Beef and Potato Hand Pies (Cornish Pasties)

These easy beef and potato hand pies (aka: classic Cornish Pasties) are made with leftover roast beef and healthier store bought pie crust to save you time in the kitchen! Wholesome comfort food that’s sure to please!

Before our trip to England a couple of years ago, my impression of British food was pretty dismal.

Once we got there, I was pleasantly surprised by all the great food we ate in the restaurants, pubs, and tea rooms of England – the fish and chips, steak and ale pie, Scottish shortbread cookies, and Cornish pasties (just don’t think about the name) were all amazing!

Meat pasties were the preferred “fast food” of the 19th century English working class. Meat and potatoes could be stuffed into pastry dough and baked for a grab and go lunch that laborers could take with them to work. 

Imagine being sent to school or work with tender, juicy beef roast and potatoes stuffed inside a flaky pie crust. Homemade comfort food is way better for lunch than a turkey sandwich, if you ask me. 

The Easy Way To Make Hand Pies

Technically, you could spend hours rolling out homemade pie crusts and stuffing them with raw beef and vegetables to get the true Cornish Pasty experience…or you could save tons of time and use leftover meat and potatoes from this slow cooker beef roast and a frozen pie crust from Trader Joe’s for an equally amazing experience. Um, YES. 

How To Make Beef And Potato Hand Pies/Cornish Pasties

Tips For Making Beef and Potato Hand Pies/Cornish Pasties:

• I used leftover beef from my slow cooker beef roast recipe but you could use any kind of leftover roast such as chicken or pork.
• You can also stuff these hand pies with leftover veggies such as peas, carrots and onions.
• Try adding different herbs such as oregano or rosemary.
• When working with the pastry make sure to work fast and keep your work surface as cool as possible. If the pastry gets too warm the edges won’t close properly and the filling will ooze out.
• If your pastry gets too warm simply put it in the freezer or fridge or 5-10 minutes to cool down (make sure to cover it).
• Make sure your filling isn’t too wet or your pastry will get a soggy bottom and not be nice and crisp.

I don’t usually recommend store bought pie crusts since most of them are made with hydrogenated oils and other preservatives, but the Trader Joe’s frozen pie crusts are made with a few simple ingredients – flour, butter, palm oil, water, and salt. Thank you, TJs!

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Beef & Potato Hand Pies (Cornish Pasties)

Prep Time

10 mins

Cook Time

30 mins

Total Time

40 mins

 

Simple beef and potato hand pies (aka: classic Cornish Pasties) made with leftover roast and healthier store bought pie crust!

Course: lunch

Cuisine: British

Keyword: cornish pasties, hand pies

Servings: 4 large hand pies

Author: Back To The Book Nutrition

Ingredients

• 3 cups each: beef roast meat and potatoes chopped into 1/2" pieces and stirred together (I use leftover meat and potatoes from my Best Slow Cooker Beef Roast recipe)
• 1/2 cup juices from cooked roast stirred into meat and potato mixture
• Optional: cooked onions carrots, English peas, or other veggies from your roast
• Dough for 2 pie crusts if you're short on time, Trader Joe's has a frozen pie crust made with clean ingredients!
• 1 egg beaten
• sea salt and pepper

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees and line two baking sheets with parchment.
2. Roll out pie crusts and use a 8-9" tart pan or other pan, inverted, to cut the dough into 4 large circles. You may have to reform and roll the dough between cuttings to get all four circles. Lay 2 dough circles on each parchment lined baking sheet. 
3. Pile about 1 1/2 cups of the meat and potato mixture (with juices) onto one half of each dough circle. Spread evenly over that half of the dough circle, leaving about 1/2" rim around the edge for crimping. Sprinkle some sea salt and pepper over the meat and potato mixture. 
4. Use a pastry brush to brush the 1/2" rim of pastry with some of the beaten egg - this will serve as "glue" to seal the pastry edges. 
5.  Gently fold the "blank" side of each dough circle over the meat and potato filling side, matching the edges of the pastry to create a half-circle shaped hand pie. Use your finger to press and seal the edges of the pastry together, fluting them for decoration if desired. 
6. Once each hand pie is formed, use a very sharp knife to lightly score the top of each pie. 
7. Use a pastry brush to cover the surface of each hand pie with beaten egg. 
8. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until crusts are golden and firm to the touch. 

Recipe Notes

1. I used a 9" tart pan to cut out my dough circles. This made very large hand pies, similar to what we were served in England. The kids and I each just ate half of one, but feel free to use smaller cutouts to make the hand pies fit your appetite if you'd like. 🙂 
2. Leftovers store well and can be reheated in a 325 degree oven (cover with foil to prevent over browning).

3. Tips For Making These Cornish Pasties;

   • I used leftover beef from my slow cooker beef roast recipe but you could use any kind of leftover roast such as chicken or pork.
   • You can also stuff these hand pies with leftover veggies such as peas, carrots and onions.
   • Try adding different herbs such as oregano or rosemary.
   • When working with the pastry make sure to work fast and keep your work surface as cool as possible. If the pastry gets too warm the edges won't close properly and the filling will ooze out.
   • If your pastry gets too warm simply put it in the freezer or fridge or 5-10 minutes to cool down (make sure to cover it).
   • Make sure your filling isn't too wet or your pastry will get a soggy bottom and not be nice and crisp.

Here are a few other favorite comfort food recipes!

Best Slow Cooker Beef Roast

Best French Onion + Shallot Soup

Italian Veggie Mac and Cheese