Guava Empanadas

Guava empanadas filled with sweet guava paste and cream cheese (empanadas de guayaba y queso recipe). Fried in a crispy, flaky dough, these dessert empanadas are also tasty for breakfast!

Guava Empanadas Recipe

I am excited to bring you these guava empanadas! I’m a huge fan of guava and I have quite a few recipes featuring guava paste on this blog.

Everything from 2-ingredient guava pastelitos to “fancy” baked brie cheese with guava.

But I especially like guava paste when it’s paired with tangy cream cheese like my mini guava cheesecakes and these guava empanadas with cheese.

I think guava is so easy to work with. You can find guava paste at most Hispanic food marts, or you can order from Amazon. This is the one I use: Guava Paste.

Guava paste, or pasta de guayaba, comes in a solid paste that you can cut into strips or cubes. It’s very sweet with a concentrated guava flavor.

The actual amount that you put into your guava cheese empanadas depends on your taste. I like a 2:1 ratio. Two strips of cream cheese to about 1 strip of guava paste. You could also do 50:50.

You can buy pre-made empanada wrappers in the store. They’re found in the frozen section.

If your grocer doesn’t carry them, you can make your own using my homemade empanada dough recipe.

Since these are a sweet dessert empanada, I like to make them a little smaller than pastelillos (Puerto Rican picadillo empanadas), but the size is up to you.

They’re typically fried, but you can bake them as well. They don’t have the same crispy texture when they’re baked, but they’re still pretty darn tasty.

I recommend baked guava pastelitos instead if you want to avoid fried food. Just add a slice of cream cheese for the same effect.

How to make Guava and Cheese Empanadas

To assemble, take your empanada disc and lay cream cheese and guava over half the circle.

Fold the other half of the circle over the filling and crimp the edges to see.

If the edges don’t want to stick together, you can moisten with water or beaten egg.

Fry each turnover for about 1-2 minutes per side, or until golden brown. The insides will be very hot! Wait a minute before digging in or you’ll give yourself a cheese burn.

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Guava Empanada Recipe (printable version below)

Ingredients:

• 10 empanada wrappers, thawed*
• 4 ounces cream cheese
• 2 ounces guava paste
• Vegetable oil, for frying

Directions:

Slice the cream cheese into 1/4 inch slices. Dice the guava into 1/4 inch cubes.

Take 1 slice of cream cheese and place on half of empanada disc. Top with a few cubes of guava paste. Fold dough over and press edges to seal. Crimp edges with a fork. Repeat with remaining ingredients.

To cook, heat 1/2 inch of oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Add empanadas to pan, but do not over-crowd.

Cook for about 2 minutes, or until golden brown. Flip empanada and cook for another 2 minutes. Drain on paper towels. Continue process until all the empanadas have been fried.

*NOTE: if you cannot find empanada discs in the freezer section, you can substitute refrigerated pie dough instead.