The flavor of the Caramel Apple Empanada at Mexican quick-service leader Taco Bell might hearken more to a childhood spent in Wisconsin than the Mexican state of Hidalgo. A warm, flaky pastry holds rich apple filling, and the flavor of caramel, at first subtle, emerges from behind apple to make its presence known on the tongue. Call the only empanada on Taco Bell’s menu a smaller, portable form of apple pie with caramel or a caramel-apple betty if you want. It’s a big hit with consumers regardless.

Likewise at Scottsdale, Arizona-based Taco Time, empanadas are featured only on the dessert menu, and they’re made from scratch on-premises, as are nearly all Taco Time offerings. In this case, a fresh flour tortilla wraps around fruit or crème filling, gets crimped on both ends, then is deep-fried until golden brown and served crispy and warm with a light coating of cinnamon and sugar. Empanadas account for 2 to 3 percent of overall menu sales at Taco Time, and aren’t getting bumped anytime soon.

Empanadas are among several foods that have transcended the street stands and carts of the Latin community to land on restaurant menus representing virtually all check averages. Derived from empanar, the Spanish word for “to bake in pastry,” the dish is already popular in Spain, Portugal, Latin America, the Caribbean, and the Philippines. The single-serving turnovers with a pastry crust are typically stuffed with savory meat-and-vegetable fillings. They can also be filled with fruit and served as dessert à la Taco Bell and Taco Time. Empanadas range in size from the huge empanada gallega, large enough to feed an entire family, to empanaditas—tiny, ravioli-size pastries.

The origin of the empanada has often been credited to Galicia, Spain, where centuries ago it was a type of pie cut into portable slices and enjoyed by working people. Throughout Latin America, as the empanada arrived in each country from the Old World and spread throughout the Caribbean, it was adapted to reflect local foods and cultures. That’s why ground beef seasoned with cumin, onion, and green olive and studded with raisins and chopped or sliced hard-boiled egg is a popular filling in Argentina’s empanadas, which are baked or fried. In neighboring Chile, where grazing cattle are scarce, onion empanadas are more popular and are always baked and never fried.

Aspiring to Mainstream

At Johnson & Wales University in north Miami, Florida, the history, preparation, and place of empanadas on American menus is part of the curriculum of the school’s culinary-arts program. Chef-instructor Patricia Wilson, Ph.D., teaches international cuisines to students seeking two-year degrees, and American cuisines to bachelor’s degree students. In those courses, future chefs are trained to understand how the empanada is influencing and influenced by modern foodways.