These air fryer empanadas have a simple, savory chicken filling. We start with pie dough to keep things extra quick and easy. Serve them up with our avocado crema for dipping!
Mexican-inspired dishes are my absolute favorite. There is seemingly no end to the options available with those yummy meals.
Ever since I started cooking with the air fryer, I have been playing with different empanada recipes. We’ve fried them on the stove, baked them in the oven, and now air fried them. Chicken empanadas in the air fryer are so easy and tasty!
The filling is a creamy mixture of salsa, cheese, chicken, and Mexican spices. We packed it all together inside of personal sized pie crusts.
Ingredient List:
Shredded Chicken – You will need cooked, shredded chicken. A cup and a half is all that is needed and you can use white, dark, or a mixture of both!
Recipe Tip!
I usually buy a rotisserie chicken and shred it as soon as I get home while it is still warm. They are easier to shred when warm and will last a few days in the fridge.
Salsa – Homemade or jarred salsa will work great.
Cheddar Cheese – Buy the shredded cheese or grate your own.
Cream cheese – Adds a nice creaminess to the filling.
Garlic
Cumin
Onion powder
Chili powder
Egg – This is for brushing over the crust. It gives it a deep golden color.
Refrigerated Pie Dough – We’ll use a round cookie cutter to cut out small circles of dough to create the empanadas.
How to Make Chicken Empanadas in the Air Fryer:
Prepare the filling: In a large mixing bowl, combine chicken, cumin, onion powder, and salt and give it a good stir. You could also use leftover Mexican chicken and skip the extra seasoning of the chicken. Add cheddar, cream cheese, salsa, and garlic to the same bowl and mix all that in.
Cut the dough: Roll out your pie crust into a 12-inch circle on a lightly floured surface. Cut the dough into 4-inch circles with a biscuit cutter, or cookie cutter. We used about a 3-inch round cutter for this.
Reroll and recut until you get 8 circles of dough from the pie crust.
Fill the dough: Spoon the chicken mixture into the center of a piece of dough and crimp the edges with a fork. Brush them with a beaten egg and sprinkle the top with chili powder.
Air fry: Spread out your empanadas in your air fryer basket so that they don’t touch. Cook them for 10 minutes at 350 degrees F. When done, serve hot!
Avocado Crema:
We love these chicken empanadas with a side of avocado crema for dipping! It adds the perfect creamy pop of flavor to the air fryer empanadas.
Just mash a ripe avocado with a fork, mix in sour cream, and squeeze in some fresh lime juice. Stir well until smooth.
For a thinner sauce that you can drizzle, stir in a bit of milk. This makes a great taco topping!
We like to keep this mixture thick for dipping our chicken empanadas in this recipe.
More easy air fryer recipes you might like:
- Flamin Hot Chicken Strips
- Frozen Burritos in the Air Fryer
- Buffalo Chicken Flautas
- Air Fryer Tacos
- Air Fryer Street Corn
Air Fryer Chicken Empanadas
Equipment
Ingredients
For the empanadas:
- 1 ½ cups shredded chicken cooked
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup shredded cheddar
- ½ cup salsa
- 4 ounces cream cheese room temperature
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 2 refrigerated pie crusts
- Flour for rolling out the pie crust
- 1 egg beaten
- ½ teaspoon chili powder
For the avocado crema:
- 1 ripe avocado
- 2 tablespoons sour cream
- 1 teaspoon lime juice
- pinch of salt
Instructions
To make the empanadas:
- Add the chicken, cumin, onion powder, and salt to a large mixing bowl and stir well to evenly season the chicken.
- Add the cheddar, salsa, cream cheese, and garlic to the bowl and stir until the mixture is well combined.
- Sprinkle the flour on your work surface and roll out the pie crusts to a 12 inch circle. Cut each crust with a 4-inch biscuit or cookie cutter. Re-roll the scraps as needed to get a total of 16 circles of dough.
- Spoon the filling evenly into the center of the dough. Fold the dough over and use a fork to crimp the edges.
- Brush with the beaten egg. Sprinkle with chili powder.
- Place the empanadas in a single layer in an air fryer basket. You'll likely need to work in batches. Subsequent batches will cook faster as the air fryer will be preheated.
- Cook at 350 for 7 minutes or until crust is golden brown. Serve hot with the avocado crema for dipping.
To make the avocado crema:
- Mash the avocado with a fork.
- Stir in the sour cream, lime juice, and salt until smooth.
- Taste and add additional lime, if desired.
Video
Nutrition
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Comments & Reviews
Karla Vanessa Zuniga says
How do you make the dough for the empanadas? This recipe seems yummy!!! Can’t wait to make it.
Karly says
Hi Karla! We use refrigerated pie crust for these. 🙂
Jacque says
Love these. Very cute too. Used left over filling to make a couple burritos