A Masa De Empanadilla is one of the most versatile recipes to learn how to make anything from appetizers that you can serve as party food or even desserts. You only need a few everyday ingredients you probably already have at home.!
This Masa de Empanadilla is the Puerto Rican version of an empanada dough. This is a recipe that is deeply rooted in Puerto Rican culture.
It has simple ingredients like flour, water, salt, and shortening. We also add an achiote oil recipe to give the dough flavor and color. When the masa cooks, it gets flaky, and crispy and is just simply delicious.
This masa de empanadilla is what is used to make empanadillas, pastelillos and much more. I love making Puerto Rican empanadillas de pizza or cheese dogs with this recipe and enjoy a refreshing virgin pina colada!
It is a great recipe because where I live I can no longer find the masa usually made by the brands Kikuet or Titan. Now I make the masa at home!
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Why This Recipe Works
- You can make many savory dishes like the Puerto Rican taquitos (not like the Mexican ones). You can also make sweet desserts like pastelillos with Puerto Rican salsa de guayaba and cream cheese.
- The fillings for this are endless. The most popular one is the boricua style carne molida but you can use leftovers from a roasted whole chicken or any filling you like!
Ingredients
- All-purpose flour- I used all-purpose flour no particular brand preferred.
- Salt- I use ½ teaspoon to lightly season. You can add herbs to infuse more flavor into your dough.
- Vegetable shortening- The shortening is key to giving the dough a soft consistency. If you want to add more flavor to your dough you can substitute it with lard.
- Achiote Oil- This is the responsible one for giving the dough a beautiful golden color, you can learn more about what achiote is. You can use vegetable oil if you can’t find achiote oil and add a sazon packet for color.
- Water- I always use room-temperature water. No need for cold or boiling water.
How To Make Masa de Empanadillas
- Photo 1: The first step is to mix all the dry ingredients. Then add the shortening and mix it in until there are no visible lumps in the dough. You can do this by hand or with a dough mixer. Then add the water and mix.
- Photo 2: Add the achiote oil and knead the dough for about 10 minutes. Cover the dough with plastic wrap and let it rest for 30 minutes.
- Photo 3: On a lightly floured surface, roll all the dough until thin or about ⅛ of an inch thick. The thinner the dough, the crispier and flaky it will be. If your dough is thicker it will have a more bread-like consistency.
- Photo 4: Take a plate, or any round dish large enough to cut the dough. Reroll any dough left and repeat until there’s no more left. Store by placing each disk on top of parchment or wax paper to avoid sticking. Then you can wrap it in plastic and put it away.
A Different Way of Shaping The Empanadilla Disks
- Cut the dough in half. Then cut each half into 6 pieces. I like to weigh the dough for accuracy but is not necessary. Lightly flour your surface and roll out each disk. Then store as instructed. This method serves well when you want to make perfect circles.
Recipe Tips
- The best way to cook any recipe made with this masa de empanadilla by frying because it makes a crispy crust. You can also make this by air frying or baking but don’t forget to do an eggwash on them first.
- You can freeze the masa for up to 3 months and keep it in your fridge for up to 5 days. If it smells or tastes rancid, discard it.
Frequently Asked Questions
You will hear many people use the terms empanadilla and empanada interchangeably but they are not always the same. The dough is very similar but depending on the recipe, the empanada sometimes has eggs. Another major difference is that empanadillas are always fried, at least the Puerto Rican empanadillas. But you must know that some people call empanadillas Puerto Rican empanadas.
The best thing is that for this recipe you don’t need a mixer or much equipment at all besides a rolling pin. Even if you don’t have a rolling pin you can still make this recipe. Listen, I have even used a wine bottle to roll the dough. So use anything you have at home. The good thing is that you’ll have fewer dishes to wash afterward.
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Masa de Empanadillas
Ingredients
- 3 cups all purpose flour 408g
- 2 tablespoons vegetable shortening
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup warm water
- 1 tablespoon achiote oil
Instructions
- In a large bowl add the flour, salt, and shortening. Mix the shortening in the flour with a dough blender or with your hands. Do this until you no longer feel big lumps in your mix. Add the water and mix.
- Add the achiote oil and mix to evenly distribute the color. Knead the dough for 10 minutes
- Cover the dough with plastic wrap and let it rest for 30 minutes.
- Lightly flour a surface and roll the dough to ⅛th of an inch thick. Use a 6-inch round cutter or a small plate and cut out the empanadilla disks. Make a ball with the leftover dough and roll it again and cut. Repeat the process until you've done all the disks.
- Place each disk on wax or parchment paper. Then wrap all the disks in plastic film and transfer them to an airtight container or a freezer bag.
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Recipe Notes
- You can use regular oil if you don’t have achiote oil or simply don’t want any coloring in your dough. Or you can also use lard.
- If you still want to give the dough color but don’t have achiote, you can use food coloring.
Stephenie says
I have to agree that the hardest part is making perfect circles. A good solution is stretching the dough then cutting with a big biscuit cutter. But in reality they don’t have to be perfect. Thank you for trying the recipe
Sandra D says
I made these tonight after my Goya discs were rancid. I filled them with shrimp and they were delish. The hardest part is stretching them in a perfect circle(mine weren’t). Thanks for the recipe!