The first bite is rarely graceful. A crisp corner breaks off, steam escapes through the opening, and a little beef, cheese, or sauce inevitably lands somewhere it was not supposed to.
That minor mess is part of the appeal. New Jersey’s empanada scene is packed with places that understand how much flavor can fit inside a folded pocket of dough, from compact Colombian bakery versions to flaky Argentine turnovers and corn-based Venezuelan beauties.
Some shops stay loyal to seasoned beef and shredded chicken. Others stuff their shells with birria, Philly cheesesteak, guava, curry, mac and cheese, or combinations that sound mildly ridiculous until you taste them.
This list travels from Kearny to Pleasantville, stopping at longtime neighborhood counters, bustling bakeries, full-service restaurants, and food trucks worth tracking across the state. Bring an appetite, order more than one flavor, and accept that choosing a favorite may require several highly scientific return visits.
1. Stella’s Empanadas & Argentine Grill — Kearny
A tray from Stella’s is a lesson in why ordering only one empanada is almost always a mistake. The Kearny shop has spent more than a decade building a menu that begins with Argentine comfort and then cheerfully wanders into New Jersey territory.
Traditional beef and chicken provide the sensible starting point, but the lineup quickly expands to beef with potato, beef with cheese, pork, Buffalo chicken, and Philly cheesesteak. The Calabrese, packed with Italian-inspired flavors, is another reliable move when plain beef feels a little too responsible.
Vegetarians are not treated as an afterthought here. Corn with red peppers and mozzarella, spinach and cheese, broccoli and cheese, and other meat-free choices make it easy to build a mixed box that keeps everyone happy.
Sweet empanadas bring apple and chocolate into the equation, which means dessert can arrive in the same familiar half-moon shape as lunch. The storefront on Elm Street is casual and built for quick decisions, although staring at the menu can slow things down.
Stella’s also serves Argentine sandwiches, burgers, rice dishes, and other plates, but the smartest first visit is a broad empanada sampler. Hours lean toward daytime and early evening, with a shorter Saturday schedule, so this is better planned as lunch or an early takeout run than a late-night craving.
2. Empanada Guy — Multiple Locations and Food Trucks
Spotting one of Empanada Guy’s bright red trucks at a festival can trigger an immediate change of plans. Whatever you thought you were eating is suddenly competing with the smell of fried dough and seasoned meat drifting across the crowd.
The business began in New Jersey in 2012 and has grown into a fleet of mobile kitchens and restaurant locations, making it one of the state’s most recognizable empanada operations. The menu understands that crowds contain both traditionalists and people who want lunch to be a little strange.
Beef, chicken, and cheese cover the classics, while Cuban pulled pork and chorizo with potato and cheddar deliver heavier, more indulgent bites. Veggie curry offers a fragrant meat-free alternative, and the lobster empanada has become the order people mention when explaining why this is not merely another festival food stand.
Availability can vary by truck, event, and season, which gives regulars a reason to inspect the menu instead of automatically repeating last time’s order. Add tostones, fried plantains, yuca, rice and beans, or churros when an empanada alone will not do the job.
The mobile setup is part of the fun, but it also calls for a little planning. Check the daily truck schedule before driving anywhere, especially when weather or event changes could move a location.
Then look for the red truck and follow the line.
3. O’LaLa Empanadas — Jersey City
Names such as Little Tokyo, Bay of Naples, and Greek Goddess tell you immediately that O’LaLa is not interested in staying inside one culinary border. This Jersey City favorite uses the empanada as a passport, folding flavors associated with Latin America, Asia, Italy, Greece, and other corners of the world into a familiar handheld package.
The concept has a personal foundation rather than a gimmicky one. The restaurant was created around recipes associated with the owners’ mother, whose nickname is Lala, and that family influence keeps the more adventurous combinations grounded in homestyle cooking.
The savory selection rewards mixing and matching instead of committing to one large entrée. Order a trio and move from something meaty and comforting to a vegetable-forward filling or one of the globally inspired specialties.
Saving room for the Love Potion is an excellent idea. That dessert empanada combines warm guava with cream cheese, producing the sweet, tangy finish that makes you wonder why more desserts do not come sealed inside fried dough.
