Galician tuna pie (empanada gallega de atún)
The classic empanada of Galicia, baked all over Spain: a thin, crisp bread dough made with the oil from the filling, which is slowly cooked onion and pepper with tomato, tuna and hard-boiled egg. It's also made with meat, scallops or salt cod with raisins, and eaten warm or cold.
- 2 h 20Time
- 43 minHands-on
- 4Portions
- ≈ €1.70per portion
- 920kcal per portion
Ingredients for 4 portions
- 3Yellow onions, thinly sliced
- 1Bell pepper, red, in strips
- 1Italian green pepper, in strips
- 120 mlOlive oil, for the filling and dough
- to tasteSalt
- 3Eggs
- 150 gReady-made tomato sauce
- 1 tspPaprika
- 300 gTuna, drained
- 20 gFresh yeast
- ≈ 200 mlWater, lukewarm
- 500 gPlain flour
- 1 tspSalt, for the dough
- 1Egg, beaten, for brushing
Method
- Peel the onions and slice them thinly. Cut the peppers into thin strips.
- Heat the oil in a large frying pan and cook the onions and peppers with a little salt over a low heat for about 25 minutes, stirring now and then, until very soft.
- Meanwhile, boil the eggs for 10 minutes, cool them in cold water and peel.
- Stir in the tomato sauce and paprika and cook for 5 minutes. Tip the filling into a sieve set over a bowl to catch the oil, then mix the drained filling with the flaked tuna.
- For the dough, crumble the yeast into the lukewarm water. Put the flour and salt in a bowl, add the yeast water and 5 tablespoons of the still-warm oil from the filling, and knead for 8–10 minutes into a smooth, elastic dough.
- Cover the dough with a tea towel and leave it to rise somewhere warm for about 30 minutes.
- Meanwhile, heat the oven to 190 °C and slice the eggs.
- Divide the dough into two, one piece a little larger. Roll the larger piece out thinly on baking paper to about the size of a baking tray and slide it onto the tray.
- Spread the filling over it, leaving a border, and lay the egg slices on top. Roll out the rest of the dough, lay it over the filling, pinch the edges together and fold them into a rope-like border. Cut a small hole in the centre and brush with the beaten egg.
- Bake at 190 °C for about 35 minutes, until golden and crisp.
- Leave the empanada to cool for 10 minutes before cutting it into pieces.
The cost is estimated from average prices in Spain (MAPA – Panel de Consumo Alimentario en Hogares (Ministerio de Agricultura, Pesca y Alimentación), 2026-07).
