Baked Chicken Empanada
“Try these homemade baked chicken empanada that are full of superb flavor stuffed with chicken meat, potatoes, carrots and a little bit of raisins; perfect for morning or afternoon snack and even as a meal.“
Baked chicken empanada, that is what I decided to make as a new baker. Honestly, I really don’t have the slightest idea that I will try baking. Though I thought of that idea before but I immediately dismissed it.
Just thinking about the required measuring, kneading, timing, etc., it is quite overwhelming. However, I came to a point that I need to make an extra income to meet some financial goals, and this chicken empanada recipe gave me that.
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the birth of a new baker
As I prayed, God gave me the wisdom on how I can earn extra income, which is to sell something.
And it keeps on revealing to me that it is somehow related to food. So the idea of selling food items is something that echoes to me.
Now, there are several questions I had in mind. I cannot just dive in without testing the water. Questions such as what kind of food item will I sell? Who will be my target customer? What would they like? These are just some of the questions I have to answer.
I didn’t make a survey about it but I just ask the people closest to me for their opinions.
After a little observation and analysis, I finally made a decision. I will make baked chicken empanadas, not the traditional deep-fried version. I want it to be bit healthy by removing oil through frying. This will make it more appealing to my customers which are health conscious.
And with a lot of reading, I found valuable information on how to make chicken empanada. After some trial and error, I finally made my version of empanada, that stays tasty and crunchy even after a day.
what is a chicken empanada?
Chicken empanada is a type of pastry that starts with delicious dough stuff with chicken meat, potato, carrots, sweet peas (though not using it in this recipe) and raisins which adds sweetness to the pie.
To do this, you have to place the cheese (if using) and chicken filling in the middle of the dough. Fold it in half and seal the edges with the use of a fork or some sealing tricks (which I haven’t learned yet).
Personally, I liked the baked version of empanada. They are easier to make because you can bake in big batch and certainly lighter without the entire deep fried process.
Tips in making chicken empanada
I recommend that before you do anything or cook the filling, to combine the flour, sugar and salt and place it into the refrigerator to chill out. Cut also the butter into small pieces and place in the freezer. This will cut the time of waiting by doing this step. Additionally, the dough will be crunchier if all dough ingredients are cold.
Putting cheese in the filling and adding cheese strips when filling the empanadas will result in a more flavorful empanadas. Personally, I really suggest to put cheese as it taste yummy when it has cheese, although the calorie will be higher.
Make the filling ahead. I cook then refrigerate my filling before the actual day of making the empanadas. This allow the flavor to seep into the meat and make the filling more tasty. Since the filling needs to cool before trying to fill the pie dough circle, this works out even better.
“initial public offering”
My chicken empanada sure did make a wave in our office. I received a lot of nice comments such as my crust is still crispy/ crunchy even after a day, the filling is so delicious and it is perfect any time of the day – be it breakfast, snack, lunch or dinner.
Their compliments made me really happy and made me think that I might have a talent in baking. Seriously? hahaha
But before I sold it to my officemates, I made some batches for taste test. I asked the opinion of my husband and he told me that it is tasty and it can go out. So it was a huge success. Thanks to my hubby for his support.
first timer challenges
I face some challenges as a first timer.
Firstly, I don’t know how to make dough and knead, haven’t done it before.
Secondly, I don’t even have an oven, what made me think that I am able to make it?
Thirdly, I don’t have the skill in selling because I am quite a shy person.
Well, willingness to learn is the answer to the first challenge. I believe that everyone will agree that we should continue to learn whatever phase we are in our lives.
On the second challenge, being resourceful is the key. We have a convection oven that claimed that it can act as an oven so I used that. We bought it a long time ago and never used it, we assumed that we cannot use it so and we thought of selling it, but thankfully nobody bought it. I never thought that this would become handy this time.
For the third reason, I used our email to collect orders, which is somehow gave me the courage to sell and face zero rejections. hahaha
then the biggest challenge
I initially sell my chicken empanadas to close colleagues, then by word of mouth spread throughout the Filipino community.
Then the biggest challenge is to make almost 100 pcs with my single convection oven. Imagine sleeping around 3:00am early morning because I can only put 7 pcs in one baking in the oven for 20 minutes. And I started at around 8:00pm the previous day.