Beyond empanadas, the menu reaches into broader Latin and fusion cooking, including arroz chaufa, a Peruvian-Chinese fried-rice dish that has become one of the restaurant’s signatures. O’LaLa sits on Communipaw Avenue, away from Jersey City’s most polished restaurant corridors.
The room is modest and relaxed, making it equally useful for a casual meal, a quick pickup, or a box ordered for sharing at home.
4. The Original Empanada Factory — Lyndhurst
Pork roll, egg, and cheese inside an empanada is the kind of idea that could only feel completely natural in New Jersey. The Original Empanada Factory embraces that local instinct while maintaining a menu wide enough to resemble a tour through several different cuisines.
Since opening in Lyndhurst in 2017, the shop has built its reputation on freshly baked turnovers that travel well and invite ambitious mix-and-match orders. Start with beef if you want a baseline, then let the menu get progressively less traditional.
Chicken Parmesan turns a North Jersey red-sauce staple into a compact snack. Buffalo chicken adds heat and tang, while the Cuban folds familiar sandwich flavors into pastry.
Spinach and feta provides a lighter contrast, and the calzone empanada practically dares anyone to argue about whether it belongs in the Italian or Latin category. Breakfast flavors are among the strongest reasons to visit.
Bacon, egg, and cheese is available, but the pork roll version supplies the unmistakable Garden State stamp. On the sweet side, guava and cheese delivers the dependable tropical pairing, while mango and cheese pushes the fruit-and-dairy combination in another direction.
The Ridge Road storefront is straightforward and well suited to takeout. Half-dozen and dozen assortments make more sense than ordering individually when several people are involved, though choosing the final lineup may require negotiations.
Label the box carefully, because nobody enjoys discovering that the last pork roll empanada disappeared five minutes ago.
5. Empanada Spanish Grill — Clifton
Ten rotating flavors sit in the case, but beef, chicken, and cheeseburger remain the dependable regulars. That combination of unpredictability and reassurance has helped Empanada Spanish Grill hold its place in Clifton since 2009.
You can walk in knowing exactly what you want or allow the day’s selection to decide lunch for you. The empanadas are baked rather than fried, giving the shells a tender, lightly browned finish without the heavier crunch found at many other stops.
Rotation is essential to the experience. Fish, vegetable, meat, and dessert choices have all appeared over the years, so repeat visits are rewarded with fillings that may not have been available the previous week.
The cheeseburger version is especially good for anyone who believes ground beef and melted cheese improve nearly every edible container. This is also one of the better stops when an empanada needs to become a full meal.
Plates pair chicken, pernil, red meat, or fish with a choice of white or yellow rice and black or pinto beans. Maduros and tostones cover both sweet and savory plantain cravings, while alcapurrias and beef-filled potato balls keep the fried-snack theme moving.
The Market Street restaurant is an easygoing counter-service spot rather than a destination requiring reservations or advance strategy. It generally operates from late morning through early evening and closes Sunday, making it a strong weekday lunch option.
Ask what just came out of the oven before finalizing your order.
6. Mama Ana’s Empanadas — Totowa
Mama Ana’s menu reads as though someone kept asking, “Could that go inside an empanada?” and the kitchen kept answering yes. The Totowa restaurant offers traditional beef, chicken, cheese, and spinach options, but those are only the opening chapter.
Chicken Parmesan, pepperoni pizza, cheesesteak, sausage and peppers, broccoli and cheese, and chicken bacon ranch pull familiar American comfort foods into the empanada format. Then the combinations become even more ambitious.
The California brings together chicken, bacon, mozzarella, and avocado. Chicken bacon mac and cheese is exactly the unapologetic handful it sounds like.
Pastelón de plátano combines sweet plantains, ground beef, and mozzarella, delivering sweetness, salt, and richness in the same bite. The Cuban layers pulled pork, ham, and Swiss, while the pernil version keeps the focus on slow-roasted pork and onions.
Dessert is where restraint officially leaves the building. Guava and cheese is the classic move, but the Strawberry Bomb pairs fresh strawberries with Nutella, and the tres leches empanada places actual cake inside a fried shell.
