Pastel de Carne (Brazilian Fried Meat Pastry)

About This Recipe

Pastel is one of Brazil's most beloved fried snacks, a paper-thin pastry (much thinner than an empanada wrapper) folded around a savory filling and deep-fried until it puffs into a blistered, bubbly, incredibly crisp shell. The beef version, pastel de carne, is the most classic, filled with well-seasoned ground beef, onion, and often olives or hard-boiled egg, and found at street fairs, market stalls, and dedicated pastelarias across Brazil. The technique that defines pastel is the dough thinness: the dough is rolled or run through a pasta machine until it's almost translucent, far thinner than most other fried dough snacks, which is what allows it to blister and bubble dramatically in hot oil rather than simply frying into a solid crust. The filling needs to be fully cooked and cooled before assembly, since the pastry cooks so quickly in the fryer that a raw filling wouldn't have time to cook through. Served hot straight from the fryer, often alongside a glass of fresh sugarcane juice (caldo de cana) at Brazilian street fairs, pastel is quick, crunchy, and endlessly satisfying -- one of Brazil's defining street food experiences.

Ingredients

Serves 6

• 3 cupsall-purpose flour
• 1 tspsalt
• 2 tbspneutral oil(for dough)
• 1 tbspvinegar
• 0.75 cupwarm water
• 400 gground beef
• 1onion(diced)
• 2 clovesgarlic(minced)
• 2 tbsptomato paste
• 1 tsppaprika
• 1 tspsalt(for filling)
• 0.25 cupchopped green olives(optional)
• 2hard-boiled eggs(chopped, optional)
• 4 cupsneutral oil(for frying)

Instructions

1. 1

   Make the dough

   Mix flour and salt. Add oil, vinegar, and warm water, kneading until a smooth, elastic dough forms, about 8 minutes. Rest covered 30 minutes.

2. 2

   Cook the filling

   Cook ground beef in a pan over medium heat until browned. Add onion and garlic, cook 5 minutes until soft.

3. 3

   Season the filling

   Stir in tomato paste, paprika, and salt. Cook 3-4 minutes until well combined. Remove from heat and let cool completely.

4. 4

   Add extras

   Once cooled, stir in olives and chopped egg if using.

5. 5

   Roll the dough

   Divide dough into portions and roll each as thin as possible, ideally almost translucent, into rectangles.

6. 6

   Fill and seal

   Place a spoonful of cooled filling on one half of each rectangle. Fold the dough over and press the edges firmly to seal, crimping with a fork.

7. 7

   Fry

   Heat oil to 180C/350F. Fry pastels in batches 2-3 minutes per side until deeply golden and blistered.

8. 8

   Drain and serve

   Drain on paper towels briefly and serve hot.

Variations

• •

  Pastel de queijo: fill with just melted mozzarella cheese for the simplest and most classic variation.

• •

  Pastel de camarao: use seasoned shrimp instead of beef for a coastal variation.

• •

  Add a small amount of chopped cheese to the beef filling for a richer, meltier bite.

Storage

Best eaten immediately while hot and crisp. Refrigerate uncooked assembled pastels up to 1 day and fry fresh; already-fried pastels don't reheat well and lose their signature crispness.

Frequently Asked Questions