These hand-held bites have all of the classic flavors of a cheeseburger, wrapped up in crispy puff pastry and dipped in “special sauce.” They’re perfect to put out for a sports-loving crowd or at a potluck.
| Level: | Easy |
| Total: | 1 hr 10 min |
| Active: | 45 min |
| Yield: | 18 empanadas |
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup ketchup
- 1/2 cup mayonnaise
- 1/2 cup finely chopped dill pickle chips plus 18 whole dill pickle chips
- 1/4 cup yellow mustard
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 1 tablespoon canola oil
- 8 ounces ground beef chuck
- 1/2 small red onion, finely chopped
- 4 slices American cheese, roughly chopped
- 1 large egg
- One 1.1-pound package frozen puff pastry (2 sheets), thawed
- All-purpose flour, for dusting
Instructions
- Position 2 racks in the middle of the oven and preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment.
- Stir together the ketchup, mayonnaise, chopped pickles and mustard in a medium bowl. Season with salt and set the sauce aside.
- Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. When it starts to shimmer, add the ground beef, a pinch of salt and a few grinds of pepper. Cook, breaking the meat apart with a wooden spoon or heatproof spatula, until lightly browned in spots and just cooked through, 3 to 4 minutes. Add the onion and cook, stirring constantly, until crisp-tender, about 2 minutes. Use a large slotted spoon to scoop the meat mixture into a medium bowl and stir in 1/3 cup of the sauce. Allow to cool slightly. Fold the American cheese into the cooled mixture.
- Lightly beat the egg with 1 tablespoon of water in a small bowl for the egg wash and set aside.
- Unfold 1 puff pastry sheet onto a lightly floured surface. Roll out into a 12-inch square. Cut out 9 rounds with a 4-inch round cookie cutter. Spoon 1 leveled tablespoon of the meat filling just off center on each round. Top the filling with 1 whole pickle chip. Brush the edge of each round with the egg wash and fold the puff pastry over the filling, slightly stretching if necessary. Press the edges together and crimp the edges with a fork. Transfer to one of the prepared baking sheets and brush each empanada with more egg wash. Repeat this process with the remaining sheet of puff pastry and filling. Bake until puffed and golden brown, about 15 minutes. Serve hot with the remaining sauce for dipping.
Nutrition Facts
| Serving Size | 1 of 18 servings |
| Calories | 114 |
| Total Fat | 9 g |
| Saturated Fat | 2 g |
| Carbohydrates | 4 g |
| Dietary Fiber | 0 g |
| Sugar | 2 g |
| Protein | 4 g |
| Cholesterol | 24 mg |
| Sodium | 237 mg |
Reviews
Highly recommend using the sauce made as a thousand island type dressing , the actual dish made here wasn’t what I was expecting
My picky family loved these! I’m not sure I liked the puff pastry so I might try a different dough next time. I did manage to make 2 extra ones with leftover filling and dough. Very kid friendly!
Made these tonight for my husbands poker night, and the boys loved them! Made as instructed, other than using ground sirloin vs chuck. I will say they were a bit of a pain to assemble, felt like too much filling for a 4 inch circle, but yet wouldn’t want to put less and not get a good bite full. So next time I’ll make larger circles/empanadas. And I had TONS of sauce leftover, so will probably cut back on that so there’s not as much waste.
I made these the other night for supper and my husband really enjoyed them. I substituted shredded blend for cheese and it worked out great. Had the leftovers for lunch the next day.
I followed the recipe to the letter with the exception of using GeeFree gluten free puff pastry sheets and the empanadas came out perfectly. Thank you, FNK, for a great recipe that easily converts to gluten free.
I made this last night for the family for dinner! Let me just say this was soooo amazing!!! The hamburg meat with the sauce literally tastes like a Big Mac. Really easy to make with the pastry puff. This recipe is a sure fire hit with the family and very kid friendly. The recipe makes about 9 empanadas which between the 3 of us we still had 4 left over. They are very filling!
This is good! I made this to the letter. I’ll tell you this, when you get to the point of finalizing the meat to go into the puff pastry. Oooohhh my. You could just toast a hamburger bun and put this mix on it and it is better, I think, than a regular burger. You get all of your condiments in every bite and equal. I then made it into the pastries. Oh my. Dip in the leftover sauce mix, oh yeah. Will be making more for sure. Now I need to make the puff pastry from scratch. But for now Pepperidge Farms works good. 5 stars.