These small vegetarian sweet potato black bean empanadas feature a super flaky and delicate crust with a cozy savory-sweet filling. The warm spiced filling is perfect for fall, but would be delicious any time of year. Make these for parties and potlucks or simply for snacking.
(This recipe was originally published in November 2010, but was updated with new photos and content in 2021).
These baked empanadas feature an incredibly flaky and buttery dough which practically melts in your mouth. If you enjoy the texture and flavor of the dough, you could easily use it with other fillings too!
The filling itself is delicious and comforting. It features hearty ingredients like sweet potatoes and black beans, and is tied together with flavorful spices like cumin and coriander. Of course don't forget the onions and garlic!
Empanadas are prevalent throughout Spain and Latin America with many different styles and techniques from the dough to the filling to the cooking method. This recipe for sweet potato black bean empanadas is inspired by Mexican flavors that I enjoy, but is not based on a specific authentic recipe from that country.
Ingredient notes
- Sweet Potato / Yam: Is it a sweet potato or a yam? In the United States the names are often used interchangeably although technically they aren't always used correctly. What you'll want to use for this sweet potato empanada recipe is the thin-skinned sweet potato with orange flesh, but some of my local supermarkets label them as yams.
- Black Beans: I use drained and rinsed canned black beans for convenience, but if you have homemade cooked black beans you can use those too. You'll need a bit less than half a can of black beans for this recipe for sweet potato black bean empanadas.
- Butter: Although using lard would be more traditional in Latin American cooking, I love making this super flaky empanada dough with butter because butter tastes so good. You'll need kind of a lot of butter, 2 whole sticks or 8 ounces. Don't freak out. It's a lot but the dough ends up super flaky and delicate, and it's absolutely worth going the extra mile with the extra calories.
How to make it
Add flour and salt to the bowl of a food processor and pulse until combined. Add cold, cubed butter and pulse until it becomes mealy with pea-sized bits of butte. Next, add egg and pulse until the egg absorbs into the flour.
Remove the dough to a work surface and bring the dough together by hand. Form the dough into a disk, wrap with plastic wrap, and refrigerate until thoroughly chilled, at least 1 hour.
Meanwhile, begin making the filling. Lightly coat the bottom of a sauté pan with olive oil and heat over medium heat. Add chopped sweet potato, salt, pepper, and ground cumin.
Cook for a few minutes, then add water to deglaze any browned bits in the pan and help the potato finish cooking. Cook until lightly browned and tender and all the water has evaporated. Transfer to a bowl.
In the same pan, add more oil and add chopped onion and garlic. Briefly sauté until softened (PHOTO 1). Next, add black beans, ground cumin, ground coriander, chili powder, and salt and pepper, to taste (PHOTO 2). Cook until heated through, and then add water to deglaze the pan.
Cook for a few more minutes, and use the back of a wooden spoon to smash some of the black beans to thicken the mixture (PHOTO 3). When the mixture is somewhat saucy, but thick, remove it from the heat and combine it with the sweet potato (PHOTO 4). Allow the mixture to cool before assembling sweet potato black bean empanadas.
On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough into a rectangle about ⅛-inch thick. Use a 3 ¾-inch round cookie cutter to cut out circles of dough.
Gather the dough scraps, reroll the scraps, and cut out more circles, until you have a total of 24 circles. If the dough circles are warm and soft at this point, return them to the refrigerator to chill for 10 minutes.
Put 1 tablespoon of the filling in the center of each dough circle.
Lightly brush the edges with beaten egg and fold the circles in half to form semi-circles. Using your hands, pinch around the edges of the dough semi-circles to seal. Crimp the edges with the tines of a fork. Transfer to 2 parchment paper-lined baking sheets and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 400°F. Brush egg wash over the tops of the chilled sweet potato empanadas.
Bake for about 25 to 30 minutes, or until golden brown, rotating pans from top to bottom and front to back halfway through. Serve hot, warm, or at room temperature.
Please scroll to the bottom of the post for the full recipe (in a printable recipe card) including ingredient amounts and detailed instructions.
Expert tips
Remove the dough from the refrigerator about 5 to 10 minutes before using to allow it to slightly soften enough to roll out easily. Because there is so much butter in the dough, it will be pretty firm at first. It will also get pretty soft once it comes to room temperature. Chill the circles of dough if needed to keep them from softening too much as you cut them out and assemble them into empanadas.
These empanadas are flakiest on the first day of baking, however you can wrap them in foil and store them at room temperature for a few days. I recommend refreshing them in a 375°F toaster oven or oven for about 5 minutes (or until toasty). This will re-crisp the dough and make them taste almost freshly baked.
The empanada filling is so good it could easily act as a side dish on its own. Feel free to double the sweet potato black bean filling and serve some of it crustless if you'd like.
Papas y frijoles is a popular combination of potatoes and beans in Latin American cuisine. You can swap out the sweet potatoes for regular potatoes to mimic this traditional combo in your empanada filling if you'd like.
