Cheesy Chicken Football Empanadas

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I don't know about you, but my favorite part of football season is definitely the food! These little cheesy chicken football empanadas are made with Pace® Salsa Verde and Pace® Chunky Salsa which give the them a huge burst of Southwest flavor. You can easily find the Pace® products at Walmart in a variety of heat levels and textures and they are great in so many dishes!

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To start the empanadas, all you have to do is mix the shredded chicken, cheese, and the 24 oz Pace® Salsa Verde, and 24 oz. Pace® Chunky Salsa Medium.

Then it's time to shape the biscuits into little footballs. Each biscuit will make one whole empanada (both top and bottom). You'll take one biscuit and split it in half straight across the middle as shown.

Then you can sprinkle a little flour on a board and take each biscuit half and (using either your fingers or a rolling pin) flatten it down to about ¼ inch thick. Then shape each half into a football shape. Here's a few options on how to do that:

• You can use a football cookie cutter.
• You can use a knife and free-hand a football shape (it's not too hard)  🙂
• Or you can do what I did...Take a large, clean, empty soup can smush down one end of it to make a football shape and use that as a cookie cutter.

Once you have your football shapes, you can start adding the chicken / Pace® mixture, 1 heaping tablespoon at a time.

Place the top half over the chicken / Pace® mixture and crimp with a fork and use a small knife to make your football marks.

Bake them in the oven for about 15 minutes and there you have it - Cheesy Chicken Football Empanadas! I can't wait for you to try these! The Pace® Salsa Verde really ads such a great kick of flavor!  CLICK HERE to see even more fun game day recipes with Pace®

Cheesy Chicken Football Empanadas

Print Recipe

Servings 24

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

• 2 cups shredded chicken (I use rotisserie meat)
• 1 cup shredded Mexican blend cheese
• ¼ cup Pace® Salsa Verde
• ½ cup Pace® Salsa (chunky, medium)
• 3 cans refrigerated biscuit dough
• ½ cup all purpose flour (for your working surface)
• ½ teaspoon salt for sprinkling (optional)

Dipping sauce

• 8 ounces sour cream
• 2 tablespoon Pace® Salsa Verde
• 2 tablespoon Pace® Chunky Salsa

Instructions

 

• Pre-heat your oven to 350 and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. 
• Mix your shredded chicken, cheese, and both salsas together in a bowl.
• Flour a small working surface (I use a cutting board but you could also just use your counter). 
• Take out one biscuit at a time and split it in half so you have 2 equal circles. (See photos above)
• Using either a rolling pin or your hands, flatten each circle out to about ¼ inch thick. 
• You have a few options for making the football shape:

  -You can use a football cookie cutter. 

  -You can free-hand the shape with a knife (a football shape isn't too hard)

  -Or you can do what I did...use a large empty soup can and flatten down one side so it's somewhat "football" shaped 🙂 
• Scoop a heaping tablespoon of the chicken mixture and add it to the middle of one side of the biscuit dough.  
• Cover with the other half of the biscuit dough and crimp the edges shut with a fork. (If the shape got a little bit "smushed", just use a pizza cutter or a knife to trim the edges)
• Using a small sharp knife, cut a line down the middle of empanada, and then little lines across the top to look like football laces. (see photos)
• Sprinkle the tops with salt. 
• Bake at 350 for 14-16 minutes. 

Dipping Sauce

• Mix all ingredients together and enjoy!

Notes

Note: I had very little scraps of dough from trimming them into football shapes so it wasn't enough to roll into anything else. But the scraps make amazing dumplings if you throw them in a hot soup and let them boil! 

If you happen to have any left over chicken mixture, just throw it in a quesadilla or a taco! 

Tried this recipe?Leave a comment!