Jamaican Beef Patties
A homemade Jamaican Beef Patty recipe that’ll make you holla! These patties are loaded with a flavorful, well-seasoned beef filling and enveloped by a tender, flaky, and buttery pastry shell. Juicy and moist filling with that quintessential yellow exterior! The perfect Jamaican fast food to enjoy; with recipe how-to video included!

Hey friends, hey! This new recipe has been a long time coming. I’ve been tweaking and tweaking my Jamaican beef patties notes for so long. They are one of my top favorite “fast food” snacks of all time, y’all! Give me a golden and loaded beef patty, some coco bread, a pineapple or kola soda, and I am the happiest gyal, ha! To say that I’m hype to share this recipe with you would be an understatement. We’ve got a recipe video to go right along with it, too!
What Is A Patty?
Many nationalities have a form of patty. It is basically a pastry shell filled with a combination of meat, vegetables, and more. Latin cuisine has the empanada or pastelitos, Greeks have the spanakopita, and the English (British) have the cornish pastry. What they all entail- a handheld, compact, light or heavier pastry shell filled with goodness to enjoy on the go. They’re a real delight.
Jamaican Beef Patty 🇯🇲 🙌🏾
Have you ever had one before? To me, there is nothing at all quite like a Jamaican beef patty. This kind of patty is the most popular convenience food in Jamaica. It’s filled with well-seasoned beef, moist, and features Jamaica’s infamous scotch bonnet pepper. You can almost spot the patty from a mile away with its rich, deep yellow outer shell. Often eaten straight from a brown paper bag and sometimes paired with Jamaica’s other ubiquitous item- coco bread.
⇢ More Caribbean-inspired recipes: jerk meatballs in coconut curry sauce, my curry chicken, this stewed oxtail, fan-favorites brown stew chicken or rasta pasta, and curry goat with rice and peas. Alla dat Caribbean goodness, delish!
Ingredients Needed For Jamaican Beef Patties
(Note: the full ingredients list, including measurements, is provided in the recipe card directly below.)
- For the dough: all-purpose flour, salt, sugar, Jamaican curry powder, turmeric powder, grated butter, and ice-cold water.
- For the beef filling: olive oil, ground beef, onion, garlic, ginger, salt/pepper, thyme, Jamaican allspice & curry powder, scotch bonnet pepper, scallions, chicken stock, breadcrumbs, and butter.
>> Homemade patties can be intimidating, but friends, this recipe is so easy! The dough has its all-natural, golden hue thanks to spices like curry and turmeric. The beef filling is so flavorful and moist– the entire thing is scrumptious!
All About That Pastry Dough
That quintessential yellow patty exterior is the result of turmeric powder being added into the dough. You’ll find many Jamaican beef patty recipes that call for turmeric because it gives these patties a natural, vibrant yellow hue. However, my recipe calls for both turmeric and Jamaican curry powder.
Although nice, I find the turmeric root to be quite bitter. Combining it with warm, earthy, and mildly spicy curry powder balances out the overall taste in the pastry. Both spices give just the right amount of vibrancy while also yielding a very tasty shell to envelope the filling. It’s tender, flaky, and buttery.
Jamaican Beef Patty Filling
These Jamaican beef patties are filled with a perfectly seasoned and extra flavorful filling that you’ll love! You’ll find here super simple ingredients that yield a low-effort/high-reward beef filling mixture. Flavorful aromatics, spices, and herbs make a beef patty sing like a choir! Amen. Additionally, we’re making Jamaican beef patties so that means some scotch bonnet is also in the picture, too. This is a fiery pepper that adds some kick to the patty filling.
>> Ingredient spotlight: Scotch bonnet can be found at your local Caribbean market. A good replacement for scotch bonnet is a habanero pepper.
I also use Jamaican curry powder and allspice. These too, can be in West Indian markets and some grocery stores. If you cannot find the Jamaican-specific versions, feel free to use Indian curry and regular ground allspice.
How To Make Jamaican Beef Patties
(Note: please see the recipe card directly below for the complete written instructions.)
Be sure to watch the video to see these beef patties come to life! ♡
- Make the dough. Whisk together the flour, salt, sugar, curry and turmeric powders. Add the grated butter into the bowl and combine with the dry ingredients. Then pour in the ice water and bring the dough together.
