Recipe
🥙 LUNCH
Empanadas de Pino
Baked pastry turnovers filled with a seasoned beef-and-onion pino, a piece of hard-boiled egg, an olive and a few raisins.
Chilean · medium · serves 6
prep 40 min · cook 30 min
~811 cal · 35g protein · 83g carbs · 37g fat · 4g fiber · 11g sugars · 16g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
↓ Jump to Recipe
AI-generated illustration
Empanadas de pino are the most emblematic empanada of Chile, baked pastries filled with a seasoned beef-and-onion mixture called pino. The word pino comes from the Mapuche term for the filling, and the dish is central to Fiestas Patrias, when Chilean kitchens turn them out by the dozen.
The filling is defined as much by onion as by meat: a large amount of onion is cooked down soft and sweet with diced or ground beef, cumin and aji de color (Chilean paprika). Into each empanada goes a piece of hard-boiled egg, a black olive and a couple of raisins, giving the classic sweet-salty contrast. The filling is traditionally made ahead and chilled so it seals cleanly inside the dough.
They are brushed with egg and baked until deep golden, and are best eaten warm, often with pebre on the side.
Saved recipes and passport stamps are kept on this device. Sign in to keep them across your devices and leave reviews.
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
4 cups all-purpose flour (for the dough)
1/2 cup butter, chilled
2 egg yolks (for the dough)
1 cup warm water (for the dough)
1 1/2 tsp salt (for the dough)
1 lb ground or finely diced beef
3 large onions, finely diced
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tbsp sweet paprika (aji de color)
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 cup beef or vegetable
1 tbsp all-purpose flour (to thicken the pino)
1/3 cup raisins
12 black olives
3 hard-boiled eggs, quartered
1 egg beaten with 1 tbsp milk, for the wash
2 tbsp
to taste salt and black pepper
Instructions
1
Make the pino first so it can chill: soften the onions in the oil until sweet, add the beef and brown it, then stir in the cumin, paprika, oregano, salt and pepper. Add the stock, sprinkle in the flour, and simmer until juicy but thick. Cool completely, then refrigerate at least 1 hour.
✎ Chef’s note
Cold filling is the secret to empanadas that seal without leaking; warm pino tears the dough.
2
Make the dough: rub the butter into the flour and salt, then mix in the egg yolks and enough warm water to form a firm dough. Knead until smooth, cover, and rest 20 minutes.
3
Divide the dough into 12 pieces and roll each into a round about 6 inches across.
4
Into the centre of each round place a spoonful of chilled pino, a quarter of hard-boiled egg, an olive and a couple of raisins.
5
Moisten the edges, fold into a half-moon, and press firmly to seal, folding the edge over into a rope crimp.
6
Brush with the egg wash, prick the top once to vent, and bake at 400F (200C) for 25 to 30 minutes until deep golden. Rest a few minutes and serve warm.
Chilean Fiestas Patrias tradition.
Ratings & reviews
Cooked it? Rate this dish:
No account needed. Sign in to leave a full review with a comment.
Cooked it?
Kept on this device, no account needed. Sign in to leave a review and keep your passport across your devices.
No reviews yet, be the first to cook it.
🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Central Valley. Chilean wine kept a secret in these vineyards for a century. In November 1994 a visiting French ampelographer looked at a Maipo plot labelled merlot and identified it instead as carmenere, a Bordeaux variety all but wiped out at home by phylloxera, which had been growing here unrecognised the whole time.
🗺️
Chile. Two southern specifics carry the country. Curanto on Chiloe is a pit of fire-heated stones layered with shellfish, meat and potato dumplings, covered with nalca leaves and turf and left to steam like a buried pressure cooker; its name comes from the Mapudungun for stony. Merken is the Mapuche condiment, cacho de cabra chillies sun-dried, wood-smoked and ground with toasted coriander seed and salt.
🌍
South America. South America's cooking follows its dramatic geography, potatoes and quinoa in the high Andes, cassava and river fish in the Amazon basin, and grass-fed beef on the pampas. Indigenous ingredients like maize, ají peppers, and cacao meet Spanish, Portuguese, African, Italian, and Japanese influences brought by five centuries of migration. Ceviche, feijoada, arepas, and the smoke of the asado are its most beloved icons.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Chile
Porotos GranadosSummer stew of fresh beans, corn, squash, and basil, Chile’s pre-Columbian trinity in one pot.
SopaipillasGolden pumpkin-dough fritters, soft and faintly sweet, fried up on cold Chilean mornings and eaten with pebre or chancaca syrup.
CompletoA hot dog buried under diced tomato, mashed avocado, sauerkraut, and mayonnaise, Chile's overloaded snack-lunch.
Browse all Chile recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Oven.
Storing it: Store in an airtight container. Most keep 2 to 3 days at room temperature, and longer refrigerated.
Make it a Chile meal
Mote con HuesilloDrink
Leche AsadaDessert
Pastel de Choclo (Corn and Beef Pie)Dinner
Similar dishes from around the world
SalteñasBolivia
Tajik SambusaTajikistan
SamsaUzbekistan
Jamaican Beef PattyJamaica
IchlekliTurkmenistan
Bis KeemiyaMaldives
Frequently asked questions
What is Empanadas de Pino?
Baked pastry turnovers filled with a seasoned beef-and-onion pino, a piece of hard-boiled egg, an olive and a few raisins.
Where does Empanadas de Pino come from?
Empanadas de Pino is a Chilean dish from Central Valley, Chile.
Can Empanadas de Pino be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Empanadas de Pino 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 de Pino 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 de Pino take to make?
About 70 minutes total (40 minutes prep, 30 minutes cooking), serving 6.
Get the Sunday Spin
One dish from somewhere in the world, in your inbox every Sunday. No spam, just dinner inspiration you can cook that day.