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This Irish Pasties Recipe is a tradition in our family every St. Patrick’s Day. The Donovans introduced pasties to us about 20 years ago and we have been making them ever since, even when it’s not St. Patrick’s Day!
Featured with this recipe
Our sister Elise married into the Donovan family years ago and learned some amazing Irish traditions and recipes that she generously shared with all of us. These Irish Pasties quickly became a traditional recipe that we all love to make on St. Patrick’s Day. Although, I have to admit, this beef and potato mixture baked into pillowy pastry dough is WAY too good to make only once a year and we end up making them almost every time we cook up a roast. Every bite is hearty and flavorful. You don’t have to wait until St. Patrick’s Day to serve these Irish Pasties. They are delicious way to use up leftover roast beef all year long. We like to serve these with a big green salad or a side of green peas.
Ingredients in this Irish Pasties Recipe
You can make these hearty pasties with just a few pantry staples. They’re the perfect thing to whip up for dinner when you just don’t know what to make. They’ve saved our dinnertime many times! Here’s all you need:
- Pot roast beef – Cut it into small inch cubes, chopped into small pieces, or shredded with a fork. Terrific time to use up those Sunday leftovers, or you can make a fresh roast just for this recipe.
- Potatoes – russet, golden, red, any kind of potato will do. Cut them into tiny pieces and spread them onto a baking sheet covered with parchment paper. You can season them with a little salt and pepper and a bit of fresh thyme and toss with a tablespoon of olive oil if desired.
- Pie crusts – Save time and buy a couple of frozen crusts from the grocery store. Unfold them and cut them in half.
- Add shredded carrots or onion to the mixture, if you like.
- After baking, use a pastry brush to spread a little butter or an egg wash made from eggs and some water on top for a beautiful golden crust.
- For the gravy, simmer some beef stock or broth from the roast in a skillet. Thicken with cornstarch or a little flour.
Frequently Asked Questions about Irish Pasties
Yes! If you’re in a time crunch, you can use a bag of frozen hash brown cubes in place of other potatoes.
Meat pasties are extremely popular all over the British Isles. They’re a perfect on-the-go lunch. This recipe is the Irish version of pasties. So delicious!
You can substitute leftover pork roast or roasted chicken in place of a beef roast, but I love the mix of beef and potatoes.
READ NEXT: 30+ Best St. Patrick’s Day Food Ideas
More Irish-Inspired Recipes
We have some other fun recipes that are perfect for St. Patrick’s Day. You can make it a week full of yummy Irish recipes instead of just one day. Check out a full list of the Top 10 St. Patrick’s Day Food Ideas.
How to Make this Irish Pasties Recipe
The Donovan’s Irish Pasties
Video
Ingredients
- 1 pound roast beef cooked, see recipe notes
- 3-4 potatoes baked or boiled
- salt and pepper
- 2 pie crusts purchased or homemade
- beef gravy prepared
BEEF GRAVY
- drippings from beef roast
- 1 to 2 cups water
- 2 teaspoons beef bouillon
- 2 tablespoons corn starch mixed with ¼ cup water
- salt and pepper
Instructions
- Cook the roast beef. See methods in recipe notes below.
- Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Shred the roast or chop into bite size pieces.
- Peel and cube the potatoes.
- Mix the roast, potatoes, salt and pepper in a large bowl.
- Unroll the pie crusts and cut in half.
- Put a good amount of filling in each crust, fold over, and seal.
- Place each pastry on a greased cookie sheet. Make a couple of small slits in the top of each crust.
- Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until crust is golden brown. Remove from oven and brush with some melted butter.
- Serve with gravy.
For Beef Gravy
- Bring ingredients to a boil to thicken, stirring constantly with a whisk.
Notes
Methods for Preparing the Roast
- Crockpot: An easy way to prepare the roast is to cook it in a crock pot with 1 cup of water and an onion soup mix along with whatever seasonings you like for 3-4 hours on high or 8 hours on low.
- Oven Roasted: See our recipe for oven roasting. This will take about 3 hours.
- Instant Pot: To save time, prepare the roast in the Instant Pot. This cuts the cooking time in half. The roast can be prepared and ready to go in 1 ½ hours.
What a great looking comfort food! I would love to make this soon.
Can I freeze these for a later date? How would I heat them up? I want to try them but I live alone and this is too much for 1 person.
Absolutely! They freeze great– you would re-heat them by thawing completely and then popping them in to oven (you can lightly cover with foil if the crust seems to be getting too brown) at 350-degrees for 30 minutes or so (or until it is hot all the way through). Hope this helps!
I have been making these tasty Irish dumplings (Pasties) for years. I do mine with stew meat cut into bite size
Pieces or using a round steak cut into small bites. Mix raw meat with diced up potatoes, season to taste, place on pie dough with a dollop of butter, wrap in pie dough in the shape of dumplings. Then I bake them for about 45 to 60 mins. until potatoes are cooked. My family loves homemade cheddar cheese sauce over theirs. Some add ketchup to it as well. It’s a favorite of my families. I’ve made these every St. Paddy’s day for the last 43yrs.
