Argentine empanadas with beef, cheese, or chicken. Chilean empanadas with beef, cheese, or seafood. Mexican empanadas with spicy beef, potato, or pumpkin.

The Many Names of Empanadas For instance, Americans call them meat pies, and Jamaicans call them beef patties. At the same time, Indians call them samosas, and people in Latin America or Spain call them pastelillos or pastelitos.

What some people don't realize is that empanadas can be sweet or savory. Traditionally, empanadas are filled with protein such as beef, chicken, pork, tuna, seafood, etc. or other fillings like potatoes, vegetables, cheese, and more.

“The empanada's origins are from the Middle East, but every culture has something like it,” says Diego Montero of DelSur Empanadas. “People come in and tell us about what they used to eat at home—and it's always something wrapped in bread.”