Jamaican Patty
A Jamaican patty is a street food that contains various fillings and spices baked inside a flaky pastry shell. As its name suggests, it is commonly found in Jamaica, and is also eaten in other areas of the Caribbean. It is traditionally filled with ground beef, or with ground mutton or goat, and fillings also include chicken, vegetables, fish and cheese. Patties following recipes with halal meats or vegetable based…
Ingredients
Filling
- 2 lbs ground beef
- 2 bundles fresh thyme
- 1 tsp paprika
- ½ loaf of French bread (e.g. baguette)
- ½ tsp Island Spice Scotch Bonnet Soya Sauce
- 2 oz scallion or spring onion
- 1 tsp salt
Pastry
- 2 cups flour
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 cup lard
- 1 cup cold water
- 1 teaspoon ground turmeric (or ½ teaspoon Jamaican Curry Powder and ½ teaspoon annatto for coloring)
- Beef filling for patties
- ½ cup milk
Steps
Filling
- Grind scallion and Island Spice Scotch Bonnet Pepper Soya sauce together. Add to ground beef with salt and thyme.
- Cook the beef.
- While the beef cooks, pour cold water over bread in a saucepan to cover. Soak a few minutes. Squeeze dry, saving the water.
- Pass the bread through a mincing mill. Return to the water with thyme. Cook until the bread is dry. Combine with the meat.
- Add paprika. Cook 20 minutes.
- Remove from heat. Cool.
Pastry
- Sift flour, turmeric, curry powder and salt. Knead in lard.
- Bind with water into a firm dough. Knead 2 minutes.
- Roll pastry ⅛ inch thick. Cut rounds 6 inches in diameter.
- Divide beef filling between rounds. Brush edges with water.
- Fold dough over filling. Seal. Brush with milk.
- Bake on the top oven shelf at 450°F about 25 minutes until golden brown.
Notes from the original
- For extra crust flakiness, roll out dough, brush with lard, fold over and roll again. Do this about 3 times.
Source. Adapted from “Cookbook:Jamaican Patty” by Wikibooks contributors, revision of 2025-07-11, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Changes. Steps rewritten into short commands. Introduction shortened. Wiki formatting removed. This adapted recipe is shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.






