Bring a taste of Jamaica to your household with this delicious Jamaican turkey patty recipe. This recipe is made from scratch using my homemade gluten free flour blend to make the signature flakey pastry. With a generously seasoned and tasty ground turkey filling. Definitely a must try recipe for the holiday season!
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Before I delve into the recipe post, let me just make something clear.
The correct term is "patty" not "patties" but you will see myself and other bloggers, sometimes tweak the linguistics (i.e the title) for the sake of Googles search terms.
I'm absolutely excited, infact I'm elated to be sharing my very first patty recipe with you.
I was planing to make a vegan patty (hey, vegans! I haven't forgotten about you) but with thanksgiving and Christmas just around the corner.
I decided to put that recipe on the backburner for a turkey themed one instead.
What is a patty?
In short, a patty is a semicircular savoury pastry with some filling. The pastry is made from whole wheat flour, salt, butter and/or shortening and sometimes made with suet.
The shell is very flakey with a distinctive yellow hue from the turmeric although some people use both turmeric and curry powder.
I would say upon appearance a patty resembles a savoury turnover.
In terms of the filling, it can be quite varied with anything from callaloo, saltfish, beef, beef and cheese, lamb, mutton, chicken, mixed vegetables, shrimp and so fourth.
The filling in the meat patty is typically ground, some people even puree their filling for a finer consistency.
It's not uncommon to see a patty sandwiched between some coco bread.
Other Caribbean islands, such as the Virgin Islands make their own version of patty (known as a pate) and the spanish speaking islands refer to theirs as empanadas.
The Jamaican patty has a long standing history in Jamaica, but has been influenced by the British (Cornish immigrants), Indian indentured labourers and African slaves.
Outside of Jamaica and the Caribbean, patties are common in countries which have a large Jamaican dispora such a Canada, United States and England.
Most people prefer to purchase a patty from a restaurant, takeway or supermarket as opposed to making it from scratch.
Homemade patty
Although making a patty might seem straight forward their is a science to it. In order to perfect it, you really have to know what it tastes like.
I've had my fair share of patty in Jamaica and without sounding biased nothing beats a Jamaican patty, trust me, it's the real deal.
There is long standing debate in terms of who makes the best patty, Juici vs Tastee (these are brands btw). I love them both, but Juici patties take the lead (only by a small percentage).
Anyway, the key thing to make a good patty is the pastry, if you can nail that you're off to a good start.
Making gluten free patty
Of course, being a gluten free blogger makes this 10 times more difficult. However, I was up for the challenge and started doing a bit of trial and error with my homemade gluten free flour blend.
I found that my GF flour blend works best when using vegetable shortening, dairy free butter and suet. I used gluten free vegetable suet not the beef suet that's made from animal fat.
The results are very close to the storebrought patty in terms of the flakiness, but keep in mind this recipe is a gluten free version so don't expect a direct immitation.
I like to use both turmeric for the yellow tint and curry powder to yield abit of flavour. Both ingredients work well together without altering the taste of the pastry.
I cannot emphasize just how important it is to use COLD ingredients for the pastry.
Excluding the flour and spices, I store the dairy free butter, vegetable suet and vegetable shortening in the freezer to ensure they are completely cold. I also use ice cold water to form a pliable dough
It is absolutely crucial that you keep your base ingredients (as mentioned) cold because this guarantees a flakey pastry, along with folding and layering the dough with butter.
If you want a patty that is a close to the original then I highly recommend following ALL of these steps to avoid any disappointment.
The filling follows a very similar format to the beef patty, using ground meat and various seasoning. I also like to add browning sauce to yield a dark-ish hue to the meat.
The steps
- In a large mixing bowl, add the gluten free flour, curry powder, turmeric, pink salt then mix to combine.
- Add the vegetable suet and vegetable shortening to the bowl.
- Use either your hands or a dough blender to mix the suet and shortening together with the dry ingredients.
- Slowly add enough ice water, using your hands to make a pliable dough ball.
- Wrap the dough in plastic wrap/cling film and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
- While the dough is being chilled, prepare the filling.
- Add olive oil to a skillet, on medium heat then saute the onion, scallion and garlic until transculent.
- Add the ground turkey and sear the meat for several minutes.
- After several minutes, add your seasoning - all purpose seasoning, paprika, thyme, sage, black pepper, scotch bonnet and then stir.
- Add the soy(a) sauce, tomato paste and browning sauce and mix until everything is evenly distributed.
- Finally add the gluten free breadcrumbs, stir to combine with the turkey meat.
- Add about ½ cup of warm water, to prevent the meat from being too dry.