That last one sounds structurally questionable until it arrives, at which point questions become less important. Located on Union Boulevard, Mama Ana’s works well for takeout but offers enough seating and a large enough menu for a casual meal.
Bowls, sandwiches, fresh juices, plantains, and yuca make it possible to feed a group whose enthusiasm for stuffed pastry varies considerably.
7. The Empanada Shop — Wood-Ridge
Some restaurants try to impress with a wall of permanent flavors. The Empanada Shop keeps regulars curious by adding an empanada of the day to a dependable core of freshly prepared favorites.
Beef, chicken, and spinach provide familiar anchors, while rotating specials give the Wood-Ridge operation room to experiment without turning the main menu into a novel. The pastries are built for people who like a filling-to-dough ratio that favors the filling.
They arrive hot, neatly sealed, and substantial enough that two can become a meal, especially with rice, beans, tostones, or sweet potato fries alongside them. Combo orders are useful for first-timers who would otherwise spend too long debating at the counter.
One of the smartest alternatives is the “naked empanada,” which skips the pastry and turns the fillings into a rice bowl. It may sound contrary to the entire reason for visiting an empanada shop, but it works for diners avoiding dough or anyone who wants the same flavors in a fork-friendly format.
The business has increasingly emphasized catering, party trays, and larger orders, including mini and jumbo empanada platters. That makes it particularly useful when feeding an office, birthday crowd, or family gathering where full-size entrées would be cumbersome.
The Valley Boulevard location has long been associated with casual takeout, though current pickup and ordering arrangements are worth confirming before making a special trip. For a party, order more than your head count suggests; these disappear quickly.
8. Empanada or Nada — Montclair
The display case at this downtown Montclair shop presents a dangerous illusion: surely you can narrow the order to two. Then you notice eggplant Parmesan beside Buffalo chicken, spot the vegan lentil and potato option, and realize dessert is waiting farther down the menu.
Suddenly, you are carrying a much larger box than planned. Every empanada here is baked, creating a softer, less oily shell that suits the broad range of fillings.
Beef and Philly cheesesteak satisfy the meat-and-cheese crowd, while spinach and feta offers a salty, herbaceous change of pace. Eggplant Parmesan is an especially appropriate North Jersey mashup, taking the flavors of a neighborhood Italian takeout order and placing them inside a tidy pastry pocket.
Plant-based diners receive real choices rather than a token vegetable filling. Plaki brings Greek-inspired tomato and bean flavors, while lentil and potato delivers the earthy comfort expected from a good savory pie.
Sweet empanadas include guava and cheese as well as Nutella and banana, both capable of turning an intended snack run into a complete meal. The location on Bloomfield Avenue makes this an easy addition to an afternoon in central Montclair.
Seating is limited and the format favors quick service, so pickup is often the smoothest approach during busy periods. The shop usually closes in the early evening and is not a late-night option.
Order several flavors, cut them in half, and conduct a tasting on a nearby bench like a person with excellent priorities.
9. Brisas Bakery & Restaurant — Elizabeth
At Brisas, the empanada does not sit alone under a heat lamp waiting to become somebody’s afternoon snack. It belongs to a much larger Colombian bakery ritual involving strong coffee, cheese breads, cakes, fruit drinks, and customers stopping in from breakfast onward.
The family-run business has operated in Elizabeth since 1998, and its longevity shows in the quick rhythm behind the counter. The Colombian-style empanadas are smaller and crunchier than many flour-dough versions, with a corn-based exterior that shatters slightly at the edges.
Beef is the essential first order, ideally accompanied by the house sauce and eaten while still hot. Brisas has also expanded the idea through varieties such as paisa and Argentine-style beef, depending on the location and current selection.
Part of the fun is building a broader bakery haul. Add pandebono, almojábanas, or another warm cheese bread, then grab Colombian coffee to balance the richness.
Diners with a bigger appetite can move into full plates such as bandeja paisa, arroz con pollo, or soup, but it is perfectly acceptable to treat the bakery counter as a choose-your-own breakfast adventure. Brisas has several New Jersey locations, with the Morris Avenue restaurant in Elizabeth serving as a central stop.
