Spicy Jamaican Beef Patties
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Spicy Jamaican Beef Patties
This isn’t your average hand pie or pastry ---- These Spicy Jamaican Beef Patties are wrapped in a buttery, flaky crust, filled with tender, moist beef, and packed with authentic Jamaican spices. Each bite delivers a burst of flavor and real heat! Freezer-friendly + Vegan Option.
Usually, my recipes are inspired by my Southern roots, which as you may know, come with a lot of flavor! However, this Spicy Jamaican Beef Patties recipe stems more closely from the other part of my heritage---Jamaica! Growing up, I had the best of both worlds---Southern food (living in Florida) and Jamaican food, which came naturally for the people in my family, since most of them were born and raised there!
What’s not to love about Jamaican meat patties? They’re the ultimate snack, perfect for any time of day. With a flaky, buttery crust and a deliciously seasoned meaty filling, it's impossible to say no to these goodies. Just thinking about them makes my mouth water. Yum!
When it comes to making your own pastry, whether it be for a patty, pie, hand pie, turnover, etc.---it can feel intimidating for those who aren't natural bakers! But don't worry but it doesn’t have to be! This pastry is so easy I've used it again and again on other recipes like Flaky Jamaican Curry Chickpea Kale Veggie Patties and Vegan Jamaican Beef Patties!
Jump to:
- What Are Jamaican Beef Patties?
- What You’ll Love Most About These Jamaican Beef Patties
- Spicy Jamaican Beef Patty Ingredients
- Ingredients
- Tips For Making the Flakiest Crust
- The Secret to Super Flaky Spicy Jamaican Beef Patties
- Can I Freeze These Beef Patties?
- Spicy Jamaican Beef Patties Q + A's
- Other Jamaican Recipes That I Love
- MADE OUR RECIPE(S)?
- Spicy Jamaican Beef Patties
What Are Jamaican Beef Patties?
Lots of cultures have their own version of a patty. It's basically a pastry shell stuffed with meat, veggies, or a mix of both.
To me, nothing beats a Jamaican beef patty. This go-to snack in Jamaica is packed with flavorful, juicy beef, authentic Jamaican spices, and a hint of scotch bonnet pepper. The deep yellow crust is unmistakable, and it's often enjoyed straight from a brown paper bag. It's the perfect on-the-go treat!
What You’ll Love Most About These Jamaican Beef Patties
- They're super easy to make.
- Ultra flaky, buttery, soft crust with an intensely flavorful beef filling.
- Only requires a handful of staple ingredients with the ability to substitute where necessary.
- Makes for a great weeknight meal---Plus comes with a Vegan option!
- Perfect as a fun baking activity for the entire family.
- Works great as a meal prep option and larger batching.
Spicy Jamaican Beef Patty Ingredients
When it comes to making this Spicy Jamaican Beef Patty recipe, the process comes in 3 easy steps:
- Begin by prepping your crust first! Getting your crust made using the handful of ingredients and having it chill in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour is super important for creating the most flakiest crust possible!
- Season + cook your beef filling (I love using a cast-iron skillet) and add in the spices and herbs.
- Finally, it's the assembly + bake step. You'll begin rolling out, cutting, and shaping your dough, then add the cooled filling, brushing with egg wash, bake, and wallah.
Ingredients
CRUST:
- All-purpose flour. I use organic flour from Bob’s Red Mill or King's Arthur. For a better flakier texture to your crust, you can add pastry flour to the mix.
- Baking powder. This acts as a leavener + helps to make the dough a bit more fluffy and soft.
- Curry powder. For authenticity, it's great to use Jamaican curry powder.
- Turmeric, parsley, + thyme. These add additional flavor and turmeric is a powerful ingredient with anti-inflammatory properties, etc.
- Butter. Make sure your butter is VERY COLD! This is the key to flaky layers.
- Almond milk. You can use water or other unsweetened dairy-free milk if you like. Try my homemade almond milk.
- Apple cider vinegar. This adds a tangy buttermilk-like flavor without actual buttermilk. You can use lemon juice instead.
BEEF FILLING:
- Ground beef. Organic grass-fed I find is the best in terms of quality + flavor.
- Extra virgin olive oil. You can also use avocado oil or grapeseed oil, if you prefer.
