Jamaican Beef Patties
Spicy, flavorful Jamaican beef patties deliver a juicy, spicy meat filling stuffed in an easy, buttery dough. They come together quickly and fly off the table even faster. Absolutely delicious comfort food!
Making your own pastry can be intimidating, but it doesn’t have to be. It’s super easy with or without a food processor. Sometimes I use it, and other times I love getting my hands in the dough.
Just so you know, we ate these guys every day while we were in Jamaica, and we even watched them being made. But when replicating them at home, I couldn’t help making a few tweaks with readily available ingredients in my area.
What Makes Them Unique
Have you noticed that almost every culture has its version of a handheld meat pie? Cornish pastries in England, empanadas in Spanish-speaking countries, salteñas in South America, and, in China, xian bing is a flatbread loaded with spicy ground pork.
Jamaicans took this treat to the next level by adding turmeric to the flaky, buttery pastry dough. Their iconic curry spice blend adds loads of flavor and a good amount of heat. That sounds close enough to health food to me.
How to Make Jamaican Beef Patties
- For the filling, sauté the aromatics, add ground beef and break it up, add the bread crumbs, water, and the rest of the seasonings, and simmer.
- For the crust, mix the dry ingredients, grate in the frozen butter, add the vegetable shortening, then the water, and knead until smooth.
- Roll out the dough, add more shortening, fold it over, and roll it out again.
- Add the filling to the dough, brush the seams with an egg wash, fold, cut, brush the finished patties with more egg wash, and bake.
Recipe Tips and Twists
- Personalize your filling with a little tomato paste for extra umami. Grated cheese on top of the filling when assembling wouldn’t hurt either.
- Add more diced veggies to the filling and replace the meat with diced mushrooms for a vegetarian version.
Make-Ahead and Leftovers
Frozen patties make a quick and easy snack; assemble and freeze them on a baking sheet in a single layer. After they freeze for about an hour, store them in a freezer ziplock bag until the craving hits. Bake as many patties as you want directly from frozen in a 375℉ (190℃) oven for about 30 minutes.
Freeze any leftover meat mixture for later, or add it to meat sauces over pasta, soups, and stews.
Leftover patties will stay fresh in the fridge for 3-4 days or in the freezer for 3-4 months. Crisp them back up in a 350℉ (180℃) oven, air fryer, or toaster oven for about 10 minutes or until heated through. The microwave works, but the crust won’t crisp up.
What to Serve With Jamaican Beef Patties
Turn these treats into a complete meal with a side of coleslaw, fried plantains, and rice and peas. Hot sauce is a must; Caribbean pepper sauce and my favorite hometown pepper sauce are good choices.
More Savory Pie Recipes to Try
By Imma
Watch How to Make It
This blog post was originally published in August 2016 and has been updated with additional tips, new photos, and a video.
[adthrive-in-post-video-player video-id=”Rbin77ml” upload-date=”Mon Aug 06 2018 19:57:54 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)” name=”Jamaican Meat Pie (Jamaican Beef Patty)” description=”Jamaican Beef Patty – Spicy flavorful beef stuffed in an amazing super easy buttery dough.Comes together quickly and flies off the table. Simply Delicious!!!”]
This blog post was originally published in August 2016 and has been updated with additional tips, new photos, and a video
Jamaican Beef Patties
Ingredients
Beef Filling
- 1 tablespoons (15ml) cooking oil
- ½ medium onion, chopped
- 1 teaspoon (3-4g) granulated garlic
- 1 teaspoon (3g) paprika
- 1 teaspoon (2-3g) allspice
- 1 teaspoon (2-3g) curry powder
- 1 teaspoon (2g) dried thyme
- 1 teaspoon (2-3g) white pepper
- 2 teaspoons (5g) chili powder
- 1 teaspoon (4g) chicken bouillon powder (optional, or replace with salt)
- 1 pound (450g) ground beef
- ¼ cup (30g) bread crumbs
- ½ cup (118ml) water
- 3 green onions, chopped
- 2 tablespoons (7-8g) parsley, chopped (optional)
- ½ scotch bonnet pepper, chopped (optional)
- salt and pepper to taste
Dough
- 4 cups (480g) all-purpose flour, plus more for kneading
- 2 tablespoons (24g) sugar
- ½ tablespoon (9g) salt
- ½-2 teaspoons (1-6g) turmeric
- 5 ounces (140g) unsalted butter, frozen
- 5 ounces (140g) shortening, very cold
- 1 tablespoon (15ml) apple cider vinegar
- 1 cup (236ml) ice water
- 1 egg, lightly beaten with a tablespoon of water for the egg wash
Instructions
Meat Pie Filling
- Heat the oil in a saucepan or deep skillet. Add the onions, garlic, paprika, allspice, curry powder, thyme, white pepper, chili powder, and chicken bouillon. Sauté for about 2 minutes.
- Add the ground beef, break it up, and cook until no longer pink. Add the breadcrumbs and about ½ cup of water, and simmer until slightly thickened.
- Add the green onions and parsley, adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper, and optionally make the filling smoother with an immersion blender.
- Remove from the heat and let it cool. While it's cooling, make the crust.
The Crust
- Mix flour, sugar, salt, and turmeric in a food processor or by hand, and blend well. Grate in the butter and shortening and mix in until you have coarse crumbs.
- Add the vinegar and water in small amounts, pulse or mix with your hands until combined, and the dough holds together in a ball.
- Place the dough on a well-floured surface. Divide it evenly into two parts and roll them out.
- Arrange six spoonfuls of filling on one side of each piece of dough, brush the seams with the egg wash, fold the other side of the dough over the filling, and cut with a pastry wheel or a sharp knife. If using a knife, crimp the edges with a fork.You could also cut circles out, fill each circle, brush the edges with egg wash, fold, and crimp.
