Colombian Empanadas (Empanadas Vallunas) with beef and potato

If the empanada you know is the baked, wheat-dough kind from Argentina or a Mexican bakery, the Colombian one is a different animal: the dough is corn, not wheat, and the empanada is deep-fried until it shatters with a crackle when you bite it. This is the empanada valluna from the Valle del Cauca around Cali — filled with shredded beef and soft yellow potato, sealed with a smooth edge, and served with fresh ají. The recipe below is the real Cali version, down to why the edge has no crimp.

How do you make Colombian empanadas? Shred cooked beef, mix it with mashed criolla potato and a tomato-onion sofrito. Make a yellow corn dough with hot water and achiote. Fill dough rounds, seal with a smooth edge, and fry at 180°C (355°F) 3-4 minutes per side. Makes 20 in about 150 minutes.

What a Colombian empanada is, and how the valluna differs

Two things set the Colombian empanada apart from the wheat-dough empanadas of Argentina or Mexico: the dough is precooked corn flour (masarepa, the same flour used for Colombian arepas), and it’s fried rather than baked, which gives the shattering crust. Within Colombia there are at least 8 regional kinds, differing in dough, filling, and technique; 5 of the most distinct are below.

The valluna’s edge is completely flat with no grooves — that visual detail is the regional marker that tells a valluna from a paisa at a glance.

The ingredients and what they do

Flank or skirt beef. Cuts with more collagen and connective tissue shred into long strands, exactly what the valluna filling needs. Loin or tenderloin won’t shred well, since their fibers are shorter and more compact. Flank is the Cali standard.

Criolla potato (not white potato). Yellow criolla potato has more natural sugar and less starch than white potato, making a softer, sweeter mash that balances the salt of the beef. With white potato the filling is drier and less cohesive. Outside Colombia, Yukon Gold is the closest substitute.

The cooking broth. The broth the beef cooked in holds all the flavor of the spices, and using it to cook the potato and hydrate the dough carries that flavor through the whole dish. Using plain water wastes the best ingredient in the recipe.

Yellow masarepa. The natural yellow of the flour is part of the valluna’s look. White masarepa makes a paler empanada; you can compensate with more achiote, but it isn’t identical. Achiote goes in both the dough and the sofrito to unify the color.

Fitting it to your kitchen

• If you have less than an hour — make the filling the day before and refrigerate; on the day you fry, you only make the dough and fry
• If it’s your first time — fry one test empanada before assembling all of them, to check the dough doesn’t crack and the seal holds
• If the filling is wet — dry it longer in the pan; wet filling is the number-one cause of empanadas that burst
• If you can’t find criolla potato — Yukon Gold is the closest substitute outside Colombia
• If you’re cooking for 40+ — double it; the filling keeps 2 days in the fridge, and assembled empanadas freeze unfried

What ruins Colombian empanadas

Wet or hot filling. Wet filling makes steam on contact with hot oil, and that steam softens the dough from inside and bursts the edges. The filling must be dry (not runny) and cold (at least 30 minutes in the fridge) before filling.

Dough too thick. The valluna has thin dough, and 3 mm is right. Dough of 5-6 mm makes an empanada that feels raw inside even when the outside is golden. Flatten with firm, even pressure.

Cold or shallow oil. In cold oil the empanada soaks up grease instead of frying. With shallow oil the empanada touches the bottom and burns on one side. You need at least 5 cm (2 inches) of hot oil so they float freely.

Crowding the pan. More than 4-5 at a time drops the oil temperature sharply, giving a pale, greasy empanada instead of golden and crisp.

Variations

With chicken. Replace the flank with shredded chicken breast, which needs less cooking, 20-25 minutes in a regular pot. The chicken filling is softer and milder than beef.

With pork. Shredded pork loin, fattier than beef and juicier. Popular in restaurant versions.

Vegetarian. Cooked lentils + criolla potato. Keeps the structure of the filling and the cumin-and-achiote flavor.

Baked. 200°C (390°F) for 18-20 minutes, brushed with achiote oil before baking. Less crisp than fried but workable.

What to serve them with

At about 185 calories each, 2 or 3 with ají make a snack or light meal. The classic is fresh Colombian ají — tomato, onion, cilantro, hot chili, and lime. In Cali they also go with cold lulada to drink, or with hot chocolate at breakfast and teatime. For a full Valle fried spread, set the empanadas next to a sweet corn arepa and some cheese arepas, all built on the same corn. The big tamal valluno is the older sibling of the empanada in the same Valle tradition.

Frequently asked questions

Can I freeze Colombian empanadas unfried? Yes: assemble them, set them on a tray so they don’t touch, and freeze 2 hours. Then bag them. Fry straight from frozen at 170°C (340°F), a little lower than usual, for 5-6 minutes. Don’t thaw before frying.

Why does the dough crack when I fold it? The dough is dry and needs water. Add warm water by the tablespoon and knead 2 minutes. It’s right when you can fold it in half without cracking and without it sticking to your hands.

What’s the difference between empanada valluna and empanada caleña? They’re the same empanada. “Valluna” refers to the Valle del Cauca as a department; “caleña” specifically to the city of Cali. The recipe is identical.

Can I use white masarepa instead of yellow corn flour? White masarepa makes paler empanadas. It works fine if you add achiote to compensate for the color. Yellow corn flour gives the signature color without extra colorant.

Nutrition

Per empanada (of 20): about 185 kcal, 22 g carbohydrate, 8 g protein, 8 g fat (2 g saturated), 280 mg sodium. They’re naturally gluten-free, just corn dough with no wheat, and the oil absorbed depends on frying temperature; at the right heat they take up little.

Colombian empanadas were one of the first things I ate when I arrived from Venezuela. We make corn empanadas in Venezuela too, but they’re different: our filling is usually ground beef or black beans, the dough is thicker, and there’s no potato. When I tried the criolla-potato-and-shredded-beef combination I understood it was a filling built for corn: the potato adds moisture and softness so the crisp dough never feels dry. That logic of pairing a tuber with protein inside corn dough is Colombian at its core. — Josnaisis.