Mexican Pumpkin Empanada Recipe, Whats Cooking America (2024)

FAQs

What is the difference between Spanish empanadas and Mexican empanadas? ›

When the Spanish hit the New World in the 16th century they shared their empanada recipe with the Aztecs and Maya. The Spanish recipe was made with bread dough, the Mexican recipe with corn masa dough. This is where Mexican empanada history takes over. Each region in Mexico has their own version of the empanada.

Make filling: Mix together pumpkin, sugar, eggs, cinnamon, salt, ginger, and cloves in a large bowl until smooth. Roll each dough ball out on a floured surface into a thin, 6-inch circle. Spoon about 1/3 cup filling into the center of each dough circle.

These are a few of the known names: Meat Pies (American) Empanadas (Latin/Spanish) Pastelillos (Latin/Spanish)

Empanadas are made by pressing freshly prepared corn masa into a tortilla, filling it, sealing the edges and then frying it until it is golden brown. You can fill it with cheese, beef, chicken, or anything else that you are craving. Most commonly, you will find cheese empanadas and ground beef empanadas in Mexico.

Argentina has become world-famous for their empanadas which are widely available in Buenos Aires and across the country as fast-food options and restaurant staples. As with many recipes, that of empanadas was shared through generations and carried to many other nations.

Empanadas – pastry turnovers filled with a variety of savory ingredients – are either baked or fried and also can be known as empanadillas or pastelillos. They're similar to meat pies popular in other cultures like pasties in England, Natchitoches hand pies in Louisiana, and Russian blintzes.

Both cooking methods produce delicious empanadas. If you want a healthier merienda, bake them in the oven. If you're working with less time, frying them is the way to go. Try both and ask your loved ones to vote on their favorite.

The Many Names of Empanadas

For instance, Americans call them meat pies, and Jamaicans call them beef patties. At the same time, Indians call them samosas, and people in Latin America or Spain call them pastelillos or pastelitos.

Argentine empanadas with beef, cheese, or chicken. Chilean empanadas with beef, cheese, or seafood. Mexican empanadas with spicy beef, potato, or pumpkin.

What Can You Substitute for Empanada Dough? If you're looking for a shortcut, store-bought pie dough can be used to make empanadas. You may need to roll the dough out slightly thinner—it will produce a flakier result than typical empanada dough and is better for baking than frying.

What do Mexicans eat with empanadas? ›

In Spain, empanada usually refers to a large savory pie, typically filled with tuna, baked in a slab or a round and sliced to serve. The suffix, “illa” implies that something is small, so empanadillas are single serving and hand-held, like Latin American empanadas.

As it spread, dough variations lost the yeast, some morphing into a more pastry-style crust, cut with beef fat or butter (especially in the cattle-raising regions of Argentina), while others lost the wheat flour entirely: empanadas in Venezuela and Colombia are made with corn flour, and in Caribbean countries, yuca or ...

The name comes from the verb empanar, meaning to wrap or coat in bread. Empanada is made by folding a dough or bread patty around the stuffing. The stuffing can consist of a variety of meats, vegetables, or even fruits. Empanadas have their origins in Galicia (Spain) and Portugal.