Cheese and Onion Pasties with Potato

Four cheese and onion pasties on a baking sheet.

5 from 7 votes

Cheese and Onion Pasties with Potato

These easy cheese and onion pasties with potato are a delicious version of vegetable Cornish pasties that are hard to beat. The generous and flavourful filling plus the crisp yet tender shortcrust pastry makes these cheese pasties practically irresistible.

Prep Time40

Cook Time1

Total Time1 40

Course: Baked Goods

Cuisine: British, English

Diet: Vegetarian

Servings:

Calories: 1363kcal

Author: Jane Coupland

Ingredients

Shortcrust Pastry

500 g Strong bread flour
125 g Butter
125 g Trex vegetable fat or other vegetable shortening
½ teaspoon Salt
1 Egg yolk
150 ml Water ice cold

Filling

200 g White onion
350 g Potato waxy
225 g Mature cheddar cheese
½ teaspoon Salt
¾ teaspoon Ground black pepper

Glaze

A little beaten egg

Instructions

Make the Pastry

In a large bowl rub the butter and vegetable fat into the flour and salt until it resembles breadcrumbs.
Add the egg yolk and ¾ of the water. Mix with a blunt knife until a dough forms, adding more of the water as necessary. Make sure you add just enough to bring the dough together well but not enough to turn it wet and sticky.
Knead on a lightly floured worktop for 3-4 minutes until the dough begins to feel elastic.
Shape the dough into a disc and wrap it in clingfilm and chill for at least 3 hours. Bring the pastry out of the fridge 30 minutes prior to rolling it out.

Make the filling

Slice the potato and onion into thin pieces in line with the filling of a Cornish pasty. It bakes wonderfully in the time the pastry takes to cook (see the step-by-step images for guidance).
Coarsely grate the cheese.
Put the potato, onion and cheese into a large mixing bowl, add the seasoning and use your hands to mix the ingredients together.

Assemble and bake the pasties

Preheat the oven to 200C/ 400F/ Gm 6 and cover a large baking sheet with baking parchment.
Divide the dough into 4.
On a floured surface, roll each piece out to approximately 2mm thick and cut a 20-22cm circle from it (lay a plate or cake tin onto the pastry and cut around it).
Share the cheese, onion and potato filling between the 4 circles.
Take one pasty and brush egg wash around the edge of half of the circle then fold the dough over to encase the filling, pushing any stray pieces of filling back inside as you seal the pasties.
Crimp the edge by using your index finger and thumb to push down and twist the edge of the pastry over to form a crimp. Repeat along the entire length of the pasty then tuck the ends underneath (see the video if you are struggling to visualise this technique)
Repeat these steps with the remaining 3 pasties until they are all sealed and crimped.
Place all the pasties onto a baking tray, slit the top of each one with a knife and brush all over with egg wash.
Bake at 200C/ 400F/ GM 6 for 15 minutes then turn the heat down to 150C/ 300F/ GM 2 and bake for a further 45 minutes.
Cool on a wire rack for at least 20 minutes before eating.

Notes

Don’t skimp on the time required to knead the pastry or the chill time of the dough. Both are essential to ensure your pastry turns out well.
Cut the potatoes and onion uniformly to ensure they cook evenly. See the images for an approximate size guide – don’t cut the potato too thickly as it will take too long to cook.
Don’t be afraid to season the filling well, especially with black pepper. It makes a world of difference to the overall flavour of these cheese and potato pasties.
When filling the pasties you will perhaps think that there is too much filling. Do try to fit it all in – remember that the cheese melts during cooking, so they are unlikely to burst open in the oven but leaving some out will result in a disappointingly filled pasty once baked.
Crimping is the best way to seal these cheese pasties. It also gives the pastry structure and it helps to prevent the filling from falling out. See my video if you are unsure how to crimp a pasty.
Let these cheese and onion pasties cool for around 20 minutes before attempting to eat them, otherwise, they will be too hot to fully enjoy.
If you need to reheat your pasty please do so in the oven. Never microwave any pastry as it will end up soggy and that, my friends, is an atrocity. Pastry should always be treated with respect. Can you tell I have a fiendish love for pastry?

Storage and reheating Instructions

These cheese and onion pasties with potato are best eaten when freshly made but they can also be stored in the fridge for up to three days. To do so, let the pasties cool completely then cover them to prevent the pastry from drying out and chill until required.

Alternatively, freeze these cheese, onion and potato pasties for up to three months. Defrost in the fridge overnight and reheat as instructed above.

To reheat place on a baking sheet and cook for 15-20 minutes in a low oven (150C/ 300F/ GM2).

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