What's for dinner? Hey, everyone I'm Chef Zee and welcome
back to my channel - Chef Zee Cooks! Today, I'm going to be showing you how to make some
Chicken Empanadas. And, guess what? I'm gonna be showing you how to make it two different ways
because you guys know I love showing you a variety of different things. So fun fact, we will be
making Chicken Empanadas, but we're also going to be making Chicken Pastelitos. Now comment
down below and let me know are you more of an empanada type of person or pastelitos the type
of person like me. I am partial to pastelitos because that's what I grew up eating. That's how
my grandmother used to make them and by the way, for the sake of today's videos, the pastelitos
are the round ones, which actually take two layers of dough whereas the empanadas, which is
what my fiance actually prefers are the Halfmoon ones. And they're the ones that you typically
find all the time in restaurants. Like always, stay tuned until the very end of the video where
I like to share some tips and tricks to help you guys nail these recipes perfectly each and every
single time. Let's go ahead and get started! I love making chicken empanadas and pastelitos
for get-togethers and the holidays. We're gonna start off by seasoning the chicken with some fresh
onions, some green and red peppers, some mashed up garlic, which is going to release its wonderful
flavor. We're also going to add some Dominican oregano, a touch of cumin, some sazon, light
sodium soy sauce, and we're also going to add some kosher salt and some fresh black pepper. Keep
in mind that you can definitely use adobo or your favorite seasoning salt if that's what you have
on hand. We're also going to add some olive oil to help bring this marinade together and of course we
can't forget the fresh limes. Now what we're doing here is pretty much seasoning some chicken breasts
and make pechuga guisada which is a version of for pollo guisado. And you guys know that I
have a couple of recipes here on my channel. It definitely goes into more detail so go ahead
and check those videos out if you haven't already done so. We're now going to mix everything until
it's well combined and you want to let it marinate for at least 20 minutes or even overnight. We're
now going to set our flames to about medium-high, and we're also going to add some olive oil. And
once the olive oil gets nice and hot, we're going to add the chicken. And we want to make sure that
it browns evenly on all sides. Now keep in mind that when making the filling for the empanadas
you definitely want to cut the chicken into about medium sized pieces. If you cut it too small, the
chicken will dry out. And if you cut it too big, then you run the risk of the chicken not fitting
into your empanadas. We're going to mix everything because like I mentioned before, we want to make
sure that it browns evenly on all sides. And once it's browned, we're going to go ahead and we're
going to add some water along with any leftover marinade. Because now we're going to stir the
chicken, and it's going to build flavor and get super juicy. So once the sauce begins to bubble,
we want to go ahead and add some tomato paste and just work that into the sauce and the sauce will
actually begin to thicken as it cooks. Now once the sauce has thickened just a little bit, we
want to go ahead and add some olives which is totally optional, but if you're no stranger here
on my channel, then you know I love olives. Do keep an eye on the chicken because the sauce will
thicken considerably and we don't want it to dry out because that sauce is actually going to play
a major role in our filling. So once the sauce has thickened up, we want to go ahead and take
the chicken out because we're now going to start shredding the chicken to make the filling for our
chicken empanadas. Now there's a few ways that you can actually shred the chicken. I personally
like to shred the chicken using two forks, but you can definitely use tongs or you could even
use your hands. The hardest part about shredding the chicken is actually resisting the urge of
not eating at all because it is so tasty. And if you make this filling ahead of time, it will
actually taste even better because those flavors have really had a chance to settle and develop.
In fact, that's honestly what I do most of the time. So once we've shredded all of our chicken,
we actually want to go ahead and very gently toss it back into the sauce. And now that the sauce
has cooled, you can see that it has thickened considerably and you want the sauce to be fairly
thick because if it's too runny then you run the risk of it oozing out whenever you're making the
empanadas and that's something that you definitely don't want because it's only going to be messy.
