Ground Chicken Empanadas

This recipe for Ground Chicken Empanadas with Raisins and Olives are made with a spiced ground chicken filling wrapped in a golden, flaky empanada dough. Chicken empanadas make the perfect appetizer, snack, or even a main course to bring a bit of Latin America to your kitchen. No frying required.

So read on for all the tips and tricks for making this variation on Argentinian chicken empanadas. Or just grab your ground chicken, hit that Jump to Recipe button, and let’s make empanadas!

chicken empanadas lined up on a rectangular white plate.
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Ingredients

A Facebook friend talked about her friend’s Argentinian chicken empanadas when I asked my network to help identify the source of a recipe my mother used to make. It was a spiced beef with raisins from the Jewish Holiday Cookbook by Gloria Kaufer Greene. It’s made with onion, garlic and ground beef which are sauteed and then stewed for 15 to 20 minutes with water, tomato sauce, rice, basil, cinnamon and cloves, salt and pepper. Mom used to serve it in pita.

 

I looked through my cookbooks, and the closest I found was picadillo, a somewhat related dish made in Latin America and the Philippines. One friend thought that the beef dish was Moroccan. Another mentioned lumpia. A third talked about a Middle Eastern dish called arayes. The medieval literature expert thought it sounded like a recipe for Canelyne Pie.

Please see the recipe card below for complete information on ingredients and quantities.

Recipe tips and tricks

The chicken empanada filling

This recipe for Argentinian chicken empanadas was our second go at this month’s box from the America’s Test Kitchen Young Chefs’ Club. This months theme? Dumplings!

The Test Kitchen Kid’s empanada filling is made with a mixture of onion, red pepper, garlic and ground chicken seasoned with paprika, cumin, oregano, tomato paste, and a bit of cayenne. It was the raisins and olives that made me think of that picadillo conversation. It’s a great example of how foods migrate and get adapted as they move around the globe.

Check out this recipe for sausage rolls for another savory treat wrapped up in pastry! Now don’t get me started about dumplings…

pan with chicken empanada filling made with ground chicken, onion, red pepper, olives, and raisins.

Rolling the empanada dough

The ATK recipe instructed us to throw out our dough scraps after the first roll. When you ignore that instruction, the re-rolled scraps were enough for more than 6 more empanadas!

Re-rolled empanada dough will lose a smidge of flakiness after a brief chill and re-roll. But I promise you there will be no complaints about having more empanadas.

Folding empanadas

Kiddo has become expert at empanada making. We also tried one of those empanada makers, a small gadget that is supposed to seal in the filling. It didn’t work as well as hand-making them, and it didn’t save us any time.

empanadas ready to be folded and sealed.
sealing the folded chicken empanadas.

Check out some other of our cooking adventures, including the fig bacon jam pasta recipe that kiddo and I developed together or the strawberry heart pop tarts we made.

Recipe FAQs

Do you bake or fry empanadas?

You can cook them either way. I prefer to bake these ground chicken empanadas to reduce the oil and calories.

Can I freeze empanadas?

Yes, just like other recipes that use pastry dough, you can freeze the pastry itself or the finished empanadas, either before or after cooking.

inside of a chicken empanada showing the flaky dough and filling.

Love this recipe? Please leave a 5-heart 💜💜💜💜💜 rating in the recipe card below. Let me know how much you loved it, or any problems you had, in the comments section further down.

Recipe

Ground Chicken Empanadas

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Category: Appetizer, Main Course
Cuisine: South American
Prep Time: 45 minutes
Cook Time: 45 minutes
Cooling time: 1 hour
Servings: 12 empanadas
Calories: 293kcal
Empanadas are a Latin American pastry filled with a variety of ingredients. This recipe for Ground Chicken Empanadas with Raisins and Olives makes the perfect appetizer, snack, or even a main course to bring a bit of Latin America to your kitchen.
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Ingredients

Empanada Dough

  • 3 cups (375 grams) all-purpose flour
  • teaspoons kosher salt
  • 12 tablespoons (170 grams) unsalted butter cold, cut into cubes
  • 1 large egg lightly beaten
  • ¼ cup water cold, plus more as necessary

Ground Chicken Empanadas

  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • ½ onion finely chopped
  • 3 cloves garlic minced
  • 1 tablespoon ground cumin
  • 1 teaspoon paprika
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  • ½ teaspoon black pepper
  • 1 pound ground chicken
  • 1 tablespoon tomato paste
  • ¼ cup chopped raisins
  • ¼ cup chopped green olives about 10
  • 1 teaspoon lemon juice

Empanada assembly

  • 1 egg lightly beaten, for egg wash

Instructions

Empanada Dough

  • In a large bowl or bowl of your food processor or stand mixer, combine flour and salt.
    3 cups (375 grams) all-purpose flour, 1½ teaspoons kosher salt
  • Add the butter cubes and process or use a pastry cutter until the butter is the size of flattened peas. Add the egg and water and mix until crumbly.
    12 tablespoons (170 grams) unsalted butter, 1 large egg, ¼ cup water
  • Lightly knead the empanada dough just until it comes together. Roll it into a ball, flatten it into a disc, wrap it in plastic wrap and let it chill in the refrigerator until you are ready to make the empanadas.

Ground Chicken Empanadas

  • Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium-low heat. When hot, sauté the onions until softened and just starting to brown, about 5 to 7 minutes.
    1 tablespoon olive oil, ½ onion
  • Add the minced garlic and spices and cook for an additional minute
    3 cloves garlic, 1 tablespoon ground cumin, 1 teaspoon paprika, 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, 1 teaspoon kosher salt, ½ teaspoon black pepper
  • Add the ground chicken and tomato paste, breaking it up with a spoon or spatula, and stirring until no traces of pink remain. This should take another 5 to 10 minutes.
    1 pound ground chicken, 1 tablespoon tomato paste
  • Remove the pan from the head and add the chopped olives, raisins, and lemon juice. Let cool. If it will be cooling for more than one hour, you'll want to refrigerate it.
    ¼ cup chopped raisins, ¼ cup chopped green olives, 1 teaspoon lemon juice

Empanada assembly

  • Heat the oven to 375℉ (190℃) and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Fill a small bowl with cold water.
  • You can roll out the whole dough on a floured surface and use a cookie cutter to cut out 5 inch circles, but I find it easier to pull off approximately 40 to 45 gram pieces of dough and roll out each one to 5 inches in diameter.
  • Place 2 tablespoons of filling in the center of each circle.
  • Dip your finger into the bowl of water to moisten all around the edge of the empanada dough. Fold the dough over to create a half-moon shape and press the edges to seal. Use a fork to seal the edges even more.
  • Arrange the empanadas on the prepared baking sheet so they are not touching, then brush the tops of the chicken empanadas with the beaten egg.
    1 egg
  • Bake for 25 to 30 minutes until golden brown.

Notes

This ground chicken empanada recipe will make about 12 to 14 5-inch half-circles.
I find it easiest to make this dough and my pie crusts using a food processor, but you can also use a mixer or your hands.
Empanada dough can be refrigerated for up to 3 days or frozen for up to 3 months. The fully formed chicken empanadas can also be frozen before baking for 3 months.
Definitely let the ground chicken filling cool before assembly or it will melt the butter in your empanada dough.

Nutrition

Calories: 293kcal | Carbohydrates: 28g | Protein: 11g | Fat: 16g | Saturated Fat: 8g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 5g | Trans Fat: 0.5g | Cholesterol: 76mg | Sodium: 571mg | Potassium: 301mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 421IU | Vitamin C: 2mg | Calcium: 25mg | Iron: 2mg
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