Healthier Jamaican-Style Patties (makes 8-12)

Dough

Ingredients:

2 cups (450g) roasted buttercup squash, mashed and cooled/dried
8 tbsp (120g) plain Greek yogurt
2 tbsp (30g) olive oil
3 ½ cups (420g) flour
- ideally:
  - 2 cups (240g) all-purpose
  - 1 ½ cups (180g) freshly milled soft white wheat
1.5 tsp salt

👉 Optional (if needed):

1–3 tbsp cold water

For Lamination

120g (½ cup) cold salted butter, grated

🥩 Beef Filling

1.5 lbs ground beef
1-2 tbsp jerk seasoning
1 onion diced
4 garlic cloves chopped
1/4 cup bread crumbs
3/4 cup water

Brown beef in a couple tbsp of oil, add diced onions and garlic and cook for a few minutes. Add jerk seasoning and taste for flavour/adjustments. Add breadcrumbs and water. Take about ½ of the mixture and blend with a bit of water until mostly smooth. Add back to mixture and stir. Add more water if needed. Cook until rich and slightly thick, not watery.

Instructions

1. Prep squash

Mash roasted squash + let steam dry 5–10 min. Ensure it’s completely cooled when it’s time to use. (You can do this step the previous day and keep in the fridge)

2. Make dough

Mix:

squash + yogurt + olive oil

Add:

Both flours + salt

👉 Texture goal:

soft, smooth, not sticky

Adjust:

too sticky → add flour (1 tbsp at a time)
too dry → add cold water (1 tbsp at a time)

Form into a disc.

3. Chill

30–45 minutes

4. Laminate (Watch video to better understand this step)

Cut dough circle in half. Put half back in the fridge.
Roll into rectangle. Use half of the frozen butter for each section.
Using 50% of the butter, Add ⅓ of it over ½ of dough
Fold in half, add another ⅓ of this butter, fold again
Roll dough out a bit and add remaining ⅓ of this butter before folding again

👉 Put first half back in fridge and repeat with the second half.

5. Chill again

20–30 minutes

6. Shape

Cut each half into 4 equal sections. Youll get 8 large size patties. Or you can make more, smaller.
Roll to approximately an ~⅛ inch thick circle
Fill with 2–3 tbsp beef
Fold + seal with a fork

7. Bake

375°F (190°C)
25–30 minutes
Until golden and lightly crisp

Batch tips

If dough gets too soft while working → stick it back in the fridge
Don’t overfill to the ends or they won’t seal.
Put the ready made patties into the freezer while you’re making the rest. They are best baked from frozen or very cold.

Freezer option

You can:

Assemble patties
Freeze raw on a tray
Then store in bags
Or bake, cool, freeze and reheat in airfryer or oven.

Bake from frozen:

375°F
~35–40 minutes