- Scallion. Chopped (aka "green onions")
- Scotch bonnet peppers. Minced ---- You can also use habanero peppers; reduce the amount to lessen spiciness.
- Garlic cloves. Minced.
- Organic beef stock. Reduce a bit for less gravy.
- Ginger powder. You can use freshly minced ginger root too.
- Thyme sprigs. I recommend fresh, but if you only have dried, use a half teaspoon.
- Herbs + spices. Sea salt, black pepper, garlic powder, onion powder + smoked paprika.
- Flavo Riz. Optional. You can substitute with all-purpose seasoning!
- Soy sauce. Adds some extra umami flavor!
- Browning. I love using the Grace brand.
- Jamaican hot sauce. Optional (You can also use your favorite hot pepper sauce)
- Beef bouillon base. Optional.
- Pinch of red pepper flakes
OTHER:
- Egg wash. 1 egg + 1 tablespoon milk.
SHOP MY FAVORITE TOOLS FOR COOKING, ESPECIALLY FOR THIS PATTY!
Here, I’ve curated a list of baking + cooking essentials that I use to achieve my favorite dishes, especially with these Spicy Jamaican Beef Patties. Everything from my fave skillet, spatula, mixing bowls, and more. SEE THEM HERE!
Tips For Making the Flakiest Crust
- The butter is SUPER important. When it comes to the butter sticks, ensuring that they are COLD and of course from a great brand is key!
- Adding shortening works too! Although I tend to use buttery sticks alone, adding shortening or lard adds great wonders as well. All you need is half shortening and half butter.
- Fridge time is an important time! Chilling your dough for an hour at a minimum is so imperative to a flaky crust. Even slightly longer makes for a great advantage.
- Your flours matter, big time! Again, while different brands of flour hydrate differently (causing a slightly different result), ensuring that you mix in all-purpose flour with pastry flour is also just as important. Believe it or not, pastry flour makes a difference and serves a greater purpose!
- SLOWLY pour in liquids, don’t dump it! Gently pouring in the milk-ACV mixture is so imperative. I pour ¼ cup at a time and work the dough with my hands to eyeball how wet or dry everything is.
- The dough can be made in advance, too. If making your crust ahead, you can always store it in the refrigerator for up to 2 days. No longer!
- Not too thick or thin. Ensuring that you roll out a good enough crust is of course a must. Most go by the rule of thumb being ⅛ or so of an inch thickness or even slightly thicker. This helps your crust to the perfect thickness to carry the weight of your filling without compromising flakiness.
The Secret to Super Flaky Spicy Jamaican Beef Patties
As you can see, I’m no stranger to homemade patties, pop-tarts, or pastries of any sort. Because I’ve made them so many times, I feel like I have completely perfected the recipe. Here's my secret to a super flaky Spicy Jamaican Beef Patties:
GRATE + CUBE THE BUTTER!
Yes---I know. You might be wondering why I've stated this but it works. Since we'll be using 2 sticks in this recipe, I simply grate 1 stick of butter and cube the other. Honestly, I think that the variation in the butter pieces helps some to melt faster and settle more in the dough, which creates a beautiful flakiness like no other.
To take it a step further, you can add the cubed butter to the dry ingredients and blend it into "peas-like" pieces--leaving out the grated butter for now. Then after the dough has chilled and you've begun rolling it out until a floured surface, simply add the grated butter in, fold a few times and then roll it out. This creates butter in more than one layer which creates a heavenly crust too.
Can I Freeze These Beef Patties?
For longer storage–the patties can be stored in the freezer. After they have baked and are completely cooled, simply place your patties onto a baking sheet (spaced apart) and freeze them for 2-3 hours. Once frozen, transfer them to a ziploc bag and reheat when ready to eat!
Spicy Jamaican Beef Patties Q + A's
Leftover patties can be stored in an airtight container for up to 3 days. To serve warm, heat in the microwave, or flat in a toaster oven.
Yes! See my Spicy Vegan Beef Patties recipe!
You can always substitute the salted butter with unsalted butter. When doing so, just add ½ teaspoon salt to dry ingredients for crust.
Yes, you can reduce or omit the scotch bonnet pepper and use milder seasonings to suit your taste.