- Allow the meat to simmer on low-medium heat for roughly 15 minutes, stirring frequently and adding additional water, if needed to keep the meat moist.
- Once the meat is cooked, do a taste test and add pink salt if needed.
- Remove the skillet from the stove and set aside to cool down.
- On an even surface, lightly dust some parchment paper with GF flour.
- Unwrap the dough and roll it out into a long rectangle about ¼ inch in thickness. The dough may crack alittle but use your hands to smooth out any cracks and mould the dough (if necessary) into the desired shape.
- Layer the top of the dough by ⅔ with some grated butter.
- Fold over the top of the dough by just over ⅓ then fold over the other half so it looks like an envelope.
- Pinch the ends to seal in the butter and turn it vertically.
- Gently roll the dough into another long rectangle.
- Fold the top half and then fold the bottom so it looks like a folded letter.
- Wrap the dough in plastic wrap/cling film and chill for 30 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 180C/356F/gas mark 4.
- Line a baking tray with parchment paper and set aside.
- Unwrap the dough and roll it out again into a long rectangle on a lightly dusted surface with parchment paper.
- Use a pizza cutter or a knife to slice directly down the centre.
- Slice horizontally to create individual rectangles.
- Fill one half of each rectangle with 2-4 tablespoons of the turkey filling (the amount of filling with depend on the size of your patty).
- Over lap the pastry dough then trim and round off the edges with a ravoli cutter (or use a pizza cutter and the tines of a fork if you don't have a ravoli cutter).
- Gently press down on the outer edge to seal the seam and then place the patty on a baking tray.
- Repeat the above 3 steps with the remaining dough.
- Bake in the oven for roughly 20 minutes or until the patty is lightly brown.
Notes and tips
- It is very important that the fats and water are ice cold to create flaky pastry.
- Don't skip the resting time. It is crucial for the butter to remain cold so it is easier to roll out again and to optimise flakiness, especially with gluten free flour which needs a helping hand.
- Some vegetable suet contain gluten, be sure to check the label to ensure it is gluten free.
- If you are using store bought browning then you will only need 1 teaspoon of it.
- It is normal to see some cracks in the dough when you are rolling it, just use your hands to smooth them out.
- Grate the butter ahead of time (you will need about 1 cup's worth) but keep it in the freezer so it remains extra cold until you need it.
- You can save a lot of time by preparing the dough and/or the filling (keep both refrigerated).
- When rolling out the dough it is important to keep the surface lightly dusted at all times to prevent sticking.
- Any leftover filling and be refrigerated for 3 days or frozen for up to 3 months.
- The amount of patties you will get is subjective to the size and shape, the bigger the patty the less you will have. Mine were quite big for I made a total of 4.
- Any leftover patty can be refrigerated (in an airtight container) for up to 2 days.
- To re-heat, wrap them in aluminium foil, tightly and heat up in the oven.
More gluten free recipes to try
Turkey recipes to try
- Turkey Stock
- Turkey Neck Soup
- Slow Cooker Turkey Crown
- Slow Cooker Ground Turkey
- Jamaican Brown Stew Turkey Neck
- Leftover Turkey Fried Rice
- Caribbean Turkey Steaks
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Jamaican Turkey Patties (Gluten Free)
Ingredients
To make the dough
- 3½ cups my GF flour blend (440g)
- 1 tablespoon curry powder (7g)
- 1 tablespoon turmeric (6g)
- 1 teaspoon pink salt (6g)
- ½ cup vegetable shortening (102g) grated or in small pieces, frozen
- ½ cup GF vegetable suet (118g) frozen, in small pieces
- ice cold water (as needed)
- additional grated frozen dairy free butter for layering the dough
For the filling
- 2 tablespoon olive oil (28g)
- 1 small onion minced
- 2 scallion minced
- 4 garlic cloves minced
- 1 lb ground turkey (455g)
- 2 tablespoon all purpose seasoning (30g)
- 2 teaspoon paprika (4g)
- 2 teaspoon thyme (4g) dried or fresh
- 1 tsp sage (5g) dried
- 1 teaspoon black pepper (2g)
- ¼ teaspoon scotch bonnet pepper powder (1.5g) or half of a scotch bonnet
- 1 tablespoon soy(a) sauce (18g)
- 2 tablespoon homemade browning sauce (30g) only use this amount if you are using my homemade recipe, other wise use 1½ tsp.
- 2 tablespoon tomato paste (32g)
- ½ cup gluten free breadcrumbs (45g)
- warm water (roughly ½ cup)
- pink salt to taste
Instructions
To make the dough
- In a large mixing bowl, add the gluten free flour, curry powder, turmeric, pink salt then mix to combine.
- Add the vegetable suet and vegetable shortening to the bowl.
