Uruguayan Ham and Cheese Empanadas

Ham and Cheese Empanadas are savory hand pies very popular in Uruguay. These are quite simple, filled with ham and cheese, but they are absolutely fantastic!

I live in Brazil and my state borders Uruguay so for this reason we eat a lot of Uruguayan food. Not only that, we have an Uruguayan friend that keeps feeding us with delicious recipes from her country 🙂 One of her specialties are these delicious Ham and Cheese Empanadas!

Jump to:

• 🥟 What are empanadas?
• 🤔 Are empanadas an appetizer or a main dish?
• 📋 Ingredients
• 🍳 How to make empanadas
• 💭 Additional tips on how to make Empanadas
• 📖 Recipe
• 💬 Comments

🥟 What are empanadas?

If you are not familiar with empanadas, they are savory hand pies with assorted fillings, baked in the oven. They can have fillings such as ground beef, cheese and onions, ground beef and raisins and this one, ham and cheese.

🤔 Are empanadas an appetizer or a main dish?

They can be anything you want! We usually have them as a main dish, so we eat about 4 empandas each person. But they are great appetizers on a barbecue or any gathering with family and friends!

Speaking of barbecue, the traditional baking method of empanadas is the oven, but you can bake 2/3 of the time in the oven and then finish it on a barbecue grill, over charcoal. The flavor gets even better! The ones from the pictures were made this way.

📋 Ingredients

For the dough you will need these ingredients:

• all-purpose flour
• salt
• unsalted butter
• warm water
• egg (for brushing empanadas)

And for the filling you will need:

• mozzarella cheese
• ham
• parmesan cheese
• butter
• eggs
• black pepper

🍳 How to make empanadas

Dough

• Mix flour and salt. Dice butter and mix everything with your hands (1), until dough is crumbly (2).
• Little by little add the water (3) until dough is smooth (4). You may need a little more or less than 3/4 cup.

Filling

• With your hands mix all ingredients (5, 6).

Assembling

• On a lightly floured work surface, roll out one third of the dough to 1/8-inch (0.3cm) thickness.
• Using a 4.5-inch (12cm) round biscuit cutter, cut as many circles as you can out of the rolled dough (7).
• Spoon about 1 tbsp of filling onto one half of each circle of dough (8).
• Brush a little water around the circumference of the dough, and fold it in half so the other side comes down over the filling, creating a semicircle.
• Seal the empanadas by twisting the dough a little. You could also press the edges of the dough together with a fork.
• Place them on a greased baking sheet (9)

Baking

• Bake for 30-40 minutes, until empanadas are golden brown (10).
• If you like, you can bake 2/3 of the time in the oven and then transfer to a charcoal grill (11).

And here is a video on how to close an empanada!

💭 Additional tips on how to make Empanadas

• work the dough with your hands - it will melt the butter into the flour
• using warm water will make the dough easier to work with
• you can use a meat grinder or food processor to make the ham and cheese for the filling into really small pieces
• brush a little water over the edges of the dough circles before closing the empanadas and then press firmly to close - so the filling won't run out when baking

📖 Recipe

I think you might also enjoy these delicious recipes from Uruguay:

Lehmeyun: Armenian pizza straight from Uruguay
Dulce de Leche (made in the slow cooker)
Oven Dulce de Leche