Empanadas (Shredded Chicken and Spinach & Cheese)

Help us decide which filling is the winner— Cheese and spinach? Or shredded chicken?

I love both 😍

Ingredients

Shredded Chicken Empanada

• 1/2 Trader Joe's Pizza dough

• 1/2 white onion

• 4 mini bell peppers

• ~3 cups cooked shredded chicken

• 1 tbsp bouillon

• 2 tsp cayenne pepper

• 1 can tomato paste

• Cooking spray or oil

• Egg wash - 1 egg and 1 tbsp water

Spinach and Cheese Empanada

• 1/2 Trader Joe's Pizza dough

• 1/2 white onion

• A ton of spinach - it'll cook down so add however much you want

• 1-1.5 cups cheddar cheese (or any other type of cheese you want)

• 1/8th of the carmelized onion cheddar cheese at TJs (not necessary, you can use what you have at home but we loved the taste this added!)

• Cooking spray or oil

• Egg wash - 1 egg and 1 tbsp water

Dips

• Guacamole

• Trader Joe's chili onion dip

• Mayo-Siracha dip
  

Process

1. Dice onion and bell peppers. Saute half the onion in one pot, and the other half in another. Add bell peppers to the first pot (that will be the shredded chicken one). Keep on medium-high heat for 5-10 minutes or until the onions are golen brown.

2. Shredded chicken: Add the chicken, bouillon, cayenne pepper, and tomato paste. Cook on medium heat for another 5-10 minutes.

3. Spinach and Cheese: Add the spinach and cheese. Stir until the cheese has melted and the spinach is cooked. I added more spinach multiple times when cooking because it shrinks down significantly.

4. Roll out the Trader Joe's pizza dough into approximately 15, 2-inch diameter balls of dough. Take a ball, roll it out into a circle, add a filling. Close the empanada by taking one half of the dough and folding it over the other. Use a fork to shut the fold, pressing down on the dough to make striped indents.

5. Two options for cooking the empanadas: if you want to bake them: preheat the oven to 400ºF. Put the empanadas on an oiled cookie sheet. Create an egg wash and coat each empanada. Cook for 20 minutes or until golden brown. If you want to fry them: in a pot or pan, pour oil. On medium-high heat, add each empanada and let fry for 3-5 minutes each side, or until browned.

6. We ate this with 3 dip options: we made guac (avocado, olive oil, salt, pepper, lemon), mayo sriracha sauce (1/4 cup mayo and 2 tbsp sriracha or hot sauce), and the TJ's Chili Onion Crunch. I liked the mayo siracha best! But all were great