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Baked Buffalo Chicken Empanadas

These buffalo chicken empanadas are super easy to make, crunchy on the outside, creamy on the inside, and perfect for the calorie conscious gangsters out there. Thanks to a spin on the infamous 2-ingredient dough, each baked empanada has just 4 grams of fat! 

And best of all, they’re highly customizable. I’ll give you a few of my favorite filling combos below, but you can get as creative as your heart desires. 

two images of buffalo chicken empanadas with title text on a white banner in the center

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How to Make Baked Empanadas 

In case you’re unfamiliar with 2-ingredient dough, it’s simply a combination of fat free Greek yogurt and all purpose flour. It’s perfect for bagels, pastries, and especially low calorie pizza

For these baked buffalo chicken empanadas, the recipe calls for blending the dough together in a food processor. But you can certainly mix it by hand. My air fryer pizza recipe is a great example of this.

Once you have your dough ready to go, roll it out into rectangle and cut it into 4 pieces. Then it’s as simple as fill, wrap, brush with a bit of oil, and bake! 

Buffalo Chicken Empanadas Filling Ingredients

Simple is the name of the game. Here’s everything you’ll need:

  • fat free or 1/3 fat cream cheese
  • buffalo sauce (I used Frank’s Red Hot)
  • ranch seasoning
  • cooked chicken

That’s it! 

Options for the Cooked Chicken

You can use any kind of chicken in your empanadas. Here are a few ideas:

  1. my Instant Pot Buffalo Chicken was destined for chicken empanadas
  2. my Carolina BBQ crockpot shredded chicken 
  3. use rotisserie chicken without the skin 
  4. use precooked chicken products or chicken by the pound from a local restaurant 
  5. pressure cooker shredded Mexican chicken

And while it’s not chicken, one final recommendation would be my crispy pork carnitas

Final Recipe Notes

For a quick and easy dip, you can mix 1/2 cup of Greek yogurt with 1 tablespoon of the ranch seasoning. You can also use a premade low calorie ranch, bleu cheese, or dressing of your choice. 

And if you’re using an air fryer, I fried mine at 400 for 8-10 minutes but cooked the outside a bit too fast. I would reduce the temperature to maybe 375 and fry for 14-16 minutes. 

And I think that’s about it! If you make these buffalo chicken empanadas, I wanna see ’em! Grab a photo and tag me on Instagram @mason_woodruff. Or you can join my free Facebook group and share it with the Proton Party.

buffalo chicken empanadas on a white plate with ranch dip in the corner

Baked Buffalo Chicken Empanadas

Creamy buffalo chicken inside crispy 2-ingredient dough. 
4.87 from 87 votes
Print Pin Rate
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 35 minutes
Servings: 4 empanadas
Calories: 200kcal
Author: Mason Woodruff

Ingredients

  • 1 C 120g All Purpose Flour
  • 2/3 C 150g Fat Free Greek Yogurt
  • 3 oz Chicken Breast cooked and shredded
  • 2 oz Fat Free Cream Cheese or 1/3 fat cream cheese (room temp or softened)
  • 2 Tbsp 30mL Buffalo Sauce
  • 2 tsp Ranch Seasoning
  • 1/2 Tbsp 8g Olive Oil, or your choice of oil

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 400F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a nonstick mat. 
  • Add the flour and Greek yogurt to a food processor and blend until you can form a ball of dough. (You can also mix by hand.) 
  • Spray the parchment paper with a bit of cooking spray and roll the dough into a large rectangle (about 11x8). 
    a rectangle of 2 ingredient dough before making empanadas
  • Mix the cream cheese, cooked chicken, buffalo sauce, and ranch seasoning together in a small bowl. 
    shredded chicken on top of buffalo sauce and cream cheese
  • Cut the dough into 4 equal pieces and add 1/4th of the buffalo chicken mixture to each piece near the center cut line.
    2 ingredient dough cut into 4 pieces with buffalo chicken on each piece
  • Fold the other half of the dough over, sealing the edges all the way around. 
    buffalo chicken empanadas on a nonstick mat before baking
  • Use a fork to crimp the edges to further seal the empanadas and brush the olive oil over each empanada. 
    4 buffalo chicken empanadas with olive oil brushed on top and crimped edges before baking
  • Bake for 18-22 minutes or until the tops are golden brown. (Air fry for 14-16 minutes at 375.)  

Notes

  • Each serving has 4 Smart Points.
  • If you have trouble rolling your dough because it's too sticky, add a bit more flour. You shouldn't need more than an extra tablespoon or two. 

Nutrition

Serving: 1empanada | Calories: 200kcal | Carbohydrates: 25g | Protein: 14g | Fat: 4g

More Filling Ideas

A handful of recipes come to mind that would make for great savory empanada fillings:

Enjoy!

4.87 from 87 votes (33 ratings without comment)
Recipe Rating




Samantha Wright

Thursday 19th of August 2021

We've been making these for a couple of years now and they never disappoint. The Greek yogurt dough can be kind of finicky but you just have to remain patient! We cook ours in the air fryer but definitely keep an eye on them because they can get away from you!

Sam Foster

Wednesday 14th of April 2021

This dish hits two food groups one might fall victim to on a diet. Calzones/Empanadas are the first and the greek yogurt dough is phenomenal. If you knead it properly plying it is a breeze. Chicken wings are the second, who doesnt love Buffalo sauce and chicken? Wings need to be consumed with a lubricant and the ranch seasoning mixed with cream cheese gives it to you in the best way possible. Wing dip is the 3rd. You know the stuff at Super Bowl parties that you cant stop eating and you convince yourself you are being healthy by eating it with celery instead of chips? Thats what the center of this tastes like. Unbelievable recipe and should be on everyone’s list.

A recommendation for those who use greek yogurt dough regularly is to use a small percentage of bread flour with your regular flour whenever making it. Bread flour due to its increased protein content is less likely to rip when stretching it. If volume is important to you give this a try!

Maria

Sunday 17th of May 2020

Can you sub Greek yogurt for the light cream cheese?

Mason Woodruff

Wednesday 20th of May 2020

It's worth a shot!

Stepheney

Wednesday 15th of April 2020

These really saved the day for us. Highly recommend. Our regular oven has been broken this entire quarantine. Luckily we still have our air fryer. I have a pretty crappy rolling pin so it didn’t stay together quite as pretty. But the taste was amazing!

Stepheney

Wednesday 15th of April 2020

These really saved the day for us. Highly recommend. Our regular oven has been broken this entire quarantine. Luckily we still have our air fryer. I have a pretty crappy rolling pin so it didn’t stay together quite as pretty. But the taste was amazing!