Are you looking for a vegetarian empanada recipe or vegan empanada recipe? I’m sharing a delicious recipe for easy vegetarian empanadas today. After sharing my Shortcut Puerto Rican-Style Picadillo Empanadas (Empanadillas) recipe, I decided to adapt my family’s picadillo empanadas recipe as a vegetarian option. These vegetarian empanadas are filled with a Puerto Rican-style vegan empanada filling. A few shortcuts (using canned potatoes and lentils) make these lentil empanadas quick and easy to make. They are both vegetarian and vegan (as long as you make sure your dough is vegan), so if you’re looking for more vegetarian Puerto Rican dishes, add this one to your list. I developed this easy vegetarian empanada recipe as part of the Allrecipes Allstars Tastemakers program. Rate, review, and photograph my Quick Vegetarian Picadillo Empanadas recipe on Allrecipes here, or scroll down for the full recipe, along with cooking tips and photos for how to make these quick vegetarian empanadas.
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More Puerto Rican recipes like these easy vegetarian empanadas
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- Coquito Balls (Caribbean-Style Coconut Rum Balls)
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What you need to make this vegetarian empanadas Puerto Rican recipe
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 (15 ounce) can lentils, drained and rinsed
- ¼ cup sofrito (I use my own homemade Puerto Rican sofrito recipe for these vegetarian empanadas, but you can use store-bought sofrito or recaito, which can be found in the international section of your grocery store, for your empanada filling instead)
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- ½ teaspoon dried oregano
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 (15 ounce) can diced potatoes, drained
- 1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
- ½ cup sliced pimento-stuffed green olives
- 2 cups vegetable oil for frying, or as needed
- 16 pieces empanada pastry discs*
* I use Goya Discos (found in the frozen section of some stores near other Goya products) for this vegetarian empanada recipe. You can make your own empanada dough from scratch (dough for turnovers works) or another ready-made brand. Just remember that if you want to keep this empanada recipe vegan, you’ll need to make sure you are using vegan empanada or turnover dough.
How to make this vegetarian empanada recipe
To make this vegetarian empanada recipe, you’ll start by making your vegetarian empanada filling. To do this, heat olive oil in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the lentils, sofrito, garlic, oregano, salt, and pepper and cook for 4 minutes. Reduce the heat to medium-low and stir in the potatoes, tomato sauce, and olives. Simmer until the vegan empanada filling mixture is warmed through, which should take 3 to 4 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool.
To prepare the vegetarian empanadas for frying, fill a deep skillet or frying pan with 2 inches vegetable oil and place the pan over medium heat while you assemble the empanadas. Set the empanada discs on a clean work surface. Add 1/4 cup of the lentil-potato mixture to the center of one half of an empanada disc in a half moon shape (so it follows the curve of the wrapper).
Wet your fingers in a bowl of water and run them around the entire edge of the wrapper to moisten. Fold the wrapper in half to cover the filling and pinch the edges of the dough together to seal, then use a fork to crimp the edges to secure the wrapper further. Repeat with the remaining discs and filling.
Once the oil has reached 350 degrees F (175 degrees C), add the vegetarian empanadas in a single layer in the pan (do not overlap or the empanadas could stick together and pull open). You will likely need to cook the lentil empanadas in batches. Fry them in the hot oil until the empanadas are golden brown and crispy, flipping once or twice so that they brown evenly while frying (about 5 minutes total). Transfer the empanadas to a paper towel-lined plate to drain. Repeat to cook the remaining empanadas.
Here’s the Easy Puerto Rican Vegetarian Empanadas recipe! Enjoy, and please leave a rating if you love this vegetarian empanada recipe as much as we do.
Easy Puerto Rican Vegetarian Empanadas
These vegetarian empanadas are filled with a Puerto Rican-style vegan empanada filling. A few shortcuts (using canned potatoes and lentils) make these lentil empanadas quick and easy to make.
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 (15 ounce) can lentils, drained and rinsed
- ¼ cup sofrito
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- ½ teaspoon dried oregano
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 (15 ounce) can diced potatoes, drained
- 1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
- ½ cup sliced pimento-stuffed green olives
- 2 cups vegetable oil for frying, or as needed
- 16 pieces empanada pastry discs
Instructions
- Heat olive oil in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Add lentils, sofrito, garlic, oregano, salt, and pepper; cook for 4 minutes.
- Reduce heat to medium-low and stir in potatoes, tomato sauce, and olives. Simmer until mixture is warmed through, 3 to 4 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool.
- Fill a deep skillet or frying pan with 2 inches vegetable oil and place over medium heat while you assemble the empanadas.
- Set empanada discs on a clean work surface. Add 1/4 cup of lentil-potato mixture to the center of one half of an empanada disc in a half moon shape (so it follows the curve of the wrapper). Wet your fingers in a bowl of water and run them around the entire edge of the wrapper to moisten. Fold the wrapper in half to cover the filling and pinch the edges of the dough together to seal, then use a fork to crimp the edges to secure the wrapper further. Repeat with the remaining discs and filling.
- Once oil has reached 350 degrees F (175 degrees C), add empanadas in a single layer; do not overlap. You will need to cook in batches.
- Fry until empanadas are golden brown and crispy, flipping once or twice so they brown evenly while frying, about 5 minutes. Transfer to a paper towel-lined plate to drain. Repeat to cook remaining empanadas.
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