Air Fryer Strawberry Hand Pies

Quick and easy hand pies made with fresh, juicy strawberries and a flaky pastry crust. These air fryer hand pies take only minutes to make. Drizzled in a simple lemon icing, they are the perfect summertime treat.

Jump to:

• Ingredients
• Step by Step Instructions
• Substitutions & Variations
• Storage
• Tips for Success and FAQS
• More Air Fryer Desserts
• Printable Recipe

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These air-fried strawberry hand pies, made with fresh strawberries, are the perfect summertime treat. They are made with a flaky pastry crust, filled with a sweet strawberry filling and are finished with a lemon icing drizzle.

Because the filling is completely wrapped in pastry they are easily portable, and you can eat them with your hands, so they make a great addition to the lunch box as well.

If strawberries aren’t in season, or you want to save time, you can use store-bought strawberry pie filling instead.

And because these are made in the air fryer they take only 8 minutes to cook.

Ingredients

• Pastry – To make things easy, I used refrigerated pastry. It is sold in a package of 2 deep dish pie shells perfect for making 8 hand pies. Of course, if you are ambitious, you can make your own pie pastry instead.
• Strawberries – You want to use fresh strawberries for this recipe. Frozen strawberries will release too much liquid. If you can’t find fresh berries, use pie filling instead.
• Sugar – Makes the filling sweet and delicious.
• Cornstarch – This thickens the filling as it cooks so that you don’t have to cook and reduce the filling before making the pies.
• Lemon zest – Lemon always goes well with berries and will help brighten the flavours. If you don’t like lemon, you can leave this out.
• Egg – Gives the hand pies a nice golden crust. You can leave the egg out without issues if you have an allergy.
• Cream or milk – This helps thin the beaten egg so that it is easier to brush over the pies.
• Powdered Sugar – Used to create the icing drizzle. If you don’t want icing you can leave it off or use white chocolate drizzle instead.
• Lemon juice – Gives the icing the tangy, lemon flavour. You can use cream or milk if you aren’t using lemon.

Step by Step Instructions

Prepare the Filling

Step 1 – Wash, hull and dice the strawberries into small pieces and add them to a bowl.

Step 2 – Add the sugar, cornstarch, and lemon zest to the diced strawberries. Stir to combine and set aside while you prepare the pastry.

Pro Tip: Be careful not to go too deep when zesting the lemon. You want to use only the bright yellow part of the rind. If you go too deep you will get into the white pith which will give your hand pies a bitter flavour.

Cut the Pastry & Fill the Pies

Step 3 – Unroll the pastry and cut each sheet into 8 rounds using a 3.5-inch cutter. Alternatively, you can make them bigger or smaller, use fun shapes such as hearts, or simply cut them into squares with a sharp knife.

You can bring the scraps together, roll and cut them into additional rounds or save the scraps for something else.

Step 4 – