Tempting Belizean Meat Pies

meat & seafoodsides & startersbeefbreakfasthot breakfastssavoury breakfasts

Aug 24

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If you’re looking to explore the Caribbean from your kitchen, then these **Tempting Belizean Meat Pies** are an excellent way to do that! See how to make the flavourful meat filling and how to prepare your very own dough and bake these little meat pies to a delicious perfection! These **Belizean Meat Pies** are a great choice to make for hosting or to bring to potlucks!

I’ve not cooked much Caribbean food, but I’d definitely love to have more of it! If you’re looking for a new challenge, then I encourage you to explore Belize cuisine! Belize is a country in Central America with beautiful beaches and scenery, and it is famous for exciting dishes including, rice and beans, fry jacks, ceviche, and conch fritters. Of course, these Meat Pies will certainly be a delight to have! As I mention in my free motivational guide to explore your potential in the kitchen, Make Cooking Fun!!, having a theme can spark your creativity in the kitchen! If making these Meat Pies have whet your appetite for more Belizean food, then why not make that a theme for the week to come! You can also take the opportunity to make Belize no longer a destination unseen as part of your Live to Cook one-month challenge! Get both of these downloads today by signing up to my free email newsletter, plus all of my latest recipes will be sent straight to your inbox so you’re never in a rut in the kitchen!

This Meat Pie recipe makes for a staple breakfast in Belize. They’re super satisfying and you’ll love the flaky pastry on the outside and juicy and flavourful filling inside! Every bite will be a Caribbean experience right from home! Did you know that these Belizean meat pies are actually rooted from the colonial history of Belize? Believe it or not, these meat pies were born as a result of British cuisine combined with the traditional cuisine of Belize. Thank goodness these were born because - and I’m not exaggerating - these are the best meat pies I’ve ever had of any cuisine in my life, and I’m sure you will love them just as much as I do! The night before I released this recipe, I made myself a fresh batch just because I had some ground beef to cook up and I was craving them so bad as I was writing this page and editing the video below!

To follow along with this exciting Caribbean breakfast recipe and to learn how to make every component from scratch from start to finish, be sure to watch the video at the bottom of this post! If you’re not already, be sure that you please subscribe to my YouTube channel, and don’t forget to press the bell button so you’re notified when all of my video recipes are live! Let’s get cooking!

Tools Needed to Make Belizean Meat Pies

Ingredients for Belizean Meat Pies

Be sure to scroll to the bottom of this post for the FULL PRINTABLE RECIPE CARD that has all ingredients and their quantities in addition to saving the instructions for later. It’s also so easy to scale the ingredient quantities based on how many meat pies you want to make with the recipe card so you’ve got the correct amounts of everything!

For the dough

Shortening: Diced.
All purpose flour
Baking powder
Water: Make sure that your water is cold.
Salt

For the Recado Paste

For the Beef Filling

Olive oil
Ground beef: The typical protein used for these Caribbean meat pies. I used lean ground beef so that the filling is flavourful and juicy.
Onions: Red onions are my favourite, but use any kind of onions you already have on hand. You will finely dice your onions.
Garlic cloves
Green pepper
Scotch bonnet pepper: If you do not have access to these, you can use Thai green chillies, which is actually what I’ll be using!
Recado paste: From above.
Dried thyme
Black pepper
Ground cumin
Paprika
Cayenne pepper
Worcestershire sauce
Tomato paste
Better Than Bouillon Paste: Alternatively, you can use chicken broth.
Salt: To taste!
Egg and water: To make the egg wash.

How to Make Belizean Meat Pies

For the dough

In a bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder and salt. Mix the shortening with the flour mixture using your hands or a dough scraper until the flour becomes crumbly.

Add water, little bit at a time and mix until the dough just comes together. There is no need to knead the dough.

Form the dough to a ball, wrap in plastic wrap and chill in refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.

For the Recado Paste

Mix the spices together and then grind to a fine powder using a spice grinder or a high powered blender (Vitamix works well).

Transfer this mixture to a bowl and mix in the minced garlic and salt. Once mixed well, add the vinegar and mix until you have a thick paste.

To make the Belizean Meat Pies

Preheat the oven at 375 F in the convection setting.

