Instant Pot Pasties–shredded roast beef and cubed potatoes are cooked inside biscuit dough and then drizzled with beef gravy.
Each week in 2020 I’m sharing a recipe inspired by one of the 50 states. (See all the state recipes I’ve covered so far.) Today’s recipe is inspired by Big Sky Country, Montana. I have a great love of Montana because I was raised there. I lived there for 15 years of my life. To me Montana is wide open spaces, mountain ranges and prairies, wheat fields, grizzly bear country, national parks (Yellowstone and Glacier), cold and long winters, mild summers, A River Runs Through It and easy and fast highway driving. Although my parents don’t live there anymore I still think of Montana as home.
I had a hard time deciding what recipe I should make to represent Montana. I could make something with wheat since Montana is one of the nation’s leading wheat producers (specifically the kind they use in cereal). I thought it would be fun to make something with huckleberries since Montana is one of the only states where you can find them (and really they should be chosen as the state fruit). In the end I settled on pasties with beef and potatoes.
Instant Pot Pasties
Pasties (pronounced PAST-EES) are portable hand pies that are traditionally made with homemade dough, beef and root vegetables like potatoes and rutabagas. They were a perfect portable lunch for miners and other workers.
As far as what this has to do with Montana, an article from The Last Best Plates says, “The pasty first arrived on the scene in Butte, Montana with the tin and copper miners from Cornwall, England in the late 1800’s. Because this meat and vegetable pocket was both hardy and hearty, it quickly became the mainstay meal of Butte’s miners…Most of Butte’s underground mines were closed by 1975, but the pasty lives on. Butte currently has three eateries that specialize in this delicacy, and each has its own special recipe. Visitors who come to Butte in search of a pasty need to be forewarned: They are gigantic and meant to fuel a working man’s body. We would encourage some form of physical exertion before attempting to consume one, as well as a place to nap afterwards.”
Because I like to keep things pretty easy when it comes to cooking I opted for using Pillsbury biscuit dough instead of making the dough from scratch. If you are interested in making the dough like the miner’s wives used to you can visit here for a recipe.
Recommendations
Where does the Instant Pot come into the recipe? I used it to cook a beef chuck roast until it was fall apart tender. I then I used the drippings to make a phenomenal gravy that can be drizzled over the top of your pasty.
I also used the Instant Pot to cook the potatoes at the same time as the beef. It’s not the traditional way of making pasties but it sure tasted good to me! My daughter and her 2 friends ate these up in no time. I had to limit myself to only eating two. My version is a mini version after all. It definitely won’t look like the pictured one above from Joe’s Pasty Shop!
Try these other bread and meat recipes…
What Pressure Cooker Did You Use?
To make I used my 6 quart Instant Pot Duo 60 7 in 1*. I love this Instant Pot because it has the yogurt making function which I use almost weekly. It has two pressure settings (high and low), and there are also little slots in the handles so that you can rest the lid there instead of putting it down on your
Instant Pot Pasties
- Yield: 16 pasties 1x
Description
Shredded roast beef and cubed potatoes are cooked inside biscuit dough and then drizzled with beef gravy.
Ingredients
- 2 pounds chuck roast
- 1 cup water
- 1 envelope onion soup mix
- 2 russet potatoes
- 2 (16.3 oz) cans Pillsbury Grands Biscuits
- 2 Tbsp melted butter
- 2 Tbsp flour
- Salt and pepper
Instructions
- Slice the roast into four quarters. Add roast and water into Instant Pot. Sprinkle the roast with the onion soup mix. Place the potatoes in a pan that fits in your Instant Pot (or cover them with foil) and place the pan on top of the roast.
- Cover Instant Pot and secure the lid. Make sure valve is set to sealing. Set the manual/pressure cook button to 50 minutes. When time is up let the pot sit for 15 minutes and then move the valve to venting. Remove the lid.
- Remove the potatoes and set aside to cool.
- Move the beef to a cutting board and shred.
- Preheat oven to 375° F.
- Cut the potatoes into small cubes or shred like hash browns.