You can reheat them in the oven at 350°F (175°C) for about 15-20 minutes, or until heated through and crispy.
Other Jamaican Recipes That I Love
Love these Spicy Jamaican Beef Patties and want more Jamaican cuisine? Here are some of my faves!
- Vegan Jamaican Powder Bowl
- Creamy Jamaican Shrimp Pasta Skillet
- Creamy Jamaican Cornmeal Porridge
- Jerk Salmon Tacos
- Vegan Rum-Raisin Bread
- Vegan Jamaican Irish Moss
- Jamaican Chicken Soup
- Baked Jamaican Jerk Chicken Salad
MADE OUR RECIPE(S)?
If you choose to make these Spicy Jamaican Beef Patties or any other recipe from us, be sure to tag us on Instagram at #Orchidsandsweettea so that we can share the love, rate, comment below, + share!
Spicy Jamaican Beef Patties
Ingredients
CRUST:
- 2 ½ cups organic all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1 tablespoon curry powder (For authenticity, it's great to use Jamaican curry)
- ½ teaspoon turmeric powder
- 1 teaspoon dried parsley
- ½ teaspoon dried thyme
- 1 cup salted butter, cubed + grated (See Notes!)
- 1 cup unsweetened Almond milk, VERY cold + 2 Tbsps! (You can use whole milk or your favorite plant-based milk!)
BEEF FILLING:
- 1 lb. organic grass-fed ground beef
- 2 Tbsps Extra virgin olive oil
- 1 scallion, chopped (aka "green onions")
- 2 scotch bonnet peppers, minced (You can also use habanero peppers; reduce amount to lessen spiciness)
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 cup organic beef stock + ¼ cup (Reduce a bit for less gravy)
- ½ teaspoon ginger powder (You can use freshly minced ginger root also)
- 2-3 fresh thyme sprigs
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoon Flavo Riz, optional (You can substitute with all-purpose seasoning!)
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon browning (I love using the Grace brand)
- 1 tablespoon Jamaican hot sauce, optional (You can also use your favorite hot pepper sauce)
- ½ teaspoon beef bouillon base (optional)
- Pinch of red pepper flakes
OTHER:
- Egg wash (1 egg + 1 tablespoon milk)
Instructions
TO MAKE THE CRUST:
- In a large bowl, add the flour, baking powder, curry powder, turmeric, parsley, and thyme, whisking them all together until combined.
- Add the cubed + grated butter and using a pastry blender, blend butter into dry ingredients until the mixture becomes “peas-like” and crumbly.
- Pour the cold milk mixture and stir (working it together with one hand) until the dry ingredients are moistened. NOTE: If the ingredients feels a little too dry, add 1 tablespoon of cold milk at a time, until it’s moistened BUT not too wet!
- Now, shape the dough into a ball and wrap it in plastic wrap and flatten it slightly and chill for at least 1 hour. NOTE: The dough will look rather light yellow in color. It will darken and become golden once baked.
MAKE THE FILLING:
- In a bowl, add the ground beef along with the seasonings: salt, black pepper, onion powder, Flavo riz (or all-purpose seasoning), smoked paprika, garlic powder, ginger powder, and red pepper flakes, mixing everything together until meat is coated in seasonings.
- In a medium skillet over medium-high heat, add the oil. Once heated, add the minced garlic and scotch bonnet pepper until fragrant and translucent. Add the seasoned ground beef and stir until the meat begins to change color a bit. Continue to stir (and breakdown the meat with a wooden spoon) to ensure that it cooke through well and becomes small pieces. Reduce the heat and let it simmer for 5-6 minutes.
- Add in the soy sauce, beef bouillon, hot sauce, browning, beef stock, and thyme sprigs, and let the meat continue to simmer for another 20-25 minutes or until the beef is cooked through fully and brown in color (both inside and out).
- NOTE: If the beef dries out quickly, add ¼ cup of additional beef stock and 1 tablespoon of flour to create a thick-like sauce for the filling.
- Remove beef from heat and let it cool completely.
ASSEMBLY:
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Once chilled, remove the dough from the refrigerator and place on a lightly floured surface, rolling it out into a large rectangle (about 3 mm thick). Cut into medium circles (I use a small saucepan cover or a large biscuit cutter---for a smaller patties), until all dough it used.
