Spicy Chicken Empanadas

I am sitting here bopping along to Pat Benatar’s “Love is a Battlefield” while typing up this recipe and eating these delicious spicy chicken empanadas (… “If we get much closer, I could lose control” … ) Mmmmm, life is good. And so is this super easy, tasty and fun party recipe!

All that this requires is a store-bought chicken (or roast your own) and a few simple ingredients to get things rolling. We used a store-bought pie dough to speed things up, but feel free to make your own, of course. We love helpful little shortcuts like this, especially when we are working on a holiday gathering or just need some of these whipped up in a hurry. You can fill and shape these a few days ahead and freeze them before baking to really take the heat off of yourself until you’re ready to heat and serve these flaky, fantastic favorites. If you’re going the freeze-and-heat route, add a few extra minutes when baking them to get the filling nice and melty before plating.

We love serving these with a thin salsa, like a taqueria tomatillo-style; however, you can pick your favorite. We call these “spicy” but they’re really only maybe a medium when it comes to heat level. We might even call it mildly spicy, but our love for spicy foods skews our scale a little bit. The pie dough, chicken and cheese really mellows the heat of the chilies, so you can start with a little heat and add more to your liking before filling these up. If you’re feeling brave, throw in a few dashes of your favorite hot sauce (we do!). Serve them with plenty of cold drinks, and you’ll all be just fine.

Oh, and just like that, Pat Benatar segues into Depeche Mode’s “Just Can’t Get Enough” on my playlist – how fitting, since once you get a bite of these, you won’t want to stop!