African Meat Pie (Beef Empanada)
African Meat Pie (Beef Empanada)- slightly sweet, flaky and crusty with a succulent beef filling. Comes together quickly and flies off the table. Simply Delicious!!
Don’t you think there is just something irresistible about spicy minced meat stuffed in a crunchy short bread crust ? I do. So far everyone I have had the pleasure of encountering has whispered ever so diligently a secret passion for a hot filled crusty pie loaded with all of your secret pleasures.. hmmm hmmm.. sounds so good
Believe me when I say it tastes divine. The joy of this recipe is the numerous variety of fillings around the world. Meat pie can be an ethnic success and render any novice chef into a well sought out after caterer! Trust me.. With the flaky, crispy savory crust coupled with sweet succulent spices, count me in.
My love for meat pies means that you better believe I am always looking out for alternate recipes. The best ones are all have the same unique trait. A sumptuous flaky crust. Admittedly, I have frequently nibbled on the pie crust and thrown away the pie filling. See folks for me, the crust rules!
Now lets talk about these African meat pies and what makes them different. First of all Empanada lovers you will not be disappointed, from all the recipes sampled I feel that this recipe is most close to the Argentinian empanada, with a slight twist. In addition to butter and flour we add milk and eggs for a creamy, smooth and tender dough. Now keep in mind, there are no hard or fast rules about what goes into a meat pie every family or street vendors pie is known to have it’s own secret ingredient. Now I share my secret, it is the tasty filling of ground meat, onions, tomatoes, parsley, green onions which makes for a flavorful, moist and tender pie.
Now if you’ve baked any kind of pie, you know that the work comes with kneading and creating the dough. All that being said, if you are a lover like I am, then you can make numerous batches of dough and freeze them for future usage. That makes this meal a 30 minute adventure after defrosting. (If you look in my freezer I always have a stack of unbaked pies, my son loves this and makes for a wonderful ‘lunch’ option for him at school).
Watch How To Make It
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African Meat Pie (Beef Empanada)
Ingredients
- 4 cup or (544 g) flour (plus more for dusting)
- 2 tablespoon or (25 g) sugar
- ½ tablespoon or (8.53 g) salt
- 8 ounce or (228 g) butter
- 1 egg
- 3/4 cup or (177.75 ml) milk
Meat Filling
- 2 tablespoon or (30 ml) canola oil
- ½ pound or (226.80 g) ground meat
- ½ medium onion chopped
- 1 teaspoon garlic minced
- 1 teaspoon chicken bouillon powder (optional)
- ½ cup or (112.5 g) tomato sauce
- 1 tablespoon or (6.90 g) smoked paprika
- 2 green onion chopped
- 2 tablespoon parsley
- 1 teaspoon white pepper
- salt to taste
- 2 boil eggs (optional)
Instructions
- In a food processor or by hand, mix together salt, sugar ,butter blend well Add the egg, milk in small amounts, pulse until combined and dough holds together in a soft ball.
- Place the dough on a well floured surface . Divide it into 2 and roll it out .
- Using a large mouth, glass glass or bowl about 4 - 5 " cut out circles by gently pressing on the dough and releasing it, shaping the meat pie dough. Continue cutting out dough until all dough has been cut. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes or until ready to use.
Make the Meat pie filling
- Add 2 tablespoon of oil to a sauce pan, followed by onions, garlic, chicken bouillon tomato sauce and paprika . Let it simmer for about 10 minutes, stirring frequently to prevent burning, add about ½ cup of water if needed.
- Then, add ground meat and continue cooking for about 10 or more minutes.
- Finally add green onions and parsley, white pepper. Followed by salt to taste Adjust seasonings to taste .
- Remove from stove top and let it cool.
Assembling Meat pie
- Scoop a heaping tablespoon of filling into each circle, top with egg and brush the egg white around half of the circle. Fold over twist and and press with fingers gently to seal the edges of the meat pie.
- Another way of sealing is by pressing the tines of a fork along the edges of the dough.
- Carefully place each meat pie on a baking sheet or you may freeze to use later.
- Set oven temperature to 350 degrees .Bake for about 30 minutes .
Nutrition Information:
Hi Imma, nice recipes and procedures, thank you. After mixing my dough it justrefused to come together. It’s not stretching at all, it breaks so bad as I try rolling it out . Gosh!!!! Its very frustrating. Plz what could be the cause and how can i remedy it? Plz i need to make it now, help me sis.