- Use either your hands or a dough blender to mix the suet and shortening together with the dry ingredients.
- Slowly add enough ice water, using your hands to make a pliable dough ball.
- Wrap the dough in plastic wrap/cling film and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
To make the filling
- While the dough is being chilled, prepare the filling.
- Add olive oil to a skillet, on medium heat then saute the onion, scallion and garlic until transculent.
- Add the ground turkey and sear the meat for several minutes.
- After several minutes, add your seasoning - all purpose seasoning, paprika, thyme, sage, black pepper, scotch bonnet and then stir.
- Add the soy(a) sauce, tomato paste and browning sauce and mix until everything is evenly distributed.
- Finally add the gluten free breadcrumbs, stir to combine with the turkey meat.
- Add about ½ cup of warm water, to prevent the meat from being too dry.
- Allow the meat to simmer on low-medium heat for roughly 15 minutes, stirring frequently and adding additional water, if needed to keep the meat moist.
- Once the meat is cooked, do a taste test and add pink salt if needed
- Remove the skillet from the stove and set aside to cool down.
To layer and fold the dough
- On an even surface, lightly dust some parchment paper with GF flour.
- Unwrap the dough and roll it out into a long rectangle about ¼ inch in thickness. The dough may crack alittle but use your hands to smooth out any cracks and mould the dough (if necessary) into the desired shape.
- Layer the top of the dough by ⅔ with some grated butter.
- Fold over the top of the dough by just over ⅓ then fold over the other half so it looks like an envelope.
- Pinch the ends to seal in the butter and turn it vertically.
- Gently roll the dough into another long rectangle.
- Fold the top half and then fold the bottom so it looks like a folded letter.
- Wrap the dough in plastic wrap/cling film and chill for 30 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 180C/356F/gas mark 4.
- Line a baking tray with parchment paper and set aside.
- Unwrap the dough and roll it out again into a long rectangle on a lightly dusted surface with parchment paper.
To assemble the patties
- Use a pizza cutter or a knife to slice directly down the centre.
- Slice horizontally to create individual rectangles.
- Fill one half of each rectangle with 2-4 tablespoons of the turkey filling (the amount of filling with depend on the size of your patty).
- Over lap the pastry dough then trim and round off the edges with a ravoli cutter (or use a pizza cutter and the tines of a fork if you don't have a ravoli cutter).
- Gently press down on the outer edge to seal the seam and then place the patty on a baking tray.
- Repeat the above 3 steps with the remaining dough.
- Bake in the oven for roughly 20 minutes or until the patty is lightly brown.
Notes
- It is very important that the fats and water are ice cold to create flaky pastry.
- Don't skip the resting time. It is crucial for the butter to remain cold so it is easier to roll out again and to optimise flakiness, especially with gluten free flour which needs a helping hand.
- Some vegetable suet contain gluten, be sure to check the label to ensure it is gluten free.
- If you are using store bought browning then you will only need 1 teaspoon of it.
- It is normal to see some cracks in the dough when you are rolling it, just use your hands to smooth them out.
- Grate the butter ahead of time (you will need about 1 cup's worth) but keep it in the freezer so it remains extra cold until you need it.
- You can save a lot of time by preparing the dough and/or the filling (keep both refrigerated).
- When rolling out the dough it is important to keep the surface lightly dusted at all times to prevent sticking.
- Any leftover filling and be refrigerated for 3 days or frozen for up to 3 months.
- The amount of patties you will get is subjective to the size and shape, the bigger the patty the less you will have. Mine were quite big for I made a total of 4.
- Any leftover patty can be refrigerated (in an airtight container) for up to 2 days.
- To re-heat, wrap them in aluminium foil, tightly and heat up in the oven.
Cass
I am excited to attempt this masterpiece. I have celiac and as a Jamaican, pattys are the hardest thing to be without. Every few months I wake up in a cold sweat and Google “gluten free beef pattys” and this morning you popped up lol. I’m so happy there are more gf party lovers out there so maybe someone will open a shop and make our lives easier. Cheers!
Charla
Hi Cass, Thanks for the feedback. Gluten free patties are no joke, extremely difficult to make but I tried my very best to make them taste good as well as make the texture as flaky as possible. Of course nothing beats the real thing, let me know if you need any assistance.
Beverley
Thank you. I have read through the steps for your turkey patty but there are no ingredients list. How much flour to fat etc
Charla
Hi Beverley, The recipe card (instructions with the steps and quantity) is towards the bottom of the page. You should see a section of writing that is in a teal coloured box. Everything you need in terms of how to make the recipe is in that section. Let me know if you are still experiencing any problems on your end?