An hour south of Oaxaca city, the Zapotec village of San Antonino Castillo Velasco has much to recommend it. Besides the fields of flowers raised to decorate graves and altars throughout the valley and inspire elaborate floral designs on its blouses and dresses, the cocineras (cooks) of San Antonino serve a distinctive and delicious Empanada de Amarillo — a dish I never miss and one that has earned the village the (perhaps self-proclaimed) title, “world capital of the empanada.”
The main ingredients of the filling are pork broth, chile guajillo, masa, manteca, and cilantro. However, undoubtedly each cook adds her own secret seasoning(s).
Hot off the (tortilla) press, tortillas are placed on the comal to cook.
Once they reach the correct texture, the filling is spooned onto the tortilla and it is folded in half to be cooked, flipped, cooked, and flipped again until ready to serve.
The empanadas are traditionally served on a bed of lettuce and garnished with radishes and lime wedges and there is usually a small dish of pickled onion slices to further enhance the flavor. Yes, I ate the whole thing and it was riquisima!
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View From Casita Colibrí 
Does that ever look good! Espero que hay una (o más) en mi futuro!
They are the best! The gal pictured above has a little restaurant/comedor a block or two from the carretera, but Chris and I have yet to locate it. However, she always has a stall at all the celebrations in San Antonino, including Palm Sunday, and we always eat at her stand.
[…] San Antonino Castillo Velasco. Though, in all honesty, they weren’t nearly as good as the gal we usually go to in San […]
[…] One of the joys of life in Oaxaca is being surrounded by artists, meeting them, and watching there creations take shape. As 2023 was about to come to a close, friends and I spent the day visiting some of our favorite villages to the south of the city. First stop was breakfast in the Ocotlán de Morelos mercado at the stall of Beatriz Vázquez Gómez. Beatriz is famous not only for looking and dressing like Frida Kahlo, but also for serving delicious traditional Oaxacan food. Our next stop was San Antonino Castillo Velasco for their holiday food and artesanía feria where we strolled the aisles of embroidered blouses and dresses, artesanía, and (of course) mezcal. Working up an appetite (What, eating again?) we shared San Antonino’s famous and filling, empanadas de amarillo. […]