Gluten Free Empanadas with Chicken, Chile and Lime

Flaky buttery gluten free pie crust forming the hand pie or savory pop tart you need

Sep 27, 2022

Flaky buttery pastry crust is such a joy, often relegated to dessert, but why? There are so many beautiful vegetables in your garden and bits of leftover roasted chicken in the fridge screaming for a new life, why not wrap them in pastry? I must admit, working out the level of tender flake, combined with the strength needed to hold in all that savory goodness is a TALL order for gluten free baking, but after many years of trial & error, here is the recipe that I love, I hope you will too. It is so buttery and flaky, get ready to be blown away.

I like to make big batches of empanadas for a party or gathering, you can make these chicken empanadas, maybe a veggie version with mushrooms and potatoes, or black beans and chiles, but make more than you think you need, a flaky pocket of goodnesss is hard to resist, and people are going to want more than one.

Even more than parties I love to make these for future lunches. Stashed in a freezer bag or filed away in an airtight box in the freezer, these are a fantastic treat on a weekday, heat them up in an air-fryer or pan, they travel well in a thermal container for a delicious lunch on the go.

Make sure your filling is cooled before shaping the empanadas, if it is warm the butter will melt and you’ll have difficulty keeping the dough together, it also won’t have that irresistible flake. If you feel that your kitchen is hot and the dough is getting too warm just pop everything in the fridge for 10 minutes or the freezer for 5 at any time in the process, then just proceed as normal. My naturally greedy tendency means that I am constantly tempted to overfill these, don’t! Cramming them full will only lead to leaks and explosions while cooking, just make extra and indulge in 2!

Gluten Free Empanadas
with Chicken Green Chile and Lime
yield: 8 empanadas

For the filling:
1 lb boneless skinless chicken thighs, trimmed
2 garlic cloves
Juice of 1 lime
1 cup (2 small cans) canned diced green chiles or in season (now!) chopped mild roasted green chiles
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp kosher salt

For the crust:
1 ½ cups (210g) gluten free one to one flour such as King Arthur Measure for Measure or Bob’s Red Mill 1 to 1 gluten free flour
½ tsp chipotle powder or other good chile powder
½ tsp (3g) xanthan gum
½ (3g) tsp psyllium husk powder (or the equivalent weight of psyllium husk)
1 tsp(4g) salt
¾ cup(170g) cold butter (or dairy free stick butter)
1 large egg, beaten
1 (16g) Tb apple cider vinegar
¼-1/3 cup (or more) ice water

Put the all of the filling ingredients into a medium saucepot and bring to a simmer. Pop the lid on and cook over medium low until chicken is cooked through, about 30 minutes. (This step can also be done in a crockpot if desired.) Remove from heat and let cool. Move to a bowl once cool, remove excess liquid, and shred chicken.

Mix the flour, xanthan, psyllium, chile powder and salt together in a bowl. Grate the cold butter on the large side of a cheese grater. With a fork gently mix the butter shreds into the flour mixture.

Beat the egg with the vinegar, add to the dry mixture. Stir and drizzle in the cold water until the dough comes together and is cohesive, it should be about as sticky as a post-it note. Form into a disk and wrap in plastic wrap for at least 10 minutes.

Roll the chilled empanada dough into a large rectangle, on parchment. Using a large round cookie cutter, cut circles out of the dough.

Heat the oven to 450F. Place 3 Tb mounds of cool shredded chicken mixture into the middle of each circle. Wet your fingertips with water and rub the edges of the circle and fold the circle to form a halfmoon shape. Pinch the edges together to seal and crimp the edges with a flour coated fork. Poke holes in each empanada with the same fork to let steam out and line them up on 2 parchment coated sheetpans 2 inches apart.

Bake the empanadas in the preheated oven for 30-35 minutes the crust is lightly tan.