I almost gave up during those times and I asked myself if it is worth it. I even told myself that it will be the last.
But as I gave their orders and told me how satisfied they were at my empanadas and actually looking forward for it, makes my heart glad.
Somehow I feel fulfilled that I was able to make them happy just by baking these empanadas.
And so after selling several batches of empanada and chicken embutido (which is another food item I sold and will share with you), I finally decided to buy an electric oven using my earnings.
This will at least cut me the time for baking. I also bought a couple of kitchen and baking utensils for baking to assist me in baking.
Looking back, I thank God that he stretches me as a person. I never imagined doing something beyond my comfort zone again. I learned to baked, then sell and now blog about it. He really is amazing! Praise unto God alone!
Whew… that was long, hope that it didn’t bore you. So enough of the story, and hope that you will find this empanada recipe yummy and craving for more.
If you’ve tried this recipe, please rate it and tell me how you liked it in the comments section below; I love hearing from you! Happy tummy!
Baked Chicken Empanada Recipe
Equipment
- Oven
- Baking Sheet
- Rolling Pin
- Mixing Bowl
- Measuring cups and spoons
- Pastry cutter (if available)
- Round object (for tracing)
- Fork
- Pastry brush
Ingredients
Dough:
- 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 3 tablespoons sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt, fine
- 200 grams unsalted butter, cut into cubes then freeze
- 8 tablespoons cold water
Chicken Filling:
- 1 tablespoon canola oil
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 medium onion, minced
- 200 grams chicken breast, minced or minced chicken
- 2 tablespoons tomato sauce or 1 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1 small potato, cut into small cubes
- 1 large carrot, cut into small cubes
- ¼ cup raisins
- 2 tablespoons oyster sauce optional
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 3 tablespoons water
- 20 grams cheddar cheese, half grated to combine with the filling during cooking and half to cut into strips (when filling the dough) optional
Eggwash:
- 1 piece egg
- 1 tablespoons milk
- pinch of salt
Instructions
Dough:
- Cut butter into cubes and put in the freezer for about 10 minutes.
- In a mixing bowl, mix together the flour, sugar and salt. Chill for 30 minutes. Cut in butter using a pastry cutter or by pinching the butter with hands into the flour mixture, until it looks like a coarse cornmeal, with a few pea-size pieces of butter remaining.
- Slowly add water to the flour mixture, 1 tablespoon at a time, mix just until well combined. Mix until dough is no longer too crumbly and holds together when squeezed. If the dough is too crumbly and does not hold together, add more water. It is important that you don’t add too much water and don’t over knead the dough.
- Form the dough into a ball and wrap in a cling wrap and chill for about 30-60 minutes. After chilling, prepare to roll the dough. Cut the dough into 8 equal parts.
- Take a piece of the dough and roll it out as thin as possible without breaking. Cut circles using a round object with the desired size. Do this to all of the remainder of the dough. Combine all excess dough cuttings and repeat the process until dough is used.
Filling:
- Heat the oil in a skillet or wok over medium-high heat and saute garlic and onion.
- Once translucent, add the minced chicken, stir while removing the clumps and cook for 2 minutes or until no longer pink.
- Add soy sauce, tomato sauce, pepper and water and bring to a boil. Lower heat and simmer for 2 minutes or until meat is cooked.
- Add in carrots and potatoes, mix and simmer for another 5 minutes.
- Pour in the oyster sauce and raisins. If using a cheddar cheese, you can incorporate it at this stage. Give it a stir and simmer for 1 minute.
- Transfer the cooked filling to a container or strainer to remove excess liquid. Set aside to cool.
Baking:
- On a flat surface, lay dough circle and put the cheese stick in the middle of the dough. Take a tablespoon of filling and put it above the cheese. Fold the top portion of the dough over filling and with fingers, press edges firmly. Using a fork, press on sides of dough to firmly seal. Repeat with remaining dough and filling.
- In a bowl, whisk together egg, milk and salt.
- Arrange the empanadas in a baking sheet and brush top with egg wash.
- Bake at 360 °F/ 180 °C for about 25 to 30 minutes or until lightly browned.
- Remove from oven and allow to slightly cool before removing from the baking sheet.
- Share and enjoy!
Video
Notes
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