Air Fryer Beef Empanadas

In Argentina, empanadas are a subject people will correct you about. Every province claims its own: the beef cut fine with a knife in Tucumán, sweet with raisins here, sharp with olives there, the repulgue crimp twisted into a code that tells you what's inside. Brought over by Spanish settlers and baked in clay hornos, they became one of those dishes that's both peasant practicality — dinner you can hold in one hand — and a matter of fierce local identity. The fillings argue; the love of the form is universal.

The air fryer is, frankly, a good fit for empanadas. Many Argentine empanadas are baked rather than deep-fried to begin with, so you're not losing the soul of the dish — you're just swapping a hot oven for moving air, and getting a crust that blisters golden and crisp in sixteen minutes instead of waiting on a preheat. The one honest caution: keep the filling dry and don't overstuff, because a leak that would be forgiven in oil will scorch on the basket.

These carry gluten, egg, and dairy by design — the wheat dough, the egg in the filling and wash, the butter. Use a tested allergen-friendly dough if you need to, but know you're departing from the classic.

Crisp them in the basket we trust for hand pies, and use a thermometer on the beef as it browns so the filling's fully cooked before it ever goes in the dough.