- Knead the dough. Empty the dough out onto a clean surface and knead the dough. Just enough until the dough forms into one cohesive mass.
- Chill the dough. Cover the dough and place in the fridge to chill.
- Make the filling. Brown the ground beef. Then add in the onion and cook until tender. Stir in the garlic + ginger. Toss in the spices/herbs and continue cooking. Then add the stock, breadcrumbs, and butter.
- Cool the filling. Set the filling aside to cool down before patty assembly.
- Beef patty assembly. Roll out the dough then fill with some of the beef filling. Shape into a half moon and then use a fork to seal in the seams.
- Bake the patties. Place in the oven to bake up until they’re golden brown.
- Cool & serve. Let the patties cool some and then serve immediately!
Tips + Tricks, Additional Recipe Notes, & More For The Best Jamaican Beef Patties
- Grate the butter: Use a box grater to grate the cold butter. Grated butter within the dough is what yields a tender and flaky patty crust.
- Kneading dough: Both curry and turmeric have the tendency to stain your hands/nails. As such, sometimes I like to wear disposable gloves.
- Chill the dough: Butter tends to soften when handling dough. Chilling the dough allows for the butter to solidify. Additionally, chilled dough is a lot easier to handle/roll out than room temperature dough.
- Keep it moist: When making the beef filling, the mixture needs to be nice and moist. Chicken stock and butter are used to prevent any dryness. The worst thing in a beef patty is one that has a dry, crumbly filling. The filling shouldn’t be watery, but instead juicy and visibly moist.
- Use a kitchen scale: For precise weight/size of your patties, I recommend using a kitchen scale. This helps to divide the dough into equal pieces.
- Making the dough: Feel free to bring the dough together in a food processor. Simply add the flour, salt, sugar, and curry/turmeric into the processor. Then cube the butter and pulse together until the butter has blended with everything. Slowly stream in the ice water until the dough comes together.
- Glossy pastry shells: If you like a little shine on your pastry, go ahead and combine one egg with 2 tablespoons of water (an egg wash). Stir well and then brush the mixture onto the patties right before baking.
Do I Need To Cut/Slit The Patty?
I typically do not cut a hole in my patties. When baking, the temperature will build and create a puffy-like look to the beef patties. I like this and it also keeps everything inside and stays moist. If you prefer to have a flatter patty shape, go ahead and use a knife to slit into the top of the patty crust before baking.
Make Ahead Jamaican Beef Patties
These beef patties are a great make ahead type of situation! You can prep both the dough and the filling up to 2 days in advance. For the dough, keep covered tightly in plastic wrap in the refrigerator. For the filling, keep it stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Reheat the filling and add a splash more of water/stock/broth to loosen before assembling the beef patties.
Storing/Reheating Leftover Beef Patties
- Refrigerate: Keep any leftover patties stored inside of an airtight container. They will keep in the refrigerator for up to 2 days.
- Freezer: Keep any leftover patties stored inside of a flat, airtight baggie (helps to prevent freezer burn). They will keep in the freezer for up to 1 month.
- Reheating: For the best taste and overall texture, I recommend reheating leftover patties in the oven. Preheat the oven to 325°F and reheat refrigerated patties for 10-15 minutes or until warmed through. For frozen patties, reheat for 20-25 minutes or until warmed through completely.
Y’all, you’ve gotta make these Jamaican Beef Patties as soon as you can! They’re hella bomb and the best snack ♡… Be sure to tag @butterbeready in your BBR recipe creations, I sure love to see it when you do. Until next time! 🤟🏾
PrintJamaican Beef Patties
- Prep Time: 1hr
- Cook Time: 30m
- Total Time: 1hr 30m
- Yield: 8 1x
- Category: Appetizers & Snacks
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: Caribbean
Description
A homemade Jamaican Beef Patty recipe that’ll make you holla! These patties are loaded with a flavorful, well-seasoned beef filling and enveloped by a tender, flaky, and buttery pastry shell. Juicy and moist filling with that quintessential yellow exterior! The perfect Jamaican fast food to enjoy; with recipe how-to video included!