It opens early, making it particularly useful when most dedicated empanada shops are still dark. The bakery has even served its empanadas at major sporting events, proof that handheld food and hungry crowds remain a near-perfect match.
10. Paco’s Empanadas — Franklin
Route 23 is not where most people expect to encounter a sprawling Latin comfort-food menu, which makes pulling into Paco’s in Franklin feel like finding a particularly useful roadside secret.
Empanadas remain the name above the door and the logical place to begin, arriving crisp and substantial enough to function as either an appetizer or a quick lunch.
The current menu extends well beyond pastry. Loaded fried plantains come topped with avocado spread, queso fresco, and sour cream dressing.
Rice bowls range from Cuban pulled pork with sweet plantains to chicken al pastor with grilled pineapple and guacamole. Quesadillas, flautas, tortas, tacos, and customizable bowls make Paco’s practical for a group in which only one person arrived specifically chasing empanadas.
That variety should not distract from the main event. Order at least two empanadas so you can compare fillings and still have enough food to justify trying the green sauce, pico, or guacamole.
The shells are made for immediate eating, when the exterior is still crisp and the filling has not had time to cool into one solid mass. Paco’s sits along Route 23 and generally keeps daytime-to-evening hours Monday through Saturday.
Prices remain casual, with individual empanadas costing considerably less than the restaurant’s full plates and bowls. Parking is simpler than at many downtown entries on this list, making the stop easy to add to a Sussex County drive.
Just do not leave the box unopened until you get home.
11. Division Cafe — Somerville
Chipotle aioli seeping into shredded chicken and potato is the detail that separates Division Cafe’s signature empanada from a standard chicken turnover. Minced onion, cilantro, and bell pepper bring freshness to the rich filling, while the fried flour shell provides enough crunch to hold everything together.
It is bold without becoming a stunt. The Somerville cafe has Costa Rican roots, but its menu is comfortable pulling ideas from across Latin America and giving them a modern neighborhood-cafe treatment.
Empanada choices have included ham and cheese, spinach and cheese, and several meat-filled versions, allowing a mixed order to move from mild and creamy to smoky and spicy. Sweet versions occasionally provide an easy finish.
Unlike a dedicated takeout counter, Division Cafe invites customers to stay. The room sits along pedestrian-friendly Division Street in downtown Somerville, surrounded by shops, bars, and other restaurants.
Outdoor seating can make empanadas and coffee feel like a full afternoon plan when the weather cooperates. Breakfast, brunch, lunch, and dinner dishes mean nobody at the table is forced into the same kind of meal.
The cafe is closed Monday and opens in the morning the rest of the week, with later hours on Friday and Saturday. Parking in downtown Somerville may involve a paid space or short walk, but the central location makes wandering afterward part of the visit.
Begin with the chipotle chicken, then let the rest of the table order widely and share.
12. Latin Bites — Manalapan Township
Latin Bites builds its empanada fillings the same way it approaches the rest of its menu: with Puerto Rican and Cuban flavors turned all the way up.
The family-run business uses house-made sofrito and emphasizes well-seasoned meat, which helps explain why the filling tastes like an actual braised dish rather than an anonymous scoop of ground beef.
The empanadas are only one piece of a deep fried-snack lineup. Bacalaítos bring crisp-edged cod fritters, croquetas supply creamy ham-filled bites, and papa rellena wraps seasoned ground beef in mashed potato.
Sorullos combine corn and cheese, while alcapurrias and yuca fries make it easy to assemble a full meal without ordering anything that requires a knife. Add maduros when the table needs sweetness or tostones when it needs more crunch.
A large Cuban sandwich known as the Big Papi has become another house specialty, layered with slow-roasted pork, ham, Swiss cheese, pickles, mustard, and garlic mojo. It is not a sensible companion to a large empanada order unless several people are sharing, but sensible decisions are not mandatory here.
Latin Bites operates a Manalapan restaurant along with trucks serving festivals, private events, and stops around New Jersey and the Philadelphia area. Check the current schedule before chasing a truck, since mobile locations change.
