6 hand pie recipes for a dessert or savory meal on the go
The world of hand pies is wide and wonderful. At its essence, the hand pie is as it sounds: a savory or sweet filling neatly tucked into a wrapper of some kind to make a handheld snack or meal (if you eat enough of them!). Sure, you could just call a slice of any pie a hand pie if you hold it in your hand and eat it as such, without a utensil, but … I digress.
The variations are nearly endless. Start by picking a wrapper, such as this Flaky Pie Dough, or sheets of puff pastry or phyllo, and then when it comes to fillings, let your taste guide you. I stuffed kimchi and cheddar into a classic pie dough to great success. (They weren’t very pretty or even, but it really doesn’t matter so long as they stay mostly shut.) Read on for some tasty inspiration for handheld pies from our archives, and for more ideas, head over to our Recipe Finder.
Fried Sweet Cherry Pies. There’s nothing like cherry pie — so make these sweet little fried ones, and take them along with you wherever you go, so long as wherever you go has enough space to stay socially distanced.
(Stacy Zarin Goldberg for The Washington Post; food styling by Lisa Cherkasky for The Washington Post)
Spring Greens and Herbed Cheese Phyllo Triangles. It’s not spring anymore, and that’s okay. Spinach works wonderfully in these tasty phyllo triangles.
(Stacy Zarin Goldberg for The Washington Post; food styling by Lisa Cherkasky for The Washington Post)
Creamy Roasted Strawberry Phyllo Triangles. For this recipe, you actually want store-bought berries and not the extra-juicy peak-season strawberries. The latter are too juicy for these hand pies.
(Deb Lindsey for The Washington Post)
Gooey Chicken, Brie and Cranberry Pies. These hearty little pies make a great snack.
(Tom McCorkle for The Washington Post; food styling by Lisa Cherkasky for The Washington Post)
Pork and Green Bean Empanadas. Are hand pies empanadas, or are empanadas hand pies? It doesn’t matter when you focus on how delicious they are.
(Deb Lindsey for The Washington Post)
Swiss Chard and Cheese Empanadas. Harness the power of bitter Swiss chard with a good Spanish cheese.
More from Voraciously:
Chorizo is the instant upgrade to kick up your burritos, rice, clams and more
How to make excellent scrambled eggs, just the way you like them
A stuffed portobello only food writer Nigel Slater could design
