Delicious, flakey, and stuffed full of beef, these freezer friendly beef empanadas are the perfect snack! Prep these freezer friendly beef empanadas ahead of time, freeze them, and then pop them into the oven whenever you’re ready to eat them!
Disclaimer, this recipe post was developed in collaboration with Canola Eat Well. All opinions are my own, thank you for supporting the brands who support me!
Last week, I was sharing how I was spending the evening with Canola Eat Well for a Tap(as) into The Pintxos Challenge lead by Chef Rob Bragagnolo. I learned how to break down an octopus (I know, I gasped too haha) and got to learn more about canola oil. Canola oil is a proudly made in Canada product and I even got to meet Jeannette, a farmer from Alberta! We got to chat and learn about the importance of technology in farming.
Photography by Josh Tenn-Yuk courtesy of Canola Eat Well 
Photography by Josh Tenn-Yuk courtesy of Canola Eat Well 
Photography by Josh Tenn-Yuk courtesy of Canola Eat Well
After the octopus, we got to team up and compete for the best tapas dish and Yvonne and I came in third! Not bad for someone who spent most of the time “sampling” the ingredients haha. Anyways, after learning about how to test the seeds (yellow = good, green = immature seeds/caused by frost), we got to chow down!
Photography by Josh Tenn-Yuk courtesy of Canola Eat Well
Chef Rob Bragagnolo made these delicious chicken empanadas with aioli that I’m pretty sure I ate 3 of so yesterday, I when I was craving some, I busted out some puff pastry dough and made my go-to freezer friendly beef empanadas. They may or may not be as good as Chef Rob Bragagnolo’s but they hit the spot for me!
Why Canola Oil?
Before we get to the recipe, I just wanted to explain why we use canola oil and why it’s so popular with the chefs in Toronto.
choose canola oil because it’s local, healthy, versatile!
- Canola oil is a good source of vitamins E and K and is packed with omega 3 fats
- It has half the saturated fats than olive oil
- Canola oil has a very netural flavour so it takes on whatever flavour you put in it. For example, you can make a delicious herb or spice infused oil just by combining the two!
- It’s Canadian!
Freezer Friendly Beef Empanadas
Needless to say, I used canola oil in my cooking of these freezer friendly beef empanadas. But here are some other tips for the snack!
- If freezing, put them separately before baking on a sheet pan and freeze it. Then transfer them into a freezer safe container. This way they don’t freeze while stuck together and you can reheat them individually.
- Want to up the heat? Use a hot pepper instead of red.
- Want to change up the stuffing? Other options include: corn, chicken, turkey, sweet potato, crushed nuts, and more! It’s so versatile!
How to Fold Freezer Friendly Beef Empanadas
While you can always just fold them in half and use the tips of your forks to seal the beef empanadas, I tried the traditional way of folding the empanadas, repulgue style.
Freezer Friendly Beef Empanadas
Ingredients
- 2 boxes President's Choice Butter Puff Pastry
- 3 tbsp canola oil
- 1/2 red bell pepper, seeded and diced
- 1/2 large onion, finely chopped
- 1 cup canned tomatoes
- salt, pepper, garlic powder
- 1 pound lean ground beef
- 1 tbsp smoked paprika
- 2 hard-boiled egg, roughly chopped
- 1 egg
Instructions
- Prep heat the oven to 400F.
- Roll out the puff pastry and cut out circles (I used a bowl to trace with a knife, a bit more than 4 inches across). Note: the first sheet of pastry will get you 4 circles. Then re-roll the pastry dough left over to make another sheet to cut circles out of.
- After I was done cutting the circles (you can also buy pre-cut ones), I popped them into the fridge and got started on the filling.
- With some canola oil in the pan, I cooked the onions until it's soften and then added the red peppers.
- Next add the canned tomatoes, a pinch of salt, and a pinch of pepper.
- Letting the canned tomato cook for a bit, stir in the ground beef and the smoked paprika and garlic powder. Cook until the beef has browned. Stir, occasionally, so that the meat cooks evenly.
- Let the beef cook a bit longer if there's still liquid left to evaporate and then add in your boiled eggs.
- Place 1-2 tablespoons of the ground beef filling in the centre of the puff pastry and fold the circle in half. (Add more or less filling, depending on the size of your circles). Pinch and fold the edges to seal them.
- Optional: Place in the freezer separately to freeze them before putting it in a container together.
- Placing them on a sheet pan (either lined or sprayed down with non-stick) with a room in-between them as they'll puff up, brush on an egg wash before baking it until it's lightly browned, around 15 minutes.
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Jennifer Dyck
Wow – what a night! I’m thrilled we finally met IRL. Thank you so much for taking the time to join us in the kitchen. Your recipe sounds amazing – I can’t wait to try it out! I look forward to staying connected and watching you fly by that camera in perfection!
From my kitchen and running shoes to yours – cheers and Eat Well…Jenn
Carmy
I’m so glad that we finally met – it’s so nice to meet IRL after almost a year of following you on IG! I hope you like the recipe as much as the chicken empanadas that Chef made! :)
Abbey Sharp
Looked like a really fun time with so many tasty eats :)
dixya @food, pleasure, and health
love your video! and such intricate folding.
Amy Gorin
That is a really cool video–I’m glad I know how to fold empanadas now! I think I will make mine with mushroom filling. Yum!
Carmy
Sounds delish! :)
Christina
These are so beautiful! And I love that you can freeze them.
Carmy
I wish I made more to freeze though… I ate them all already!
Kelly B
If making for the freezer, do you wait until you are ready to bake them before putting on the egg wash?
Carmy
I put the egg wash on before they go in the oven! Apologies for not being more clear.
Lorissa
Do you thaw the empanadas before baking or bake right from the freezer?
Carmy
Hi Lorissa! I bake them straight from frozen and just add a couple of extra minutes to account for them being frozen.