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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!
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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.
How to Make this Irish Pasties Recipe
The Donovan’s Irish Pasties
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.
Video
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.
These were absolutely delicious!! Will be on repeat and the gravy was fantastic! Thank you so much!
Hi, I’m in the process of making these. I put my one pound piece of bottom round in my crock pot with one cup of water and a packet of onion soup, it was in by 7:15 AM, it’s 11:35 AM now and it smells like it’s done, I put a thermometer in it and it’s near 200 degrees so I switched it to keep warm setting. Should I remove the beef and wrap it in foil until later? Thank you.
Between 200-205 is a great shredding temperature so you can keep it on warm until ready to shred or yes, you can also wrap it in foil until you are ready to use. Hope this helps!
After posting my comment, I removed the beef and wrapped it in foil and drained the crockpot through a sieve, saving the juice. Can’t wait to finish these later. Thanks for replying.
So simple and so good!! I mixed a little gravy in with the meat and potatoes. Excellent!!
This info is so great thanks!