SPANISH TUNA EMPANADILLAS
⏲ Prep time ⏲ Cooking time Difficulty level Portions
35 - 40 min 20 - 25 min ★★★☆☆ 10
Ingredients
Dough (shortcut: use ready‑rolled shortcrust or empanada discs)
If making your own:
• Plain flour — 500 g
• Cold unsalted butter — 200 g
• Fine salt — 8 g
• Cold water — 150–170 g (add gradually)
Filling
• Olive oil — 30 g
• Onion, finely diced — 200 g
• Red pepper, finely diced — 150 g
• Garlic, minced — 10 g
• Tomato passata — 200 g
• Canned tuna in olive oil, drained — 400 g
• Sweet smoked paprika — 6 g
• Salt — 6 g (adjust to taste)
• Black pepper — 2 g
• Green olives, chopped — 80 g (optional but very traditional)
• Hard‑boiled eggs, chopped — 120 g (2 large eggs; optional but classic)
To finish
• 1 egg for egg‑wash — 50 g
Cooking instructions
1. Make the dough (skip if using ready-made)
Rub the butter into the flour and salt until sandy.
Add cold water gradually until a smooth dough forms.
Wrap and chill 30 minutes.
2. Prepare the filling
Heat olive oil and gently sauté onion and red pepper until soft (8–10 minutes).
Add garlic and smoked paprika; cook 1 minute.
Stir in tomato passata and simmer until thickened (5–7 minutes).
Fold in drained tuna, olives, and chopped egg.
Season with salt and pepper.
Cool completely before filling (critical to avoid soggy pastry).
3. Assemble
Roll dough to 2–3 mm thickness.
Cut discs 10–12 cm wide.
Add 1–1.5 tbsp filling per disc.
Fold, seal edges with a fork or crimp.
Brush with egg wash.
4. Bake
Bake at 200°C for 20–25 minutes, until golden.
Chef ’s Notes
• Rest the filling overnight if possible — flavours deepen beautifully.
• Don’t overfill: the most common cause of bursting.
• Chill assembled empanadillas 10 minutes before baking for cleaner edges.
• Fry instead of bake for a more traditional tapas‑bar texture: 170°C oil, 3–4 minutes.
• Add heat with a pinch of hot paprika or a little chopped pickled guindilla pepper.
• Serve with aioli or simply a squeeze of lemon.