- Refrigerate covered for about 30 minutes or until ready to bake.
- Preheat the oven to 375℉ (190℃).
- Carefully arrange the patties on a baking sheet, brush them with the rest of the egg wash, and bake for about 30 minutes.
- Serve warm, and enjoy!
Tips & Notes:
- Keep your dough as cold as possible for easy shaping and a tender, flaky crust.
- Avoid overworking the dough so the butter doesn’t melt and disappear into the dough.
- Please keep in mind that the nutritional information is a rough estimate and can vary significantly based on the products used in the recipe.
I substituted rolled oats for the bread crumbs and went with 1/2 coconut flour (To improve the net carbs profile for us Diabetics)
Turned out utterly delicious and almost indistinguishable from the ones you buy. It helps to use the food processor on the ground beef and oatmeal in order to reduce it’s granularity and make it’s texture much more like the traditional meaty paste.
If you use 10oz of salted butter, you can reduce the salt to 1 teaspoon without messing up the flavor.
Thank you for sharing, Brian.
Hi there! About to make these and will report back when I do, but I had a question. What’s the serving size? 2 patties per person?
Thanks for your help,
Chef Alaina
This recipe yields around 10-12 patties; around 2-3 patties per person.
Thank you for responding, Imma. I made these for a bridal shower where the Bride is of Jamaican descent and she was THRILLED. They were delicious. My kids loved them to and couldn’t get enough. I am about to make them for a friend whose son’s favorite food is Jamaican beef patties, so I’m excited to show the family how to make them from scratch. Thanks again.
I am so glad the bride loved it! And your friends are in for a treat!
I’ve made dozens of different patty recipes. This was the one I was looking for. Can’t get enough of that dough! And caramelized onions + seared peppers made this last batch amazing o_o
I’d be jealous of your culinary wizardry, but you share so much of it . So, thanks for that
Michael,
Did you put the caramelized onions inside the patties or just serve alongside? Thanks!
Alaina
Thank you so much for this perfect recipe. When we go home to Toronto my husbands first stop is for a bag of seconds from the Jamaica Patty store. I think these are so much better. The dough is a dream to work with and will be used for other creations. We also loved your beans and rice so very good. I am excited to explore the rest of your recipes.
Would like to know if you have a cook book? If you do, where can I purchase it.
Sorry I don’t have one yet.
I made these last night. Everyone enjoyed them so much
Thank you
Arleen
Awesome! Thanks Arleen
Thankyou so much for your pattie recipe!
Made them for second time and wouldn’t use any other recipe now!
They are delicious!!
I made these for the first time ever for a bake sale last fall. I was called a goddess. I think that’s a win. BTW, I am a vegetarian, so I have no idea how delicious these are, except for the rave reviews. Thanks for an awesome recipe!
Why not substitute the beef with the non-meat type crumble beef taste. There’s several substitutes for non meat eaters that I buy for my brother who don’t eat any type meat. That way you could have tasted your creation for the bake sale.
I make these with lentils in place of the beef and they are delicious. The rest of my family eats them the traditional way and everyone is happy.
I made these last night & they were delicious! I did freeze some, would I cook those at the same temp & time?
I have eaten some that also had cheese in them. What kind of cheese would you recommend?
Any melting cheese would work. I love smoked gouda and use it as often as I can.
Do you use the butter AND shortening or either butter or shortening?
I use both and sometimes only butter.
Do you have to substitute the 5oz of shortening for more butter, or just leave it out?
Substitute shortening in place of butter – 10 ounce of butter in total.
Please I want to know if the butter to use is the salted or none salted
Un salted butter. Recipe updated . Thanks
Hi there! I’m heading to get everything to make these for Christmas for my family! So excited to try them! I just had a clarifying question. Your recipe calls for curry. Is that paste or powder? Thank you!
Hi Mariah ! It’s curry powder.
Merry Christmas!!!
I love your recipes.
I have tried two of your fish recipes; the whole roast fish and the stew fish and both came out really well.
Planning to to the patties as part of the starter selection over Christmas.
Will let you know how they turn out!
Thank you
Thank you, Alena! Hope they turned out well for you. Happy holidays!
Absolutely delish! Thank you for such an easy recipe. I suck at baking so I bought store bought pastry dough, but I’m sure yours is lovely. Very easy to make the filling and the instructions to assemble were spot-on. So full of flavour and the spice combinations are amazing!
Thank you for taking the time to let me know, Carole! Glad you love how it taste.
Carole,
I’m also terrible at making pastry and crusts. What kind of pastry dough did you get. I’d like to use your short cut. Thank you
I’ve made these twice now. They’ve come out perfectly both times. They’re so good.
I live alone, so I need good recipes that will last a week or more. I plan to make a batch every other week, freezing most of them. One patty with a plate of red beans and rice (don’t worry, I use coconut milk!), and maybe some salad, is a perfect dinner for me.
I just gave two frozen patties to my Barbadian friend for feedback and critique.
Hi James!
So happy to hear this .Thanks for taking time out to share this with us
Hello I’m going to make theses as a starter and would like to know what you suggest as a garnish.
Many thank Madge
Hi Madge,I usually use parsley or green onions.
Can I use coconut oil instead of butter?
I’d highly suggest that you use butter instead of coconut oil for this recipe as it results to a more flavorful and beautiful dough and it’s easier to work with.
Hi, I am from the tropics (Costa Rica) and we are going to have my niece baby shower this saturday , so I decide to make patty, I made 120 patty, they are delicious.
About to put these in the oven! So proud of myself. I love patties especially my husband. Cant wait to eat them!! 😉 Hope my 20 month old son loves them. lately, he seem to be a vegetarian lol..so picky…