Vegan Empanadas Recipe

Name: Vegan Empanadas Recipe
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 40 min
Total time: 60 min
Ingredients: 3/4 cup onion (- finely diced); 3/4 cup green bell pepper (- finely diced); 1/2 cup mild pepper such as an Anaheim chlil pepper (- finely diced, one pepper); 1 tablespoon chipotle pepper adobo sauce (- finely chopped); 2 cloves garlic (- minced); 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano; 1/2 teaspoon paprika; 1 teaspoon chia seed; 8 ounces tomato sauce (- 1 small can); 1 1/2 pounds mushrooms (- button mushrooms); 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil; 3 cups whole wheat flour; 1 teaspoon salt; 1/2 teaspoon baking powder; 1/2 teaspoon baking soda; 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil; 1 cup warm water

Published: February 18, 2024. Last Updated: May 7, 2024 by: Ginny McMeans

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This Vegan Empanada Recipe has the best filling & comes with a homemade empanada dough recipe. It's an easy, delectable dough filled with sautéd mushrooms, sofrito & more. For vegetarians and non-vegans, too.

You may already know that I am from the southwest, and I grew up on Mexican-style food with lots of variety and flavor.

Well, mushroom empanadas are a fantastic dish, but they are not offered too often in restaurants, so you need to make them yourself.

Truly, you need to make them. They are that good.

My first experience with homemade empanadas was when I lived in Georgia for a couple of years.

There weren't even any tortillas in my little town. So, I pulled out my old Mexican cuisine cookbook and made the homemade dough myself.

Wow, it's better than store-bought. I quickly moved on to empanadas with no problem at all.

Table of Contents

Sofrito

Below is a photo of small diced onions and green bell pepper just starting to be sauteed for the sofrito.

Overhead view of small diced white onions and green bell peppers are in an oblong frying pan and just starting to saute.

Sofrito is just an easy word to describe the mix of bell peppers, onions, and tomatoes.

The mushrooms are sauteed and combined with sofrito as well as a clean and refreshing tomato sauce.

Easy cooking is at your fingertips. These empanadas will not fall short in any way.

Homemade empanada dough

You can buy the ready-made flour discs, or discos as they are called on the Mexican packaging, or go with my easy homemade recipe for the dough.

The dough really is a simple recipe and it adds so much. That is what really pushes the empanadas over the top. Just like they would serve in good restaurants.

Let me give you a quick peek at how I handle the empanada dough before they are rolled out. It's on a plate for the photo but I cut it on a cutting board first.

Looking down at the dough triangles for 12 sections with a pastry cutter on the side.

Tomato sauce mixes in perfectly and ties all of the ingredients together.

These empanadas are wonderful to take on a picnic, too, because they don't need to be hot to be enjoyed.

Dough comment

I love it when people take the time to leave comments on my recipes. It is so kind of them and it truly does help the readers understand more about the recipe. Not to mention it makes me feel really good. 🙂

Here is one such comment:

That's a wonderful empanada dough!! We've lived in Mexico, Argentina, L.A. and Chile; and we have had 1000 empanadas, but the dough of this recipe is the Tops!! We made it in the oven instead of fried. 12 min at 200 Celsius. Filled with Scarola Italian salad, olives, onion, and vegan homemade cheddar. Delicious!! Thank you!

So now you can see that Empanadas can be vegan everywhere. If you google the word empanada or look on pinterest you'll see they are enjoyed all over the world such as Spain, Argentina, Columbia, Puerto Rico, and Mexico.

Can you bake empanadas

You can also see from that comment that you can bake empanadas and fill the dough with just about anything you like.

It's not traditional to bake but if you do, 200 Celsius is 392 degrees F. So bake at 375 degrees for about 15 to 20 minutes or 400 degrees for about 10 minutes. I'd go for 375 degrees.

Helpful tools

As in the photo above, a pastry scraper makes life easier. Just push down for perfect slices. I use this a lot when I go to cut my seitan into nuggets also.
Do you know I've moved and I can't find this skillet? But even at that stainless steel skillets are at the top of my favorite skillets to use.

