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Breakfast hand pies offer a fun twist on your typical breakfast. Eggs, green chiles, tomato, ham, and cheese get wrapped up in buttery, flaky puff pastry.
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These breakfast hand pies are so yummy! A puff pastry is encompassed with layers of ham, tomato, cheese, and egg with just a little bit of spice. Layered together make the perfect combination! They are easy to take on the go and make ahead of time. It really is the best breakfast for kids to adults!
Breakfast just got a lot easier and tastier with these homemade breakfast hand pies. Get ready to impress all your family members as you are walking out the door to hand them their new favorite breakfast. They are fast, delicious, and so easy to make. You can’t go wrong with this easy breakfast recipe!
Easy Breakfast Hand Pie Ingredients
Homemade hand pies are easy to make and can be so versatile. Choose your ingredients and layer them inside a puff pastry for a flaky and savory meal! Make your eggs light and fluffy, add a little spice, and slice thick ham with a tomato to make the perfect handheld breakfast!
- Eggs – These are light and fluffy so you can cook them in a large skillet. Scramble the eggs so they are nice and fluffy with that soft texture.
- Half and half – This will help the eggs puff up and give them a creamy base when cooking. It also lightens the coloring of the eggs a bit.
- Green chilies – Added for a bit of heat. If you are not a fan of spice, you can leave these out and even add more if spicy hot is what you like.
- Ham – If it is possible to purchase your ham from the deli that will be better. You can slice the ham a thicker amounts to give more substance to the savory pocket.
- Tomato – Slice the tomato a long way so that it will nicely lay on top of the other ingredients. A garden fresh tomato would be best but even a store-bought one is great too!
- Puff pastry sheets – This will hold all the ingredients together. It is a light and flakey outside crust that everyone loves!
- Cheddar cheese – As the hand pies are warming up the cheese will begin to melt and give the hand pies that melty cheese appearance.
How to Make Homemade Breakfast Hand Pies
Making a hand pie is a simple step-by-step recipe that makes for a filling breakfast! It is so simple to make and comes together quickly. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes and you have a delicious and hearty breakfast in no time!
- Crust – Thaw puff pastry in the fridge overnight or on the counter for about 30 minutes.
- Cook – In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs, half and half, and salt and pepper. Cook in a skillet over medium-high heat, stirring frequently. Make sure to scrape the bottom of the pan. Once the eggs are cooked, add green chiles. Stir to combine.
- Prepare – Cut each pastry sheet into 4 equally sized squares. Place them on a greased or lined baking sheet. Cut out pieces of ham that will fit on one half of the pastry square and put one piece on each pastry square. Make sure to leave a margin on the edges for crimping the pies shut.
- Slice – Next, add a tomato slice to each pastry square on top of the ham.
- Scoop – Then, scoop a small spoonful of egg mixture onto each pastry square on top of the tomato.
- Finishing touches – Top the eggs with a pinch of shredded cheese. Fold the top piece of the pastry over the fillings and crimp the edges with a fork.
- Whisk – In a small bowl, whisk one egg until combined. Using a pastry brush, brush a small amount of egg wash onto the top of each pastry.
- Bake – Top each pastry with another pinch of cheddar cheese. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until pastry is puffed and golden brown.
Tips for Making the Best Breakfast Hand Pies
The layering of these hand pies is very important. Making sure the ham is on the bottom will help avoid any leakage or becoming soggy. Purchase your ham from the deli to be able to cut a thicker slice or if you are not a fan of ham you can always use another source of protein. These are all great tips and variations to try!
- Layering the ham – You will want to be sure to put the ham on the bottom. This will help protect the bottom from getting soggy.
- Closing the pastry – Make sure you leave enough margin on the side of the fillings so that you can seal the sides closed. If the sides aren’t closed well enough, the filling will leak out the sides as the pastry puffs up.
- Buying ham – For the ham, we got sliced ham from our deli. We asked them to slice it on the thickest setting. If you aren’t able to get ham from the deli counter, you can layer several thinner pieces of ham on top of each other to achieve the same thickness.
- Other protein – If you don’t want to use ham, you could also use bacon slices or breakfast sausage patties.
“Brilliant recipe, very clear and easy to follow. I surprised my wife and daughters with the hand pies today and they rated me “master chef” 😄
-Ivan CD
It was delicious, thanks so much to Favorite Family Recipes 🙏🏽”
Frequently Asked Questions
Hand pies are also called meat pies or pasties depending on where you are located around the world. They are traced back to at least the 19th century in England. Back then they were popular as lunch for Cornish tin miners.
Empanadas are also known as hand pies but they are usually made out of pie crust dough, baked or fried, and stuffed with a premade filling that is various seasonings and flavors of the meat. Hand pies are more of a pastry filled with breakfast ingredients.
There are a few names that are common for hand pies and one of them is the humble hand pie. Some call them pasties, turnovers, or empanadas. This filled pastry is always a family favorite and so easy to make!
Yes! Hand pies are perfect for making ahead of time and even freezing! Plastic wrap each hand pie individually and store in an airtight container or storage bag in the refrigerator for two to three days long or in the freezer for up to one month. Warm the leftovers up in the microwave or air fryer in the morning or a toaster for delicious breakfast pies!
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If you love breakfast recipes as much as we do, you will have to check out these other fun ideas! These are fun, fresh, and easy to make in the morning or ahead of time. Breakfast is a MUST make and these are our top faves!
Breakfast Hand Pies
Ingredients
- 6 eggs plus 1 egg for egg wash
- ¼ cup half and half
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1/4 cup diced green chilies
- 4 slices ham sliced thick
- 1 tomato sliced thin
- 1 pound puff pastry sheets two sheets
- 1/2 cup cheddar cheese shredded
Instructions
- Thaw puff pastry in the fridge overnight or on the counter for about 30 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 400.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs, half and half, and salt and pepper. Cook in a skillet over medium high heat, stirring frequently. Make sure to scrape the bottom of the pan.
- Once eggs are cooked, add green chiles. Stir to combine.
- Cut each pastry sheet into 4 equally sized squares. Place them on a greased baking sheet.
- Cut out pieces of ham that will fit on one half of the pastry square and put one piece on each pastry square. Make sure to leave a margin on the edges for crimping the pies shut.
- Next, add a tomato slice to each pastry square on top of the ham.
- Then, scoop a small spoonful of egg mixture on to each pastry square on top of the tomato.
- Top the eggs with a pinch of shredded cheese.
- Fold the top piece of the pastry over the fillings and crimp the edges with a fork.
- In a small bowl, whisk one egg until combined. Using a pastry brush, brush a small amount of egg wash onto the top of each pastry.
- Top each pastry with another pinch of cheddar cheese.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until pastry is puffed and golden brown.
Brilliant recipe, very clear and easy to follow. I surprised my wife and daughters with the hand pies today and they rated me “master chef” 😄
It was delicious, thanks so much to Favorite Family Recipes 🙏🏽
We followed the recipes exactly and it was delicious. We had, however, about half of the egg mixture left over. We’ll remember that for the next time we make these.
This sounds delicious! Do you think you could make them up the night before and then bake them in the morning?
I think that would work!
Love the tomato and green chilis you included in these hand pies! So yummy!
Yum! My family is going to love this recipe! I can’t wait to make these! So excited!