Michigan Pasty Recipe | Yummy Beef Pasties w Vegetables + Easy Dough (2024)

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Michigan Pasty Recipe | Yummy Beef Pasties w Vegetables + Easy Dough (1)

By Sherry Trautman

Michigan Pasty Recipe: Fresh, Delicious, and Filling! Beef and Vegetable

Traditional Michigan Pasty Recipe | Beef Pasties with Vegetables + Easy Dough Recipe From A Yooper| Last updated: March 3, 2023 | By: Sherry Trautman | Travel-Mi.com

If you have ever crossed into the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, you will see several small mom and pop stores/restaurants selling Upper Peninsula Pasties. It was a staple with the miners as this simple and filling meal could be easily transported and eaten in the copper mines.

So guys, I just wanted to clarify that these beef pasties with vegetables are seriously legit good. Speaking of legit, Chris is a born and raised Yooper (from Michigan's Upper Peninsula). His mom lives in the Houghton region and we love visiting as often as possible. She and Larry love to make homemade pasties or pasty pie and so do we!

See How I Make Pasties and Roll The Crust!

Michigan Pasties: Fresh, Delicious, and Filling! Beef and Vegetable

Easy Upper Michigan Pasty Recipe: Beef and Vegetable Pasties

    This makes about 6 pasties. This deliciouspasty recipe utilizes ground beef but you can leave it out to make a vegetable pasty.
  • 1 pound ground chuck
  • 2 russet potatoes, diced
  • 1 cup onion, diced (about 1 medium sized onion-I prefer sweet onions, by the way)
  • 1/2 cup rutabaga
  • 2-3 carrots, diced
  • 2 celery stalks, diced
  • 1 tsp garlic, diced
  • 2 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp pepper
  • Optional: Egg for an egg wash

Michigan Pasties: Fresh, Delicious, and Filling! Beef and Vegetable

Super EasyMichigan Pasty Dough Recipe

    Yield: 6 dough balls
  • 3 cups of flour, sifted (I use King Arthur flour)
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 cup Crisco (I use sticks)
  • 1/2 cup very cold water

Dice your onions, potatoes, rutabaga!

Huge Rutabaga for Pasties!

So, this is a rutabaga!

If you are worried about not liking the taste of rutabagas, they are very mild with a bit of a spicy zing. Very potato-like. Just buy a small one-I bought a huge one and didn't need even half of it for this Michigan pasty recipe.

OH MAN...rutabagas are super hard to cut! You will need a good knife, like a heavy steel blade to cut a larger one. Be SUPER careful. It's not easy like a potato.

Peel and chop it.

Diced onions, celery, rutabaga, carrots and spices: Ready for this pasty recipe!

Directions: Let's Make Michigan Beef Pasties!

  1. Wash, peel, chop or dice your vegetables to small bite sized pieces.
  2. Place vegetables in a large bowl.
  3. Add your spices
  4. Add your raw beef to the vegetables and mix by hand.

Diced onions, celery, rutabaga, carrots and spices plus the beef

Directions: Michigan Pasty Dough

Get messy! Use your hands to mix the pasty dough!

  1. Mix your sifted flour and salt in a large mixing bowl.
  2. Add the shortening (Crisco) and incorporate with a pastry blade (see my video above). Once the shortening is cut into the flour and is the size of a tiny pea, it's time to get messy!
  3. Add the ice cold water
  4. You will need to get in there with your hands (washed first!) to properly incorporate the Crisco into the flour and salt mixture. Don't add more water until it is completely mixed.
  5. Don't over mix, I try to do this as quickly as possible to keep the dough cold and not allow the shortening to begin to melt from the heat of my hands. We want flaky crusts!
  6. The dough for this pasty recipe makes 6 balls.

Let's Assemble Our Michigan Beef Pasties with Vegetables

We are almost there! So, next take a rolling pin and roll out each of the six dough balls into as close to a circle as you can get. I made mine about 10 inches; you need it bigger than you think to allow room for the filling.

At this point, preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

  1. Place 1 cup of the raw meat/vegetable mixture on one half of the dough.
  2. Fold the other half of the dough over the meat mixture.
  3. Tuck the bottom dough over the top and roll upward to seal in the meat mixture.
  4. Optional: In a small bowl, beat one egg with a fork and brush the egg onto the finished pasties to create a golden color after baking. So pretty!
  5. Place your finished pasties on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.
  6. Bake uncovered for about 1 hour.

** See my video above! I attempt this one handed while videoing!

Add 1 cup of raw meat/vege mix onto the rolled dough

Roll the bottom layer of the dough over the top layer to seal to the mixture inside the dough

Let's Bake Our Beef Pasties! This Upper Michigan Pasty Recipe Looks so Delicious!

Bake the pasties in a preheated oven for about 1 hour!

Bake your beautiful Michigan beef pasties at 350 degrees for about 1 hour until they are golden brown! We like to eat them with ketchup just like the Yoopers in Upper Michigan! So delicious and filling! We hope you love this Michigan pasty recipe.

YouTube Video Below

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Michigan Pasty Recipe | Yummy Beef Pasties w Vegetables + Easy Dough (2024)

FAQs

What are Michigan pasties made of? ›

Pasties were the original fast food of copper miners and lumberjacks. Brought here from the mining region of Cornwell, England, U.P. wives would fill the rolled-out dough with leftover beef, potato, onion and rutabaga, fold the pastry in half, seal the edges and bake.

