Mashed Potato Beef Hand Pies
Mashed Potato Beef Hand Pies are an amazing handheld dinner or party appetizer! These Irish meat pies feature stew meat cooked in Guinness with vegetables and mashed potatoes. Wrap ’em up in the flakiest crust and bake for this delicious dish. Makes 36 small hand pies.
Love Guinness in your food? You’ve got to try out these Guinness Brownies with Cream Cheese Frosting Drizzle, No Churn Guinness Brownie Ice Cream and Salted Caramel Guinness Beer Float!
Meat pies.
They’re one of my FAVORITE things, thanks to my husband’s hometown. (It’s a Cajun thing, and they’re delicious. We had so many at our engagement party, and I sometimes dream of the little meaty pockets of goodness.)
For upcoming St. Patrick’s Day festivities, I wanted to try making an Irish version of our favorite Cajun Ground Beef Meat Pies.
So these Mashed Potato Beef Hand Pies are what I’ve got.
You’re welcome, internet. 😉
What I love about this handheld Irish meat pie recipe:
The filling of these meaty hand pies can be made in the Instant Pot! It’s beef stew-esque… but the cooking liquid is beer! Guinness, to be specific, though any other stout beer would work, too.
The filling of these meat hand pies can also be made ahead of time, along with the mashed potatoes and pie crust, so that the day of your party or before dinnertime, you can put together the hand pies.
You could also make the Irish meat pies completely, place them on a baking sheet and freeze overnight if that’s easier.
Other meaty dishes that are perfect to start a party… or to serve for dinner: Creamy Chicken Enchilada Bruschetta (Instant Pot Appetizer) | Bruschetta Pinwheels and Pesto Sun-Dried Tomato Pinwheels | Pepperoni Pizza Rolls |
Looking for more St. Patrick’s Day entertaining inspiration? Check out St. Patrick’s Day Party Food!
What are the ingredients for Irish meat pie?
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- Instant Pot or Slow Cooker
- Saucepan
- Rolling pin
- Sheet pan
- Nonstick baking mat
- Silicone pastry brush
- Dough blender
- Glass bowls
In addition to these tools, you’ll also need some ingredients to make these individual Irish meat pie, the mashed potatoes and pie crust, too:
- Vegetable shortening
- Unsalted butter
- All-purpose flour
- Whole wheat flour
- Kosher salt
- Water
- Russet potatoes
- Milk
- Black pepper
- Beef stew meat
- Canola oil—or another unflavored cooking oil like avocado
- Onion
- Carrots
- Guinness Beer—or any other unflavored stout beer
- Dried or fresh thyme
- Egg
How to make Flaky Whole Wheat Pie Crust
This is your first step of making these meat hand pies, if you’re choosing to make them completely from scratch. If you choose to purchase pie crust at the store, excellent! Just hop on down to the next section…
Prep the fats: With a cheese grater, grate the frozen butter. When the entire stick has been grated, transfer the butter back to the freezer to stay cool. Cut the vegetable shortening with a knife.
Prep the ingredients: Sift the flours and salt in a large glass bowl. Pour water into a glass with ice cubes.
Mix the flaky pie crust. Using a dough blender or a fork, cut the butter and shortening into the flour mixture until the fats appear to be the size of peas and the texture of wet sand.
Add the liquid. Drizzle half of the water on top of the flour-butter mixture. Lightly fold the flour over the liquid using a rubber spatula, and do not stir. Pour in the ¼ of the remaining water and repeat. If necessary, add additional cold water until you reach the desired consistency.
Chill out. Form the dough into a round and wrap tightly in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for one hour. You can also let it hang out in the fridge for a day or two if making it in advance suites you.
When is my pie crust ready? The dough should just hold together when pressed. You should see flecks of butter in the crust, too.
Make the Mashed Potatoes
Next, mashed potato time! If you want a deep dive on making mashed potatoes, I’ve got you covered with this Homemade Mashed Potatoes post.
Prep the potatoes. Scrub potatoes clean and peel, if desired. Dice into ½” cubes to make for quicker cooking.
Cook the potatoes. Place the potatoes in saucepan, and cover with water. Add a pinch of salt. Heat the potatoes over high heat, and bring to a boil, cooking until they’re fork tender. (This means you’ll be able to spear the potato on the fork without issue.) When done, drain in a colander.
Make the mashed potatoes. Place the diced potatoes back into the saucepan. Add the butter, milk, salt and pepper. Mash with a fork or potato masher, stirring until the desired consistency.
Let the potatoes cool off, then store in an airtight food storage container in the refrigerator until it’s time to make the meat hand pies.
