I’ve been a big fan of sriracha for years. And it seems that people are catching on to how awesome Sriracha is. I was pretty stoked to see Stubb’s making a Sriracha “Anytime Sauce”, which was the inspiration for this empanada recipe.
Another thing I’m a little obsessed with are savory pies. I remember the first time I had a vegetable tart in college- it was like my mind was blown!! And now I live in South Florida, where empanadas, the ultimate savory meat pie, are available virtually everywhere.
Empanadas my way!
I wanted to make my own empanadas and control what goes inside the flaky crust. I call these “gringa empanadas” because, well, I’m a gringa.
I marinated skirt steak (also known as Churrasco) in the Sriracha marinade and then grilled it to smoky perfection to be the filling. I also grilled plum tomatoes that I paired with roasted garlic to make a fire-roasted salsa to pair with the meat for the filling. Next, these were placed on pie crust disks, sealed into little hot pockets, and baked on the grill. Who says you need an oven?
Sriracha Skirt Steak Empanadas
Description
These empanadas would be great to put in lunches or to reheat at a tailgate. My husband thought these were the bees knees, so much so that he kept asking me if he could eat the remaining ones that I had reserved for photos! Always a good sign!
Ingredients
- 1 lb churracso (skirt steak) you can also use flank steak
- 1 bottle Stubb’s Texas Sriracha anytime sauce
- 1 package (includes 2 usually) premade pie crust- found in the refrigeration section
Fire Roasted Salsa
- ½ pint plum or cherry tomatoes
- 4–5 cloves garlic
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 bunch salsa
- 2–3 bamboo skewers
- 2 tbsp of cilantro
- salt, pepper to taste
Instructions
Marinate
- Marinate your skirt steak in the Stubb’s Sriracha Anytime Sauce for an hour or more.
- Put your plum tomatoes on the skewers.
- Pull out a piece of tin foil, and create a little packet that can hold the olive oil and add the garlic cloves. This will allow you to roast the garlic in the olive oil on the grill while everything else cooks.
- Heat your grill to 350-400 degrees for direct heat.
- As soon as the grill starts heating up, put your garlic/olive oil foil packet so it has the most time on the grill…
Cook
- Once the grill is hot, grill your skirt steak for 3 minutes per side or until the internal temp is 135 degrees. Remember, skirt steak will cook quickly so don’t overcook!
- While grilling the steak, grill the tomato skewers until they are nice and charred, turning to get all sides. You can baste the meat with additional marinade while grilling to add extra flavor and keep it moist.
- Remove the steak, garlic/olive oil pack and the tomatoes from the grill and let cool. With an immersion blender or stick blender, combine the tomatoes, roasted garlic and olive oil from the packet, and a large bunch of cilantro to form a salsa.
- Add a dash of salt, pepper and more olive oil as needed. It should form a thick paste which will top the meat in the empanadas.
Stuff
- Next, roll out your pie dough on a large piece of parchment paper and flour it so it does not stick. Do not leave the dough out more than 10 minutes or it will get sticky and hard to work with.
- With a medium sized bowl, cut the dough into circle shaped disks- approximately 6 inches from side to side. (You can combine the leftover dough and roll out to create more circles).
- Next, chop the skirt steak into small pieces. Add approximately 1+ tbsp. meat, and then finish with a tsp of the sauce onto one side of the dough circle.
- Roll the other side over and mash the ends together with the end of a fork to form a seal. Continue with the rest of the dough and filling, if they are too full to close, decrease the amount of filling.
- Once finished, prepare your grill for direct and indirect zones and a temp of 350 degrees. Or, you can also use an oven set to 350 degrees. Oil your grill grates and let the empanadas bake on indirect heat for approximately 20 minutes or until the dough becomes golden.
Notes
Note: I developed this recipe in partnership with Stubb's. I only endorse products I use and recommend.
Skirt steak marinated in Texas Sriracha and then grilled make for a tasty filling for these empanadas.
Check out these related posts!
When I received this in my inbox this morning, I laughed because I’m doing a post for Stubb’s Anytime Sauces — and one of the top contenders for my tailgate was an empanada. Great minds, right? Ultimately, I went with wings — and they’ll be posted later this week. Meantime, you’ve got me hungry for those empanadas – and I still have the Sriracha Anytime Sauce!!!