Name: Empanadas (porteñas, salteñas, tucumanas) (Buenos Aires style)
Prep time: 45 min
Total time: 2 h
Yield: 16
Cuisine: Argentine
Ingredients: 16 empanada discs (10cm), or homemade dough; 500g beef chuck, hand-cut into 1cm dice; 1 large white onion, finely diced; 1 red bell pepper, finely diced; 2 hard-boiled eggs, chopped; 100g green olives, pitted and chopped; 2 tablespoons raisins (optional, porteño style); 2 tablespoons paprika; 1 tablespoon ground cumin; 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes; 60g beef fat or butter; Salt and pepper; 1 egg, beaten, for egg wash

Empanadas (porteñas, salteñas, tucumanas) — Photo: Horacio Cambeiro · CC BY-SA 4.0

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 ★ 4.7

$Street foodRecoleta

Recoleta empanada institution since 1976. Salteña, tucumana and cuyana empanadas baked or fried, tamales and winter locro; family-owned three generations.

OrderSalteña and tucumana empanadas

Directions View

Feria de Mataderos ★ 4.5

$Street foodMataderos

Sunday Mataderos fair on the old livestock-yard plazas. Provincial empanadas, asado off open coals, winter locro, tamales; gaucho displays alongside.

OrderProvincial empanadas, locro, asado

Directions View

La Cocina ★ 4.3

$Street foodRecoleta

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.

OrderTucumana empanadas

Directions View

El Hornero Tucumano ★ 4.0

$Street foodBalvanera

Balvanera counter specialising in the Tucuman regional canon: hand-formed empanadas of cuchillo-cut beef, humitas en chala and tamales. Cheap, fast, packed.

OrderTucumana empanadas and humitas

Directions View

Learn to cook it, or eat it with a guide

Empanadas (porteñas, salteñas, tucumanas) makes more sense with someone from Buenos Aires explaining it. These are the classes and tours we have checked, with booking links.

Taste Empanadas (porteñas, salteñas, tucumanas) with a local in Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires by Nomad Food Tours: The Porteño Edit.

This dish

Guided tour · 3.5 hours

Buenos Aires by Nomad Food Tours: The Porteño Edit.

Discover the flavors of Buenos Aires on a guided food tour in Palermo. Taste local specialties like empanadas and grilled beef, and learn about the city's food culture...

from$105 Check dates