This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our disclosure policy.
This Easy Chicken Empanadas recipe can be made in about 30 minutes and is a dinner that the whole family will absolutely love! The chicken empanada filling is so delicious that you’ll want to eat it all by itself!
A few months ago, I did a video for one of my clients which used THESE Goya empanada disks. I immediately became obsessed with how delicious and how easy these discs made the whole empanada process. Naturally, I knew that I wanted to use these discs to create my own baked empanada recipe. I wanted to keep it simple with an easy to make chicken empanada filling. TA DA! Here they are and they’re delicious!
I mean. LOOK at that cheesy goodness! ^^^^^^
I’m hoping to re-create this recipe in a vegetarian form as well. That’s likely to be coming to the blog very soon because I am currently empanada obsessed.
Chicken Empanada Filling
The chicken empanada filling recipe is basic which is part of what I love about this recipe. You just mix everything into one bowl before adding it into the empanada discs. To make it extra (extra) easy, you can pick up a rotisserie chicken and shred that for the chicken empanada filling. You could also use leftover chicken. When I know I’ll be making these chicken empanadas, I try and bake the chicken ahead of time so that when it’s time for dinner, all I have to do is just shred the chicken.
The greek yogurt and the Monterey jack cheese make the filling so creamy and gooey. Every time I’ve made these, we end up eating part of the filling all by itself because it’s just SO GOOD!
I only put in a small amount of sriracha because I don’t handle heat all that well. I add JUST enough to give it a little kick and to be able to taste the sriracha. Feel free to add a bit more if you want the empanadas to be spicier though.
How to Make Chicken Empanadas
Once the empanada filling is made, you’re almost all of the way there. Place about 2 heaping tablespoons of the filling on to one half of each empanada disc. Fold the empanada shut and crimp the edges with a fork (after brushing them with a bit of an egg wash).
Then all they need is a nice bake in the oven and just like that: Easy Chicken Empanadas! I wish I could explain to you how much I love these.
Can you freeze chicken empanadas
One of the things I wanted to test out when making this chicken empanada recipe was how well, if at all, they would freeze. Good news: they freeze extremely well! I keep thinking how amazing these would have been in the freezer while I was on maternity leave. I bought a few extra packets of the empanada dough and plan to make a big batch of these soon to keep in the freezer for quick dinners.
When freezing them, I recommend placing them in the freezer on a flat baking tray. After they’re frozen most of the way through, you can then place them in a tupperware container or in a plastic baggie to store in the freezer.
If you end up making this Chicken Empanadas Recipe, please let me know by tagging me on social media! And if you like this recipe, I highly suggest trying out my Loaded Veggie Enchiladas and these delicious Black Bean and Sweet Potato Tacos!
See How To Make The Empanadas
Chicken Empanadas
Ingredients
- 10 empanada disks, I prefer the Goya brand in the freezer section, thawed
- 2 cups of cooked chicken, shredded or diced (I baked mine in the oven with a little salt and pepper, and olive oil)
- 1 ½ cups of shredded monterey jack cheese
- 4 oz can of diced green chiles
- ½ cup of Red bell pepper
- ½ cup of greek yogurt, I used non-fat 0%
- 1 tablespoon of cumin
- 1 teaspoon of salt
- ½ teaspoon of pepper
- ½ teaspoon of paprika
- Optional: 1-2 tablespoons of sriracha for heat
- 1 Egg, beaten for wash
Instructions
- Pre-heat your oven to 400 degrees F.
- In a large bowl, combine chicken, cheese, green chiles, bell pepper, greek yogurt, cumin, S&P, paprika, and sriracha.
- Take your thawed empanada discs and spoon about 2 tablespoons of the chicken mixture onto one side of the disk. Leave about ¼ inch clean around the edge.
- Brush egg around the edges of half of the disc and fold the circle over top of the filling. If the filling is coming out the sides at all, gently stuff it into the empanada and make sure that the edges are completely sealed.
- Crimp the edges with a fork and brush the top of each empanada with the egg wash. Bake for 12-15 minutes until the tops of the empanadas just start to turn golden.
- Let cool slightly and ENJOY!
Awesome flavor that earned rave reviews from the family. I didn’t add any siracha and cut the salt in half and it still had a wonderful Latin flavor. I used prepared frozen puff pastry dough to get the wonderful airy flaky crust. This recipe is now on our monthly rotation!
Made these, froze them and when grandkids visited they ate a bunch! Very good. Now I am making again but am gonna add a few more with extra spices since they love spicy Thanks for the recipe
These were very good! Next time I think I’ll cut the cumin in half, it was a little strong.
I froze mine AFTER cooking them. They heated up beautifully in a microwave- 15 seconds per side!
What kind of toppings do you recommend
do you freeze them before frying ? or freeze after?
I freeze them before cooking them!
I’m a VERY beginner cook and I wanted to confirm that I freeze these before cooking, right? Then I assume I defrost fully before baking as described above. Yes? Sorry, total luddite here :)
If you’re planning to freeze these then YES, I would do it BEFORE you cook them. When ready to bake. Following directions but they’ll likely need a decent bit more time to bake
Just want to tell you that where I’m from they are called Pastelillos because in Puerto Rico empanadas are breaded and fried like think of a country fried steak. The Pastelillos are small turnovers made with a thin dough, similar to a pasta dough that is crimped at the edges and fried. Empanadillas are a large turnover with a thicker dough with rolled edges. The dough has a similar texture to pie dough
These look divine! Haven’t made them yet, but as I plan on freezing them, I just want to make sure I understood correctly they are frozen unbaked and then can go straight from freezer to oven, bake as normal. Is that correct?
Thanks for pointing this out! I tested them with UNBAKED empanadas and then found that I needed to add maybe 5 more minutes to the baking time for frozen ones