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.
Everyone loved these and so did I. Just wondering why there is no ginger in the recipe. There seems to be some in every other recipe I looked at. If I wanted to add it, how much would I use.
I’m so glad you all love the recipe. Yes, the recipe does have ginger. But it’s hidden in the curry powder. Have you tried my Jamaican curry powder recipe?
These patties were super tasty and reasonably simple to prepare (I used my own method for rough puff pastry but added the turmeric, etc). Great hit at a recent ‘girls’ lunch!
Thank you, . Stay tuned for more amazing recipes.
What kind of chili powder do you use? Cayenne? or chili powder blend?
Whatever chili powder blend you have will work fine. What is your favorite brand, or do you make your own?
Ok thanks! I have been buying a blend by simply organic, but next time I think I’ll try and make my own.
You are more than welcome. And if there’s a recipe you’d love to see, please let me know. Thanks:)
I have made these many times! They’re much easier than I expected. I get specific requests to bring them to gatherings.
Thank you:) There’s more to come, so stay tuned!
These and the rotie recipe are to die for!! So so delicious and easy so make. Even my 3 year old had fun making the dough together 🙂
You are so sweet, thank you! Stay tuned for more amazing recipes.
I am a disabled Veteran, It’s impossible for me to roll out dough. Can I use puff pastry instead?
You sure can. It won’t be exactly the same, but it will still be awesome. Please let me know how it goes.
Recipe looks great will try it out on a friend dinner party
Amazing!!!!! That looks absolutely delicious!! Glad you loved it. Looking forward to you trying more of my recipes.
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.
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
I didn’t make this then but did last night. Cooked one for a test. Awesome recipe. Used Impossible Meat instead of ground beef. I recommend for people using Impossible Meat to saute it first until it’s well browned so you get the Maillard reaction then remove it and then continue w the recipe, browning the onion, etc…
I made the African pepper sauce, too, used habaneros. Very hot, a little goes a long way, very tasty, my son will love it but will be too spicy for most of my guests. Might try your remoulade but swap the mayo with a blend of cashews and water, a change I’ve used in other sauces with great effect.
You are more than welcome and thank you so much for your feedback. If there’s a recipe you’d love to see, please let me know. Thanks:)
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?
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.
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.
You are more than welcome. And if there’s a recipe you’d love to see, please let me know. Thanks:)
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.
Great to hear from your Victoria, thank you so much! Stay tuned to have more amazing recipe:)
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.
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.
This is fantastic! Just like in the islands.
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:)
I’m looking forward to making this for the longest!
Thank you so much, sure go ahead and let me how it goes 🙂
So is there a difference between this and the square bright yellow ones you get from jamaican restaurants?
Yes, they are. Everyone’s grandma has her own style, so they may taste slightly different. However, they’re all Jamaican meat pies.
LOVED the meat pies, almost like the pasties from northern Michigan, one of my favs. with scotch bonnets
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:)
Can I bake them directly from the freezer?
Yes you sure can. You might have to add a few additional minutes
Shortening is unknown here in france. Can I just use more butter?
Lard is a better choice, but butter should work fine. Please let me know how it goes.❤️
render some beef fat, clear and the best to use for pie dough, you won’t be sorry.
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.
That sounds good, Love your grandson 🙂 Explore our quick and easy recipes to have more collections on the go.
How many pies does this recipe make? Can you freeze after baking?
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
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!
Great to hear that, thank you for spreading love and care:)