These easy beef pasties are made with a buttery, flaky buttermilk pie crust wrapped around a savory mixture of beef, carrots, potatoes, and onions in a quick homemade gravy.
Have you ever had a pasty before? If not, friend, let’s change that today.
Unless you don’t like/eat beef, I dare you to try not to fall in love with these things. The shell is made from my favorite buttermilk pie crust, so it’s flaky and buttery and perfect.
And the filling is so good you’ll want to eat it with a spoon before you can bake it into the pasties.
Beef Pasties Made Easy
Meat pies like these can be a little intimidating, but I think this recipe is pretty straightforward and simple.
There’s always a degree of difficulty when it comes to making stuffed pastries from scratch, but this recipe does as much to eliminate that as possible.
The buttermilk pie crust is made in a food processor and is really beginner-friendly when it comes to handling and rolling.
And unlike a lot of pasty recipes I’ve seen, this stuffing is fully cooked before the pies go into the oven, so you don’t have to worry about whether your meat is cooked through or vegetables tender before they come out of the oven.
Ingredient Notes
- Pie crust: If you have a favorite pie crust recipe, you can use it or store-bought crusts instead of the buttermilk pie crust in the recipe below, but I really love this particular crust. It’s extremely easy to work with and bakes up SO flakey and beautiful. If you’ve never made pie crust before or just want a more detailed tutorial, I wrote an entire post dedicated to this crust with step-by-step pictures.
- Diced carrots and potatoes: I like to keep the filling simple with just meat, carrots, potatoes, and onions, but feel free to throw in extra veggies like parsnips, peas, or rutabagas.
How to Make Pasties
1. Make the pie dough by pulsing together flour, butter, and buttermilk in a food processor until it forms crumbs that just begin to clump together. Turn half the crumbs out on a piece of plastic wrap and press them into a 1-inch thick disk. Repeat with the rest of the dough and refrigerate for at least an hour.
2. Make the filling by browning your beef and then adding vegetables and covering with water. Add spices and bring everything to a simmer until potatoes begin to soften. Once cooked, use 1 cup of the cooking liquid along with a little flour and butter to make a quick gravy. Stir gravy, meat and vegetables together and set aside to cool slightly.
3. Assemble the pasties. Divide each dough disk into 3 equal pieces, roll each out and fill with prepared filling. Fold the tops over and use a fork to crimp the edges closed before brushing with egg wash. Bake until golden brown, and enjoy!
FAQ
Can you freeze pasties?
Yes! One of my favorite things about pasties is that they freeze and reheat amazingly. All you have to do is pull one out of the freezer, pop it right in the microwave, and one to two minutes later, you have a sizzling hot pasty that tastes like it just came out of the oven!
To freeze: Wrap individually in plastic wrap and store in an airtight container or freezer bag.
To reheat: Unwrap pasty and place on a microwave-safe plate. Reheat from frozen in the microwave for 1 to 2 minutes until steaming and hot all the way through.
Can these be made ahead of time?
Sure. Beef pasties make great make-ahead lunches and dinners. You can bake the pasties in advance and simply reheat in the microwave when you’re ready to eat them.
If you’d like to make the crust and the filling in advance and then assemble and bake them just before eating, you can do that too. Pie dough will keep in the refrigerator for up to 48 hours and in the freezer for up to 2 weeks. Filling can be made up to 48 hours in advance.
Can I double this recipe?
Yes. The recipe doubles just fine BUT you’ll probably need to make the crust in two batches. Not all food processors are large/powerful enough to handle a double batch of this dough.
To double the recipe ingredients, hover over the serving size in the recipe card below or click if you’re on mobile, and slide the slider.
More Freezer-friendly Recipes
Easy Beef Pasties
Ingredients
Crust
- 1 cup (8oz, 2 stick cold unsalted butter cut into 1/2-inch chunks
- 2 1/2 cups (300g) all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 to 2/3 cup buttermilk
Filling
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
- 12 ounces beef chuck (stew meat) diced 1/2-inch
- 1 1/2 cups diced potatoes 1/2-inch dice
- 3/4 cup diced carrots 1/4-inch dice
- Water
- 1 1/2 teaspoon salt*
- 1/2 teaspoon crushed rosemary
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon oregano
Gravy
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1/2 cup finely diced onion
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
Egg Wash
- 1 egg
- 1 tablespoon milk
Instructions
Prepare Crust
- Before you begin measuring everything out, place the cubed butter in the freezer to chill.
- Stir together flour, sugar, and salt, and pour into the food processor. Add butter and pulse until butter is cut into the flour, but still has visible chunks.
- While pulsing, slowly pour in 1/2 cup of the buttermilk and continue to pulse until the buttermilk is incorporated into the dough. At this point, your dough should look like rough crumbs and hold their shape if squeezed together. If dough does not hold its shape, drizzle in a little more buttermilk, up to 2½ additional tablespoons, until it does. The dough will look a little scary at this point, but don't worry. It's supposed to look like that!
- Lay a sheet of plastic wrap on the counter and dump half of your dough crumbs onto the sheet. Gather the edges of the plastic wrap and press tightly together to form a 1-inch thick disk. Do the same with the rest of the dough. Place in a plastic bag and refrigerate for at least an hour, up to 24.
Prepare Filling
- Preheat oven to 400°F.
- In a medium saucepan, melt butter over medium-high heat (watch closely, you don't want to burn the butter) and add the meat. Cook until well browned.
- Add potatoes and carrots and cover with just enough water that the meat and vegetables are submerged. Add salt, rosemary, pepper, and oregano.
- Bring to a boil, turn down to medium and simmer for five minutes. Meat should be cooked through and potatoes should be softened, but still have a bit of a bite to them.
- Remove from heat and drain the cooking liquid into a separate container for later use. Set liquid and meat and veggies aside.
- In a medium saucepan, melt remaining 3 tablespoons of butter over medium heat. Add onions and cook until they begin to soften, about 2 to 3 minutes. Add flour and whisk continuously for 1 minute until a sticky paste forms and flour turns golden. Whisk in 1 cup of the reserved cooking liquid from your meat and potatoes (discard the rest). Simmer for 2 to 4 minutes, whisking continuously, until a thick gravy forms. Remove from heat and stir in the meat and vegetable mixture, making sure everything is well coated.
Assemble Pasties
- Whisk together egg and milk in a small bowl to make your egg wash.
- On a well-floured surface, divide your dough into 4 to 6 equal-size pieces and roll into balls. If you are slow at rolling out pastry dough, place all the balls, but one, back in the fridge and work with one at a time so the dough stays chilled and easy to work with.
- Re-flour your work surface and roll first ball out to 3/8 inch thick with a floured rolling pin, forming as round of a circle as you can manage (trim edges with a knife to make a perfect circle if necessary). Pick up your dough to make sure it is not stuck to your work surface. If it is, use a metal spatula to dislodge it before filling.
- Brush egg wash around the edges of your pie crust to help seal it and spoon beef mixture over slightly less than half of the dough, leaving a 1/2-inch border. Fold dough over the filling and use a fork to crimp the edges closed. Cut 3 slashes in the top and transfer to baking pan.
- Repeat with remaining dough balls. You may have a bit of meat mixture left over, depending on how thin you rolled out your dough. You can eat it with a spoon.
- Brush pasties with egg wash and and bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until they are beautiful and golden.
- Allow to cool slightly and enjoy.
Notes
Pie Crust Adapted From: B.Britnell
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