Dominican

Pastelitos

“Crescent-shaped fried pastries filled with seasoned beef (or chicken, cheese, ham). The dough is thin and crisp, the filling tightly sealed; one shatters in two bites. Served at every Dominican party as the entrada and at the corner panadería at 4pm. The Dominican answer to the empanada.”

Egg

Medium1.5 hours

Where it comes from

Spanish-Caribbean empanada tradition refined to a thinner, flakier dough than its larger cousins. The Dominican version uses egg in the dough (rare in other empanada styles), which gives the characteristic glossy bubbly finish. Crescent shape with crimped edges is the visual signature — square-cut dough then sealed with a fork.

On the plate

First bite: glossy bubbled crust shatters with a snap; the second bite finishes the pastelito. Inside is hot, juicy, salty-savory beef with olive and caper bursts. The dough is thin enough that filling-to-pastry ratio leans toward filling — that's the Dominican signature. Hot sauce or pink sauce dunking is the optional but expected move.

How it works

Egg in the dough — Dominican-specific — makes the crust glossy and bubbly when fried (egg proteins denature at the oil surface, creating raised bubbles). Vinegar in the dough relaxes gluten so the crust stays tender rather than chewy. The dry-ish filling matters because moist filling steams the dough from inside and breaks the crust during fry.

Variations

Pastelitos de queso (cheese, usually a salty white queso de freír). Pastelitos de pollo (chicken). Pastelitos de jamón y queso (ham and cheese — kid favorite). Sweet pastelitos de guayaba (guava paste with cream cheese) are dessert versions.

On the Palate

Ingredients

Serves 8

for fryingVegetable Oil

to tasteSalt

2 tbspSugar

How it's made

7 steps · Show ↓

40 min active · 50 min waiting

1
8 min
Dough: combine 3 cups flour, 1 tsp salt, 2 tbsp sugar. Cut in 4 tbsp butter. Whisk 1 egg + ½ cup cold water + 1 tbsp white vinegar; mix into flour until shaggy.
2
30 min
Knead 5 min. Wrap, refrigerate 30 min.
3
5 min
Filling: heat 1 tbsp oil. Sauté ½ chopped onion, 2 garlic 4 min. Add 350 g ground beef. Brown 6 min.
4
6 min
Add 1 tbsp tomato paste, 1 tsp oregano, ½ tsp paprika, salt, pepper, 2 tbsp olives chopped, 1 tsp capers. Cook 5 min until dry-ish. Cool.
5
18 min
Roll dough thin (3 mm). Cut 10-cm circles. Place 2 tbsp filling on half. Brush edge with water; fold over; press; crimp with fork.
6
6 min
Heat 4 cm oil to 180°C. Fry pastelitos 3 min per side until deeply golden and bubbly.
7
3 min
Drain on rack. Eat hot with hot sauce or Dominican pink sauce.