Filipino Pork Empanada - Salu Salo Recipes (2024)

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August 11, 2015 by Liza Agbanlog 38 Comments

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Pork empanada is one of my favorite Filipino snacks. It is very filling and satisfying to have especially if you are hungry. Every household has its own way of making empanada. Each has its own preferred filling as well as desired sort of dough. Our family like our empanadas filled with ground pork, diced potato, diced carrot, green peas and raisins and flavored with soy sauce and oyster sauce. Others preferred to use beef or chicken in placed of ground pork. Furthermore, empanadas may be fried or baked depending on one’s preference. Our family like our empanadas baked. Before baking, we brush the top and sides of empanadas with egg wash to give them shine and color. After 25 minutes in the oven, the baked empanadas came out browned, crispy and tasty. It is definitely a savory snacks to enjoy. Yummy!

Pork Empanada

Liza Agbanlog

This Filipino pork empanada is a popular Filipino pastry. I use ground pork as well as carrots, green peas, egg and potatoes.

4.25 from 8 votes

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Prep Time 40 minutes mins

Cook Time 25 minutes mins

Total Time 1 hour hr 5 minutes mins

Course Snack

Cuisine Filipino

Servings 15 empanadas

Calories 235 kcal

Ingredients

Filling:

1 tbsp olive oil
1 onion , finely chopped
2 cloves garlic , finely chopped
1 lb lean ground pork
1 tbsp soy sauce
¼ cup of diced carrot
½ cup of diced potato
½ cup frozen green pea
2 tbsp oyster sauce
¼ cup raisins
Sea salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
3 hard boiled eggs peeled and sliced

Dough:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tbsp sugar
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup cold butter cut into cubes
2 tbsp cold water
1 egg beaten

Instructions

In a skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Add onion and garlic and sauté for 2 minutes or until onion has browned and softened.
Add ground pork and sauté for 2-3 minutes or until meat is no longer pink.
Stir in soy sauce, carrot, potato and frozen green peas. Cover and cook for 5 minutes or until vegetables are cooked.
Add oyster sauce and raisins; mix thoroughly. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Set aside and cool completely.
To make the dough, combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl. Add the butter cubes. Using a fork, break up the butter into the flour mixture until it is fully incorporated. Add the water and egg; mix until soft dough is formed.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line baking sheet with parchment paper.
Take heaping tablespoonfuls of dough and form into balls. On a floured surface and using a rolling pin, flatten the dough balls into desired thickness.
Place about a tablespoon of the filling in the center of the dough. Top with a slice of hard boiled egg. Wet the edge of one side of dough with water and then fold over to form a half moon shape.
Seal the edge by folding and pressing them on top of each other. Continue with the rest of the dough and filling.
Place the empanadas on the prepared pan. Generously brush top and sides of empanadas with egg wash (whisk 1 egg with 1 tbsp cold water) and bake for about 20-25 minutes or until lightly browned.

Nutrition

Calories: 235kcalCarbohydrates: 16gProtein: 9gFat: 15gSaturated Fat: 7gCholesterol: 86mgSodium: 263mgPotassium: 204mgFiber: 1gSugar: 2gVitamin A: 650IUVitamin C: 4mgCalcium: 25mgIron: 1mg

Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

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Reader Interactions

Comments

Anonymous
June 2, 2021 at 5:06 pm
Ms. Liza, thank you for sharing your recipe. Empanada is one of my fave.. will try to prepare later..
Reply
- Liza Agbanlog
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  June 3, 2021 at 1:29 pm
  You are welcome!
  Reply
  - Judith fatima escandor
    November 15, 2021 at 1:22 am
    Thank you for sharing empanada recipe…I will do it this saturday…
    Reply
    - Liza Agbanlog
      November 15, 2021 at 9:34 am
      You are welcome Judith!
      Reply
Janina Allen
July 12, 2020 at 10:35 am