Make the Beef Filling and the Gravy
Please note in the recipe card, we’re making this in the Instant Pot or another electric pressure cooker. However, you can easily make the filling and gravy in a slow cooker, but you will need to employ a skillet to get a sear on the meat before it goes into the slow cooker for 4-5 hours.
Prep the beef. Season with beef with salt and pepper. Toss in the flour.
Cook the beef. In the Instant Pot, set to Sauté for 15 minutes. Add the oil and brown the beef on all sides. About 8 minutes in, add the chopped onion and carrot.
Deglaze the pan. When the Instant Pot turns off, deglaze the pan with beer. If you don’t drink alcohol, replace the beer with beef broth.
Cook under high pressure. Place the lid on the Instant Pot and seal the valve. Set to Pressure Cook, and set the timer for 20 minutes. When the cook has completed, release the pressure and steam. Remove the beef and vegetables from the sauce. Transfer the beef and vegetables to an airtight food storage container, and chill.
Make the gravy. Set the Instant Pot to the Sauté setting for 10 minutes. In a small bowl, make a slurry of flour and water, then pour into the cooking liquid in the Instant Pot. Cook until thick and glossy, then turn off heat and cover until time to enjoy.
Make ahead tip! IF making the gravy in advance, you can reheat it in the microwave and add additional water if it’s too gelatinous.
How to make Beef Hand Pies
Roll out and cut the pie crust on a flat, floured surface. Use your rolling pin and try to get it to be about ¼” thick. Use a round cookie or biscuit cutter to cut the dough into 2” rounds. (Or however large/small rounds you’d like. I don’t recommend going smaller than 2”.)
Add the Irish meat pie filling. Dollop mashed potato onto half of the rounds, then the beef filling. If you’re making smaller hand pies, I suggest 1 tablespoon of potato to 2 tablespoons of filling. If you’re making bigger ones, 2-3 tablespoons of potato and 2-3 tablespoons of filling.
Finish the meat pies. Use the other half of the round to top the filled dough. Press together using your fingers, then seal using a fork’s tines.
Prep the meat hand pies for the bake. Poke a few holes into the top of the hand pies using a fork, then brush with the egg. Transfer the hand pies to a baking sheet lined with a nonstick baking mat OR parchment paper. Then place the baking sheet in the freezer until baking time.
Bake the meat pies. Preheat the oven to 350°F. When the oven is ready, bake the hand pies for 25-35 minutes, or until golden brown. The bake time will depend on the size and fullness of the pies, so keep an eye on ’em.
Enjoy warm with the gravy!
Erin’s Easy Entertaining Tricks
I know, I know. It seems like a lot to make these mashed potato and beefy meat hand pies, but they’re worth the effort.
However, if you’re making them for a gathering, I’ve got some tricks up my sleeve to make this Irish Meat Pie recipe a bit easier to handle while also entertaining:
- Use a store-bought pie crust. You can typically find this in the fridge or freezer section of your store. Get two packages to ensure you’ve got enough crust.
- Make the meat hand pies in increments. Put together the pie crust 1-2 days in advance or purchase the store-bought type. Make the beef and mashed potatoes in advance, and toss ’em in the fridge until it’s time to make the hand pies.
- Similarly, if you have time well in advance to make these meat hand pies, make them… and then freeze them! Bake ’em when you’re ready to serve them. Simply add a few more minutes to the timer.
Frequently Asked Questions
It depends on the region where you’re getting your meat pie and the ingredients. A tourtière is a French Canadian meat pie. Pot pies are technically meat pies, too, and so are mince pies. Empanadas are meat pies, as well, and so are these little beef hand pies.
You might need a little more cold water added to your pie dough if it’s breaking apart.
If you want to use ground beef or a different tougher cut of beef, have at it. This Irish Meat Pie recipe is pretty forgiving. I used the stew meat simply because it cooks down beautifully and shreds easily when it’s done.
I would replace it with beef stock. While your flavor profile will be a little different, this meat pie recipe will still work!
These meat hand pies would make an excellent handheld appetizer or dinner. You could easily serve them alongside Slow Cooker Corned Beef, Corned Beef Poutine and Irish Champ. And don’t forget dessert! We love Chocolate Guinness Cupcakes with Baileys Frosting, Chocolate Chip Irish Cream Cake and Mint Chip Guinness Beer Float!
Scroll on down to learn how to make Beef Hand Pies at your home!