So once you've coated all of the shredded chicken in that sauce, we're gonna go ahead and start
making our yummy empanadas. So first things first, you want to take some all-purpose flour and you
want to very gently just put it all over your work surface. And we're now going to roll out
our empanada disk. Now keep in mind that this is something completely optional. I just like to roll
it out a little bit on the thinner side because I love an empanada that's really nice, light, and
airy. And if you want to learn how to make your own empanada disk and your empanada dough from
scratch, go ahead and check out my video where I walk you through on how to make empanada dough
two different ways. Now when making some chicken empanadas, you want to be fairly generous with
your filling. And just to make sure that it's going to seal and not open up when you're frying
them. I like to take some water and just put it along the edges, and then I like to fold the
dough over press down pretty hard releasing any possible air bubbles as I'm doing it. and then
I take a fork, and I press it down, and you get those classic empanadas. Now you can definitely
stop right here, but because I'm a perfectionist, I like to go in with a pizza cutter and just
perfectly round out the edges to get that perfect Halfmoon shape. Keep in mind, that this is totally
optional and not something that you have to do. Again, I just like to do it because I like to make
sure that all my empanadas look nice and uniform. Now you can also make some chicken pastelitos
and this is how my grandmother used to actually make it. And all it is is, that you're taking
one piece of dough you're rolling it out again, optional but I do like it a little bit thinner,
and once you've rolled out the two pieces of dough we're actually going to take a healthy serving
of the filling and we're going to place it in the center. And just like before, we want to make
sure to seal those edges just by adding some water. And this is not something that you have to
do. I just like to do it just to make sure that it's definitely going to seal. Then we're going
to take that second piece of the empanada dough and we're going to place it over top being
sure to release any possible air bubbles. And then we're also going to take the fork
and we're going to create those indentations like we did earlier. Now as I mentioned
earlier, just with the Halfmoon empanadas, you can definitely stop right here and this will
definitely make for a yummy pastelito. But because your girl is a perfectionist, I like to go in with
a cookie cutter that's about three to three and a half inches in diameter, and I like to cut out
the excess dough so that I get a perfect circle and all my pastelitos are the same size. Now you
can make bigger pastelitos. You can make bigger empanadas and it's totally up to you! We're now
going to set our flame to medium high and we're going to fry up our pastelitos and empanadas. And
you want to make sure that the oil is nice and hot just so that the pastelitos don't get too oily
afterwards. You want to go in and you want to flip them over because all we're doing is frying them
until they're golden brown. Now you may have an empanada that's a little stubborn like I have here
so you may have to manually hold it down, which is totally fine. It's just part of the process.
So once those pastelitos are perfectly fried, we're gonna take them out, and we're going
to drain the excess oil onto a paper towel. So there you guys have it, my recipe for some
Chicken Empanadas. If you have any questions, comment down below and until next
week I'm Chef Zee y buen provecho! Alright guys, here are some quick tips and tricks
to help you get these Chicken Empanadas perfect each and every single time! For my first tip, make
sure that you don't make your chicken filling too runny either by adding too much tomato sauce,
tomato paste, or even oil. Now if you make your filling too runny you actually run the risk of it
oozing out when you're cooking it. And, honestly, it makes a huge mess and that's something that
you definitely don't want. For my second tip, feel free to make your filling ahead of time no
more than two or three days. Now the benefit of actually making your filling ahead of time is
that it tastes so much better because those flavors have had a chance to settle and you can
also use some leftover pollo guisado and just use the boneless bits and pieces. And, again it tastes
amazing! For my third tip, feel free to roll out the dough as thick or as thin as you like it. Now
I am going to sound like a broken record because this is something that I'm going to say in all of
my empanadas and pastelitos videos. I personally like to roll out my dough a little bit thinner
than what you normally see and that's because I love pastelitos that are nice, light, and airy.
Because, honestly I get to eat a ton of it. When you roll out the dough a little bit thicker, it
takes a little bit longer to cook which isn't a problem. And number two, I personally get full
after my second empanada. Between me and you, I like to have more than two empanadas. Now for
my fourth and final tip, you can also make your empanadas as big or as small as you like it.
I am known for making little mini empanadas so whenever you go to a party and you have a
mini empanada you know that Zee made it! Now I go into so much more detail as to the different
ways that you can make the disc and roll it out and cut it yourself in my empanada dough video so
go ahead and check it out if you haven't already. Thank you guys so much for watching today's
video. Be sure to join the Chef Zee family and click that bell so that you're notified each
and every single time I post an all new video and if you need some inspiration as to what
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