Bottom Line: The Mini Spicy Breakfast Empanadas from 7-Eleven offer a quick and easy breakfast with a kick.
When it comes to breakfast, I am not usually looking for something that is too spicy. I’m going to be drinking a cup or three of Joe in the morning, and I have found that a good burn does not necessarily go well with a good cup of coffee (and I ain’t drinking no bad coffee). But then I do consider myself a chilihead and my tolerance for heat is higher than the average mortal, so what I consider not too spicy might still cause some to tear up. And I certainly don’t mind if my eggs and sausage have a kick (I’ve always got that bottle of Tabasco at the ready).
So when I saw that 7-Eleven started advertising Spicy Mini Breakfast Empanadas at three for three bucks, I decided to give them a try. What are empanadas you ask? Well let me educate you on that there exotic cuisine. It has Spanish origins and is a common food in South America, and it is basically a pastry with sweet or savory filling that is baked or fried. The “mini” empanadas at 7-Eleven feature a “buttery crust” that is filled with sausage, egg, cheese, peppers, and spices.
To start off with, that crust is pretty thick, but it is also quite flaky and rather tasty with just a bit of a finish of sweetness. The eggs inside are rather mealy (probably powdered eggs or a mix, this is not fine dining), but that is not too noticeable after a bite or two as they blend with the other ingredients. And despite that, these empanadas deliver a good taste of egg with some sausage to back it up, the latter similar to chorizo (a particular favorite of mine). The flavor of the peppers is not very noticeable, but they do appear to bring some heat. I grabbed a couple of packets of Salsa del Sol to go with the empanadas (it’s similar to Pace Picante Sauce), and it works well, bringing some tanginess and acidity and bumping up the heat a bit.
Heat-wise, the empanada itself has a kick, coming in maybe a little hotter than mild. And if you add the Salsa de Sol, that brings it closer to medium heat. I really wanted to try their 11-Pepper sauce because I have heard good things about it, but there was none available at the condiment bar. I guess I’ll try that later and it’s probably not the best thing to mix with a breakfast item.
These empanadas are on the small side, and if you end up doubling up on them you may not be doing too bad (though I felt fairly full after eating three). I haven’t been able to track down the nutrition info on the new spicy version, but the mini empanadas they offered in the past came in at 230 calories for three. So go ahead and grab two orders or a breakfast burrito to go along with them.
Now let’s set expectations on these correctly. As you would expect from something under the 7-Eleven heat lamp, these are fast food through and through. There is no Latin American grandmother in the back cooking these. They are made off-premises then heated up before putting them out in the grab-and-go rack. Still, for a quick and easy breakfast on the run, they’re not bad. If you want to experience a really good empanada, check the Yellow Pages . . . Oops! Wrong Century . . . Google “authentic empanadas” in your area. I’ll bet you will find some good restaurants you didn’t know about. But if you need a quick bite for breakfast, these work quite well at three for three bucks or three plus a cup of Joe for a buck extra. And I don’t know how long they will be around, so grab ‘em pretty soon.
Fun Fact: 7-Eleven gets its name because it was opened from 7 AM to 11 PM seven days a week, hours that were rare back in the ‘40s when it took on that designation. The chain actually got its start in 1927 and was named Tote’m Store because people “toted” away what they bought. Some of the original stores even used totem poles as a sort of mascot.