Crispy golden fried empanadas with a corn-dough shell and spiced beef and potato filling — the definitive Colombian street snack eaten with ají verde.
Colombian empanadas de carne are categorically different from their Argentine or Chilean relatives: the shell is made from masarepa (precooked corn flour), not wheat pastry, making them naturally gluten-free and producing a thinner, crispier, more translucent crust when fried. The filling is a papas-y-carne mixture — spiced ground beef cooked with potatoes, hogao, and cumin until tender — that is starchy and savoury, with the potato adding body and substance. Colombian empanadas are always fried (never baked in the traditional street version) in hot oil until the corn shell blisters into a deeply golden, almost brittle crust. They are folded into half-moons, the edges crimped firmly, and fried in batches at street stalls across Bogotá, Cali, and Medellín. The obligatory accompaniment is ají verde — a bright, herbaceous, slightly spicy green sauce made from cilantro, spring onion, lime juice, and ají peppers. Eating a Colombian empanada means: bite, dip in ají, continue. They are sold by the dozen at office doorways, university canteens, and corner tiendas — the original Colombian fast food.
Serves 20
Sauté onion and garlic in a pan with 1 tbsp oil until soft. Add diced potato, cover, and cook 5 minutes. Add tomato, cumin, and sazon; cook 8 minutes to a hogao base. Add beef mince, breaking up finely. Cook until dry and browned, 10 minutes. Season with salt and stir in cilantro. Cool completely.
Mix masarepa, salt, oil, and warm water until a smooth, pliable dough forms. Rest 5 minutes. The dough should feel like soft playdough and hold together without crumbling.
Divide dough into 20 balls (about 50 g each). Keep covered with a damp towel to prevent drying.
Press each ball between two sheets of plastic wrap into a thin round, about 12 cm in diameter and 2–3 mm thick. Place 1.5 tbsp of filling on one half.
Thinner dough means crispier empanadas. Use a tortilla press or a smooth heavy pan for even thickness.
Fold the dough over the filling to form a half-moon. Crimp the edge firmly by folding and pressing with a fork or your thumb. Check for cracks or gaps and patch — any opening will let oil in and filling out.
Blend cilantro, spring onions, chilli, lime juice, salt, and 2 tbsp water to a bright green sauce. Adjust heat and salt.
Heat oil to 180°C in a deep pot. Fry empanadas in batches of 4, turning, until golden and blistered, about 4–5 minutes total. Drain on paper towels. Serve immediately with ají verde.
The corn dough must be thin — 2–3 mm maximum. Too thick and the empanada will be doughy instead of crispy.
Cool the filling completely before filling — warm filling steams the dough and causes it to break during frying.
Ají verde is not optional — the bright, acidic, herbal sauce is the essential counterpoint to the rich fried empanada. Make it first so flavours can develop.
Empanadas de pipián: fill with a pumpkin-seed-based green sauce instead of beef.
Vegetarian: fill with lentils, diced potato, and hogao.
Baked version: brush with oil and bake at 220°C for 15–18 minutes — less crispy but lighter.
Fried empanadas must be eaten immediately — they soften within 30 minutes. Assemble raw empanadas ahead and refrigerate up to 12 hours before frying. Freeze assembled unbaked for up to 1 month; fry from frozen at 170°C for 7–8 minutes.
Colombian corn-dough empanadas trace directly to pre-Columbian indigenous food culture, where corn dough (masa) was shaped and filled long before Spanish arrival. The Spanish contributed the meat filling technique, and the fusion of wheat-pastry empanada tradition with indigenous masa created the distinctly Colombian corn empanada. The fried version became the standard street food of the 19th and 20th centuries, when Colombian cities urbanised rapidly and demand for cheap, portable, sustaining street food grew.
The dough is too dry. Add warm water a tablespoon at a time until it is soft and pliable. Also ensure you're working quickly — masarepa dough dries out fast. Keep unused dough covered with a damp towel.
Yes, but you'll get Argentine-style empanadas rather than Colombian ones — the texture, crunch, and flavour are completely different. Both are delicious, but they're distinct dishes.
Cool the filling completely (refrigerate for 30 minutes if possible) and ensure it is dry, not wet. If the filling has excess liquid, drain it before using.
Per serving (80g / 2.8 oz) · 20 servings total
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