Try this easy and unique chicken empanada recipe. It will become your favorite!

Ingredients
- Whole chicken legs, including thighs
- Spanish chorizo
- Reduced-sodium chicken broth
- Pitted green olives
- Spanish smoked paprika
- Dry white wine
- Extra-virgin olive oil
- Large onions
- Garlic cloves
- Bay leaf
- Salt
- Black pepper
- Refrigerated pie crust (or substitute with puff pastry)
(Scroll down to the bottom for the printable recipe card with exact measurements and recipe instructions.)
How to Make Chicken Empanadas
Pat the chicken dry and sprinkle with salt and pepper while heating olive in a 12-inch heavy skillet. Brown the chicken and transfer to a plate.
Sauté onions, garlic, and bay leaf in fat remaining in a skillet, stirring frequently, until onions are softened. Add chorizo and paprika and cook. Add olives, raisins, wine, and broth and bring to a boil.
Return the chicken to the skillet along with any juices accumulated on plate, then reduce heat to moderately low and simmer chicken, covered, turning over once, until tender.
Transfer chicken to a clean plate and when chicken is cool enough to handle, discard skin and bones and coarsely chop meat. Stir chicken into sauce and discard bay leaves. Season with salt and pepper, then cool filling, uncovered, about 30 minutes.
Using 4-inch round cutters (I used mini tart pans with a scalloped edge), cut out circles and place a tablespoon or two of filling in center. Fold over and seal edges with a fork. Deep-fry empanadas at 375F for 1- minutes per side until golden brown.
Note: These keep really well up to 24 hours before frying. Just keep them in a single layer on a baking sheet tightly sealed.

Empanada Sauces & Dips
These empanadas are great as is but adding your favorite dipping sauce can add extra bit of deliciousness. Here are a few suggestions for inspiration.
- Marinara sauce
- Red pepper sauce
- Gruyere cheese Sauce
- Avocado sauce
- Chimichurri sauce
- Cilantro dipping sauce
- Cilantro lime sauce
- Ranch dressing
- Garlic aioli
- Chipotle dipping sauce
- Sweet & sour sauce
- Soy ginger sauce
- Mango dipping sauce
- Greek yogurt
- Blue cheese sauce
- Salsa verde
- Mango chili sauce
- Buffalo sauce

Easy Chicken Empanadas (Empanadas de Pollo)
Empanadas are tasty little hand held pies. These empanadas are filled with chicken, chorizo and seasoned with smoked paprika, garlic cloves, bay leaf, salt and black pepper. They are addicting and perfect for any occasion.
Ingredients
- 3 whole chicken legs, including thighs (2 to 2 1/4 pounds total)
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 4 1/2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 large onions, halved lengthwise, then cut lengthwise into 1/4-inch-wide strips
- 2 large garlic cloves, minced
- 1 bay leaf
- 1/3 cup finely diced Spanish chorizo
- 1/2 teaspoon Spanish smoked paprika (not hot)
- 1/2 cup chopped pitted green olives
- 1/2 cup dry white wine
- 1/2 cup reduced-sodium chicken broth
- 1 15oz refrigerated pie crust
Instructions
- Pat chicken dry and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
- Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a 12-inch heavy skillet over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking, then brown chicken, turning over once, about 6 minutes total, and transfer to a plate.
- Sauté onions, garlic, and bay leaf in fat remaining in skillet, stirring frequently, until onions are softened, 4 to 5 minutes.
- Add chorizo and paprika and cook, stirring, 1 minute. Add olives, raisins, wine, and broth and bring to a boil, stirring and scraping up any brown bits.
- Return chicken to skillet along with any juices accumulated on plate, then reduce heat to moderately low and simmer chicken, covered, turning over once, until tender, 25 to 30 minutes total.
Transfer chicken to a clean plate. (Sauce in skillet should be the consistency of heavy cream; if it's not, briskly simmer until reduced). - When chicken is cool enough to handle, discard skin and bones and coarsely chop meat. Stir chicken into sauce and discard bay leaves. Season with salt and pepper, then cool filling, uncovered, about 30 minutes.
- Using 4-inch round cutters (I used mini tart pans with a scalloped edge), cut out circles and place a tablespoon or two of filling in center. Fold over and seal edges with a fork.
- Deep-fry empanadas at 375F for 1-2 minutes per side until golden brown.
Notes
Instead of deep frying use an air fryer.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 24 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 362Total Fat: 23gSaturated Fat: 7gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 15gCholesterol: 81mgSodium: 444mgCarbohydrates: 12gFiber: 1gSugar: 1gProtein: 25g
This data was provided and calculated by Nutritionix.
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Cheyanne
Friday 21st of October 2011
did you say raisins by mistake?
the wicked noodle
Friday 21st of October 2011
No, but it looks like I missed adding it to the recipe above (I just add a handful of golden raisins). Sorry about that! The raisins are delicious in this but feel free to leave them out if you prefer.
Cheyanne
Friday 21st of October 2011
did you say raisins by mistake?
Chris
Tuesday 2nd of August 2011
Your mention of cookie dough has made me salivate, and consider making some sort of desert variation of these empanadas. haha. But on to business! This looks like a great recipe. I've actually never had an empanada before, at least to my memory. It's a very interesting conglomerate of food, which I am sure can be enjoyed by so many people in a variety of settings. Very cool!
Robo Stir
Monday 7th of March 2011
This chicken empanadas recipe sound great! Thanks for the post.