Empanada Dough

Updated May 20, 2026

Total Time
15 minutes
Rating
4(226)
Comments
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Florence Fabricant

Featured in: For Chileans, Passion Translates to Empanadas

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Ingredients

Yield:Dough for 10 6-inch or 24 3-inch empanadas
  • 3 ½ ounces lard

  • 1 ½ teaspoons salt

  • 3 cups flour, more for work surface

Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving

29 grams carbs; 9 milligrams cholesterol; 226 calories; 5 grams monosaturated fat; 1 gram polyunsaturated fat; 4 grams saturated fat; 10 grams fat; 1 gram fiber; 110 milligrams sodium; 4 grams protein

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

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Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Melt lard in a small saucepan over low heat. Immediately mix with salt and ⅔ cup very warm water. Place flour in a food processor. Turn machine on and pour half the liquid through feed tube. Stop machine, turn it to pulse and add half the remaining liquid. Keep pulsing and add rest of liquid.

  2. Step 2

    Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface, knead briefly until smooth, form into a disk, wrap in plastic and refrigerate until cool, at least 30 minutes.

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Ratings

4 out of 5
226 user ratings
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Comments

I'm one of those people who really didn't want to use lard in anything, but I have tried other empanada doughs with so so results. So, I bought some lard and tried this one. Glad I did, these were clearly the best empanadas I have made. I prefer baked empanadas, 400F oven for 25 minutes was perfect. I had made the dough in advance, assembled the empanadas then refrigerated a couple of hours before baking.

This worked great with vegetable shortening for a vegetarian audience. I added a bit more water than was called for to achieve a pie crust-like consistency. Baking the empanadas at 400F for about 25 minutes with this dough results in a nicely browned and flaky outside.

This is a great recipe. I used butter and melted it in the water on the stove.

Used this dough twice now and made a double batch the second time. I used my pasta roller the second time and was able to get a great result. One batch he uses about a 1,5 lbs of ground beef. These roll out pretty quickly once you get used to it. The dough is fairly elastic and easy to handle.

Fried them in safflower oil. Yltried baking them but they didn’t brown.

Has anyone tried it with GF flour and veg. shortening? Does it hold together?

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Credits

Adapted from “El Vino Perfecto Para Cada Comida,” by Héctor Vergara (Planeta Vino, 2005)

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