Ingredients
For the dough:
- 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon Jamaican curry powder
- 2 tablespoons turmeric powder
- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, grated
- 1 cup ice cold water
For the beef filling mixture:
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 lb ground beef (I use grass-fed)
- 1 large yellow onion, finely chopped
- 1 tablespoon garlic paste or minced garlic
- 1 teaspoon ginger paste or freshly grated ginger
- kosher salt & freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 1 teaspoon fresh or dried thyme
- 1 teaspoon ground Jamaican allspice
- 1/2 teaspoon Jamaican curry powder
- 1–2 scotch bonnet peppers, deseeded & finely chopped (use gloves)
- 4 scallions (green onion), chopped
- 1/2 cup chicken stock or broth, plus more as needed
- 1/2 cup plain breadcrumbs
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, cubed
Instructions
For the dough:
- In a large bowl, add the flour, salt, sugar, curry powder, and turmeric powder together. Whisk the dry ingredients well to combine. Then add in (or grate the butter over the bowl) the grated butter. Use your hands (fitted with disposable gloves, if desired) to pinch the butter into the dry mixture until little pea-sized bits form throughout and all the butter is coated with the flour mixture.
- Then make a small well in the center of the mixture and pour in the ice-cold water. Use your hands, again, to bring everything together as much as you can. Empty out the bowl and all residual bits onto a clean surface. Use your hands to knead the dough together, squeezing the dough onto itself until the dough forms into one cohesive mass with no dry bits.
- Shape the dough into a ball and then cover with plastic wrap. Transfer the dough into the refrigerator to chill for at least 30 minutes.
For the beef filling mixture:
- Heat a large skillet over medium heat and coat the bottom of the skillet with the olive oil. Once the oil is shimmering, add in the ground beef. Use a wooden utensil to cook the beef, stirring often, until completely browned. Then add in the chopped onion, and continue cooking, about 3-4 minutes or until the onions are tender.
- Stir in the garlic and ginger and continue cooking. Then add in the thyme, allspice, curry powder, scotch bonnet, and scallions. Stir together and continue cooking mixture for another 2-3 minutes.
- Pour the stock/broth into the skillet and stir to combine for 1 minute. Then stir in the breadcrumbs and mix well until they’re mostly absorbed by the beef mixture. Add in the cubed pieces of butter and stir well until all butter has melted through. Note: At this point, look for the beef mixture to be juicy and moist. If your mixture is dry, add in a splash more of stock/broth until the mixture is visibly moist (but not watery). Then remove from heat and allow the beef mixture to cool down before assembling beef patties.
Beef patty assembly & cooking:
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Position the oven rack into the center of the oven. Then line a large baking sheet with parchment paper, foil, or a silpat liner and then set the baking sheet aside.
- Remove the chilled dough from the refrigerator and divide the dough into equal pieces for patties. I like to use a kitchen scale to get a uniform size in each piece of dough (I make mine 5 ounces each, which will result in a total of 8 beef patties). You can make yours smaller for more patties as well.
- After gathering the pieces of dough, roll them in the palms of your hands into a smooth ball. Then use a rolling pin to flatten the dough into a round shape that is about 3 millimeters-thick, about 6-7 inches.
- Fill one side of the pastry with about 4 tablespoons of the beef filling mixture. For smaller patties, use 2 tablespoons. Then fold the empty side of the pastry over the beef filling, forming a crescent shape (half-moon). I like to bring the two pastry edges together and tuck/roll them under for extra measure, see video demonstration.
- Then carefully flip the patty over and use a fork to crimp the edges. Place the patty onto the prepared baking sheet and repeat the process until all patties have been assembled and placed onto the baking sheet with a little space in between each one.
- Bake the beef patties for 25-30 minutes or until they achieve a light, golden brown color. Allow the patties to cool down for 5 minutes. Then serve immediately. Enjoy!
Notes
- Please read the blog post in its entirety for more tips + tricks.
Keywords: Jamaican beef patties, beef patty recipe, beef patty, Jamaican food, beef patties, authentic beef patty
23 Comments on “Jamaican Beef Patties”
It’s ironic that I got this recipe in my email today…just yesterday I had a craving for a Jamaican beef patty, although I’ve never had one before, so I searched for some recipes. None of the recipes that I saw really interest me so I ended up buying one single patty from the grocery store’s frozen food aisle… smh I’ll try your recipe soon!
Hi there- Hope you get a chance to try ’em out! 🙂
These look and sound amazing!! No place in town can come close to a small hole in the wall that made these unforgettable flakey patties for $1 when I was little, so I am very excited to try making these!
SO GOOD!
