Empanadas Chilenas: Eating Empanadas in San Pedro de Atacama, Chile

For lunch we visited one of our favorite restaurants in San Pedro de Atacama, Chile to try eating Chilean Empanadas (Empanadas Chilenas). We're certainly no strangers to eating empanadas. In fact, they were served during our wedding and I've learned how to make them at Audrey's parents house. However, it was our first time to try Chilean empanadas. Compared to Argentinian empanadas they're massive and shaped more like an envelope as opposed to a half moon. We ended up ordering two massive ones (Empanadas de Pino: Beef empanadas with black olives, onions, eggs and raisins - Empanadas de Tomate, Queso y Albahaca: Cheese empanadas with tomato and basil). They were absolutely delicious and ended up being large enough to have for lunch as opposed to just merely a snack.
Empanadas Chilenas: Eating Empanadas in San Pedro de Atacama, Chile Travel Video Transcript:
So it is time for a food video. We haven't made a food video in a really long time. And this is actually the first one we're filming here in Chile. So we thought what better dish to try than Empanadas Chilenas. And as you probably know I've had empanadas many times before. We make those in Argentina so I've grown up making the recipe at home with my Mom. But the Chilean recipe is slightly different so we've placed our order and we're waiting for our food to arrive.
So are you ready from some delicious Chilean empanadas? Yes, you better believe that I am. Because you know what, I kind of have special relationship with empanadas. Do you now? I learned how to make them at your house. At your parent's house. So your Mom taught me and also you taught me so I've learned how to make like ones with meat and eggs and also dessert ones with strawberry and ones with ground beef. Okay so we should just be sending you over to the kitchen to help out a bit. Yeah, why don't I just go make it myself in the back. Okay. Off you go. Ta ta!
Look at the size of this empanada. Okay, I want you to put your hand beside it so we get a sense of scale. That is my hand. Oh, my hand is dirty. Whoops! That's alright. Anyways, that is the size of my hand. Like it is the size of half of my face basically. And this is the thing that shocked me about Chilean empanadas is that the Argentinian ones are really small. Maybe they're like this size. They're like half moon shaped. They are like quite small. Like this I feel like you could share with two or three people. It's that big. Gigantic. That big. Gigantic.
Okay, so I'm cutting it with a knife. I know I could eat this with my hand but it is really really hot right now and I want to show you the filling. So this one. This is called Pino. And this is the classic Chilean empanada and you basically get ground beef with onions and also black olives and raisins and there should be a boiled egg in there somewhere. So I'm going to try this one. Oh, it is so hot. Oh my gosh. Piping hot! Piping hot. One minute. Caliente.
Okay, that is better. Alright, so. This is actually kind of a sweet empanada. Like, it still savory because it is made with meat but the raisins kind of release that sweetness into the juice. Sugar. So yeah. It's quite nice. I do like it. I just need to take my time with it so I don't burn my mouth.
But it is good. I'm already enjoying it.
Okay and you ordered a different one. So which one are you having? Mine is called Albahaca and that features cheese, tomatoes and basil. So let's take a look as I dissect mine as well. He's going to dissect it. Dissection! It's science class people. This is surgery. Food surgery. Okay. So as you can see inside there is a very generous portion of cheese. I see tomato and I see basil. So time for a bite.
Okay, so that was a tasty lunch. What about the price? Yes, so basically the equivalent of 3.50 US Dollars per empanada. And normally that would be really expensive but when you consider how large those were not too bad of a value.
And we're also in a really touristy town. San Pedro de Atacama is you know as touristy as it gets so we are paying a tourist premium here. I'm guessing these would be a lot cheaper in Santiago or Valparaiso for example.
This is part of our Travel in Chile series. We're making a series of videos showcasing Chilean culture, Chilean arts, Chilean foods, Chilean religion, Chilean cuisine and Chilean people.
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All photos and video taken by Samuel Jeffery (Nomadic Samuel) and Audrey Bergner (That Backpacker).
Music in this video courtesy of Audio Network