These yummy grain free, baked empanadas are crisp, buttery, and flakey – much like a traditional pie crust – and filled with a savory combination of mushrooms, chiles, and Monterey Jack cheese.
Full disclosure: Grain Free Mushroom & Green Chile Empanadas are not a weeknight recipe unless you have the dough and filling prepared in advance. While it takes a little extra effort, the result is worth it – a crisp, buttery, flakey crust brimming with flavorful mushrooms, chiles and melty cheese, for a grain free, sugar free, vegetarian dinner or part of a perfect party spread. Grain free baking can be a little challenging – my dough recipe is the culmination of trial and error and years of tweaking. Now that I have my reliable dough down, I’ve adapted it and use variations in my sweet and savory recipes, including galettes, hand pies, quiches, and pigs in a blanket. While the dough takes some patience to work with at first, as it doesn’t have any stretch since it lacks gluten and tends to want to stick to your rolling surfaces, any tears repair easily and it is quite forgiving as it bakes. The more you work with this dough, the easier it becomes to use. You’ll want to make these yummy Grain Free Mushroom & Green Chile Empanadas again and again. You’ll end up with about ¾ to 1 cup of mushroom and chile filling leftover – save it to mix in scrambled eggs in the morning or for quesadillas later in the week.
Grain-Free Mushroom & Green Chile Empanadas
Ingredients
Dough:
1 ½ cups superfine blanched almond four (168g)
1 cup + 2 tablespoons tapioca flour (135g), plus additional for dusting
6 tablespoons (84g) unsalted butter, cold, cut into ¼ inch cubes
¼ cup (20g) grated parmesan cheese
½ teaspoon coarse kosher salt
¼ teaspoon freshly ground pepper
5 tablespoons ice water
Filling:
3 tablespoons avocado oil, divided
2 pounds cremini mushrooms, cleaned and sliced
1 medium onion, diced small (about 1 ½ cups)
1 tablespoon minced garlic (about 4 cloves)
2 large jalapeños, finely diced (about ½ cup)
1 teaspoon kosher salt
½ teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
¼ cup dry white wine (alternatively, vegetable stock)
2 – 4 oz cans of mild Hatch green chiles
6 oz Monterey Jack cheese, shredded
For assembly:
Tapioca flour for dusting
1 egg
1 tablespoon cold water
1 tablespoon heavy cream
How to make Grain-Free Mushroom & Green Chile Empanadas
In a medium bowl, combine flours, ¼ cup grated parmesan cheese, ½ teaspoon salt, ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper. With a pastry cutter or two knifes, cut butter into flour until butter is mixed through and mixture looks shaggy. Drizzle 3 tablespoons ice water over dough and stir to combine, working water through mixture, the dough will still be dry and separated. Add fourth tablespoon water and work into dough – there’s no gluten so you don’t need to worry about over working the dough; after the fourth tablespoon of water is worked in, it will start to come together but won’t be fully combined. Add final tablespoon of water and work into the dough, using your muscles ;-), and a smooth ball of dough will start to form, much like a heavy cookie dough or play dough. Form dough into a ball, flatten to a disc, wrap very tightly in two layers of plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 1 hour.
While dough chills, prepare the filling. Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Sauté onions and jalapeño until softened and starting to take on color, about 10 minutes. Increase heat to medium-high, add remaining 1 tablespoon oil and ½ of the sliced mushrooms, stirring until well mixed and mushrooms cook down a bit – about 3 minutes. Add remaining mushrooms and stir to combine. Cook until the mushrooms have released all of their water and start to brown and caramelize, about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add minced garlic and cook until very fragrant, stirring constantly to prevent garlic from scorching, about 1 minute. Season with 1 teaspoon salt and ½ teaspoon fresh ground black pepper and mix thoroughly. Add the wine to deglaze the pan, scrapping up the brown bits and cooking until absorbed. Reduce heat to medium, stir in Hatch green chiles and cook to warm through, about 1-2 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool completely.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
While mushroom mixture cools, remove disc of dough from refrigerator and allow to sit for 10 minutes. Cut disc of dough in half, and set one half to the side. Prepare work surface to roll out the dough by covering with parchment and lighting dusting with tapioca flour. Lightly dust rolling pin with tapioca flour as well. Lightly dust the top of the dough with tapioca flour and roll out to 1/8 inch thick. With a 4.75 inch round cutter (I use a small metal prep bowl as my cutter), cut out 4 rounds, gather the scraps and set aside. Carefully, use a thin metal spatula or chef’s knife with the edge dipped in tapioca flour to gently slide under dough discs to free from parchment, lift up dough discs and move to a separate sheet of parchment paper until all discs are cut and ready to fill. The dough will not have any stretch or give, but if you find small tears, gently press with your fingertips, the heat from your fingers will be enough to bring it back together. Repeat with second half of dough to cut another 4 rounds, keeping rolling pin lightly dusted with tapioca flour to avoid tearing the dough. Gather all scraps from first and second discs together and roll out again, cutting another 4 rounds. You should have enough scraps to roll out a 13th round. Tip: if your kitchen is warm, keep dough and cut discs you’re not working with covered with plastic wrap in the refrigerator until needed.
Working with one disc of dough at a time, lightly dust with tapioca flour and gently roll out a little more, add 2 tablespoons of mushrooms and spread over half of the disc, leaving about a quarter inch border to the edge. Top mushrooms with 1 tablespoon shredded Monterey Jack cheese. Gently and carefully fold the other half of the dough disc over the filling, creating a half moon and lightly press edges together with your fingertips to seal. Dip the tines of a fork in tapioca flour and crimp the edges together to ensure a tight seal. You’ll very likely have small tears and possibly a few small holes in the top layer, but they will hold up while baking.
Once all the empanadas are assembled, arrange on a large baking sheet lined with parchment paper and chill in freezer for 10 minutes. Prepare egg wash by beating egg, water and heavy cream together in a small dish. With a pastry brush, brush empanadas with egg wash. Bake for 25 minutes. Serve with optional avocado, plain Greek yogurt, or salsa verde.
Leftover empanadas reheat well on a sheet of foil in an oven or toaster oven at 350 for about 8 minutes.
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