Air Fryer Empanadas With Cheesy Mashed Potatoes & Chorizo
Looking for a quick and easy air fryer recipe? These cheesy mashed potato and chorizo empanadas are super simple to make – and are perfect for using up those leftover holiday mashed potatoes!
Empanadas are a Spanish pastry that are typically filled with a variety of savory ingredients and are baked or fried – and they are SO GOOD. Nothing beats our local Argentinian shop, but this homemade version comes pretty dang close.
The best thing about empanadas is that they can be filled with pretty much anything. I like to make them breakfast style with eggs, ham, & cheese – stuff them with taco meat, or even pie filling for dessert. You can even fill them with bananas and nutella…you’re welcome 🙂
Here’s a quick recipe that I put together using leftover mashed potatoes from the holidays, cheese, and chorizo. This would also be great with cheddar & sour cream or Monterey pepper jack instant mashed potatoes if you don’t have leftovers!
Air Fryer Empanadas With Cheesy Mashed Potatoes & Chorizo
Equipment
- Air Fryer
Ingredients
- 2 Premade Pie Crusts (or a batch of your favorite pie crust recipe)
- 2 cups Leftover Mashed Potatoes or Instant Mashed Potatoes
- 5 oz Chorizo Sausage (substitute with ground beef, ham, or turkey)
- 1/2 cup Shredded Cheddar Cheese
- 1 Egg
Instructions
- Remove the pie crusts from the fridge and let them come to room temperature. In the meantime, brown the chorizo (or other choice of meat) and let cool completely. Mix the cheese into the mashed potatoes.
- Unroll your pie crusts and begin cutting out 4-inch circles using a glass or small bowl. Roll the remaining dough into a ball and roll out the dough to the same thickness as the initial pie crust. Cut more circles and repeat until all the dough is used up (you should get around 12 circles).
- Add the mashed potatoes and meat to one half of the pie crust circle. Fold the circle in half and crimp the edge with a fork.
- In a small bowl, beat the egg together with a tablespoon of water. Grease the bottom of the air fryer with cooking spray or coconut oil to keep the dough from sticking and put the prepared empanadas in the air fryer. Brush the tops with the egg wash.
- Set the air fryer to 350 degrees and fry for 8 minutes. Using tongs, flip the empanadas halfway through cooking and brush them with egg wash.
- Remove the empanadas from the basket and add the next batch until they are all fried. Cover them with a towel to keep warm while the rest are cooking. Serve with sour cream and salsa.