- On one half of the circular dough, lightly brush egg wash to ensure that they close together best! On the other half of the dough, add 2 Tbsps of the beef filling and carefully bend the egg wash half over the side with the beef filling (creating a half moon shape). Gently press the edges down and using a fork, carefully “crimp” around the edges and place patty onto the baking sheet. Repeat until all patties are made.
- Lightly brush all the patties with remaining egg wash and bake in the oven 20-25 minutes, until golden brown and the crust looks crispy.
- Once done, remove from the oven and let them cool for a few minutes (10 minutes or so).
- Bon Appetit!
Tips & Tricks
- STORAGE: Leftover patties can be stored in an airtight container for up to 3 days. To serve warm, heat in the microwave, or flat in a toaster oven.
- FREEZE: For longer storage–the patties can be stored in the freezer. After they have baked and are completely cooled, simply place your patties onto a baking sheet (spaced apart) and freeze them for 2-3 hours. Once frozen, transfer them to a zip loc bag and reheat when ready to eat!
- TURMERIC: While adding turmeric is optional, it definitely has benefits: powerful medicinal properties, natural anti-inflammatory ingredient, increases antioxidant activity in the body, and more.
- FOOD PROCESSOR FOR CRUST: If using a food processor to incorporate milk to flour/butter mixture, ONLY ADD ¼ cup of milk AT A TIME to your dough, keeping it on “pulse” to avoid the dough from breaking down too much and it becoming “watery”. With this method, you may not need the entire 1 cup of almond milk.
- GRATED + CUBED BUTTER: To create a beautifully crumbly and flaky crust, I suggest grating 1 stick of butter and cutting the second stick into cubes. To grate your butter, add the 1 stick to a freezer for 15 minutes. Remove from freezer and using a grater, grate into pieces.
- SALTED VS. UNSALTED BUTTER: You can always substitute the salted butter with unsalted butter. When doing so, just add ½ teaspoon salt to dry ingredients for crust.
Nutrition
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This is the best beef patty recipe I have ever made, and at this point I have tried 3 or 4. I'm done looking! the crust is truly flaky and perfect. I believe the tip about grating half the butter makes a huge difference. my family loves these beef patties and they are so easy to take to work. everyone is jealous when they smell them when I heat them up. I've found one recipe makes about 15 5" round patty crust. I actually chose to put some small diced potato in with the meat to make it stretch a little further and wound up making two batches of crust for one pound of beef mixed with three potatoes worth of small diced potatoes that had been parboiled. very economical!
Hi Megan! WOW! I'm so thrilled that you enjoyed these beef patties! It's definitely a fave in our house and really so economical, especially with your potato hack! Thanks so much for giving it a try! 🙂
Good flavors, but almost inedibly salty. Between the bouillon and salt and soy etc, the filling was just a salt bomb. The dough was great, textures were perfect. I'd cut the salt and soy in half, at least, but otherwise a solid recipe
Hi Brittany! I'm so glad that you enjoyed this recipe! I completely understand about the salt and I definitely know that different brands have different salt levels, which is why I often stick to certain brands. I really hope that you enjoy it more the next round! Thanks so much for giving it a try! 🙂
I made these tonight for dinner and they were delicious! I added allspice to the meat (about 1 tsp) and I used ice water instead of milk. I also had to use habanero instead of scotch bonnet peppers because I was unable to find them here in Tucson. Because I love super spicy food, I used 3 of them and left the seeds in. It was the perfect amount of spice for me.
The pastry was so good! Grating the butter into the flour makes a huge difference because I was able to get nice chunks of butter interspersed, which created a lovely, light, and flaky texture. Also, I was a little hesitant to use the full amount of liquid because it just seemed like too much, but it wasn’t! The finished product was not just flaky and light, but also had a nice, tender crumb!
Lastly, I took about 1/2 cup of the meat and used an immersion blender to blend it into a patè like texture before adding it back to the rest of the meat. This not only makes the sauce thicker, but it gives the filling the same mouth feel as the frozen ones you get from the store, without using a bulking agent like bread, which I think compromises the taste of the meat.
All in all an excellent recipe, which I will definitely be making again ☺️
Hi Aoife! WOW! This truly makes me so happy! I'm so thrilled that everything turned out great and that you enjoyed these patties! Thanks so much for giving this recipe a try! 🙂
amazing flavor. made extra to freeze. thanks for sharing..