Ingredients

Mushroom filling

Onion is the best base for so many recipes. They cook up sweet and taste great.
Green bell pepper sautes to a sweeter consistency than from when it is raw and adds a lot of flavors.
Anaheim chili pepper adds another nice spicy taste.
Chipotle pepper adobo sauce is a very spicy addition that is just right for this recipe.
Garlic - has a pungent flavor but when used sparingly it is delicious.
Dried oregano is aromatic and has an earthy flavor.
Paprika - has a mild flavor but does add some flavoring and it has a beautiful color that can change the look of the dish.
Chia seed - adds protein and nutrients for these empanadas.
Tomato sauce adds a wonderful flavor to tie all of the vegetables together.
Button mushrooms -are the perfect earthy tasting foil.
Extra virgin olive oil adds flavor and aids in sauteeing.

Homemade empanada dough

Whole wheat flour adds fiber, nutrients, and taste and is the main base for the dough.
Salt is the perfect understated seasoning.
Baking powder helps the dough rise nicely.
Baking soda is a leavening agent.
Extra virgin olive oil adds flavor and aids in sauteeing.
Warm water

Instructions

Make the filling first

Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a skillet over medium heat and add the onion, bell pepper and Anaheim chili. Saute until the onion is translucent - about 15 minutes.
Add garlic, chipotle pepper in adobo sauce and the seasonings.
Cook 5 more minutes.
Add the tomato sauce and cook 5 more minutes.
If you are using the chia seed add it now. This is great for adding protein for the empanadas.
Remove from heat and set aside.
In another large skillet heat another tablespoon of oil to medium-low.

Three empanadas broken open show rich mushroom stuffing inside with more packets on the left and filling in a bowl on the right.

Add the mushroom and saute for about 20 minutes. If your mushrooms don't fit in the pan at first - that's okay. They cook down by about half. Don't stir to start with.
After the mushrooms in the pan have cooked a little while (about 10 minutes) you will see you have more room.
Now add the rest of the mushrooms. Continue sautéing. If they all fit in the pan to start with, then fine.
You will see that a lot of liquid is in the pan. Pour what you can off and continue cooking another 5 minutes or so. You don't want all that liquid in your empanada dough.
When the mushrooms are done and the liquid is poured off then go ahead and add the onion and pepper and tomato mixture (that is sofrito).
Stir all together and set aside to cool down for stuffing the dough rounds.

Extreme closeup photo of three savory fried dough pastries showing their mushroom filling inside. Text above for pinning.

Making the dough

Try to make the homemade dough if you can. You can buy the pre-made empanada discs but the delicious homemade dough is included in the recipe card.
Add all of the dry ingredients to a large bowl.
Pour in the oil and warm water.
You can mix this with a wooden spoon or a hand mixer. It doesn't take long to come together.
Pour out onto a lightly floured surface and knead about 50 - 60 times.
Form into a ball and lightly cover with a little bit more oil. You don't want it to dry out. Lay a dishtowel over the ball and let rest 10 minutes.
Cut the ball in half and then cut those in half again. Then each into thirds so that you have 12 sections. Just like in the photo shown above.

Rolling the dough

Form each section into a ball and flatten out onto a lightly floured surface. Use a rolling pin to help roll the balls out to about 5-6" in diameter.
Place about ¼ cup of the filling (at the most) in the center of each dough round.
Fold over to make a half circle.
Fold the edges over so that you get a good seal. Sometimes I am able to fold the edge over twice.
Press the tines of a fork, lightly, over the folded edge to make a pretty design but really just to make a better seal.
If you have a deep fryer you can use that for your frying. If not put about 1-½" to 2" depth of oil in a frying pan and heat to 325° to 375°. Coconut oil or extra virgin olive oil are good choices.
A candy thermometer will measure the heat for you if you are using a pan.
Carefully place 2 empanadas into the hot oil and flip when one side turns golden brown. It doesn't even take a minute.
This is why you want to prepare the empanadas first. It goes quickly.
Take out with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels.
Continue until all of the empanadas are done. Ready to eat!

Watch Me Make These Vegan Empanadas

I forgot to tell you about a side dish that would go really well with these empanadas. It's Instant Pot Refried Beans from scratch. Take a peek!

Now serve these two recipes together with a southwest salad and you have a feast! You could even try Mexican Spicy Cauliflower as a side too.

📋 Recipe