Finish with dulce de leche churros, preferably after admitting that the original plan of “just one empanada” is no longer relevant.
13. Que Ricas — Haddon Township
The Jawn could not belong anywhere but South Jersey. Que Ricas takes a Venezuelan-style corn empanada, fills it with Philly cheesesteak and fried onions, and gives a regional classic a crisp, gluten-free shell.
It is playful, messy, and surprisingly natural, as though cheesesteak had been waiting for this format all along. Traditional choices are treated with equal care.
Pollo carries shredded stewed chicken, while carne features tender carne mechada. The corn exterior delivers a different experience from flaky Argentine dough or thin fried flour pastry: sturdier, more textured, and especially satisfying at the deeply browned edges.
The inventive side of the menu deserves equal attention. Besitos combines mozzarella with guava for a sweet-salty filling, while Harvest mixes black beans, kale, and sweet potato into a vegan empanada with actual substance.
Mini apple-pie versions arrive coated in cinnamon sugar and paired with maple glaze, which lands somewhere between dessert empanada and handheld fair food. Que Ricas operates from a welcoming Haddon Avenue storefront in Haddon Township, close to Westmont’s other restaurants and bars.
The kitchen works from scratch and expands beyond empanadas into arepas, cachapas, tacos, pabellón bowls, tequeños, and churros. It is closed Monday and generally serves lunch and dinner Tuesday through Sunday.
First-timers should order one carne for reference, one Jawn for local pride, and one Besitos because guava and cheese rarely disappoint.
14. Julio’s on Main — Vineland
Birria has escaped the taco, and Julio’s on Main is helping it explore new territory. The Vineland restaurant places the slow-cooked, deeply seasoned beef inside an empanada, giving diners the rich flavor associated with birria in a crisp, portable form.
It is the obvious first choice for anyone who views consommé as a beverage. The standard selection includes beef and chicken, but guacamole and vegetable fillings widen the field.
A Beyond Meat empanada combines the plant-based protein with corn and sautéed onions, showing the kitchen’s serious commitment to vegan and vegetarian diners rather than asking them to settle for plain cheese.
The broader menu continues that effort with jackfruit, imitation steak, and imitation chicken options appearing in tacos and other dishes.
Julio’s is fundamentally a Mexican restaurant, so empanadas share the table with birria tacos, sopes, flautas, quesadillas, fajitas, street corn, and generously layered rice bowls. Fruit-and-Brie empanadas appear on the dessert menu, a surprising final turn after a meal built around chile, beef, and lime.
Caramel churros and aguas frescas are safer but less adventurous choices. The restaurant sits in a shopping center on South Main Road, where parking is far easier than in a dense downtown district.
It is closed Monday and stays open later on Friday and Saturday. The colorful dining room works for a sit-down meal, though takeout remains a strong option.
Birria travels well, provided nobody opens the container during the drive.
15. Mambo Café — Pleasantville
Two dollars and change still buys a hot beef or chicken empanada at Mambo Café, an increasingly rare pleasure in a world where quick snacks often cost as much as lunch. The Pleasantville cafe keeps its Colombian bakery items near the front of the action, making it easy to stop for one pastry and leave carrying a bag full of bread.
The empanadas are straightforward, compact, and built for everyday eating rather than novelty. Beef offers the deeper, more seasoned filling, while chicken provides a lighter alternative.
Larger beef and chicken empanadillas are also available when the smaller versions will not satisfy the craving. At these prices, the sensible strategy is to order several and compare.
Mambo opens early, so empanadas can become breakfast without attracting judgment. Pair them with Colombian coffee and add a buñuelo, pandequeso, or almojábana for a full tour of the bakery case.
Those cheese-rich breads are especially good when warm, and they make the cafe smell inviting long before the lunch crowd arrives. The full restaurant menu heads in several directions, including tostones topped with ropa vieja, Colombian picadas, seafood ceviche, soups, tacos, and breakfast plates.
That range makes Mambo more than a grab-and-go bakery, although the front counter remains one of its best features. Located on South Main Street, it offers both street and nearby parking and generally operates from morning through evening every day.
Arrive hungry enough to investigate the case properly.