Organic Beef & Olive Picadillo Empanadas
with Golden Raisins, Pepper Jack Cheese & Side Salad
- Wheat
- Milk
- Eggs
Now with leaner ground beef! You asked, we listened: This isn't the HelloFresh you remember. Bigger menu. Upgraded recipes. Increased portion sizes. More variety. The best way to cook dinner just got BETTER. For a fun twist on a Latin American classic, you'll savor these flaky pan-fried pizza dough wraps around savory-sweet picadilloāspiced beef with briny olives, golden raisins, and melty pepper jack cheese. Crispy outside, cheesy inside, and paired with a fresh salad, these empanadas bring big flavor in every bite.
Ingredients
Ā½ cup
Flour
(Contains: Wheat)
1 unit
Onion
1 unit
Green Olives
1 unit
Mini Cucumber
1 unit
Tomato
1 unit
Beef Stock Concentrate
Ā½ cup
Pepper Jack Cheese
(Contains: Milk)
1 tablespoon
Fajita Spice Blend
1 teaspoon
Garlic Powder
1 ounce
Golden Raisins
1 unit
Baby Lettuce
1.5 ounce
Southwest Dressing
(Contains: Eggs)
1 unit
Pizza Dough
(Contains: Wheat)
10 ounce
Organic Ground Beef
Not included in your delivery
Salt
Pepper
Cooking Oil
Nutrition Values
Utensils
Cooking Steps
ā¢ Sprinkle 3 TBSP flour over a clean work surface. Remove dough from packaging and cut into four equal portions (eight portions for 4 servings). Roll each piece in flour to lightly coat, shaking any excess back onto work surface (for 4, you may need to sprinkle 1-2 TBSP additional flour on work surface if dough is too sticky). Cover with a clean kitchen towel and let rest at room temperature for 15 minutes. TIP: If you prefer to bake your empanadas instead of fry, adjust rack to top position and preheat oven to 450 degrees now.
ā¢ While dough rests, wash and dry produce. ā¢ Halve, peel, and dice onion into 1ā4-inch pieces. Dice tomato into 1ā4-inch pieces. Roughly chop raisins. Roughly chop olives.
ā¢ Heat a drizzle of oil in a large pan over medium-high heat. Add onion, salt, and pepper; cook, stirring occasionally, until slightly softened, 2-3 minutes. ā¢ Add beef and cook, breaking up meat into pieces, until starting to brown, 3-4 minutes. ā¢ Add tomato, raisins, Fajita Spice Blend, garlic powder, and stock concentrate to pan. Cook, stirring occasionally, until beef is cooked through, 1-2 minutes more. Carefully drain any excess grease if necessary. ā¢ Transfer to a medium bowl. Wash and thoroughly dry pan.
ā¢ Once dough has rested 15 minutes, sprinkle 1-2 TBSP flour over clean work surface. Using a rolling pin, roll each piece of dough into a rough circle (you will be shaping them again later, so no need to be perfect!). Set aside to rest, 10 minutes more. ā¢ While dough rests, trim and discard root end from lettuce; chop leaves into bite-size pieces. Trim and thinly slice cucumber into rounds. ā¢ Once beef mixture has mostly cooled, stir in olives and pepper jack until thoroughly combined.
ā¢ Once dough has rested 10 minutes, stretch each dough circle into a larger circle, about 6 inches wide. ā¢ Place 1ā3 cup filling on bottom half of each dough circle, leaving a 1ā2-inch border along the edge. Using a brush or your finger, swipe a bit of water around the border. Fold dough over filling and gently press edges together (try your best not to seal in any pockets of air). Using a fork, press along edge to seal.
ā¢ Heat a 1ā3-inch layer of oil in pan used for filling over medium heat. Once oil is hot enough that a pinch of flour sizzles when added to pan, use a slotted spoon to carefully add empanadas (cook in batches, putting no more than two empanadas in the pan at a time). Fry until golden brown, 1-2 minutes per side (lower heat if browning too quickly). Transfer to a paper-towel-lined plate. ā¢ OVEN ALTERNATIVE: Place empanadas on a baking sheet and bake on top rack until dough is browned and cooked through, 13-18 minutes. ā¢ AIR FRYER ALTERNATIVE: Coat empanadas with nonstick cooking spray; arrange in air fryer basket, making sure not to overcrowd (work in batches if necessary). Air-fry at 375 degrees until browned, turning halfway through, 8-10 minutes.
ā¢ In a large bowl, combine lettuce, cucumber, dressing, salt, and pepper. Toss to evenly coat. ā¢ Divide empanadas and salad between plates. Serve.
Ground Meat is fully cooked when internal temperature reaches 160Ā°.
Customer reviews
Review summary
Updated on Dec 2025- Flavor:Ā Many loved the tasty filling, praising the delicious blend of olives, raisins, and spices š².
- Ease of prep:Ā Several found it time-consuming and challenging to work with the dough, but enjoyed the process overall.
- Suggestions:Ā Consider adding extra spices or chili flakes for more flavor; air frying produced great results for some.
- Portions:Ā Many had leftover filling; several suggested including more dough to use up all the meat mixture.
- Cooking method:Ā Some preferred baking or air frying over pan-frying for easier cleanup and crispy results.
Reviews from our home cooks
Wow these were great! The filling had so many flavors going on with the golden raisins, green olives, onion, tomato and seasonings! It all goes so well together. I didn't do the best job with the dough but they were still delicious. I had left over filling and ate it with tortilla chips! The side salad was refreshing too.
The empanadas were delicious! One suggestion for the recipe would be to have the southwest dressing that came with the salad instead be used as a dipping sauce for the empanadas because they rounded out and made the flavor of the empanadas sooooo much better and the flavor was great to begin with! I would also suggest including more dough with the recipe because we had more filling left over for at least one more empanada.
The ingredients were so interesting and they tasted great together. I liked the empanadas with the ground beef flavors mixed with the sweet from the golden raisins and the sour from the green olives were delicious.
Best empanadas I have ever had. Dough was tasty fried, and raisins and olives give it an excellent flavor combo! Leftover beef mixture was added to the salad (there were no instructions to do so).
Very tasty! Easy to cook filling. Dough was a bit challenging. I could not get it thin enough to hold all the filling and I had probably an empanada's worth leftover. Next time I will freeze maybe 1/5 of the beef and use the rest in this recipe.
Wish there was more dough as the filling makes enough for like 6-8 empanadas for 2 people but only enough dough for 4 empanadas; want something more with the side salad; wish the air fryer suggestion was also in step 1 with the oven suggestion
So Good!!! I loved the taste. It was fun to make, and everything about it made me feel like it was even better than restaurant quality. The sauce was soo good too I loved that and it worked so well. I added corn to mine just because I love corn. Absolutely would get this again as a special meal. Probably not weekly, since it was a little unhealthier than other meals. worth it though.
Beautiful flavors! We added a little chili flakes to the beef mixture for a tad bit of heat. Marvelous!
Although this took longer than most meals to make, we really enjoyed the process and the dish!
This was so fun to make and they are absolutely delicious! Please offer this recipe again! Also, thank you for the air fryer option!
