Hand-shaped pastry pockets stuffed with beef, chicken, ham-and-cheese or humita. Argentina's working lunch and national appetiser, regional variants differ in size, dough, spice and meat cut.
Empanadas arrived with Spanish colonisation in the 1500s and rooted regionally: Salteños fold a juicy beef-and-potato version with cumin; Tucumanos use cuchillo-cut beef and matambre fat; Porteños bake an oven-baked Buenos Aires-style with raisins and olives. El Sanjuanino in Recoleta has shaped them since 1976.
4 editor picks for Empanadas (porteñas, salteñas, tucumanas) in Buenos Aires, ranked by editorial score. All Buenos Aires signature dishes · Empanadas (porteñas, salteñas, tucumanas) across every city.
El Sanjuanino ★ 4.3
recoleta · Posadas 1515, C1011 Buenos Aires
Recoleta empanada institution since 1976. Salteña, tucumana and cuyana empanadas baked or fried, tamales and winter locro; family-owned three generations.
Feria de Mataderos ★ 4.3
mataderos · Avenida Lisandro de la Torre and Avenida de los Corrales, Mataderos, C1440 Buenos Aires
Sunday Mataderos fair on the old livestock-yard plazas. Provincial empanadas, asado off open coals, winter locro, tamales; gaucho displays alongside.
La Cocina ★ 4.2
recoleta · Avenida Pueyrredon 1508, C1118 Buenos Aires
Pueyrredon empanada counter known for tucumana-style empanadas, fried or baked. Famous picante (spicy minced beef with potato); Tue and Thu locro at the bar.
El Hornero Tucumano ★ 4.0
balvanera · Avenida Cordoba 1857, C1120 Buenos Aires
Balvanera counter specialising in the Tucuman regional canon: hand-formed empanadas of cuchillo-cut beef, humitas en chala and tamales. Cheap, fast, packed.