Air Fryer Beef Empanadas
Air fryer beef empanadas made from flaky puff pastry wrapped around a ground beef picadillo filling. They cook in only 8 minutes!
- Prep time
- 30 min
- Cook time
- 32 min
- Yield
- 12 servings
- Difficulty
- MEDIUM
Ingredients
Quantities are shown as originally provided.
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 plum tomato, (diced)
- 1/4 medium yellow onion, (diced)
- 2 cloves garlic, (minced)
- 1 pound 93% lean ground beef
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt, (plus more to taste)
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1/4 teaspoon ground coriander
- 1 small potato, (diced)
- 1 medium carrot, (diced)
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/4 cup frozen peas
- 2 sheets frozen puff pastry dough, (thawed)
- 1 egg, (whisked)
Instructions
- 1
Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add tomato and onion and cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- 2
Add garlic and cook for 30 seconds, until fragrant.
- 3
Add ground beef, chili powder, salt, ground cumin, dried oregano, and ground coriander, and cook for 6-8 minutes, using a spoon to break up the meat into smaller pieces and stir occasionally.
- 4
Add potato, carrot, and water. Stir to combine, lower heat to medium-low, cover, and cook for 10 minutes until the potatoes and carrots are soft and tender.
- 5
Remove skillet from heat, taste, and season with more salt if desired.
- 6
Add frozen peas, mix together, and set aside. (The frozen peas will thaw and warm up with the residual heat.)
- 7
Roll out puff pastry into two large rectangles, roughly 19x14-inches, then cut the dough into 7.5-inch rounds. (I used the lid of a storage container I had in the pantry as a template.) Repeat this process with the remaining scraps of dough until you get a total of 12 rounds.
- 8
Place a heaping 1/4 cup of the ground beef mixture into the center of each round.
- 9
Fold the dough in half over the filling and crimp the edges together with your fingers or the tines of a fork.
- 10
Brush the tops of each empanada with the whisked egg.
- 11
Preheat the air fryer to 400°F.
- 12
Spray the air fryer basket with olive oil or nonstick cooking spray, and carefully add as many empanadas that will fit in the basket without touching.
- 13
Cook for 8 minutes, flipping halfway through. Remove from the air fryer, and repeat with the remaining empanadas.
- 14
Let the empanadas cool for 3 minutes before eating. Serve with your favorite salsa and some sour cream.