Recipe
🍽️ DINNER
Empanadas Mendocinas
Baked empanadas the Mendoza way: a juicy beef and olive filling heavy on onion, sealed with a braided edge.
Argentine · medium · serves 6
prep 45 min · cook 25 min
~640 cal · 30g protein · 56g carbs · 32g fat · 3g fiber · 3g sugars · 15g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Empanadas are eaten across Argentina, but every province guards its own style, and those of Mendoza in the wine country are among the most prized. They are the food of gatherings, asados, and family Sundays throughout the region.
The Mendoza filling is generous with onion and beef, cut by hand rather than minced, seasoned with cumin and paprika, and studded with olives, and it is cooked and cooled before filling so the pastry stays crisp. The edge is sealed with the repulgue, a hand-braided rope that traditionally signals what is inside.
Baked (or fried) until deep gold, they are eaten by hand, ideally with a glass of Mendoza Malbec. Juicy, savoury, and portable, empanadas mendocinas are a point of real regional pride and a fixture of Argentine hospitality.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally nut- and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 6
3 cups all-purpose flour (for the dough)
1/2 cup butter or beef fat, melted (for the dough)
3/4 cup warm salted water
1 lb ground beef
3, yes, three yellow onions, finely diced
1/2 cup green olives, chopped
1 tbsp sweet paprika
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp ají molido (chili flakes)
1 tsp dried oregano
4 , sliced
2 hard-boiled eggs, chopped
1 egg, beaten (to glaze)
Instructions
1
Knead the flour, melted fat, and warm water into a supple dough, then rest it 30 minutes under a cloth.
2
Sweat the onions slowly in a little fat until completely soft.
3
Add the beef (or lentils), spices, and salt, and cook just until the meat is no longer pink.
4
Cool the filling completely, then fold in the olives, chopped hard-boiled egg, and scallions.
✎ Chef’s note
Chill the filling before assembling. A cold filling keeps the pastry crisp and makes the empanadas far easier to seal.
5
Roll the dough and cut 5-inch circles, then fill each with a generous spoonful.
6
Fold each over, press the edge, and braid it into a repulgue (or crimp with a fork), then brush with egg.
7
Bake at 425F (220C) for 20 to 25 minutes, until deep gold. Rest 5 minutes before eating, as the filling stays very hot.
Mendoza wood-oven tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Mendoza. Mendoza is Argentina's wine country, cooking asado grills to pair with Malbec and empanadas baked in clay ovens. Andean foothills and vineyards define its meat-and-wine table.
🗺️
Argentina. Empanadas are provincial before they are national. Salta's are small, juicy and often baked in a clay oven; Tucuman's are cut differently again; and the crimp along the edge, the repulgue, is read as a signature of what is inside. The rest of the Italian legacy is worth naming too, in the thick-crusted Buenos Aires pizza and the milanesa.
🌍
South America. The Andes are the potato's homeland and still hold something like four thousand native varieties, selected over thousands of years for altitude, colour and texture. The high plateau also worked out how to keep them: frozen overnight in the cold, trodden to press the water out, then dried in the sun into chuno, which stores for years.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Argentina
LocroThe thick national stew of white hominy, beans, and squash slow simmered with beef, pork, and chorizo, finished with a spicy paprika oil.
ChoripánA grilled fresh chorizo split and tucked into crusty bread with a generous spoon of garlicky chimichurri, the opening act of every asado.
Tortas FritasSimple fried dough discs, crisp-edged and dusted with sugar, that Argentines make on rainy mornings to eat with mate.
Browse all Argentina recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Oven.
Storing it: Keeps 3 to 4 days refrigerated and reheats covered in the oven. Most bakes can be assembled a day ahead and baked when needed.
Make it a Argentina meal
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Alfajores de MaicenaDessert
ChoripánLunch
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Frequently asked questions
What is Empanadas Mendocinas?
Baked empanadas the Mendoza way: a juicy beef and olive filling heavy on onion, sealed with a braided edge.
Where does Empanadas Mendocinas come from?
Empanadas Mendocinas is a Argentine dish from Mendoza, Argentina.
Can Empanadas Mendocinas be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Empanadas Mendocinas recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions, including several at once such as gluten-free and dairy-free together. Treat them as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Empanadas Mendocinas safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Empanadas Mendocinas take to make?
About 70 minutes total (45 minutes prep, 25 minutes cooking), serving 6.
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