Football Empanadas

I’ve always been a big fan of empanadas. I mean, they’re basically little pastries that you can fill with your favorite savory ingredients. What’s not to love? This recipe for empanadas is at the top of our favorites list though for two main reasons. Firstly, the filling involves the flavor magic of Old El Paso ingredients. And secondly, they’re shaped like little footballs, making them the perfect snack to serve on game days this winter. And if the game you’re watching isn’t exciting enough, trust us; these empanadas are sure to liven things up!

Football Empanadas

Prep Time: 50 minutes
Total Time: 75 minutes
Servings: 16

Ingredients

1 Tbsp vegetable oil

1 lb lean ground turkey (I used 90% lean)

1 cup diced onion

2 large garlic cloves, minced

1 Tbsp Old El Paso taco seasoning

1 can (4 oz) Old El Paso chopped green chiles, drained

2 Tbsp juice from ½ lime

1 can (10oz) Old El Paso green chile enchilada sauce

½ cup shredded Monterey Jack or mixed cheddar and Jack

2 boxes refrigerated pie crust (comes with 2 crusts per package, so a total of 4 crusts)

egg wash (1 egg beaten with 1 tsp water)

Instructions:

Heat the vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Brown the ground turkey, then add onion and garlic to pan.

When the onion is translucent, add the taco seasoning and green chiles.

Stir in green enchilada sauce and cook 5 minutes to thicken sauce.

Cool the filling to room temperature.

Add the shredded cheese to the filling.

Preheat the oven to 375F.

For football-shaped pies:

Unroll one of the pie crusts.

Using a 3 ½ inch football cookie cutter (you can also use a pliable round cutter and bend it into the shape of a football), cut out 7 footballs from the crust. Repeat with the second crust. Reroll the dough scraps together and cut out 4 more footballs. Repeat with the second box of pie crust.

Place about 2 tablespoons of the filling in the center of a football, then spread it out slightly to create an even layer of dough with a ¼ inch border around all sides. Brush the egg wash around the outer edge of the football, then place a second dough football over top and press the edges down to seal them together. Repeat with the remaining pieces of dough.

Crimp the edges with a fork, then brush the tops with egg wash.

Bake for 23-25 minutes until golden brown and delicious.

For round pies:

Unroll one of the pie crusts.

Place tablespoons of the filling: 7 around the outer edges of the circle and 1 in the middle so there’s plenty of room to cut them all out without overlapping.

Brush egg wash around the filling. Unroll the second pie crust and lay over top of the bottom crust.

Lightly press the dough around each mound of filling. Using a 3-inch round cookie cutter, cut out circles of the dough with the filling in the middle of each pie. If you don’t get egg wash on the dough scraps, you can reroll them to get 2 more pies.

Makes 16 footballs or 16-20 round pies depending if you re-roll the dough scraps of the round pies.

Green Chile-Avocado Crema:

1 garlic clove, minced

4 oz can Old El Paso chopped green chiles (undrained)

½ cup chopped green onion (6 small green onions)

1/3 cup chopped cilantro

juice from ½ of a lime

½ of an avocado

¼ cup sour cream

Add all the ingredients to a blender jar and blend until smooth. Add a pinch of salt if needed.

Pro Tips

A small cookie scoop makes it easier to add the same amount of filling to each pie.

It’s always better to err on the side of not enough filling than to try stuffing too much in each football; the dough will be harder to close if there’s not enough of an edge around the filling in the middle, and the footballs could burst and spill the filling out onto the tray while baking.

This is a sponsored post, paid for by our partner Old El Paso.