Empanadas de Pino (Chilean Beef Empanadas)
Chilean Empanadas de Pino are flavorful beef empanadas filled with unexpected ingredients like raisins, olives, and hard boiled eggs. These make a great meal on the go and are perfect for a make-ahead meal!
What Is Traditional Chilean Food?
One of our readers from Chile noticed that we haven't ventured much into Chilean food here at Curious Cuisiniere.
She made an interesting point that many visitors to Chile think their national dish is Chili con Carne (Spanish for "chili peppers with meat"), which actually originated in San Antonio, Texas.
A far cry from Chile, South America.
It's time to start setting the record straight and giving Chile credit for the many tasty dishes that locals know and love.
So, we took on the challenge. The first dish that we tackled were Empanadas de Pino, one of the most classic Chilean empanadas.
Baked Empanadas de Pino
You find variations on empanadas throughout Latin and South America. (Like pumpkin empanadas, Bolivian chicken empanadas, and Argentinian quince and cheese empanadas.)
Chile is no exception.
While there are a number of different kinds of empanadas made in Chile, empanads de pino, filled with ground beef, onions, raisins, black olives, and hard boiled eggs, are the most popular.
The filling might seem a bit strange to those of us in the States, but we see this combination often in South American cooking (for example this Venezuelan bread and these Colombian stuffed potato balls). You will also find this filling in pastel de choclo, a Chilean beef and corn pie that is similar in concept to Irish shepherd's pie.
The raisins add a light sweetness to the beef that perfectly complements the smoky (and sometimes spicy) filling.
The olives give a fun salty burst and the hard boiled eggs add a fun creamy element.
If you like, you can serve these with pebre, a Chilean salsa for a bright and fresh contrast.
There's definitely a reason that empanadas de pino are one of the most popular types of empanadas in Chile!
Chilean Empanada Dough
We LOVED working with the dough for these Chilean empanadas.
It is a unique dough preparation, with warmed milk and butter being added to egg yolks and flour.
This creates a silky-smooth dough that is SO easy to work with. You don't even have to let the dough rest before rolling it out. (However, if you do, that's fine too. Just be sure it's covered.)
The resulting crust is sturdy, yet tender and flaky (but not quite as flaky as pie crust). It holds the hefty filling so well, and breaks with a satisfying crunch from the egg wash.
How To Seal Empanadas
One of the most important things when making empanadas is making sure they are sealed tightly.
Particularly with these larger empanadas de pino that are really heavy on the filling. If you don't have a good seal, then your chances are higher that the empanadas will burst during cooking. (Which isn't the end of the world, but they just don't look as pretty.)
We found that moistening the dough with a little water and then folding the edges over worked very well to get a good seal.
We used a traditional repulgue seal. It can take a few tries to get the hang of the repulgue, so check out our video on how to seal empanadas for a visual. Then, give it a try!
Freezing Empanadas
One of the wonderful things about empanadas is that they freeze so well.
Simply freeze the egg-washed empanadas in a single layer on a baking sheet, until they are solid. Then transfer them to an air-tight container to store in the freezer for up to 6 months.
To cook from frozen, let the empanadas thaw on a baking sheet for 30 minutes before baking at 350F for 35-40 minutes, until bubbly and golden.
Empanadas de Pino (Chilean Beef Empanadas)
Chilean Empanadas de Pino are flavorful beef empanadas filled with unexpected ingredients like raisins, olives, and hard boiled eggs. These make a great meal on the go and are perfect for a make-ahead meal!
Ingredients
For The Empanada Filling
- 1 ½ teaspoon oil
- 2 onions, minced
- 1 lb ground beef, (85% lean)
- 1 tablespoon paprika
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 teaspoon chili powder, (more if you want spicy empanadas)
- ¼ c beef broth, (we prefer low sodium)
- ¼ c raisins
- 1 tablespoon unbleached all-purpose flour
For The Empanada Dough
- 1 c milk
- 1 ½ teaspoon salt
- 8 tablespoon (½ c) shortening, (or unsalted butter)
- 2 egg yolks
- 5 c unbleached all-purpose flour, (divided)
Putting The Empanadas Together
- 24 black olives, drained
- 3 hard boiled eggs, peeled and quartered
- 1 egg yolk beaten with 1 tablespoon milk, (for egg wash)
Instructions
For The Filling
- Heat oil in a large saute pan. Add the onions and saute over medium heat until softened, 2-3 minutes.