Mashed Potato Beef Hand Pies
Ingredients
Pie Crust
- ½ cup vegetable shortening
- ½ cup unsalted butter frozen
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup whole wheat flour
- 1 tablespoon kosher salt
- 2 cups water could need more or less depending on the weather conditions
Mashed Potatoes
- 3 russet potatoes small (about 3 cups when diced)
- 1 ½ tablespoons unsalted butter
- 3 tablespoons milk
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
Stew Filling
- 1 lb. stew beef diced in ½” pieces
- 1 teaspoons kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons canola oil
- 1 onion diced
- 3 carrots diced
- 11.2 oz. Guinness Extra Stout Beer or any other unflavored stout beer
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme or 2 teaspoons fresh thyme
- 1 Egg for egg wash and sealing
Gravy
- Pan drippings from the stew filling
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 3 tablespoons water
- Salt and pepper to taste
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Instructions
Make the Pie Crust
- With a cheese grater, grate the frozen butter. When the entire stick has been grated, transfer the butter back to the freezer to stay cool.
- Cut the vegetable shortening with a knife.
- Sift the flours and salt in a large glass bowl.
- Pour water into a glass with ice cubes.
- Remove the butter from the freezer.
- Using a dough blender or a fork, cut the butter and shortening into the flour mixture until the fats appear to be the size of peas and the texture of wet sand.
- Drizzle half of the water on top of the flour-butter mixture. Using a plastic spatula, lightly fold the flour over the liquid. (Do not stir!)
- Pour in the ¼ of the remaining water and repeat.
- When ready, the dough should just hold together when pressed, and you should be able to see flecks of butter in the crust. If necessary, add additional cold water until you reach the desired consistency.
- Form the dough into a round and wrap tightly in plastic wrap.
- Refrigerate at least one hour.
Make the Mashed Potatoes
- Scrub potatoes clean and peel, if desired. Dice into ½” cubes to make for quicker cooking.
- Place all diced potatoes in saucepan. Cover with water. Add a pinch of salt.
- Heat over high heat, and bring to a boil.
- Boil until the potatoes are fork tender. (This is when you can touch the potato with a fork, and the fork slides right in.)
- Remove from the heat and drain in a colander.
- Place the diced potatoes back into the saucepan.
- Add the butter, milk, salt and pepper. Mash with a fork or potato masher, stirring until the desired consistency.
Make the Filling and the Gravy
- Season with beef with salt and pepper. Toss in the unbleached all-purpose flour.
- In the Instant Pot, set to Sauté (Normal) for 15 minutes.
- Add the oil and brown the beef on all sides.
- About 8 minutes in, add the chopped onion and carrot.
- When the setting turns off, deglaze the pan with beer.
- Place the lid on the Instant Pot and seal the valve.
- Set to Pressure Cook (Normal), and set the timer for 20 minutes.
- When the cook has completed, release the pressure and steam.
- Remove the beef and vegetables from the sauce.
- Set to Sauté (Normal) for 10 minutes.
- In a small bowl, make a slurry of flour and water.
- Pour into the cooking liquid in the Instant Pot.
- Cook until thick and glossy, then turn off heat and cover until time to enjoy.
- IF making the gravy in advance, you can reheat it in the microwave and add additional water if it’s too gelatinous.
Make the Hand Pies
- On a flat, floured surface, roll out the dough using a rolling pin until ¼” thick.
- Using a round cookie or biscuit cutter, cut the dough into 2” rounds. (Or however large/small rounds you’d like. I don’t recommend going smaller than 2”.)
- Dollop mashed potato onto half of the rounds, then the filling. (If you’re making smaller hand pies, I suggest 1 tablespoon of potato to 2 tablespoons of filling. If you’re making bigger ones, 2-3 tablespoons of potato and 2-3 tablespoons of filling.)
- Using the other half of the rounds, top the filled dough. Press together using your fingers, then seal using a fork’s tines.
- Repeat the process until all the hand pies have been made.
- Using the fork, poke a few holes into the top of the hand pies.
- Brush with the egg.
- Transfer the hand pies to a baking sheet lined with a nonstick baking mat OR parchment paper.
- Place the baking sheet in the freezer until baking time. (This can be done well in advance OR can be done to keep the pies chilled while the oven preheats.)
- Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- When the oven is preheated, place the baking sheet inside.
- Bake 25-35 minutes, or until the hand pies are golden brown. (Bake time will vary depending on the size, so keep an eye on yours!)
- Enjoy warm with the gravy, made above!
Notes
Nutrition
About the Author:
Erin Parker is a Southern gal living in Texas with her husband and two daughters. She started The Speckled Palate to share what she was cooking as a newlywed… and over the years, it’s evolved to capture her love for hosting. Specifically, the EASIEST, lowest key entertaining because everyone deserves to see their people and connect over good food. Learn more about her…
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