Other recipes you may like
- Venezuelan Black Bean and Cheese “Domino” Empanadas
- Ham and Cheese Empanadas
- Argentinian Beef Empanadas Tucumanas (Hand-Cut Beef, Egg, and Green Onion Empanadas)
- Schinkengipfeli (Swiss Ham Croissants)
- Jamaican Beef Patties
- Easy Cheese Borek Recipe (Armenian Cheese Turnovers)
- Pão de Queijo (Brazilian Cheese Bread)
- Mushroom, Black Bean, and Cheese Enchiladas
- Sweet Potato Bread Pudding
Tried this recipe? Please leave a star ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ rating in the recipe card below and/or a review in the comments section further down the page. You can also follow me on social media on Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest!
Sweet Potato Black Bean Empanadas
Ingredients
Crust:
- 2 ½ cups (300 grams) all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 8 ounces (226 grams / 2 sticks) cold unsalted butter, diced
- 2 large eggs, beaten
Filling:
- 4 teaspoons olive oil, divided
- 1 (8 ounce / 225 gram) yam (sweet potato), peeled and chopped into ¼-inch pieces (about 1 ½ cups or 200 grams chopped)
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
- ¾ teaspoon ground cumin, divided
- ½ cup water, divided
- ¼ cup finely chopped onion (½ small onion or 40 grams)
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- ¾ cup (125 grams) drained and rinsed canned black beans
- ¼ teaspoon ground coriander
- ¼ teaspoon chili powder
Assembly:
- Flour, for rolling the dough
- 1 egg, beaten
Instructions
- Add the flour and salt to the bowl of a food processor and pulse twice until combined. Add the butter and pulse until it becomes mealy with pea-sized bits of butter, about 10 times. Next, add the egg and pulse 10 more times until the egg absorbs into the flour, but do not let it form into a ball in the machine.
- Remove the dough to a work surface and bring the dough together by hand. Form the dough into a disk, wrap with plastic wrap, and refrigerate until thoroughly chilled, at least 1 hour.
- Meanwhile, begin making the filling. Lightly coat the bottom of a sauté pan with 2 teaspoons olive oil and heat over medium heat. Add the sweet potato, salt, pepper, and ¼ teaspoon ground cumin. Cook for a few minutes, then add ¼ cup water to deglaze any browned bits in the pan and help the potato finish cooking. Cook for about 10 minutes total until lightly browned and tender and all the water has evaporated. Transfer to a bowl.
- In the same pan, add the remaining 2 teaspoons oil over medium heat and add the onion and garlic and briefly sauté until softened, about 3 minutes. Add the black beans, the remaining ½ teaspoon ground cumin, ground coriander, chili powder, and salt and pepper, to taste. Cook for about 1 to 2 more minutes until heated through, and then add the remaining ¼ cup water to deglaze the pan. Cook for another 3 minutes, and use the back of a wooden spoon to smash some of the black beans to thicken the mixture. When the mixture is somewhat saucy, but thick, remove it from the heat and combine it with the sweet potato. Allow the mixture to cool before assembling empanadas. You will have about 1 ½ cups filling.
- Remove the dough from the refrigerator about 5 to 10 minutes before using to allow it to slightly soften enough to roll out easily. On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough into a rectangle about ⅛-inch thick. Use a 3 ¾-inch round cookie cutter to cut out circles of dough. Gather the dough scraps, reroll the scraps, and cut out more circles, until you have a total of 24 circles. If the dough circles are warm and soft at this point, return them to the refrigerator to chill for 10 minutes.
- Put 1 tablespoon of the filling in the center of each dough circle. Lightly brush the edges with the beaten egg and fold the circles in half to form semi-circles. Reserve the remaining egg wash for brushing on top of the empanadas later. Using your hands, pinch around the edges of the dough semi-circles to seal. Crimp the edges with the tines of a fork. Transfer to 2 parchment paper-lined baking sheets and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
- Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 400°F. Brush the reserved egg wash over the tops of the chilled empanadas, and bake for about 25 to 30 minutes, or until golden brown, rotating pans from top to bottom and front to back halfway through. Serve hot, warm, or at room temperature.
Notes
- These empanadas are flakiest on the first day of baking, however you can wrap them in foil and store them at room temperature for a few days. I recommend refreshing them in a 375°F toaster oven or oven for about 5 minutes (or until toasty). This will re-crisp the dough and make them taste almost freshly baked.
- The empanada filling is so good it could easily act as a side dish on its own. Feel free to double the sweet potato black bean filling and serve some of it crustless if you'd like.
- Papas y frijoles is a popular combination of potatoes and beans in Latin American cuisine. You can swap out the sweet potatoes for regular potatoes to mimic this traditional combo in your empanada filling if you'd like.
Nutrition
*All nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered estimates. Actual nutritional content will vary with brands used, measuring methods, portion sizes and more.*
sheldon s says
I have used your dough recipe many times with other fillings. It is a great dough. I have tried others than involved milk or water and they were not as flaky.
Katie says
Made these empanadas today! They were SO delicious and flaky. This was my first time making empanadas and they were easy to make. They do take a bit of time so it's best to make this recipe on a day when you can have some extra time to spend in the kitchen. But, my family loved them and I will definitely be making them again!