Potato Leek Cornish Pasty
This cheater Cornish Pasty recipe is made easy with store-bought puff pastry sheets. The creamy potato leek filling is roasted on a sheet pan with fresh thyme, and tossed with heavy cream and layered with cheddar cheese. A modern twist on an English classic!
Potato Leek Cornish Pasty
A Cornish Pasty (pronounced PASS-tee) is one of my all-time favorite comfort foods. If you’ve never heard of them before today, you’re in for a treat!
Pasties are a traditional savory British pastry originating from Cornwall, England, where I used to visit my late grandmother every single summer as a kid. It is a staple food of the region and no summer would be complete without me eating as many of them as possible.
Most traditional Cornish pasties are semicircular in shape, prepared with a crimped shortcrust pastry dough, and filled with meat and vegetables. They’re essentially the British version of meat pies.
For whatever reason, my family always preferred the equally as popular vegetarian pasty filled with cheese, onions and potatoes.
The Trick To Easy Homemade Pasties:
Using this flavor base as my source of inspiration, I’ve created a cheater Cornish pasty recipe that tastes nearly identical, but can be prepared in a fraction of the time. The trick? Store-bought puff pastry sheets, which allow these flaky pastries to be prepared in just over an hour with half the effort.
These might not look traditional, but their flavor is spot on! They’ve been given an elegant modern twist with the addition of buttery Yukon gold potatoes, leeks, and fresh thyme.
Despite how indulgent and carb-heavy these pasties sound, they’re somehow ethereally light, flaky, and just downright delicious! You’ll quickly become a pasty convert.
How to Assemble Cornish Pasties:
To make these pasties relatively time-friendly, this recipe uses store-bought frozen puff pastry sheets instead of traditional shortcrust dough. It also cuts the total cook time to just over an hour.
To keep them simple, these Cornish pasties are rectangular in shape, making them even easier to assemble.
The puff pastry yields a Cornish pasty that is lighter and even flakier than the original. It also eliminates the need to make your own dough from scratch or chill it in stages.
Frozen puff pastry typically thaws in about 45 minutes time, which works perfectly for this recipe, because this is roughly the amount of time that it will take to prepare the potato leek filling. Note: You can even make these pasties hours or days ahead, wrap and store them in the refrigerator, and reheat them in the oven just before serving! [See recipe notes for more details.]
Potato Leek Filling: Ingredient Breakdown
The filling for these Cornish pasties consists of thinly sliced Yukon gold potatoes, leeks, diced onion, fresh thyme, heavy cream, sharp cheddar cheese, salt and a generous amount of black pepper. Why yes, I literally could not have stuffed more carbs into this if I had tried.
The potato, leek, and onions are tossed together with fresh thyme and olive oil, spread into a thin layer on a half sheet pan, and par-cooked in the oven. This helps soften the leeks and onion and prevents anyone from biting into undercooked potato.
The warm potato-leek-onion mixture is then tossed in a large mixing bowl with a touch of heavy cream, before being evenly distributed on the puff pastry rectangles, layered with sharp cheddar cheese, and sealed with another top layer of puff pastry. It is similar to the process of making homemade hand pies.
These pasties only require a bake time of 25 to 30 minutes total and should be served warm from the oven. A light egg wash before baking helps produce an extra golden and crisp flaky pasty crust.
Once baked, the leeks, onions, and cheese melt into the sliced potatoes and produce an incredibly delicious pastry that you won’t be able to stop eating!
Serve them straight from the oven as a main course with a large simple salad (tossed with an acidic lemon vinaigrette to cut the richness) on the side.
This recipe produces four large pasties. You could also slice them in half to produce eight smaller servings and serve them alongside another more substantial vegetable side dish or soup.
