Sometimes You Just Need an Empanada in 5 Minutes

Not Another Cooking Show
Not Another Cooking ShowMay 13, 2026

Why It Matters

Freezing ready‑made empanada dough turns a labor‑intensive snack into a five‑minute, restaurant‑quality meal, illustrating how convenience cooking can meet rising demand for fast, gourmet home food.

Key Takeaways

  • Freeze dough for instant 5‑minute empanadas anytime at home.
  • Achiote powder gives dough vivid red color and flavor.
  • Deep‑fry frozen empanadas for superior flaky, airy crust via thermal shock.
  • Chopped cheese filling blends New York bodega flavors with Latin spices.
  • Sousi smart oven offers versatile cooking modes and scheduled meals.

Summary

The video demonstrates how to prepare a batch of red‑achiote empanada dough, freeze it, and pull out a hot, flaky snack in five minutes. By combining all‑purpose flour, cold lard, egg, vinegar and achiote powder, the host creates a tender, gluten‑restricted crust that can be stored indefinitely and cooked on demand.

Key techniques include using vinegar to suppress gluten development, rolling the dough thin like pasta, and filling it with a dense chopped‑cheese mixture of ground beef, onions, peppers, pickled jalapeños and a blend of American and Mexican cheeses. The presenter compares three cooking methods—deep‑frying, baking, and air‑frying—highlighting that deep‑frying frozen dough triggers a “thermal shock” that rapidly vaporizes steam, producing a delicate, layered crisp that the other methods lack.

A memorable moment comes when the host explains the science of thermal shock and showcases a bodega‑style sauce made from mayo, ketchup, mustard and jalapeño juice. The segment also features a sponsored demo of the Sousi smart countertop oven, which can schedule cooking, switch between 15 modes and keep meals cool until ready, positioning it as a convenience tool for busy households.

The broader implication is a scalable meal‑prep model: make a dozen empanadas, freeze them, and have a gourmet‑quality snack ready in minutes. This approach taps into growing consumer demand for quick, restaurant‑style foods at home, while also promoting versatile kitchen appliances that streamline the cooking process.

Original Description

The chopped cheese empanada might be the greatest freezer snack I’ve ever made.
Inspired by a Filipino-style empanada dough spiked with achiote, and filled with a New York bodega classic, this recipe combines flaky homemade pastry with chopped cheese, peppers, jalapeños, and melted cheese. The best part is you can freeze them and cook them straight from frozen in minutes.
In this video, I’ll show you how to make homemade empanada dough from scratch, how to fill and shape them properly, and the science behind why frozen empanadas fry up even crispier thanks to thermal shock. We’ll test them baked, air fried, and deep fried to see which version wins.
This is the chopped cheese empanada.
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