Spring onion and prawn empanadas

Name: Spring onion and prawn empanadas
Prep time: 17 min
Cook time: 31 min
Total time: 48 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: Portuguese
Ingredients: 1 bunch Spring Onions; Dash Olive Oil; 1 finely sliced Red Chilli; 1 clove Garlic; 350g Prawns; 75g Feta; 15g Butter; 250g Plain Flour; 1 Seperated Egg; 1/2 tsp White Wine Vinegar

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

A one-pot Seafood recipe with Portuguese flavors, built for busy weeknights when you want real food without a sink full of dishes. Comes together in roughly 59 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 · 48 min total

1 bunch Spring Onions
Dash Olive Oil
1 finely sliced Red Chilli
1 clove Garlic
350g Prawns
75g Feta
15g Butter
250g Plain Flour
1 Seperated Egg
1/2 tsp White Wine Vinegar

Step-by-step instructions

STEP 1.
To make the dough, rub the butter into the flour and then add the egg white and half the yolk (keep the rest), vinegar, a pinch of salt and enough cold water to make a soft dough. Knead on a floured surface until smooth and then wrap and rest for 30 minutes.
STEP 2.
Heat the oven to 180c/fan 160c/gas 4. Trim the green ends of the spring onions and then finely slice the rest. Heat a little oil in a pan and fry them gently until soft but not browned. Add the chilli and garlic, stir and then add the prawns and cook until they are opaque. Season well. Scoop out the prawns and bubble the juices until they thicken, then add back the prawns.
STEP 3.
Divide the empanada dough into eight balls and roll out to thin circles on a floured surface. Put some filling on one half of the dough, sprinkle the feta on top and fold the other half over. Trim the edge and then fold and crimp the dough together so the empanada is tightly sealed, put it on an oiled baking sheet either on its side or sitting on its un-crimped edge like a cornish pasty. Repeat with the remaining dough and mixture. Mix the leftover egg yolk with a splash of water and brush the top of the empanadas.
STEP 4.
Bake for 30 minutes or until golden and slightly crisp around the edges.

Why this works on a weeknight

Spring onion and prawn empanadas lands at about 48 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. Spring onion and prawn 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 Seafood Portuguese