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:
The best recipe ever. I have become a chinchin and meat pie expert thanks to your recipes. Thank you
Amazing!! So happy to hear this, Lyn :)!
Hi Imma.since I have been following your recipe on puff puff and empanada,I ve never gotten them wrong.the tastes were divine.thanks for sharing them
Thank you Omoloa, your words pay my all my efforts, stay tuned, and have more amazing recipes 🙂
Thank you Omoloa, your words pay my all efforts, stay tuned, and have more amazing recipe:)
These are really tasty. Do you recommend any condiment to serve with these, like a mustard or sweet chili sauce?
I’m so glad you liked them. Mustard and sweet chili sauce both sound wonderful. I also love them with African pepper sauce, peri-peri sauce, and Caribbean pepper sauce.
Hey there – I am planning to make these for my college students and I would like to make a bunch. They sound deelish. Has anyone used a ready made pie crust as substitute? I know not the real thing but I am afraid of making my own dough ..(
Hi Jeanne! Yes, you can use store-bought pie dough for this and you can even get the puff pastry dough type for flakier crust.
Could you please let me know how many grams is 4 cups? Thank you so much!
Hi Annie! 1 cup is approx 136g, so 4 cups of flour is more or less 464g. Hope this helps 🙂
It may be a spelling error, but can I ask what you mean by a ‘large mouth’ in step 3? Looking forward to trying these!
Thanks for the recipe. It looks delicious and am sure it taste absolutely delicious too. I will be trying this out but with some potato and carrots in my filling.
What meat do you recommend?
Ground beef.
Does it mean you don’t need to add water to mix the dough?
No you don’t . Milk works just as well.
Please what can cause meat pie dough to crack after baking
There might be several reasons why this happens . A few things to look into- the butter measurement and how well you roll out the dough.
Is this something I could make ahead , maybe a day before a party or no? If so how do u reccomend I heat before serving
Thank u
Hello Kelly! Yes, you can make this ahead of time to bake later. Just put them in a ziplock, freeze them, and then bake whenever you like. Enjoy! 🙂
Can I deep fry if I don’t have a cooker
Hello Mary. I have never tried frying these empanadas because I feel they will be too oily. But at per the recommendations of others, in order to successfully deep fry these empanadas, you have to make sure you oil is really hot and then fry for about 2-3 minutes. Hope this helps. Do let me know how this worked out for you.
Can I use margarine instead of butter?
Yes you can.
so no need to add baking powder or soda and it will rise?
Yes, no need to add any of those . Happy Cooking!!!
which type of flour do we use
Regular or all purpose flour.
I noticed you didn’t use baking powder for the dough. The last set I made was kinda tough, the dough was shrinking and even in the oven the fillings came out. Was it because of the baking powder?
Sorry to hear that. I can’t definitely pin point, but there could be a couple of reasons why it turned out that way. It could be that you over mixed it or rolled out excessively. Or it could possibly be that the ingredients are too warm and not using enough butter.