Hi Candice! I'm so happy to hear that you enjoyed these! 🙂
I just finished making and eating this recipe. I do a lot of cooking (I do ALL the cooking at home) and baking. The crust is perfect. It's basically a pie crust. It's crucial to keep the dough cold before baking, so the butter melts only in the oven, maximizing the flakiness (great idea about grating the butter!). I always use a food processor to make pie dough, and it's important to add only enough liquid gradually to get it to JUST STARTING to cling together when you squeeze it (better to err on the dry side).
I usually try a recipe for first time as written, but I made a few changes with this one. I omitted the all-purpose seasoning (it just seemed like more of the initial seasoning), browning (am I really gonna need the rest of the bottle for anything else?), and the bouillon base (too much salt). In leu of the Jamaican hot sauce, I substituted Pickapeppa sauce (a Jamaican collection of cane sugar, mango, raisins, ginger, salt, pepper, thyme, garlic, etc.). There was the right amount of heat from the two habaneros, anyway.
Since my wife and try to limit our fat intake (yeah, I know there's a cup of butter in the dough. But, otherwise, we'd be biting into a brick), I used 97% lean ground beef., rather than chuck. As a result, the filling was a tiny bit drier than I anticipated. Next time, I'll leave a little "gravy" from the stock in the pan to keep the meat more moist.
Finally, with all due respect, the ingredient "2 bunches of thyme sprigs" is not specific enough. I purchased one bunch of fresh thyme sprigs that was 1.5" (3.8 cm) thick. Two of those would have been excessive. Based on experience, I used six sprigs, stirred occasionally, and found that was enough to be present and not overwhelming.
My wife and I loved how these turned out and declared this recipe a keeper. These were just as good as those we had in St. John.
Hi Brian,
I'm so happy to hear that you enjoyed this recipe! I appreciate all feedback and love that you made the adjustments needed to fit you and your wife's needs! Thanks so much! 🙂
Is it possible to get a copy of the old recipe? The only once used to work like a charm for me for turkey patties!
Love your recipe and love the Jamaican spices as well. These look like a delicious starter/snack option.
These beef patties are lovely - such a beautiful yellow color. I may have to go all the way down to jalapeño peppers to handle the heat :), but I'm excited to try these!
I could eat a ton of these patties. They are too good. And the best part is that they are homemade!
My kids and I LOVE spicy foods. This recipe is perfect for us!
I love all the spices and flavors in this patty! It was so savory and satisfying. Thank you!
These beef patties were even better than the ones I get for take-out! I never knew it Jamaican beef patties at home could be so flaky!
These patties were so flavorful and delicious!! Love all of the spices you added to the recipe - it really tasted amazing!
Wow! These look so tasty, I can't wait to make them! Thank you!
The filling was to die for! I left out the peppers and it was still awesome and super flavorful!!!
I followed the recipe closely, but unfortunately my dough was so sticky and wouldn’t come together. I eventually macgyvered it and was able to cut and shape the dough. Not sure why that happened! I felt the turkey needed curry and although they weren’t the most attractive patties, they tasted pretty good.
Hi Jennifer! I am so sorry for any trouble with this recipe! I actually plan on making tweaks to this one since it's old, to ensure that it has the best results! I am so glad that it taste great! Thanks so much for your feedback! 🙂
Your beef patties look wonderful! When I lived in West Palm there was a Jamaican store that sold them...so good!!! I'm going to try your recipe!!
Thanks so much Heidy! They really are good! I hope that you enjoy them! ?
This sounds pretty good. How spicy are they with just 1 TBSP of the hot sauce?
Thanks so much J. Ivy! To me, they aren't really spicy because the soy sauce tempers down the heat. However, for a real kick, you can either add a lot more hot sauce or use actual scotch bonnet peppers!
Oh my, these look absolutely delicious. There goes my diet!
Haha! Thanks so much Kylie! Awww, I do apologize if I've ruined your diet! The great thing is that I use mostly organic ingredients, and you can definitely use veggies inside (like cabbage, spinach, kale, carrots, etc.) instead of turkey meat or beef. Hope that helps!