Heat a nonstick pan on medium heat and once hot, add olive oil. Add the chopped peppers, onions and the scotch bonnet peppers. Season with a pinch of salt and sauté until they soften.

Add the ground beef and break any large chunks down using a wooden spoon. Continue to cook until the meat is almost all the way brown and then add the dried spices (thyme, paprika, black pepper, cumin, cayenne) and the recado paste. Mix really well and cook for 4-5 minutes or until the spices have cooked well.

Add Worcestershire sauce and tomato paste and then cook out the tomato paste for 1-2 minutes. Then, mix it in with the minced meat.

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Add the chicken bouillon paste and cook it out for 1-2 minutes before mixing it well with the minced meat.

Add 1/2 - 1 Cup of water and bring the mixture to a gently simmer. Cook on low until you have a thick gravy. If necessary you may thicken the mixture further using corn flour, especially if you used chicken stock instead of bouillon paste.

Taste and adjust for seasoning and then transfer to a container and chill in the refrigerator until it is at least at room temperature. You may remove any excess fat from using a lint free paper towel or by draining it out.

Arrange the large pieces of the dough in the muffin tray portions, making sure it reaches the bottom and the sides snugly fit in the tray. Add 1-2 Tbsp of the meat filling and then cover each portion with smaller circular portions of dough to finish prepping the meat pies.

Poke holes over the top of the pie to allow steam to escape and then whisk 1 egg with 1 tsp of water to prepare an egg wash and brush the tops and edges of the pie portions.

Place the muffin tray in the oven and bake until golden brown - about 20-25 minutes.

Enjoy hot and fresh.

Tips & Tricks For Tempting Belizean Meat Pies

Make sure to use cold water to prepare the dough for the crust and ensure to chill the dough sufficiently. This will help ensure that the crust turns out flaky.
Don’t over-knead or over-mix the dough; you only need to mix until you form a ball. Any extra kneading may result in a hard, tough crust.
Recado is the most important flavour component that makes this dish so make sure you prioritize sourcing the best quality ingredients to prepare this. Also, don’t be shy to use as much as you need to make the meat filling blow your mind!
To help keep the dough crusty while baking, make sure that the meat filling is sufficiently chilled before forming the meat pies.
Poking a couple holes over the top of the pie before baking will help any steam escape and prevent the crust from becoming mushy from trapped steam as it condensates.

Can I make These Belizean Meat Pies ahead of Time?

Yes, sure thing! These Belizean Meat Pies would be incredible to prepare for a party to serve as appetizers, so you can certainly prepare them in advance! While they may be the tastiest fresh, you can easily reheat them, so I definitely recommend you prepare them ahead of time so that you can take your time to focus on dishes that would need to be prepared and served fresh! Simply transfer the meat pies into an airtight container and store in the fridge. With the pastry and the cooked meat in here, I would not keep them for longer than 3-4 days.

How Do I Reheat Belizean Meat Pies?

You can reheat these meat pies in either the oven or in the microwave! For the oven, preheat it 325 F. Once ready, it will take about 10 minutes for the meat pies to reheat. On the other hand, if you need to get the Belizean Meat Pies heated up in a jiffy, then the microwave will work! I recommend about a minute or so, depending on the strength of your microwave.

While the oven will certainly preserve the crispiness of the pastry, the microwave will not make the pastry crust soggy, believe it or not! Reheating in the microwave will keep the crispy edges, but the centre will be a bit soft. In contrast, the oven will have the pastry be crispy throughout, just like when the meat pies were freshly baked.

For speed and the crispiest reheated results, I recommend air frying in an air fryer that has been preheated at 325 F, and it should take about a minute.

More Delicious Meat Pastry Recipes!

Watch how to make Tempting Belizean Meat Pies here:

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appetizers, sides & snacks, meat & seafood, beef

Caribbean, Belizean

Yield: 24

Author: Anadi

How to Make Tempting Belizean Meat Pieshttps://youtu.be/LZxXqO2e13wBelizean meat pies are a staple Caribbean breakfast! These Belizean meat pies are prepared with a crispy pie dough and flavourful beef filling that will have you wanting more! See how to make the dough from scratch, beef filling, and how to bake these amazing Belizean meat pies for a new spin on breakfast!2024-08-24