How to Make Puerto Rican Empanadas de Picadillo in 7 Easy Steps
- October 2021
- By Michelle Ezratty Murphy
- Recipe from Puerto Rico
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“These Puerto Rican empanadas are famous in our home,” says Michelle Ezratty Murphy, one of our favorite homecooks. “My husband, kids and I crave empanadas on the regular. We love them almost as much as the family-famous recipe for the filling that goes inside each one of these tasty treats: My husband Pat’s ground-beef picadillo, passed down from his family back on the island.”
“Pat learned to make picadillo from his Puerto Rican Titi Rosa, who is one of the best cooks I’ve ever met. She uses olives, sofrito, achiote oil, and tomato sauce, among other ingredients and sauces. My husband is a HUGE fan of capers so I suspect he snuck those into this recipe all on his own.“
The resulting ground-beef filling is spicy, savory, tomato-sweet and salty-addictive at the same time in all the right ways, says Michelle. “I make picadillo often and when I do, it’s in big batches because a) it freezes well and lasts for three months in the freezer and b) we use it in all the traditional Puerto Rican dishes on repeat rotation in our kitchen. (Like this melty-delicioso pastelón, the Puerto Rican lasagna that mixes in picadillo between layers of sweet and lightly fried plantains. Pat made this often for me when he and I were dating—they won my heart, as did he! We also use Pat’s picadillo to stuff these alacpurrias made with yautia and plantain fritters, another family recipe from his aunt. Gracias, Titi Rosa!)
“Best of all, these golden-brown fritters are easy to make because she stocks up on frozen empanada-dough discs. I make them from scratch from time to time, but honestly found that frozen discs tastes almost as good and they are a big time saver. You can find empanada dough in the frozen section of your favorite Latino food market. I’ve even had luck finding them in the Latino area of our regular grocery store.”
Quick tip from Michelle. If you don’t want to make picadillo and want an easier empanada filling, keep things simple with ham and cheese. Here’s how Michelle makes her empanadas with jamon and queso: ”I use frozen dough discs, shredded Oaxaca cheese (or quesadilla cheese is fine), and sliced ham. From the deli counter or any kind you have in your fridge,” she says. “I made half of those for a party, and we ate the rest of for breakfast the next day.”
Sounds like our kind of party — and breakfast. Read on for her husband Pat’s family-famous picadillo recipe with ground beef, sofrito and all the traditional Puerto Rican sabores and ingredientes.
Ready to Make Rican Empanadas de Ground Beef Picadillo?
Step 6: Remove from the hot oil and rest on a paper towel-lined plate or sheet tray, to absorb the extra oil.
Photos and Videos: Michelle Ezratty Murphy
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