There was a Caribbean restaurant near my office that sadly closed down last year. I made your recipe last night, and it is exactly like their beef patties! Brought back great memories.
★★★★★
Hi Katelyn- love to hear it, so happy you enjoyed! 🙂
Soooo, these are bomb! This was like a week long affair for me to make, ha! I live in a small town, so several of the spices weren’t readily available to me; thankfully, I found several really close options and had some unique spices from when I lived in more diverse cities.
Once I gathered everything, it took me several hours to get everything done and try them, but I move slowly by nature and get lost in details, so I knew it would take me a while. 🙂
But, when I tell you it was worth it! Took me right back to my time in rural Jamaica in 2019! All that was missing was the coco bread!
Fam tried it and thought they smelled good and tasted alright too! I was the most enthused, though, and that’s probably because I have something to compare it to, share a connection to Jamaica, and invested time in making them! Again, worth every second and the memories it brought back!
Big ups, Quin!
★★★★★
Hi Lex- Wowwww, I’m so glad you enjoyed these patties! And what a review, thank you so much for taking the time to drop these words, I appreciate you! Big ups! 🙂
These were really wonderful and so, so tasty. The dough was so easy to work with and the whole meal came together easier than I had imagined. My four-year-old has recently renounced curry (to his Malaysian mother’s dismay) and even he absolutely loved these. We will be making this again and again. Thank you so much Quin!
★★★★★
Hi there- Lol I love that you and your family enjoyed these patties, thanks for leaving this review! 🙂
Tried this crust recipe with some chicken and potatoes. It got thumbs up from everyone in the house.
★★★★★
Made this recipe for fun one night and it was so good I quadrupled it for a neighborhood progressive dinner. They were excellent and the crust was easy and amazing. Could not get scotch bonnets so used more jalapeño and even the pickiest eaters enjoyed them.
Loved it!
★★★★★
I didn’t have all the filling ingredients and this still came out amazing. The crust is the bomb.
★★★★★
I’m not going to lie, had to get some of the ingredients on Amazon. But now I have enough for more batches. Amazing recipe!!! But now I want to air fry them. Any suggestions?
★★★★★
Hi Ashley- glad you enjoyed! I recommend freezing leftover patties and air frying them at 350°F for about 15 minutes (I haven’t tested freshly-made patties in the air fryer, lmk if you do!) 🙂
Very good recipe! I made it twice. Thank You!
★★★★★
Wow, Wow and Wow!! Once you get the hang of doing the grated butter (it is a great trick), this recipe comes together beautifully. It is my go to recipe for beef patties now. My family can’t get enough.
★★★★★
The first time we ate patties, we were in Grand Cayman. Near the port, I noticed a long line of people waiting to get in a small, local grocery story. I asked a man at the back of the line what they were waiting for and he told me patties. He then explained what they are.
We always like eating local, so we joined the line. The patties were incredible. Unfortunately, this little shop has been replaced by a tourist chain spot.
A few years ago we moved to a large city. We have 4 Jamaican restaurants here, but only one (a chain) has patties. When I saw your recipe I had to try it.
I just made it today. I doubled it so we could freeze some.
The first batch out of the oven was a tad dry. I overcooked it a bit. The next batch was incredible.
You have a great combination of spices and the wonderful, flaky crust. These were incredible and brought back many memories. I’ll be checking out your other recipes.
Thank you so much for sharing your recipes!
★★★★★
Hi Marcy- Love to hear it, so glad you enjoyed these patties, thank you for leaving this review! 🙂
Seem a lot of work and although I know its worth it. I’ve had this and loves it. wish you could make me some . Lol 🙂
★★★★★
I’ve had these in Jamaica and I love them so I want to give your recipe a try! I’m wondering if you can freeze the patties after they are assembled but before they have been baked?
Hi Patty- I haven’t tested freezing assembled/unbaked patties, so I can’t speak to it 100%. Though, I don’t see why it wouldn’t work (freezing and then thawing in fridge prior to baking)- lmk if you try! 🙂
Hi Quin, I am going to make these tomorrow. In the recipe it says to roll the dough out to 3 millimeters, That seems small, maybe I’m misunderstanding. How many inches around should the dough be when rolled out?
Thanks,
Patty
Hi Patty- Sure thing, you wanna roll out the patty 3 millimeters-thick, about 6-7 inches. Be sure to watch the video tutorial as well, hope this helps! 🙂