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 tablespoons sugar
- ½ tablespoon salt
- ½-2 teaspoon turmeric
- 5 ounces shortening
- 1 tablespoon cider vinegar
- 1 cup ice water
- 5 ounces unsalted butter
JAMAICAN BEEf FILLING
- ½ medium onion, chopped
- 1 teaspoon granulated garlic
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- ½ teaspoon allspice
- 1 teaspoon curry
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1 teaspoon white pepper
- 3 green onion, chopped
- 2 tablespoon parsley, chopped
- ½ teaspoon salt, or more
- ½ teaspoon chili powder
- 1 pound ground beef
- ¼ cup bread crumbs
- ½ scotch bonnet pepper, chopped (optional)
- 1 teaspoon chicken bouillon powder, optional replace with salt
Instructions
Make the Pie Crust
- 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 the dough until it all has been cut. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes or until ready to use.
Make the Meat Pie Filling
- Add 2 tablespoons of oil to a saucepan, followed by onions, garlic, paprika, thyme curry, chili powder, white pepper, allspice, and chicken bouillon. Let it simmer for about 2 minutes.
- Then add ground meat and breadcrumbs 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 and adjust for salt and pepper seasoning.
- Remove from stovetop and let it cool.
Assemble the Jamaican Meat Pies
- 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 the oven to 375℉.
- Carefully place each pie on a baking sheet and bake for about 30 minutes .
- You may freeze them to bake later.
- Best served warm.
Tips & Notes:
- Please keep in mind that the nutritional information is a rough estimate and can vary significantly based on the products used in the recipe.
Nutrition Information:
MS100 says
I’m planning on making this for my family this weekend. Is there a dipping sauce that you can suggest to go with it? It may not be traditional but I don’t mind mixing and matching recipes.
I’ve made several of your recipes over the past couple of years, particularly Caribbean and African ones. Every one turned out great.
Imma says
Thank you so much for your feedback, here are my popular sauce recipes you can try with this meat pie. Let me know how these turns out for you 🙂
https://www.africanbites.com/remoulade-sauce/
https://www.africanbites.com/african-pepper-sauce/#cls-video-container-iPEX1hQJ
https://www.africanbites.com/jerk-sauce/#cls-video-container-L1T7Pj5s
Holly says
Making this recipe right now. Wondering why you add water AFTER cooking the onion and ground beef? Won’t they be very watery when adding to the crust?
Imma says
Wonderful! It’s just enough water to deglaze the pan for all that goodness stuck to the bottom. If you think the filling is too watery, let it simmer for a minute or two longer and that will take care of it.
Kim Ramsey says
I made these last night for my husband and I, absolutely fantastic! I followed the recipe with the exception of the Scotch bonnets (to much heat for me). Also I used my KitchenAid mixer with the dough hook for the pie crust Just let me say that I will never buy the store bought frozen ones again. Thank you for such a delicious recipe.
Imma says
You are more than welcome. And if there’s a recipe you’d love to see, please let me know. Thanks:)
Victoria Frank says
This recipe is great! I only used the meat filling recipe and used a Tenderflake crust for the top and bottom. Also, I made it as an 8″ pie, not hand pies. It turned out fantastic! Delicious and not too spicy.
Imma says
Great to hear from your Victoria, thank you so much! Stay tuned to have more amazing recipe:)
Cas says
Hi. Your recipe looks great and I like the image of your end product. A little different from what I’m used to but like you said, evey grandma has her version of the story. I also want to say also that, the name of the item here is, properly, Jamaican Patty, not meat pie. No Jamaican will know what you’re talking about if you call it a meat pie without showing them a picture. I can say quite confidently that, meat pie term is never used in Jamaica to refer to this item.
Walk good.
Imma says
Thanks so much for your kind words. I agree about calling it a meat pie, but people from other parts of the world may have a different idea of what a patty is.
Mel says
This is fantastic! Just like in the islands.
Imma says
Great to hear that, Thank you for trying the recipe on a lighter note if you can add recipe ratings. It will help other readers to have confidence upon this recipe:)
Cheryl Clark says
I’m looking forward to making this for the longest!
Imma says
Thank you so much, sure go ahead and let me how it goes 🙂
Janaya says
So is there a difference between this and the square bright yellow ones you get from jamaican restaurants?
Imma says
Yes, they are. Everyone’s grandma has her own style, so they may taste slightly different. However, they’re all Jamaican meat pies.
Stony says
LOVED the meat pies, almost like the pasties from northern Michigan, one of my favs. with scotch bonnets
Imma says
Thank you for your feedback, I have a lot of other Pie recipes on the blog, you must try them. I am sure you would like them for sure:)
Joy V says
Can I bake them directly from the freezer?
ImmaculateBites says
Yes you sure can. You might have to add a few additional minutes
Tony says
Shortening is unknown here in france. Can I just use more butter?
Imma says
Lard is a better choice, but butter should work fine. Please let me know how it goes.❤️
Stony says
render some beef fat, clear and the best to use for pie dough, you won’t be sorry.
Malefu Mumba says
I appreciate you sharing my recipe for country rice because I live in South Africa, where Indian food is really excellent. I’ve also tried making a Jamaican mince pie for my grandson’s lunchbox, substituting chicken for the minced beef, and it turned out very well.
Imma says
That sounds good, Love your grandson 🙂 Explore our quick and easy recipes to have more collections on the go.
Bill says
How many pies does this recipe make? Can you freeze after baking?
ImmaculateBites says
So the servings say 10-12 but it could be more or less depending on how big you make the dough. It is delicious though, i promise you
Linda Potrykus says
I made this recipe for my husband and myself and gave some to three of my neighbours and my dad and got rave reviews from everyone. I’m using up the second batch of dough today. This time I’m freezing them for us to have whenever we get a craving. Delicious!
Imma says
Great to hear that, thank you for spreading love and care:)