The process to make empanada dough for frying is very similar to the empanada dough for baking, a few differences are that this dough doesn’t include egg, has a little bit less butter, but adds baking powder and little bit of orange juice. This dough is used primarily for empanadas de viento or fried cheese empanadas.
Ingredients:
3 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1 stick of butter (4 oz), cut in 8 pieces
2 tbs orange juice
5-6 tbs chilled sparkling water or still water
Preparation:
- Mix the flour, salt and baking powder in a food processor.
- Add the pieces of butter, orange juice and sparkling water until dough clumps begin to form.
- Form a ball with the dough and knead lightly.
- Place the dough in bowl, cover and let rest at room temperature for about an hour.
- Roll out the dough into a thin sheet and cut out round disc shapes for empanadas (use round molds or a small plate).
- Use immediately or store in the refrigerator or freezer to use later.



Thanks for this! This is probably a lot more similar to empanadas here than most recipes I have found. I bought tomates del arbol today to try your aji. Sachatomate they are also called here in Peru. Again, lovely site.
Thank you, Gretchen, despite all rivalry between Ecuador and Peru I think that there a lot of similarities (in food, customs, etc). Your aji is going to be so good with fresh tree tomatoes!
I grew up here in the U.S. but I was born in Ecuador. I remember the empanadas my mother and grandmother made only I did not have a recipe until I came across your website. My daughter and I made the cheese and onion empanadas using this recipe and they came out great. They were very tasty! The only issue was not knowing how thin to roll the dough ( how many discs in this recipe ), so they came out a little thick.
There are other recipes that I want to try very soon. Thank you for offering this website, it is awesome. You do a great job!
Hey Laylita,
Hi there thanks for this great site and sharing your knowledge of chamorro cooking, well when I was growing my mother is a fantastic cook and chef. Well I was wondering about making the dough for the empanadas for frying and how would you do it without using a food processor do it manually yes I know it would time consuming but I would remember my mother would do it all day long) thank you can’t wait to try out this recipe…
sincerly, Rosie
this recipe is great, i’ve been trying to make the dough for empanadas for years, i wish my grandmother was able to show me before she passed but this recipe comes out tasting just like hers.
im from dominican republic and my mother makes these different. I don’t have her recipe but she’s the type that doesn’t measure she jus throws it in the bowl and works with it, but I liked this recipe I tried it and it was good. I made beef empanadas, chesse. and pork for a party we recently had im going to use this one for myself since my mother won’t share hers lol!
thanks a lot i am doing my exchange program and i had to do a recipe and i chose this one and i think they would love. i am living in philadelphia thaks bye
I am in the middle of eating empanadas I made with this dough recipe. They turned out fantastic! Thank you so much for sharing. I can’t wait to try more of your recipies.
just now made this, THANKS!! Everything was great!
Gracias Laylita por compartir tus recetas se ven muy sabrosas.
Aunque no soy Ecuatoriana voy a probar tus recetas Soy Mexicana pero me gusta la buena comida y estas recetas se ven muy bien
Margarita
I love this recipe
Hi Layla,
I have made empanada’s countless times (my mother is Puerto Rican) but would always just take the easy way out and buy the discs already made. I thought it would be too involved to make them myself. Until last night when I went to the store and they didn’t have them. So I searched the internet for a doable recipe without lard or shortening. I came upon your blog and made them. I wasn’t sure how they would come out. Oh my goodness am I so glad I took a chance! They were delicious and sooooooo easy!!!! I will be making these from scratch from now on! Thank you for your site.