How long to cook pasties in the oven? ›

Ready to eat cold - but best heated in an oven for true pasty pleasure! From Chilled: 180°C / Fan 160°C / Gas mark 4 for 20-25 minutes. From Frozen: 190°C / Fan 170°C / Gas mark 5 for 40-50 minutes. Allow it to rest for 3-4 minutes - and enjoy.

What was in the original pasty? ›

It was in the 1700s & 1800s that pasties became popular with working class families in Cornwall but they no longer contained the rich and decadent fillings of the 13th century, instead, they consisted of a simple short crust pastry case with potato, swede and onion, all common vegetables, and occasionally some cheap ...

What pastry are pasties made from? ›

For shortcrust pastry

(rough puff can also be used): 500 g strong bread flour (it is important to use a stronger flour than normal as you need the extra strength in the gluten to produce strong pliable pastry) 120 g lard or white shortening.

What is a Michigan pasty? ›

Pasties, pronounced "pass-tee", are traditional meat pies that began in England and were brought to Michigan by Cornish miners when they migrated to Northern Michigan in the 1800's. Pasties are a beloved tradition in Michigan, particularly so in the U.P. (Upper Peninsula).

What is the best material to make pasties out of? ›

Buckram. Buckram is a material that is most often found in things like the lining of hats. It is a firm material that can be molded to whatever shape you create when it's damp, and then it dries in that form. Buckram is a great material to line your pasties so that you can apply adhesives and make them more durable.

How do you keep pasties moist? ›

Try liquid filling

As mentioned above, beef and vegetables are the most common fillings. However, as The Guardian pointed out, some chefs go a step further with a little extra liquid filling. Namely, the addition of gravy can prevent the entire dish from drying out.

How do you know when pasties are cooked? ›

If you think it's ready, put a knife or skewer through the top of the Pasty, then pull it out and feel the skewer, to check that the Pasty is piping hot all the way through.

What temperature should pasties be cooked at? ›

Cooking is Easy!
  1. Preheat oven 350 degrees. Unwrap your pasty that is either thawed out or frozen. ...
  2. Bake 15 mins if thawed and 45 mins if solid frozen.
  3. Remember you can use the pasty wrapper as a pan liner, as it is a high quality parchment paper. Now clean up is a cinch too!

What is the most popular pasty? ›

Top 10 Pasties Products
  • Ginsters. Vegan Quorn Pasty. 180g. ...
  • Chunk of Devon. Roasted Vegetable Pasty. 253g. ...
  • Cornish Pasties. 520g. What people say. ...
  • Ginsters. Original Cornish Pasty. 227g. ...
  • M&S. Chicken Tikka Samosa. 110g. ...
  • M&S. Tomato & Mozzarella Parcels. 4 x. ...
  • M&S. 8 Marmite Dinky Cheese Pinwheels. 88g. ...
  • Chunk of Devon. Cheddar & Onion Pasty.

What is the difference between a pasty and a pastry? ›

A pasty is a meat hand pie generally made with beef and potatoes. Pastry is is a dough made with flour, a liquid, and a solid fat such as butter, shortening, or lard. Pastry can be either sweet or savoury.

Who brought pasties to Michigan? ›

In Michigan, where 19th-century Cornish immigrants brought the pasty into the iron mines of the Upper Peninsula, the pasty has been celebrated with local festivals and statewide proclamations. The Cornish pasty descends from a broader family of medieval English meat pies.

What is a traditional pasty? ›

The traditional Cornish pasty, which since 2011 has had Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) status in Europe, is filled with beef, sliced or diced potato, swede (also known as yellow turnip or rutabaga – referred to in Cornwall and other parts of the West Country as turnip) and onion, seasoned with salt and pepper, ...

What state is known for pasties? ›

Pasties: The Meaty Center Of 'Yooper' Food. Michigan's Upper Peninsula is a landmass jutting out of the northern tip of Wisconsin. The pasty's prevalence is linked to an early 1800s rush to mine copper deposits in the region. The resulting onslaught of laborers from Cornwall, England, brought over the pasty.

What is the difference between a Cornish pasty and a normal pasty? ›

There will always be great debate about the origin of the pasty, but one easy way to detect the Devon pasty from the Cornish is that the Devon pasty has a top-crimp and is oval in shape, whereas the Cornish pasty is semi-circular and side-crimped along the curve.

What is the difference between a Cornish pasty and a yooper pasty? ›

The traditional Cornish pasty has sliced vegetables while the evolved Yooper pasty has diced vegetables. The correct way to eat a pasty is from the top down, so if you don't finish the two pound pastry you can save it for later.

Why are pasties so popular in Michigan? ›

In Michigan, where 19th-century Cornish immigrants brought the pasty into the iron mines of the Upper Peninsula, the pasty has been celebrated with local festivals and statewide proclamations.

Why does Michigan have pasties? ›

Pasties were popular in Cornwall, Great Britain where tin miners found the pasty to be a meal easily carried into the mines and eaten without cutlery. Cornish and Finnish immigrants settled in Michigan's Upper Peninsula (U.P.) in the 1860s to mine copper and iron ore.

Where did pasty Michigan come from? ›

It's A Portable Pie With History Baked In : The Salt The lightly seasoned meat and veggie pie, prevalent in the Upper Peninsula, is pure fuel. Popularized by Cornish miners in the 1800s, it's come to symbolize tenacity in the face of trying conditions.

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