ll keep an eye out for the next recipes off the ranks. PS: I had a really good chat with Boon Chocolates in Darlinghurst earlier this week (I’m researching artisan chocolatiers for my “Life is Sweet” chocolate tours for Easter) and did you know that owners Alex and Fanny are from a Filipino background as well? Really fascinating approach to chocolate, and they even have a signature chocolate with Filipino lime – just delicious…