Chorizo Corn Empanadas
Chorizo-Corn Empanadas are savory hand pies made with a masa harina flour blend and filled with cheese, spicy ground chorizo and sweet corn.
Servings: 10 large
Ingredients
Empanada Dough
- 4 cups flour unbleached
- 1 1/2 cup masa corn flour - masa harina
- 4 tsp. sugar
- 1 tsp. salt
- 4 large eggs
- 6 tbsp. lard or leftover bacon grease
Empanada Filling
- 1/2 yellow onion diced
- 16 oz. chorizo ground
- 4 ears corn cut off the cob
- 8 oz. Monterrey Jack cheese grated
Cilantro Lime Crema
- 1 cup Mexican crema or sour cream
- 1 lime juiced and zested
- 1/4 cup cilantro minced
Other
- avocado oil for frying
Instructions
Empanada Dough
- Combine flour, masa harina, sugar and salt in your stand mixing bowl, add eggs and lard, mix on medium until soft dough forms.
- Remove dough to a floured surface and form into a ball. Wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate while you make the filling.
Empanada Filling
- Sauté onion in a pan over medium high heat until just softened. Push onion out to side of pan and add ground chorizo. Cook chorizo until browned.
- Add corn to chorizo mixture and cook an additional 2 minutes. Remove from heat.
Forming the Empanadas
- Remove empanada dough from the refrigerator. Roll out on a floured surface, about 1/4 inch thickness. Using a small bowl or plate that's about 5 inches in diameter, press down on dough to create small circles. You should get about 10 circles. It's a soft, sticky dough, make sure you have flour on hand.
- Place a small mound of filling, about a heaping tbsp. plus more if needed and about one tbsp. of cheese in the middle of one half of the circle, leaving room around the edges.
- Fold dough circle in half, pressing around the edges to seal. Use fork tines on edges to crimp it sealed. Repeat with remaining ingredients. You may have some filling mixture left over, which you can use to serve along side or save for another use.
- Fill a deep, wide edged frying pan with avocado oil or other high heat oil about 2 to 2 1/2 inches deep and heat at medium high. Test oil temperature by dropping a small piece of leftover dough in and seeing if it sizzles. Fry empanadas, two at a time, flipping once until golden brown on each side. Remove to a wire rack and season with salt.
- Empanadas can be eaten right away or let cool and place in freezer bags for re-heating later. They re-heat very well in an air fryer.
Cilantro Lime Crema
- Combine all ingredients together. Serve along side empanadas.