Jamaican Beef Patty – Spicy flavorful beef stuffed in an amazing super easy buttery dough. Comes together quickly and flies off the table. Simply delicious!
Making your own pastry can be intimidating, but it doesn’t have to be. Trust me, if you have a food processor it is a breeze and without one, you only have to sacrifice a few more minutes.
Now who doesn’t love Jamaican pies? A spicy beef filling encased in a flaky spicy pastry dough. Hello! Spicy taste-bud overload.
Jamaican meat pies are very distinctive from the other meat pies like this African meat pie or the well-loved empanadas. It is yellowish due to the addition of turmeric. Turmeric is a spice that is mostly used for flavoring and also acts as a coloring agent.
It gives off a mild fragrance slightly suggestive of orange and ginger. It is used to make other spices especially curry powder. So if you do not have turmeric, you may replace it with mild curry powder. Or leave it out completely. No big deal.
In this recipe, the beef filling is heavily spiced with cumin, garlic, onions, hot pepper, allspice, thyme, paprika and curry, differentiating itself from the rest. Some Jamaican beef patties are spicy hot with the inclusion of scotch bonnet pepper.
If you can tolerate the heat then by all means add some in the filling. Here, I added ½ a teaspoon of chili pepper to make it spicy but not overly hot.
For the crust, you may use butter only. The reason why vegetable shortening is included in most pastries is because it is easier to work with . However, butter is more flavorful than shortening.
These addictive pastries would be great for any celebration because they can be made ahead of time and you can freeze them till the day of event. Place them on a cookie sheet – single layer, freeze for about an hour then remove and place in zip lock bag or storage container.
Enjoy!!!!
Watch How to Make It
Jamaican Meat Pie
Ingredients
PIE CRUST
- 4 cups all purpose flour plus more for dusting
- 2 Tablespoon sugar
- ½ Tablespoon salt
- 1/2 - 2- teaspoon turmeric
- 5 oz. Shortening
- 1- tablespoon cider vinegar.
- 1 cup iced water
- 5 - ounce un-salted butter
JAMAICAN BEEf FILLING
- ½ medium onion chopped
- 1 teaspoon granulated garlic
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon all spice powder
- 1 teaspoon curry
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1 teaspoon white pepper
- 3 green onion chopped
- 2 tablespoon chopped parsley
- 1/2 teaspoon salt or more
- 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
- 1 pound ground beef
- 1/4 cup bread crumbs
- 1/2 scotch bonnet pepper chopped optional
- 1- teaspoon chicken bouillon powder optional replace with salt
Instructions
- In a food processor or by hand, mix together, flour, salt, sugar, turmeric blend well Add the butter, shortening, followed by vinegar and water in small amounts, pulse until combined and dough holds together in a ball.
- Place the dough on a well -floured surface. Divide it into 2 and roll it out. Place in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes until ready to use
- Using a large mouth, glass or bowl about 4 - 5 " cut out circles by gently pressing on the dough and releasing it, shaping the meat pie dough. Continue cutting out dough until all dough has been cut. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes or until ready to use.
- Make the Meat pie filling
- Add 2 tablespoon of oil to a saucepan, followed by onions, garlic, paprika, thyme curry, chili powder, white pepper, all spice and chicken bouillon . Let it simmer for about 2 minutes,
- Then, add ground meat, bread crumbs and continue cooking for about 10 or more minutes.stirring frequently to prevent burning, add about ½ cup of water .
- Finally add green onions and parsley, adjust for salt and pepper seasoning.
- Remove from stovetop and let it cool.
- Assembling Jamaican Meat pie
- Scoop a heaping tablespoon of filling into each circle, and brush with egg white or white around half of the circle. Fold over twist with fingers gently to seal the edges of the meat pie.
- Another way of sealing is by pressing the tines of a fork along the edges of the dough.
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
- Carefully place each pie on a baking sheet and bake for about 30 minutes .
- you may freeze to bake later.
- Best served warm .
Nutrition Information:
Toni says
How do I make the pastry without a food processor?
ImmaculateBites says
You can use a blender instead of a food processor 🙂
LPO says
How thin should the dough be rolled out?
ImmaculateBites says
It can be 1/8″ thick and 1″ wider than the pie plate. 🙂
Pete J Milazzo says
I made these before but do not remember how thin to roll out dough.
Trish Hogue says
I am going to make these for an upcoming holiday party. I’m curious about the amount this makes. When you say 10 – 12 portions, does this mean 10 – 12 patties in total? I was hoping to make them finger food size and was hoping to get 2 – 3 dozen. Would you suggest double the recipe?
ImmaculateBites says
Hi Trish, this recipe ideally serves 10-12 persons. 🙂
Brenda says
Use smaller biscuit cutter 2 – 3 inch sizes maybe 1 teaspoon filling