Potato Leek Cornish Pasty
Ingredients
- 1 (17.3 ounce) box frozen puff pastry, both sheets thawed according to package instructions I used Pepperidge Farm brand
- 1 egg, plus 1 teaspoon milk for the egg wash
- unbleached all-purpose flour for dusting
Potato Leek Filling:
- 2-3 medium Yukon gold potatoes roughly 1 lb (16 oz)
- 1 large leek, white and light green parts only roughly 1/2 lb (8 oz)
- 1 small yellow onion cut into ¾-inch dice
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme leaves or 1 teaspoon chopped dried thyme
- 1¼ teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 3 tablespoons heavy cream
- 3½ ounces (heaping ¾ cup) freshly grated sharp white cheddar cheese
Instructions
- Thaw both sheets of frozen puff pastry according to the package instructions. Preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C) with a rack in the center position. Combine the egg and milk in a small bowl, whisk together, and set aside.
- Prepare the Filling: Cut the potatoes in half lengthwise. Using a mandolin, slice the potatoes into ¼-inch thick half-moon slices. Slice the leek lengthwise and rinse well under cold water, separating the leaves with your fingers to remove any sand or grit. Pat dry. Slice the leek halves crosswise into ½-inch slices.
- Place the sliced potatoes, leeks, and diced onion on a half sheet pan and toss with the olive oil, dried thyme, freshly ground black pepper, and salt. Spread into a thin, even layer (the mixture will overlap slightly). Roast for 20 to 25 minutes, carefully flipping the mixture every 10 minutes or so, or until the potatoes, leeks, and onions are lightly caramelized and the potatoes are mostly cooked through.
- Remove from the oven and transfer the mixture to a large mixing bowl. Add the heavy cream and gently toss with a spoon to coat. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
- Line a second sheet pan (alternatively, you can cool the previous sheet pan under very cold water several times, rinse, dry well, and re-use) with parchment paper.
- Assemble: Increase the oven temperature to 400°F (204°C). On a well-floured surface, unfold one piece of puff pastry sheet. Using a floured rolling pin, roll the sheet into a 10-inch-wide (25 cm) by 12-inch-long (30 cm) rectangle. Using a sharp knife, cut into four equal-sized rectangles (these will serve as the bottom half of each pastry). Repeat with the remaining piece of puff pastry and set aside.
- Set the bottom pastry rectangles on the parchment-lined sheet pan. Distribute the potato-leek filling evenly into a thick, even layer onto the bottom half of each pastry rectangle, leaving a ½-inch border on all sides. Distribute the grated cheddar evenly on top of each potato-leek filling. Brush the borders lightly with the egg wash.
- Using the rolling pin, roll the remaining rectangles so they are slightly larger in size than the bottom pastry rectangles. Place each piece on top of the potato and cheese filling, lining up the edges (avoid stretching the dough if possible). Crimp the borders of each pastry by pressing with a lightly floured fork to seal. Arrange the pasties on the sheet pan, spacing them evenly apart. Brush the top of each pasty with egg wash. Sprinkle lightly with salt and black pepper. Note: If the dough has warmed or softened too much during assembly, allow the pasties to chill in the refrigerator for 15 minutes before baking.
- Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through, or until the pasties are deep golden brown in color. Allow to cool for a few minutes before serving. Best served hot. °
Tips for Success:
- These Cornish pasties can be prepped, baked ahead, and stored in the refrigerator for easy reheating. Once the pasties have cooled from the oven, wrap them tightly with plastic wrap or aluminum foil, and refrigerate for up to 2-3 days.
- Reheat the chilled pasties, uncovered, on a sheet pan at 375ºF (190ºC) or in a toaster oven for 1o to 20 minutes or until completely heated through.
20 Comments on “Potato Leek Cornish Pasty”
Amazing recipe! Made this with an 8 pack tube of Crescent/ croissant Roll dough because the only puff pastry at the store near me was a bit too expensive, and followed all instructions here the same except I cooked the potatoes and leeks 8 more minutes and then added 5 minutes to the recommended cooking time on the package of the Croissant rolls (about 12 mins). The egg wash made the croissant rolls crisp nicely at the top and although the puff pastry I’m sure would be better, this was really flaky still and delicious! I used fresh leeks and potatoes from a local farm which made this even more delicious! Will be using this recipe again!
