Empanada dough is the key to making tender, flaky empanadas. Use this recipe to make empanada discs at home and you’ll never want to buy them frozen again!

Mexican recipes are a specialty here on Kevin is Cooking. Moving down into Central and South America, the food is just as amazing. So naturally, we have plenty of empanada recipes.

The first step in making savory or sweet empanadas is making empanada dough. Now, some people may argue that the filling is the important part, but I believe that perfect dough is the key.  

If you normally buy frozen empanada discs, you’re not alone. After all, they’re convenient and not too expensive, but the quality and flavor of homemade dough is so much better!

Making perfect empanada dough is easy, too. There are just a few important guidelines to follow. Don’t worry; I’ll walk you through the process with step by step photos and a video tutorial, too.

Empanada Dough Ingredient Notes

The ingredients you’ll need for this recipe are very similar to what is in a simple dough for pies or biscuits. I do add one extra ingredient for flavor, but it’s completely optional.

• Lard– Ask any true southerner and they are likely to say that lard is the secret ingredient in creating delicious baked goods. Yes, it’s very high in saturated fat, but it makes a big difference in the tenderness of empanada dough. Not to mention, it’s responsible for the tenderness and flakiness of any crust!

• Achiote oil– This is the optional ingredient I mentioned above. Achiote oil is a combination of annatto seeds and olive oil. It has a peppery aroma, but the flavor is sweet and slightly nutty. It’s a staple ingredient in Mexican, Latin, and Spanish cuisines, especially for dishes that need a pop of yellow color.
  
• All purpose flour– This is pretty much the standard in any type of pastry dough. The recipe can also be made with white whole wheat flour. Some cooks like to use a blend of the two, which also works.

IMPORTANT NOTE:

This recipe creates savory empanada dough for baking.

If you want to make dough for fried empanadas, add 1 teaspoon of baking powder to the flour called for in this recipe.
For sweet empanadas, omit the achiote oil and add 1 tablespoon of sugar to the flour.

Step by Step Photos

These photos are here to help you visualize the process of making and rolling the dough for empanadas. The recipe card at the bottom of the post explains exactly how to make the recipe.

Recipe Video

To see the process of making empanada dough from start to finish, watch the video in the recipe card at the bottom of this post.

If you have a food processor, you can (if you’d like to) use that instead of a pastry cutter to combine the ingredients

Tips for Creating Empanada Discs

1. Chill the dough before rolling and cutting the discs.
   
   The empanada dough will be very soft at first. To keep it from tearing as you roll it out, it’s important to chill it for about 30 minutes before you start working with it.

2. Keep the dough covered.
   
   When empanada dough sits out for too long, it can become dry and may crack. To prevent this from happening, place a kitchen towel over any dough that you aren’t working with.

3. Consider using an empanada press.
   
   A useful, inexpensive kitchen tool for cutting and sealing wrappers and dough for empanadas, perogies, ravioli, calzones, and dumplings is an empanada press (aff. link). It makes cutting, filling, folding, and crimping the edges closed SO easy!

FAQ

Baking Empanada Dough

For instructions on how to fill and bake the dough, check out my post for beef empanadas. Or, for a sweet dessert, see my posts for baking rhubarb OR apple empanadas!