Air Fryer Empanadas filled with seasoned ground beef are a great alternative to tacos or burritos. Instead of tortillas, they’re encased in flaky pastry crusts. You can use store bought pie crust, store bought empanada dough, or make your own. Whichever you choose, these delicious Mexican-style hand pies are a delicious meal.
Course Air Fryer Recipes
Keyword air fryer, air fryer beef empanadas, air fryer empanadas, beef empanadas, empanadas
1package refrigerated pie crusts2 9-inch crusts or homemade pastry dough, at room temperature
1large beaten egg
Instructions
Preheat the air fryer to 350°F for 5 minutes, if necessary (see note below).
Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onion and bell pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, for 3 to 5 minutes, until the bell pepper softens and the onion is translucent.
Add beef, taco seasoning, and broth to the skillet and cook, stirring occasionally, until the meat is browned, 3 to 5 minutes more.
On a lightly floured surface using a rolling pin, roll out one of the pie crusts, rolling it just a couple of times to make it a little thinner.
Using a round cutter or a bowl or cup that is about 8 inches in diameter, cut out 4 rounds of dough. Set the rounds aside, gather up the excess dough that was cut off and set it aside as well. Gather up the excess dough and add it to the first pile of excess dough. Knead the excess dough into a ball and roll it out on the lightly floured work surface. You should be able to cut 2 more rounds out of the remaining dough.
Set out a small dish of water that you can use to seal the dough around the filling.
Add 2 tablespoons of the meat mixture to one side of each of the dough rounds. Wet your fingertip in the bowl of water and use your wet finger to moisten the edge of the dough round. Fold the dough round over the filling to form a half moon, pressing the edges together to seal them. Use the tines of a fork to help seal the edges together and form a decorative border.
Using a pastry brush, brush the egg wash over the tops of the unbaked empanadas.
Transfer the empanadas to the air fryer, arranging them in a single layer (you’ll need to cook them in batches).
Cook at 350°F for about 5 minutes, until golden brown. Repeat steps with the remaining empanadas.
Serve warm.
Notes
1. I rarely preheat my Cosori Air Fryer as it seems unnecessary, but you can if you want or if you find your air fryer is slow to heat up. I do usually preheat my Ninja 13-in-1 Flip Up Air Fryer Oven.2. You can use homemade or store bought empanada dough. The storebought empanada dough comes in rounds so you don’t even need to cut the rounds out.3. You can use a parchment paper liner or a reusable silicone liner in your air fryer if you like, but it’s not really necessary.4. You can make these empanadas in the oven by preheating the oven to 350 and arranging the filled empanadas on a parchment lined baking sheet. Brush with the egg wash and bake for about 10 minutes, until golden brown.