Soooooo gooooooood!!! Miss cornish pasties!
Yum! I am from and live in England with Cornish heritage too. Wondering what to make tonight with an abundance of leeks growing in the garden and came across your recipe. Did not have puff pasty in, so made my family’s Cornish pasty pastry with strong flour butter and lard(!) and used that instead, with the “proper” crimping too, that Mr Walking was so agitated about… and they were fab! Quite a versatile recipe! I too often mix it up with different fillings – why not?! Many thanks!
Yay! So glad to hear that. Thank you so much Gayle! I’m sure your traditional Cornish pasty was even more delicious too.
Hi Laura! This recipe looks lovely. Would it be possible to substitute the cheese with something non-dairy? I would love to make these for my family but we’re dairy intolerant. We can find dairy free heavy cream + milk but non-dairy cheese tends to not melt or taste the same (boo!). I would love some suggestions if you have any! 🙂 Thank you!!
How well do the pasties freeze? How long can I store them?
They should freeze very well – but I can’t specify a specific time. I would say three months at the most ideally if wrapped well. Hope this helps!
Hi. These do look and sound delicious but it’s really not a cornish pasty unless its shaped as a crescent with a very thick crust where the sides of pastry are rolled over each other rather than crimped. This was traditionally done in order that the cornish miners could grab the pasty with filthy coal covered hands without getting coal on their food. I would provide a picture but the comment bar wont let me
Hi Anthony. I grew up eating Cornish pasties – my grandmother lived in Cornwall, England for almost her entire life and my entire dad’s side of the family is from the UK. If you read the actual post and didn’t simply just skip to the comment section, you would know that this is a cheater version and I specifically said it does not have the same crust and is not traditional – it is a cheater version made with puff pastry as I explicitly state multiple times throughout the recipe post.
Hi Laura, you mention fresh thyme, but use dried in the instructions, my question is , may I use dried ?
Thank you for bringing that to my attention! I used fresh thyme originally, but also had a note in the original recipe that I believe got cut off or missed when I was editing the instructions.
If you’re using dried, use 1 teaspoon chopped dried thyme – as opposed to 2 teaspoons fresh thyme! Hope this helps. I just edited the recipe to fix that. Hope you enjoy them!
Looks amazing! I can’t wait to try this recipe. If I were to divide the pasties in half, making eight smaller ones, how would this affect the baking time/temp?
Thanks!
Thanks Laura! You could definitely do this! It wouldn’t affect the bake time/temp at all – it might bake up slightly quicker but that’s about it. Unless you were planning on storing them or you want to give each person their own, I might make four and just cut them in half for serving. I have a feeling they’d be a bit more challenging to assemble if made much smaller, due to the size of the potatoes, etc. But it’s definitely possible!
When I tried to print off the Cornish Pasty recipe, the line with 2-3 medium Yukon gold potatoes (roughly 1 lb) was cut off.
Thought you would like to know.
Ooh!MY!GOSH!! They would be so good for a special brunch treat. They are gorgeous and I can imagine them just melting in your mouth. I’ve never had a pastie before and I think it’s about time I did. Can’t wait.
Holy yum! These pasties look so good! I moved to the UK from North America 10 years ago for uni…and stayed ever since partially thanks to my fiancé and partially due to the fact that I just love living in England.
That aside, Cornish pasties, while sounding heavy in theory, are a true thing of beauty when made properly. Thanks for a great recipe and story – I’ve always only liked the veggie ones too 😉
Yes! Thank you so much Kirsti! I feel like anyone that’s experienced Cornish pasties totally gets why they are so amazing! 🙂 Hope you end up trying them!
I can attest! I’ve tried these and they are amazing! Beautiful pictures as well!
Way to go, Laura! Beautiful post! Love the recipe! Granny would be proud!
Thanks mom!