Air Fryer Pumpkin Empanadas

I admit to being hesitant to jump on the whole air-fryer band wagon, but Jen’s Guy was fully enamored with the idea of them and has been wanting one for quite some time. So like the old married couple we are, a few weeks ago to celebrate 21 years of marriage I gifted him an air fryer. My previous hesitancy has now been replaced with a wholehearted affirmation that air-fryers are a marvel to the modern culinary world!

They are genuinely easy to use and can make almost anything cook faster and taste better. Air fryers are brilliant, and you will really want to head on out right now and get yourself one if you want to make the recipe I am going to share with you today, which is also brilliant!

When I was a little girl pumpkin empanadas were the “top dog” in the empanada world. There were rivals like cherry, pineapple and apple that were good, but over the years at least for me, they have never been able to reach “top dog” status  like a pumpkin one when it comes to these baked and delicious morsels of goodness. I believe my sentiments are echoed in many other empanada lovers since the pumpkin ones sell out first every time.

The best part of this empanada recipe I am sharing with you today is that you can make it with 100 percent ready made ingredients, and it takes a whole 15 minutes until you can be enjoying them. Here is what you will need:

I might add that the creation for this recipe all began when I came upon this can of goodness. Pumpkin pie in a can. Seriously how cool is that?!

Also, I learned this little factoid recently that most “canned pumpkin” is actually in fact squash and not pumpkin. That is why it is a more orange color rather the brown color a real pumpkin pie ends up looking like.

Now onto my high tech way of making these empanadas. First, roll out your pie dough and use the top of a large plastic cup to cut out a large circular portion. Lay the circle flat and put about 1 1/2 tablespoons of the pumpkin filling right in the center. Fold the circle in half and crease the edges closed with a fork.

I then used a cute mini Fall shaped cookie cutter of a pumpkin to make a garnish with the extra pieces of pie dough. Place the pumpkin garnish on the top and lightly brush the empanada with melted butter.

Pop about 4 empanadas into your air fryer at 320 for about 3 to 4 minutes, and voila, they are all done!!

I hope you enjoyed this recipe and thanks for popping in!

Love,

Jen