Hi there! Great recipe! Just made it and it turned out delicious!!!!
Just wondering if you’ve tried assembling everything then freezing it?
Reply
- Liza Agbanlog
  July 13, 2020 at 10:27 am
  Hi Janina,
  Yes, you can assemble everything and freeze them.
  Reply
  - Patti Deering
    September 18, 2021 at 2:01 pm
    Can i make these and refrigerate until im ready to bake?
    Reply
    - Liza Agbanlog
      September 18, 2021 at 2:20 pm
      Hi Patti,
      Yes you can refrigerate (or even freeze) them until ready to bake. It will take around 45-50 minutes to bake frozen empanada. Hope these help!
      Reply
Czarina Jayme
April 26, 2020 at 1:04 am
Hello! Is it okay to use 3rd class flour for the dough? Can’t buy all purpose flour because of the ECQ
Reply
- Liza Agbanlog
  April 26, 2020 at 2:13 pm
  Hi Czarina,
  I am not familiar with 3rd class flour so I don’t know if it can be use for this recipe.
  Reply
- Anonymous
  September 30, 2020 at 11:38 am
  3rd class in the Phils is the cake flour..1st class is for breads
  Reply
Mo
May 21, 2019 at 8:59 pm
Hi,
Can I use this recipe and fry them instead of baking? Or is there some alteration needed to the dough if frying?
Thanks
Reply
- Liza Agbanlog
  May 26, 2019 at 3:28 pm
  Hi Mo,
  Yes, you can use the same dough to fry this empanada recipe.
  Reply
Bee
December 18, 2018 at 12:15 am
Hi there!
Many years ago I stumbled across a Filipino empanada recipe. I had much success with the dough. A few months after, I attempted to revisited this recipe… only to find out that I never printed a copy or saved it. I was heartbroken!! I had finally found something really good and I didn’t save it. Fast forward to tonight… I had some leftover ground beef with veggies and thought of empanadas for dinner. When I googled “Filipino empanada recipe” yours was the first to come up. I went over the ingredients for the dough, sounded good and gave a try… it is sooo yummy!!! I am no longer heartbroken!! This is a keeper!! Thank you 🙂
Reply
- Liza Agbanlog
  December 19, 2018 at 7:41 pm
  Hi Bee,
  That’s awesome! Take care and thanks for sharing your story.
  Reply
levi
December 1, 2018 at 10:00 pm
how much will this cost(hypothetically)? php
Reply
- Liza Agbanlog
  December 2, 2018 at 9:08 am
  Hi Levi,
  Sorry I can’t remember how much I spent to make this pork empanada recipe.
  Reply
Rae
September 17, 2018 at 5:16 pm
I just want to make sure that this calls for 1/2 cup butter and that’s 1 stick of butter, am I right. Because when I made, mine kept breaking.
Reply
- Liza Agbanlog
  September 18, 2018 at 4:54 pm
  Yes, this recipe calls for 1/2 cup cold butter,cubed. If the dough kept breaking, sprinkle it with water, a teaspoon at a time. Hope this helps!
  Reply
Jomar
February 5, 2018 at 11:35 am

Thank you for this recipe! It was delicious! The first time I made it as directed and the filling was tasty and the pastry was flaky and in good proportion to the filling. I also tried making it with ground turkey and a few more raisins and it turned out just as good.
Reply
- Liza Agbanlog
  February 5, 2018 at 9:33 pm
  Awesome! Glad you were able to try and had success with this recipe 🙂
  Reply
  - Valerie L. Emmer-Scott
    August 24, 2018 at 4:57 pm
    My mother (a Filipina), made the best empanadas–but I don’t recall her including hard boiled eggs. I also think she fried them, rather than bake. However, since she didn’t have any written recipes (before she died), I will definitely try yours. Can’t wait to make them!
    Reply
    - Liza Agbanlog
      August 28, 2018 at 5:41 pm
      Hi Valerie,
      Frying the empanada is the typical way of cooking them while baking is the healthy way. Either way, they are both delicious.
      Reply
Barang
January 6, 2018 at 11:30 am
Just made the filling and the dough. Letting the filling cool down before assembling. Excited to put together!
Reply
Czarina Jimenez
November 4, 2017 at 5:06 pm

Did u rest the dough for an hour to double up the size? Or not? Plan to make one.
Reply
- Liza Agbanlog
  November 6, 2017 at 9:40 pm
  No, I did not let the dough rest. I immediately shaped and filled it with the filling.
  Reply
Kiona
October 25, 2017 at 1:58 am
Hi Liza,I will be trying to make your recipe this week and hopefully it will turn out good!(cross finger) I will let you how how it goes 😉
Reply
- Liza Agbanlog
  October 25, 2017 at 3:59 pm
  Thanks Kiona!
  Reply
Rosa
August 17, 2017 at 9:31 pm

Hi Liz,Thank you very much for sharing this recipe,i just tried it now,and it taste very good 😊
Reply
- Liza Agbanlog
  August 19, 2017 at 9:43 pm
  You’re welcome Rosa!
  Reply
France B
April 26, 2017 at 10:34 pm
Hi, i don’t have any access to oyster sauce, what can I substitute for it?
Reply
- Liza Agbanlog
  April 27, 2017 at 6:45 pm
  Hi France,
  You don’t have to substitute anything if you don’t have an access to oyster sauce. It’s okay if you just use soy sauce. I hope this helps!
  Reply
  - Johana
    December 24, 2017 at 1:25 pm
    Wow! Where she lives where there s no access to oyster sauce. I cant live without it. She should order from Amazon dot com
    Reply
ann
April 24, 2017 at 11:54 pm

is it okay if I fry it instead of baking it?
Reply
- Liza Agbanlog
  April 26, 2017 at 7:54 am
  Yes, you can fry it.
  Reply
Lyn
March 4, 2017 at 6:27 pm
Question, instead of butter, can I use margarine for the empanada dough? Thanks.
Reply
- Liza Agbanlog
  March 4, 2017 at 7:37 pm
  Hi Lyn,
  I have not tried using margarine to make empanada dough so it’s hard for me to say what will the finished product would be.
  Reply
- maxjhune
  August 10, 2017 at 10:52 pm
  You can use that but for me it is better to use shortening if u have no butter..tnx
  Reply