
Jamaican beef patties
Golden, flaky hand pies filled with curry- and thyme-spiced beef with a little heat, Jamaica’s favorite snack made into dinner.
- 80 min total
- 45 min hands-on
- A little more hands-on
- Serves 4
- About $2.39 a serving
- 720 calories
- Good the next day
- Dairy-free

Dolly says: Make the full amount. It’s just as good for lunch the next day.
Ingredients
For 4 servings.
- 1 yellow onion, finely chopped
- 3 stalks green onions, sliced
- 12 oz 85/15 ground beef
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tbsp curry powder
- ¼ cup panko breadcrumbs
- 2 refrigerated pie crusts
- 1 large egg
From your pantry
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1 tsp dried thyme
- 1 tsp paprika
- ¼ tsp cayenne pepper
- 1 tsp salt
- ½ tsp black pepper
- ⅓ cup water
- ¼ tsp ground turmeric
Each serving has about 720 calories, 23 g protein, 54 g carbs and 46 g fat, and costs about $2.39 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No yellow onions? White onions or red onions work.
- No green onions? Chives work.
- No 85/15 ground beef? 90/10 ground beef works.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
Heat the oil in a large over medium and cook the onion and green onions 4 minutes, until soft.
Skillet. A skillet is a frying pan: wide and flat with low, sloped sides. The shape lets steam escape, so food browns instead of stewing.
How you’ll know: It’s the pan you’d fry an egg in, and a 10 or 12 inch one handles most recipes.
Medium heatTimer: 4 min
Turn the heat to medium-high, add the beef, and cook 7 to 8 minutes, breaking it into fine , until no pink is left. Spoon off the fat.
Crumble. Crumbling means breaking food into small, rough bits with your fingers or a spoon, like feta or ground meat in the pan. Small bits spread through the dish, so there’s some in every bite.
How you’ll know: The pieces are small and uneven, about pea-size, with no big clumps left.
Medium-high heatTimer: 7 min 30 sec
Food safety: Ground beef, pork and lamb are done at 160°F. When it’s cooked through there’s no pink left anywhere in the pan.
Stir in the garlic, curry powder, thyme, paprika, cayenne, salt and pepper for 1 minute.
Medium heat
Add the water and panko and cook 3 to 4 minutes, stirring, until it’s a thick, moist paste. Spread it on a plate and let it cool 15 minutes.
Medium heatTimer: 15 min
Dolly’s tip: The crumbs soak up the juices so the filling stays moist but won’t leak through the pastry.the oven to 400°F and line a with .
Preheat. Preheating means turning the oven on before you start, so it’s fully hot when the food goes in. Food that starts in a cold oven cooks unevenly and doesn’t brown the same.
How you’ll know: The oven beeps or its light clicks off, usually 10 to 15 minutes after you turn it on.
Sheet pan. A sheet pan is a flat metal baking tray with a low rim all the way around. The rim catches juices, and the wide surface lets food spread out and brown.
How you’ll know: Everything fits in one layer with a little space between the pieces.
Parchment paper. Parchment paper is a nonstick, oven-safe paper for lining pans. Food lifts right off and cleanup is easy, but don’t swap in wax paper or put parchment under the broiler.
How you’ll know: It lies flat in the pan, and the food slides off when you lift it.
Unroll the pie crusts and cut out 5-inch circles using a small bowl as a guide.
Press the scraps together, roll them flat and cut more. You should get 8.
Spoon about ¼ cup filling onto one half of each circle, fold the dough over, and press the edges shut with a fork.
Dolly’s tip: Press firmly all the way around, or they split open in the oven.Beat the egg with the turmeric and brush it over the patties to give them their color. Set them on the pan.
Golden brown. Golden brown is the color of good toast, somewhere between yellow and light brown. It means the outside is cooked and crisp but not burnt.
How you’ll know: It looks like toast and smells toasty; dark brown with a bitter smell means it went too far.
20 to 25 minutes, until deep and flaky. Let them cool 5 minutes before eating.
Bake. Baking means cooking in the oven with dry heat all around the food. It cooks evenly from every side, so you can mostly leave it alone.
How you’ll know: It’s golden on top and passes the recipe’s check, like a clean toothpick or the right temperature.
Golden brown. Golden brown is the color of good toast, somewhere between yellow and light brown. It means the outside is cooked and crisp but not burnt.
How you’ll know: It looks like toast and smells toasty; dark brown with a bitter smell means it went too far.
Timer: 22 min 30 sec

Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
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