We personally love these with shawarma seasoning, but, you can use whatever favorite and flavorful seasoning you have on hand.

If you’re unfamiliar with shawarma seasoning, it is a delicious mixture of sweet, earthy and warm spices that will enhance the flavor of any roasted meat you add it to. If you cannot find some at your local store, check out the recipe I will include for a DIY shawarma seasoning at the bottom of this recipe!

INGREDIENTS :

• 6 boneless, skinless chicken thighs or 2-3 chicken breasts
• 1-2 TB (Tablespoons) Shawarma seasoning (homemade seasoning recipe below)
• Salt and pepper
• 3 Garlic cloves, grated
• 1 Red Onion, sliced
• 3 TB oil
• 3-4 Roma tomatoes
• 4 oz (ounces) Cheddar Cheese
• 4 oz Cream Cheese
• Empanada dough shells (I recommend using 8″-10″ ones, although I used 5″ ones in the video above, which made things a little messy and left behind a lot of extra filling which I normally do not have)

DIY SHAWARMA SEASONING :

• 1/2 tsp (teaspoon) black pepper
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp ground allspice
• 1/4 tsp onion powder
• 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp chili powder
• 1/4 tsp ground cloves
• 1/4 tsp oregano
• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp ground cardamom
• 1/4 tsp salt

STEPS :

1. Start off by marinating your meat with sliced red onion, grated/pressed garlic, olive oil, salt and pepper and your shawarma seasoning. Make sure you give it a nice toss so that everything is evenly coated. I personally like to marinate for a couple of hours but you can marinate for as little as 15-30 minutes all the way up to a couple of days!
2. Once your meat is done marinating, slice your tomatoes into quarters and add to your marinated meat. Give it a toss to coat with the marinated spices as well and let them marinate while you preheat your oven to 385 degrees Fahrenheit.
3. Once your oven is preheated, lay out your marinated meat and veggies onto a cooking sheet and bake everything for roughly 25-45 minutes. Depending on your oven. Bake until your meat is cooked (meat is cooked when it reaches 165 degrees Fahrenheit internal temp) and your veggies are browned/roasted.
4. While your chicken and vegetables are cooking, go ahead and grate your cheddar cheese into a bowl. You can add your cream cheese now or wait until later. Once your chicken and vegetables are done cooking, dice it all up and add to the bowl with your grated cheese. Give it a good mix. Then, if you haven’t already added your cream cheese, do so at this time. Give it another good mix.
5. Prepare your empanada dough by separating each disc and laying it out. Add a couple of Tablespoons of your meat, veggie and cheese filling to half of your empanada dough disc and fold it over. Use the teeth of a fork to press your empanada dough shut. Use 8-10″ empanada dough discs and NOT 5″ discs like I did in the video. This was the first and only time I have had to use such small discs and it got a little messy with the filling spilling out a little bit while folding. However, this is not the case with the larger empanada dough discs.
6. Lay your stuffed empanadas on a cooking sheet and cut a small slit on the top to allow steam out as it cooks further. I brushed these with some avocado oil, but that is not necessary. I was just being extra that day. Bake at 385 degrees Fahrenheit for 15-25 minutes or until empanadas are golden brown. Remove from the oven and let them rest for 5-10 minutes to cool down a little bit and then enjoy!

These pair beautifully with my Cilantro Lime Crema ! <– click the link for the recipe!

Add your chicken, shawarma seasoning, salt and pepper, pressed/grated garlic and sliced red onion to a bowl and marinate for anywhere between 15 minutes to a couple of days. Whatever time you can spare. I like to aim for 1-2 hours.

Once your chicken is done marinating, quarter slice your Roma tomatoes and add to the same bowl with the chicken and vegetable marinate. Give it a good stir and allow them to marinate as well while your oven preheats to 385 degrees Fahrenheit.

Once your oven is ready, lay out all your marinated ingredients on a cooking sheet. I personally like to arrange it in order so that its easier to cut later, but you can just dump out the entire bowls contents at once. Bake for 25-45 minutes, or until internal temp of the chicken reaches 165 degrees Fahrenheit.

While your chicken and vegetables are baking, grate your cheddar cheese into a clean bowl. Set aside until the chicken and vegetables are cooked.

Once the chicken and vegetables are ready, start cutting the chicken into bite sized pieces. I like to aim for roughly 1/2 centimeter or 1 centimeter sized pieces.

Then proceed to cutting your onions and tomatoes as well. I like giving them a rough chop. Add your diced chicken and chopped cooked veggies to the same bowl holding your grated cheddar cheese. Give it a good stir.

Add your cream cheese to the same bowl holding your cooked chicken, cooked veggies and cheddar cheese mixture and mix it in until creamy.

Lay out your empanada dough discs and add a few spoonfuls of filling to each disc half. Use 8-10″ empanada dough discs. I used much smaller ones that were 5″ in diameter and I hated how messy it made things. I never have this issue with the larger discs.

Fold your empanada disc half over the half with the filling and use the teeth of a fork to press the dough down so it shuts closed and doesn’t allow leakage of the filling while its cooking.

Admire how cute your empanadas are. Awwww. So cute.

Lay your empanadas on a cooking sheet and cut a singular small slit on the top to allow the release of steam as they bake. Then put them into your oven and bake for 15-25 minutes or until the tops are golden brown.

OPTIONAL : You can also brush the tops with oil. This is not mandatory but would provide for a slightly more buttery type of flavor to your empanada dough.

Bake until golden brown then allow to sit for 5 or so minutes to cool down a little before handling. This also allows the underside of your empanada dough to set better.

Enjoy with some cilantro lime crema (recipe found under the “sauces” category on my page!) for dipping!