Ditch Your On-The-Go Breakfast Sandwiches For Breakfast Empanadas

Everyone deserves a filling and well-prepared breakfast to fuel their day ahead. If you're tired of fast food breakfast sandwiches and homemade varieties made with the usual bread, egg, and cheese, whip up a batch of breakfast empanadas. Unlike sandwiches made with sliced sandwich bread, empanadas are made with pastry dough and serve as a delicious on-the-go breakfast option.

An authentic food in Spain and Latin America, empanadas are best described as savory turnovers. With the right ingredients, these portable hand pies can easily transform into makeshift breakfast sandwiches. Not only are empanadas easy to store and eat on the move, they can be prepped and cooked in more ways than one.

Empanada dough, whether homemade or store-bought, can hold a variety of fillings. To prepare a week's worth of breakfasts with ease, use pre-cut discs of empanada dough, which are located in the frozen section of major retailers like Walmart and Kroger. You can also cut refrigerated pie crust with a round pastry cutter. 

To prepare, add cooked breakfast ingredients to each flattened piece of dough. Then, fold and pinch the ends of the pastry together with a fork. If you're prepping these morning snacks ahead of time, freeze uncooked empanadas on a baking sheet and store them in freezer-safe plastic bags. This way, on any given morning, all you need to do is pop a few frozen empanadas in your oven. You'll be leaving your house with a freshly-baked handheld breakfast in no time.

Now that you know how easy it is to prepare a freezer full of portable empanadas, get creative and make a variety of breakfast-inspired fillings. Fill your dough with a classic egg scramble mixed with shredded cheese and chopped Canadian bacon or cooked sausage. For a heartier scramble, add in diced cooked potatoes or canned black beans. You can also make a veggie-inspired filling with scrambled eggs, bell peppers, fresh spinach, and sauteed or pickled onions.

If you prefer a sweeter breakfast, make breakfast empanadas with fruit or chocolate-based fillings. Add in jam, cream cheese, Nutella, or chopped fruit mixed with a bit of sugar and citrus juice.

When fully-assembled, fry your empanadas in hot oil or bake them in your oven. If you're committed to frying, make sure any frozen empanadas have been thawed before cooking. Alternatively, bake thawed or frozen empanadas for 15 to 25 minutes in your oven set at 400 degrees Fahrenheit.

Once out of the oven, roll sweeter empanadas in cinnamon sugar. Top any fruit-filled pockets with a cream cheese glaze made with cream cheese, butter, milk, powdered sugar, and vanilla. For savory empanadas, use the three-ingredient sauce every breakfast sandwich needs by combining mayonnaise, sriracha hot sauce, and lemon juice. Alternatively, serve your empanadas with a five-ingredient pico de gallo or your favorite variety of store-bought salsa.