- Press or roll each biscuit to form a 6 inch round. Spoon about ¼ cup beef and 2 Tbsp of potatoes into the middle of the rolled out biscuit. Sprinkle with a little salt and pepper.
- Fold dough in half over the filling. Press the edges with a fork to seal. Use fork to poke 2 or 3 holes in the top of the pasty.
- Place on a baking sheet. Repeat with the rest of the biscuits.
- Bake for 12 minutes.
- While pasties are baking make a gravy. Turn Instant Pot to saute setting. With the liquid and drippings that remain in the pot you’ll make a gravy. In a bowl stir together the melted butter and flour together until smooth. Add in a quarter cup of the drippings. Stir until smooth. Repeat. Then add the mixture into the Instant Pot. The contents of the pot should thicken up in a couple of minutes. Whisk constantly. When gravy is thick turn off the Instant Pot. Taste and add salt and pepper to taste.
- Serve the baked pasties with gravy drizzled on top.
Notes
You can easily halve this recipe. Use half the amount of ingredients but keep the water amount the same. Cooking time will remain the same.
This would be a PERFECT recipe to make with leftover roast beef and baked potatoes. Start with instruction #5.
I used my 6 quart Instant Pot Duo 60 7 in 1*.
- Category: Beef
- Method: Instant Pot
*Karen Petersen is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.
I am hoping to make these soon! But I was wondering – could mashed potatoes be used instead? If so do you have any suggestions?
Yes I would just spoon 2 Tbsp of them into each pastie. Should work great!
So the initial concept is good, and I know fairly close to the original recipe of them. However, they lack spice in a big way. So I’ve replaced the water with low sodium beef broth, a bay leaf or two, garlic and onion powder in hefty amounts, minimal salt and a ton of coarse ground pepper.
I shred the beef and cut the potatoes and separate them out, same method with the seasoning and broth in each pan. I thicken the gravy exactly the same.
Then once the liquid is absorbed by the beef and potatoes I chill them both overnight, makes it easier to work with when stuffing the pastries. Turns out amazing and quite tasty. No knock on the base recipe, it just needs more flavor.
★★★★
Good points!! I will have to try your method. Thanks.
This looked wonderful. Kathleen above suggested that these can be frozen unbaked and that is what I would prefer and will do. Seems like any “fall-apart” beef will work and roasted potatoes sounds just right.
Not a a bad attempt at the pronunciation. I would say as I am English that is should be PASS-TEEs. But what the hell, I pronounce pronunciation differently than most.
★★★★★
Thanks James! I like your pronunciation guide 😊
Pasties are a favorite of ours but we don’t get them very often. Michigan’s Upper Peninsula was home to many Finnish settlers who worked in mines and took them to work just as you have described for the Montana miners. Although I live in the very southern part of Michigan, when we go Up North, we have to stop at one of our state parks where there is a mini brewery restaurant with some of the best pasties we’ve had. And we’re lucky with Yoopers transplanted down here who hold a pastie sale every January (but maybe not this next January) to support our local Habitat and they make really great ones. I don’t know about the pastry used in the recipe above, but a flour dough can be frozen and then pasties baked. Thanks for the great idea and recipe–you picked a very yummy recipe as we head into cold weather!
Thanks for your comment! I did hear about the Michigan pasties in UP and was going to do that as my michigan recipe! Ended up doing the tart cherries filling instead.
I’m originally from Mason, Michigan and we had a pastie shop right on the square. I practically grew up on them 😅 So, they are pretty common in the Southern part of Michigan too. Although, in my hometown, we had a lot of people whose families were descendants of immigrants from a few european countries. Pasties are just one of the things our community’s grandparents and great grandparents passed down to us. ☺️
I live in Montana and I think you pick the perfect recipe.
Job well done.💜
★★★★★
Thank you! And go Montana!
Can these be frozen after they’re baked?
Yes for sure!
Have you ever had Argentina’s Empanadas?
The filling is totally different, ground beef or ground turkey is used, very savory, yummy.
Wonder if using the InstaPot would would work by using the flaky dough as the Pasties recipe you did?
That sounds great! And I bet the IP would great!