Beef Empanadas

Name: Beef Empanadas
Prep time: 16 min
Cook time: 31 min
Total time: 47 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: Uruguayan
Ingredients: 60g Lard; 340g Water; 1 tsp Salt; 600g All purpose flour; 3 Tomato; 1 clove Garlic; 1 large Red Onions; Bunch Spring Onions; 750g Sirloin steak; 1 tablespoon Dried Oregano; 1 tsp Paprika; 1 tsp Red Pepper Flakes; 1 tsp Parsley; To taste Salt; To taste Pepper; 3 Egg; Splash Egg Wash; Drizzle Chimichurri sauce

By The Spice & Simmer Kitchen · Published May 3, 2026

A one-pot Beef recipe with Uruguayan flavors, built for busy weeknights when you want real food without a sink full of dishes. Comes together in roughly 51 minutes, serves about 4, and uses ingredients you can find at any normal grocery store. The technique is simple: build a base in your pot, layer in the main ingredients, simmer until everything has had time to talk to each other, and serve straight from the pan. If you're cooking for picky eaters, this one tends to land — the flavors are recognizable, the texture is comforting, and there's nothing weird hiding in the ingredient list. Perfect for the kind of evening where you want dinner on the table by 7pm and the kitchen empty by 7:30.

Ingredients

Makes 4 servings · 47 min total

60g Lard
340g Water
1 tsp Salt
600g All Purpose Flour
3 Tomato
1 clove Garlic
1 large Red Onions
Bunch Spring Onions
750g Sirloin Steak
1 tablespoon Dried Oregano
1 tsp Paprika
1 tsp Red Pepper Flakes
1 tsp Parsley
To taste Salt
To taste Pepper
3 Egg
Splash Egg Wash
Drizzle Chimichurri Sauce

Step-by-step instructions

For the dough place lard, warm water and salt in a large kneading bowl and stir. Add flour and oregano and either knead five miutes by hand or with the kneading function of your machine. Let rest covered for at least half an hour or overnight in the fridge.
For the filling place tomatoes for about 30 seconds in boiling water, then cool with cold water and peel of skin and cut into cubes. Press garlic through garlic press, cut onions into cubes. Simmer garlic and onions in some olive oil until translucent. Take out onions and garlic and brown the meat at high heat from all sides. Season with all herbs and add the onions, garlic and tomatoes. Let simmer for a few minutes, add salt, pepper and additional spices to taste. You can prepare the meat the night before, chill in fridge if doing so. Boil eggs and also cut into cubes and mix with prepared meat.
Cut dough into half and roll out one half thinnly on floured surface. Cut out circles about 12-15cm in diameter. Mine have a diameter of 12.5 cm. Place about 2-4 teaspoons of filling on one circle, put a bit of water all around the edges and fold over the other half so that you get half moons. Be sure to seal the edges with a fork. Repeat until you have no dough and filling left.
Meanwhile preheat oven to 200 degrees Celsius. Brush empanadas with egg wash and bake about 8 empanadas on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper for about 25min or until golden. Serve warm with chimichurri sauce.

Why this works on a weeknight

Beef Empanadas lands at about 47 minutes total — a little longer than our 30-minute target, but most of that time is hands-off simmering, which is why it earned a spot in our Sheet-Pan Dinners collection. The technique is forgiving, the ingredient list is grocery-store standard, and the active cooking time is short enough that you can answer a text message in the middle without ruining dinner.

Cleanup notes

This is a single-pan recipe, so the cleanup is exactly one pan, one cutting board, and one knife. While the dish rests, fill the pan with hot soapy water — by the time you are done eating, the residue lifts off with a single pass of a sponge. Skip the steel wool on cast iron; a stiff brush and warm water are all you need to keep the seasoning intact.

Make-ahead and leftovers

Leftovers keep covered in the fridge for up to three days. Reheat in a dry pan over medium-low with a splash of water or stock to loosen the sauce. Beef Empanadas actually improves overnight as the flavors keep talking to each other, so doubling the recipe and packing tomorrow's lunch is a high-leverage weeknight move.

Filed under 🍳 Sheet-Pan Dinners Beef Uruguayan