Authentic Argentinian vegetarian empanadas are little pockets of joy, in whichever one of my three customizable vegetarian fillings you choose. This post contains affiliate links – thank you for supporting the brands that help make this blog possible.
International friendships
Last night I got one one of those Facebook reminders. "Ksenia and Mara have been friends for 2 years!" And for a moment, my heart skipped a bit because I realized I have been keeping this authentic Argentinian vegetarian empanadas recipe from you for over a year - and this morning, I just had to right that wrong.
I met Mara at a work meeting. She was a newly arrived immigrant from Argentina, having just recently moved to Montreal to be with her husband. I was a newly arrived transplant from Winnipeg, having just recently been hired to plan a Jewish cooking school for the local community. She was a classically trained pastry chef in need of work, I was a classically disillusioned former professional writer in need of rehabilitation. We both were doe-eyed and just a little bit lost, hopeful and scared. Naturally, we became colleagues - and friends.
The Jewish Food Project Experience
Mara worked on two ambitious events for the Jewish Food Project - an Argentinian cooking workshop, and an elaborate four-course dinner inspired by Yotam Ottolenghi's dishes. Both were a huge success, but what impressed me the most was her dedication, work ethic and perseverance. Here was a girl that could spent hours tempering chocolate, watching the beads coalesce on cooling cocoa while just barely holding her breath, taking care not to disturb a single molecule in the delicate chemical processes required to produce her creations. Her chocolate and sea salt tart still haunts my dreams.
Between Argentinian chimichurri and elaborate desserts, Mara and I struck a careful friendship. We spoke of what it's like to not know your place in your new home, to maintain a relationship across controls, to be an immigrant. We laughed and ate raw vegan food. We drank wine and commiserated. We bonded - and naturally, we cooked together.
Vegetarian Empanadas: The glue that binds together
These Argentinian vegetarian empanadas were the product of one of those cooking nights. After Mara's Argentinian cooking workshop featured only meat empanadas, I began fantasizing about the vegetarian options she mentioned - and after sufficient nagging, Mara agreed to share a few of her favourite recipes with me. The dough we bought here was store-bought, perfectly calibrated for empanadas and cheap - but if you're looking to make your own dough, I've got Mara's recipe below for you. Also, we used our hands to pinch our empanadas, but if you make a lot of dumplings you may want to invest in a set of molds.
A lot of water has flowed in the St. Lawrence river since we made these Argentinian vegetarian empanadas. When cooking these, Mara was six-months pregnant. In December, we celebrated her son's Bruno's first birthday. Then she had another daughter.
Mara is currently wintering in Argentina with her family, enjoying sunny weather and blue skies and all the joy being with your mother and child together can bring.
And in case you are wondering - I am sure she is eating a great deal of vegetarian empanadas.
Authentic Argentinian vegetarian empanadas, three ways (V/Vegan)
Ingredients
For dough:
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 ⁄2 teaspoons salt
- ¾ cup vegetable oil
- ½ cup cold water
For onion and cheese vegetarian empanadas:
- 2 onions sliced into crescents
- 1 cup Gouda cheese shredded
- 1 tablespoon oregano
- Salt & pepper
For mushroom and kale vegetarian empanadas:
- 1 pound mushrooms sliced
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 4 kale leaves
- The juice of 1 lime
- salt and pepper
For sweet potato & lentil vegetarian empanadas:
- 1 onion chopped finely,
- 1 sweet potato shredded
- ½ cup lentils cooked
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- salt and pepper to taste
- Egg wash 1 egg + 1 tsp of milk or non-dairy milk
- Sesame seeds optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400F.
- To make dough: Combine the flour with the salt in a large bowl. Add the oil and the water and knead until dough forms. If the dough requires, add more water. Cover and refrigerate for 10 minutes.
- For onion and cheese vegetarian empanadas: preheat a large pan to medium heat. Add 2 TBs grapeseed oil. Sautee onion until it turns golden, 10 minutes. Remove from heat and season with oregano, salt & pepper. Set aside. When making empanadas, layer 1 TB of onion mixture per empanada and top with a sprinkle of cheese. Seal empanada and set aside. Repeat with remaining filling and dough.
- For mushroom and kale vegetarian empanadas: preheat a large pan to medium heat. Add 2 TBs grapeseed oil. Sautee mushrooms until they begin to brown, 10-15 minutes. Add kale and garlic, mix well to combine and sautee an additional 3 minutes. Remove from heat and season with lime, salt & pepper. Set aside. When making empanadas, layer 1 TB of mushroom & kale mixture. Seal empanada and set aside. Repeat with remaining filling and dough.
- For sweet potato and lentil vegetarian empanadas: preheat a large pan to medium heat. Add 2 TBs grapeseed oil. Sautee onion until it turns golden, 10 minutes. Add sweet potatoes, lentils and seasonings. Cook until sweet potatoes cook fully, about 15 minutes. When making empanadas, layer 1 TB sweet potato and lentil mixture per empanada. Seal empanada and set aside. Repeat with remaining filling and dough.
- When ready to bake, arrange empanadas on parchment-lined baking sheets. Brush tops with egg wash, and sprinkle sesame seeds (optional). Bake until golden brown, rotating sheets halfway through, 30 to 40 minutes
Perfect for party time snacks 🙂
Love all the three variations!
I am a sucker for empanadas - and these look absolutely amazing. Love the way you've tucked the edge -- such a skill!
These empanadas are just so tempting. I love that you got the recipe from an authentic source and each and every of the three fillings you mentioned are awesome. We use the same method of tucking the edges for one of our Indian dessert and these reminded me of that.
I love empanadas and these look fabulous! I love all the photos you took. One of my favorite empanada is the cheese empanada. Mmmmmmm. I'll be making these empanadas (all the flavors) soon!
I love how food brings people together! Your Vegetarian Empanadas look wonderful - love that there are three different varieties. They all sound delicious - especially the sweet potato and lentil variety!
I see what looks like dipping sauce or oil in your photos - what are they? Do you have recipes for them?
All that is is olive oil with chimichurri spice mix... I should really post a traditional chimichurri recipe one day! But meanwhile, if you want something typical to serve your empanadas with, search for a chimichurri recipe.
Is it really 6 cups of flour and just 3/4 oil and 1/2 water? I kneaded for upwards of six minutes and it's not clumping into a dough at all.
Oh shoot, something happened when this recipe was transferred to the new recipe platform a month ago and it changed the quantities. Those amounts are for about 3 cups of flour... No idea what happened in the transfer! If you have 6 cups of flour, don't worry - just double your water and oil quantities gradually. Note that as always in baking, the elasticity of each dough and the amount of water and oil you need depends on your flour, the temperature and much more.
Thank you for asking and alerting!
These empanadas look so good! Can you please also share the recipe for the dipping sauce?
Sure thing! Here is a chimichurri sauce I love.
CHIMICHURI
Ingredients
½ bunch parsley
2 tbsp fresh oregano
4 garlic cloves
½ cup green onions, chopped roughly
1 chili (jalapeno will make a mild chimichuri; you can also use chili flakes)
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp lemon or lime juice
Around ½ cup olive oil
Salt, to taste
Chop all the herbs + garlic and mix with vinegar, lemon, olive oil and salt.
Keep it in the fridge.
Thank you so much!