empanadas with chorizo and potato

Pork

Empanadas with Chorizo & Potato

A staple in South American cuisine, homemade empanadas can be served as a main dish or a side. We keep this simple by focusing on the empanada filling and instead of making the dough from scratch, we achieve flaky empanadas with the help of refrigerated pie crust.

Ingredients

1 cup diced yellow potato
¼ cup water
1 tablespoon neutral oil, such as canola or avocado
½ cup diced white onion
½ cup diced tomato
½ cup sliced scallions
¼ cup finely chopped fresh cilantro
1 clove garlic, chopped
8 ounces mexican-style chorizo, casings removed (see tip)
1 tablespoon red-wine vinegar
¾ teaspoon salt
1 (14 ounce) package refrigerated pie crusts
cooking spray
1 dash hot sauce or salsa for serving

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Add potato and water. Cover and cook until the water is evaporated and the potato begins to soften, 3 to 4 minutes. Add onion and oil and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft, about 2 minutes. Add tomato and scallions; cook until soft, about 3 minutes. Add cilantro and garlic; cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 30 seconds.
Push the vegetables to the sides and add chorizo to the center of the pan. Cook, crumbling with a wooden spoon, until brown, about 3 minutes. Stir the vegetables and chorizo together, and add vinegar and salt. Cook, stirring, until the liquid has evaporated, about 1 minute.
Roll each pie crust into a 12-inch circle on a lightly floured surface. Cut out eight 5-inch circles and roll each one out to a 6-inch circle. Mound about 1/4 cup of the filling onto the center of each circle. Fold the dough in half and crimp or pleat the edges. Place on a large rimmed baking sheet and coat both sides of each empanada with cooking spray.
Bake the empanadas, flipping once halfway, until golden brown, about 20 minutes. Serve with hot sauce or salsa for dipping, if desired.