- Add the meat, cumin, paprika, salt, pepper and beef broth. Cook until the meat is cooked through, 5-7 min.
- Add the raisins and flour. Cook until thickened slightly and saucy, not soupy, 1-2 min.
- Taste your filling and adjust the salt and chili powder as desired.
- Let cool slightly before filling the empanadas. (Or prepare the filling ahead of time and refrigerate overnight.)
For the Dough
- Heat the milk in a small saucepan over medium heat until warm. Add the salt and shortening to the milk. Let the mixture cool slightly and add the eggs. Mix until combined.
- Place 4 cups of flour into a large bowl. Mix this warm milk mixture into the flour. Add the remaining 1 cup of flour as needed until a soft dough forms.
- Knead the dough with your hands until it is soft and easy to handle, 2--3 minutes.
- Roll the dough into a long snake and divide in into 12, evenly sized sections (golf ball size). Roll each section into a ball.
To Make The Empanadas
- Roll each ball into a circle ⅛ inch thick (6 inches diameter). Place ⅓ cup of filling in the upper half of each round. Place 2 olives into the filling and add ¼ of a hard boiled egg. Moisten the edge of the pastry with a little water and fold the dough over the filling, pressing the edge firmly, then twisting or crimping to seal.
- Place on an ungreased baking sheet and brush with egg wash.
- Bake in preheated 350F for 30-35 until golden. Serve hot.
Notes
To Reheat: Bake at 350F for 15 min.
To Make Ahead: The filling can be made ahead of time and refrigerated for up to 2 days before using.
To Freeze: Freeze the egg-washed empanadas in a single layer on a baking sheet, until they are solid. Then transfer them to an air-tight container to store in the freezer for up to 6 months.
To Bake From Frozen: Let the empanadas thaw on a baking sheet for 30 minutes before baking at 350F for 35-40 minutes, until bubbly and golden.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
6Serving Size:
2 empanadasAmount Per Serving: Calories: 362
Sarah founded Curious in 2010 as a way to save her recipe creations and share culinary experiences. Her love for cultural cuisines was instilled early by her French Canadian Grandmother. Her experience in the kitchen and in recipe development comes from over 10 years working in professional kitchens. She has traveled extensively and enjoys bringing the flavors of her travels back to create easy-to-make recipes.
Do you have a carbohydrate count for these? I am diabetic and try to keep track.of this. Thank you.
Hi Roberta. Our nutrition calculator gives us 13g of carbohydrates for 2 empanadas.
I want to use butter instead of shortening. Do I melt the butter first then add the melted butter to the heated milk?
Hi Jennifer. When I use butter, I just put soft (room temperature) butter into my milk while it is warming, to melt it. Enjoy!
Hi!
Can you please let me know what kind of black olives I should use.
Thank you!!
Hi Svetlana. We use California mission olives, but any black olives could work. Depending on the brine it will just add a bit of different flavor.
I make these regularly. They freeze perfectly. I'm originally from Chile and these are the closest I've found that taste like those of my family's when I visit. I have modified the recipe adding spicy lamb sausage to the beef and its fantastic! So many ways to make them!
So glad you found us! Glad you enjoy them!
Hi, Id love to know if we can replace the cows milk with a plant based milk?
Hi Claudia. While we haven't tried that substitution, I would think it would work. Full fat coconut milk would be the one I would try first. Let us know how it turns out for you!
@Sarah Ozimek, Traditional Chilean empanadas do not have milk or eggs. You just need to use water, flour, salt and a fat; vegetable shortening works fine. Good luck!