Oh yum! Thank you for sharing how your family makes these. What a fun tradition. I have never tried it with cheddar cheese sauce. That sounds tasty! Almost like an Irish Cheesesteak. Sounds delicious!
I love pasties!! My Grammy was Irish and taught my mom these. But instead of using roast beef, she would use ground beef. She made the lard pastry rolled out, and they were huge. One would feed 4 of us! She would later the ground beef, salt , pepper, 2 pads of butter, sliced thin potatoes, salt pepper butter, finely chopped onions and lastly salt pepper and butter. Fold over the crust and crimp edges. Three slits on top and put in the oven! Never tried with gravy tho!! Will this fall!!! Loved these!!! Taught my Hungarian/polish mother in law my gram’s recipe!!!
My mother used to make these all the time! She would add broth in the slits while cooking. It was a whole day project!! One of my dads favorite! I am going to have to make some, my son is very proud of his Irish heritage!!
Years ago this is what miners would carry in their lunch boxes in place of sandwiches.
how do i know this was told by my Grandmother & i am 86
That is awesome! I know they loved having these as lunches because they could just be eaten with their hands– no utensils needed!
This recipe sounds yummy! I’ll certainly be trying this one out. Thanks so much for sharing!
Oh-these look sooo delicious! I an definitely going to try these. I have never heard of these before. Thanks so much for sharing these with us all. I’ve a feeling they’ll be another favorite with everyone.
So sorry.. I need detailed instructions. If I’m cooking a 2.5 pound roast (doubling your recipe), how would I do that in the crock pot? Measurements, time, etc. Thank you!!!
Detailed instructions for the roast: Pour 1/4 cup water in the bottom of your crock pot. Rinse the roast and place it in the crock pot. Salt and pepper the roast. Sprinkle one package of Lipton onion dry soup mix over the roast. Cook the roast on high for 4-5 hours, or low for 8 hours. That should do it! Enjoy your pasties!
pasties are huge in Northern Michigan’s Upper Penninsula! Most people up there add the rutabaga.
Yum! Adding rutabaga sounds delicious. Thank you for sharing how pasties are made in your neck of the woods. It’s interesting to hear how recipes are adapted to different regions of the world.
True pasties are meat, potatoes,onion and lard crust Pasties are everywhere in the upper peninsula, especially Iron Mountain
Yes that’s how my mom made them. And now my son and I make them. My grandparents were from Ireland. Seem there are many recipes.
I agree. My grandmother made them for my grandfather when he mined in Montana. With a name like “Darby” (a nickname which means ‘he’s. A keeper’ ) it is truly the Irish way. My grandmother sold her pasties after they moved to so. California in a little cafe. My preference is to eat them with butter – better than gravy!
My Grandfather worked in the iron mines in the UP. My Dad said one corner of the pasty had a sweet fruit /jam filling for desert. The rest of the pasty was filled with “pie meat” onions and potatoes. He said his mother would send him to the butcher to ask for “pie meat”, it was cut a special way. My grandfather was from Italy, he died young from working the mines in 1929. The mines were full of Italian , Welsh and Finns. They all learned each others ways. I was still making pasties for my father until he died 2 years ago at 96 years.
Wow! Thank you so much for sharing your story with us!
Michael,
Go to the upper peninsula of Michigan. Pasties(real pastors) are everywhere.
Iron Mountain girl
Personally, I make the pasties from the Cornish Pasty Assn. Lard is used in the pastry, and it makes all the difference. I replace the swedes woth turnips.
How many servings does this recipe make. I would like to make some and then freeze some. Thanks
This recipe makes 4 servings. Thank you for asking!
Our Nana made them with Pepperidge farm puff pastry. She called them Briedies, but she was from Glasgow, not Ireland.
Love these. My sister in law gave me the recipe last month. I do put carrots and green beans in mine and serve them with gravy and a green salad.
I lived in England for a few years and one of the foods I miss most is pasties. Haven’t seen any here in the states but they go really well with brown sauce, maybe a steak sauce would work.
This is much like my families. We use leftover beef roast, raw onions and thin sliced potatoes baking at 375 for 30 min. Also, we are Welsh not Irish. I was told the miners would take them to lunch with a bottle of ketchup. My family worked mines in Penn. What great memories food brings. Thanks for the share.
I was told miners would wrap them in foil and put them on the machines to cook while they worked. I never heard that until my sister in law told me that. I’m Italian and never heard of this recipe before.
in Michigan traditional pasties are the best. If you ever go to the U. p. Of Michigan you need to try some. There are pasty shops everywhere. And yes, we eat them with ketch-up and pickles!
I came just to read the comments to see if anyone knew of or would have mentioned the original Pasties from the U.P. Born and raised there I may be a little biased but they are definitely the best! This is an interesting spin on it.
My grandmother, whose parents come to New Jersey from Hungary and worked in the zinc mine, also said the miners would take pasties to work and heat them up on their shovels over a fire.
I made thees and they are amazing! I am going to try adding rutabaga and caramelized carrots next time. Thees are perfect the way they are though, so yummy! Thanks for sharing!
Lol! Hashbrowns aren’t REAL potatoes?!?!? Who knew?!?
p.s. They look delicious! 🙂
Haha, thanks! Fixed it!