Halal-conscious recipe
Beef empanadas without chorizo
Baked beef empanadas with a butter pastry instead of lard, Halal beef mince, and Halal beef chorizo or extra mince in place of pork chorizo.
Each method follows published technique for the dish, and every Halal substitution is checked against the ingredient pages we cite. Photographs come from our ingredient library rather than the finished dish.
Why Halal checks matter here
Empanada dough is often made with lard, a popular filling mixes in pork chorizo, and the beef is only Halal if it was slaughtered the Halal way.
Empanadas are pastry turnovers from Spain and Latin America, and two things decide whether one is Halal: the fat in the dough and the filling. Many doughs are made with lard, and BBC Good Food's beef empanadas mix pork chorizo into the beef for its smoky, paprika-red fat.
This version keeps that recipe's butter pastry, so there is no lard to replace, and swaps the chorizo for 100 g more Halal beef mince. The smoked paprika, cumin and chilli flakes are already in the filling, so it keeps the chorizo's colour and much of its flavour. If you can find a beef chorizo with a Halal certifier's mark, use it in place of 100 g of the mince. The beef itself needs Halal slaughter (see beef).
Keep the pastry cold and the filling cool before you fill the discs, or the butter melts and the edges won't seal. The empanadas page covers what to ask when you buy them.
Halal-critical ingredients
- Chorizo Ordinary chorizo is pork sausage, and the original filling mixes 100 g of it into the beef. Use more Halal beef mince, or a beef chorizo with a Halal certifier's mark. See Chorizo.
- Lard in the pastry Many empanada doughs are made with lard, which is pork fat. This pastry uses butter. When buying empanadas, ask which fat is in the dough. See Lard and Empanadas.
- Beef mince Beef is Halal only from Halal slaughter. Buy from a Halal butcher or a certified pack. See Beef.
Safe substitutes
- Pork chorizo → More Halal beef mince, or Halal-certified beef chorizo
- Lard → Butter
Allergens
gluten (flour), milk (butter), egg
Ingredients
Pastry
- 375 g (3 cups) plain flour
- 6 g (1 tsp) salt
- 220 g (1 cup) chilled unsalted butter, chopped (not lard)
- 100 g (2 large) eggs, beaten (keep a little for brushing)
- 100 ml (⅓ cup + 1 tbsp) cold water
Filling
- 400 g (14 oz) Halal beef mince, plus 100 g more in place of the chorizo
- 150 g (1 large) onion, chopped
- 15 g (½ small pack) coriander, finely chopped
- 15 g (½ small pack) parsley, finely chopped
- 5 g (2 tsp) smoked paprika
- 4 g (2 tsp) ground cumin
- 2 g (1 tsp) chilli flakes
- 32 g (2 tbsp) tomato purée
- 100 g (3½ oz) optional Halal-certified beef chorizo, skinned, in place of 100 g of the mince
Nutrition per serving
Estimated for 1 of 16 empanadas.
| Calories | 260 kcal |
|---|---|
| Fat | 17 g |
| of which saturates | 9 g |
| Carbohydrate | 20 g |
| of which sugars | 1 g |
| Fibre | 1 g |
| Protein | 8 g |
| Sodium | 180 mg |
Calculated from the metric quantities in the ingredient list, divided by 16, using USDA FoodData Central values for each raw ingredient. Cooking losses aren't modelled and brands differ, so these are estimates, not a lab analysis.
Not counted: optional Halal-certified beef chorizo (optional).
Where the list offers a choice, the first option is counted.
Mince is counted as 20% fat (USDA 80/20 ground beef).
How each ingredient was counted
| Ingredient | USDA food | Counted |
|---|---|---|
| plain flour | Wheat flour, white, all-purpose, enriched, bleached | 375 g |
| salt | Salt, table | 6 g |
| chilled unsalted butter | Butter, without salt | 220 g |
| eggs | Egg, whole, raw, fresh | 100 g |
| cold water | Beverages, water, tap, drinking | 100.1 g |
| Halal beef mince | Beef, ground, 80% lean meat / 20% fat, raw | 400 g |
| onion | Onions, raw | 150 g |
| coriander | Coriander (cilantro) leaves, raw | 15 g |
| parsley | Parsley, fresh | 15 g |
| smoked paprika | Spices, paprika | 5 g |
| ground cumin | Spices, cumin seed | 4 g |
| chilli flakes | Spices, pepper, red or cayenne | 2 g |
| tomato purée | Tomato products, canned, paste, without salt added | 32 g |
Method
- Make the pastry. Tip the flour into a bowl with the salt and rub in the butter with your fingertips until crumbly. Add most of the beaten egg and the cold water, bring it together into a dough and knead briefly on a floured surface until smooth. Wrap and chill for 20 minutes.
- Cook the filling. Mix the mince (with the Halal beef chorizo, if using) with the onion, coriander, parsley, paprika, cumin and chilli flakes. Cook in a frying pan over a medium heat for 2 minutes, add the tomato purée and cook for 7 to 10 minutes more until cooked through. Leave to cool.
- Fill and seal. Heat the oven to 180°C (160°C fan). Divide the dough into four, roll each piece out thinly and cut 10 cm discs. Put a spoonful of filling in the middle of each disc, wet the edges, fold in half and crimp with a fork.
- Bake. Lay the empanadas on a lined baking tray, brush with the rest of the egg and bake for about 20 minutes until golden. Cool for 5 minutes before serving.
How this recipe was researched
Method adapted from BBC Good Food's 'Beef & chorizo empanadas' (butter pastry with egg, a spiced beef and chorizo filling with herbs and tomato purée, 10 cm discs folded and crimped, brushed with egg and baked for 20 minutes). We replaced its 100 g of cooking chorizo with Halal beef mince (or a Halal-certified beef chorizo) and specified Halal beef; its pastry already uses butter, not lard. Timings follow the published technique rather than a kitchen test.
Technique and ingredient sources
-
Beef & chorizo empanadas — BBC Good Food
Retrieved:
Makes 16: 375 g plain flour, 220 g butter, 2 eggs, 100 g cooking chorizo, 300 g beef mince, onion, coriander, parsley, smoked paprika, cumin, chilli flakes, tomato purée; 10 cm discs baked 20 minutes at 180°C (160°C fan). We replaced the chorizo with Halal beef.
-
Empanadas analysis — isithalal.food
Retrieved:
Dough fat and filling checks for empanadas.