Thank you for sharing Sussy! I wonder why many Chilean recipes we found included the milk and eggs? We'll definitely give the dough a try that way.
@Sussy, in that case than you know that traditional beef empanadas are not made with ground beef, but rather diced beef. Btw, there are several different doughs, the one I know is with milk, eggs, butter and wine, so there are variations, maybe it depends on the area of the country.
Definitely going to try these. I only came to this page when I saw the photo and thought "hmm, I wonder how curious cuisinière cooks Cornish pasties" - 'cos I'm 1/4 Cornish! So now I plan to look more into Chilean cuisine!
How funny! They do look quite similar. Hope you enjoy them!
If you are going to fry them do you think it's best to freeze cooked or uncooked? I'm asking because I love these so much that I'm making myself 30-40 to just freeze for snacks. Seriously one of the best things I've ever eaten. Great Job!! 😀
Hi Chloe. We're glad you enjoy them! We haven't tried frying these, but based on others I would freeze them before cooking, and then fry them from frozen, if you make them a little smaller, or after thawing a bit if you make them larger. The way we do these for the freezer is to bake them and then freeze them. When we want to eat them, we thaw them on the counter a bit and re-heat them in the toaster oven. Let us know what you decide to do!
I lived in Chile for 1.5 years and these taste just like the ones I ate! The only difference was that the ones I had didn’t have raisins, so when i make empanadas using your recipe, I also leave out the raisins.
So glad you enjoy them Konrie. Thanks for sharing!
I am not a dough person but these turned out great! I used butter and they came out light and tasty, not heavy at all and quite flavourful. Also it was easy to work with although I found it got easier the more I played with it. I only used 4 cups of flour and found that was enough (although I always aerate my flour first before measuring). Filling was great too - I made a lot so I used the leftovers to make pastel de choclo (another popular Chilean dish kind of like shepherds pie). Oh and these are NOT complete without a side of pebre (a Chilean salsa). Thanks for a great recipe - it was my first time!
So glad you enjoyed these empanadas Nicole! What a great use for the extra pino filling!
my grandma showed me how to make this dish. she is from Santiago Chile. This is about the closest recipe to hers i have seen out there. Thank you for sharing it's so nice to have actual measurements i can pass on to friends rather than just doing it from memory. The leave overnight is super important for the flavor! thanks again.
So glad you enjoyed this recipe!
Where is the oregano? Alino Completo (the spice mix my friends always use to season their empanadas pino) has lots of oregano.
Hi Aileen, Like many cultural dishes, there are many variations on the filling for empanadas de pino, depending on the cook. If you want to add in some oregano, go for it! We would recommend about 1/2 tsp for this recipe.
This being September 18th, Chilean independence day, I thought I'd look for empanada recipes. One thing I've learned while searching for empanada recipes is there is no one way to make them. Almost everyone has a twist on the filling, the crust and even how to seal them. And I think they are all good. I will definitely be giving this version a shot. Great job!
You are so correct. THere are so many ways to make empanadas, and no one right way. That’s what makes them so fun! We hope you enjoy our recipe!
These were surprisingly easy to make and were delicious. I froze half the empanadas and found they were even better after a few weeks in the freezer. My Chilean friends were impressed by my pics and I found the flavors to be right on to the many empanadas I’ve eaten in Chile.
So glad you enjoyed these empanadas Patty!
Sarah, I follow all your steps and my dinner tonite were 3 delicious empanadas. My only mistake was that I was not careful with the eggs washout and a couple went under the empanada and it got a little stuck on the baking sheet but it was not ta big deal. I am impressed by the details of your recipe, for example 1/3 cup for each empanada, 6 inches dough etc. Many time you follow a recipe and after you are done you know you have to adjust some details for next time, not with this one everything was just perfect.
Thanks Sarah
Thank you so much Teruel! We're so glad you enjoyed the empanada recipe!
Awesome great recipe doubled it and had a feast. ?
So glad you enjoyed the empanadas Taras!