Sorry to hear about that ! I would go ahead and add more milk- about 1/2 cup more , to make into a soft dough. I have updated recipe
Hi Imma! I’m back 🙂 Went to Cameroon for the holidays and came back with baking fever…. lol! Gave a go at your chin chin recipe and it was TheBomb.com. Then I decided to give these are try….. the struggle was real with the dough. Not sure what I did wrong but it was on the crumbly side and hard to roll. I kept adding milk until I got it to a more manageable consistency. I would say I probably added a total of 3/4 cup of milk to get it right. I freestyled my filling with whatever I had on hand and it turned out awesome. Thanks for another great recipe
AWESOME! WELCOME BACK! Little Sis! I was wondering where you’ve been hiding … haven’t seen you here in a while . Glad to hear it worked out well for you.
Must we refrigerate the dough?
No you don’t have too!
HI Immaculate,what measurements can I replace with oz? I don’t understand that word oz. Thanks
Recipe had been updated Careen- with grams and cup
Hi, just wanted to thank you for all your recipes and ideas…it’s always a help when i want to try something new or need african recipes.
My husband is Cameroonian and he was wondering from who i learned cooking his favorite meals like meat pies, N’Dole…. Especially the kids love meat pie so much.
So glad to hear hubby is enjoying the meals…I know what you mean about these meat pies-they are my weakness!!! Thanks for taking the time to try out my recipes . Soo appreciate you!
Hello Imma, thank you for this recipe. I have one question. can the pie be fried instead of baked?
Hi Malaika! To be honest, I have never tried frying this pie- I think it would soak up tons of oil and maybe fall apart, you might have to add more flour to make it firm enough.
Thank u loads imma. The tomato sauce, is it the type we buy in tins or sachets from the market?
I have fried empanadas before right before serving…make sure oil is hot and put enough to cover pies. Drain on paper towels and keep in warm oven. Frying gives the crust a more crisper texture than baking.
No need to add baking powder or soda?
No, no need for that!
Have you added cheese before?
Hi Imma, Am Emmanuel, nice one, my is question.
Why the PARSLEY?
It adds flavor.
how much dose it make
14-16 medium size or 20-25 small meat pies
Hi Immaculate,
For the recipe did you use all purpose flour?
Yes.
Best.pies.ever.
Aww, thanks Mich.
Hello ImmaculateBites, I have being missing out on your great cooking. You are doing a fabulous work. Thank you
5 stars!
Thanks for the recipe.Looks good and will try it soon.How long to bake the pies for? Thanks 🙂
Bake for about 25-30 minutes
can you fry this with oil.Thanks so much
Melanie, I have never tried frying this meat pie because I feel they will be too oily. You may use this fish roll dough here http://africanbites.com/?p=3377. Just replace the fish with meat. Let me how it works out. Thanks for stopping by!
Pls can I make meat pie with stove instead of oven?
Is the milk powder or liquid milk
Liquid milk
Happy New Year!!! I have a questions; if you freeze the dough do you bake them longer or at a higher temperature. Thanks in advance.
Ola, you bake it longer about but the oven temperature stays the same. Happy new year to you too!
Hi immaculate this is Doreen I love ur site and will definitely try some of the tasty bites.love and may God continue to empower you.
Thanks Doreen, Wishing you a Happy New year!
I’m excited to make this recipe for my family and a friend who is on bed rest. My only question is what temperature the oven should be?
Amanda the temperature is 350 degrees, you’re friend would be thrilled with this empanadas .
Hi Imma, I did try the meat pie recipe and it came out good. The only problem I had was to roll the dough, it was kind of a little bit tough to roll so I was straining quite a bit. What could be done to make the dough a little bit softer; maybe to add a little bit of water you think? Thanks a lot.
Kelsey ,try adding about a 1/4 more of water or milk to the dough. Thanks for the feedback.
I did the meat pie again adding 1/4 cup of milk and it came out super good. No more straining rolling the dough. I believe I made several errors the first time. I realized I did not put enough butter and I did refrigerate the dough before cutting instead of vice versa. Thanks so much Imma, you have made me to be a proud cook serving tasty foods.
Looks yummy, will definitely try this out. I didn’t know I could use food processor to make dough.