The Costco Rotisserie Chicken. If you’re like my family, you buy one because it is quite the bargain, but then you don’t finish the whole chicken and you are left with chicken meat which as it turns out is an awesome leftover. In this case, just take that leftover chicken, chop it up, add a few other simple ingredients and voila, you now have a spectacular tasting filling that you will wrap into a buttery pie-like crust to make individual sized mini pot pies better known as empanadas.
This recipe will make 24 chicken and cheese empanadas
Ingredients:
Crust
- Goya discos – 5” for baking (Or the ingredients below if you can’t buy Goya Discos in your grocery store’s freezer section)
- 2 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon salt
- Pinch granulated sugar
- ¾ cup unsalted butter melted
- ½ cup cold water
Filling
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1 medium onion diced
- 3 garlic cloves minced
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- ¼ teaspoon ground kashmiri chili
- 1½ pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts cooked and shredded
- 4 oz can of diced green chiles
- 1 cup peas
- 1 cup corn
- 1 tablespoon lime juice
- 5 oz spinach
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1 pound of shredded colby jack cheese
Topping
- 1 egg beaten
Full Video Tutorial
Preparation:
Filling:
- Drizzle the oil in a large pan over medium-low heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until golden and caramelized, 15-20 minutes. Add the garlic and the seasonings: paprika, cumin, and kashmiri chili and cook until just fragrant, 30 seconds to 1 minute.
- Stir in the shredded chicken, green chilis, peas, corn, spinach, salt, and black pepper. Stir till the spinach is wilted. Add the water, bring to a simmer, and cook, uncovered, until most of the water has evaporated, 20-30 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool to room temperature. At this point, the filling can be refrigerated until the next day if desired.
Assemble/Bake
- Preheat oven to 425˚ F (the video will say 350° F, but after further testing, 425° F creates a crispier, flakier crust for the Goya discos in just 25 minutes). Line two baking sheets with parchment or lightly grease.
- On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough into a thin sheet. Use 4 ¾ inch circular cutter to cut out circles of dough.
- Place about 2 tablespoons of the cooled chicken mixture in the center of each circle. Top with about 1 tablespoon of shredded monterey jack cheese. Fold the dough over the filling, and press the edges together to seal.
- Seal completely creating a rope appearance by pulling the edge out slightly and folding over, starting from one end and finishing at the opposite side. Repeat with remaining empanadas.
- Place the empanadas two inches apart on the prepared baking sheets. Brush the tops with beaten egg and bake until golden, 20-25 minutes.
Kitchen Items used in this recipe
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| Fullstar Vegetable Chopper | Presto Salad Shooter | Meat Cleaver | SENZER Gravity Electric Salt and Pepper Grinder Set |
