How to Make Puerto Rican Empanadas de Picadillo in 7 Easy Steps

“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?

How to Make Puerto Rican Empanadas de Picadillo in 7 Easy Steps

Recipe by Michelle Ezratty Murphy

4.3 from 6 votes

Cuisine: Puerto Rican

Servings

20

servings

Prep time

20

minutes

Cooking time

40

minutes

Ingredients

• The Picadillo Filling
  

• 1 Tbsp achiote oil, see my recipe here

• 1 Tbsp olive oil

• 2 lbs ground beef

• 8 to 10 cloves garlic, finely chopped

• 1 cup sofrito, see my recipe here

• 1 tsp oregano

• 1/2 tsp ground cayenne pepper

• 12 pimento-stuffed olives, whole

• 1 Tbsp capers, drained

• 16 oz tomato sauce, whole can

• 1 Tbsp white vinegar

• 1 package sazón with achiote

• 1 tsp salt, or to taste

• ¼ tsp black pepper

• The Empanadas

• 2 packages empanada discs, 10 discs in each 11.6 oz. package

• 3 cups vegetable oil, for frying

Directions

• The Picadillo Filling
• In a large skillet, heat the olive oil on medium heat.
• Add the garlic and quickly sauté for about 30 seconds, stirring constantly and being careful not to burn the garlic.
• Add the ground beef to the garlic in the pan and crumble well. Cook until there is no more pink in the meat.
• Add the achiote oil, olives, sofrito, oregano, cayenne pepper, capers, tomato sauce, vinegar, sazón, salt and pepper.
• Stir well and allow to simmer for about 10 to 15minutes on low temperature. If you like the picadillo a little more liquidy, add a tablespoon of water at a time until you reach the right sauce consistency.
• The Empanadas
• Pour the oil into a frying pot that is at least 4 inches deep. Turn it onto medium high. While you are waiting for the oil to get to 350° or frying hot, prep and stuff your empanadas.
• Open the packages of empanada dough discs and lay them on your work area.
• Place 1 Tbsp of picadillo in the center of each disc. Fold over each filled round disc into a half-moon.
• To seal the edge of each disc, use the tines of a fork to press the outside area, section by section. Or crimp the entire length of the outside edge with your thumb and forefinger. To crimp: lightly press and fold a 1/3-inch section outer edge of the disc and then refold half of the resulting edge, all the way until you get to the other end. (This video shows you how to crimp the edges.)
  
• Once all the empanadas are filled, folded and sealed, it’s time to fry. Using tongs, gently place about 3 to 5 empanadas at a time in the hot oil (don’t crowd them). In about 3 minutes, when the empanadas start to float to the top, turn over and fry the second sides for another minute or two.
• Scoop out the light golden-brown empanadas and place on a sheet tray lined with paper towels to absorb the excess oil. They are ready! Serve caliente.

Notes

• For step by step instructions on how to fill, crimp and fry your picadillo empanadas, see below.

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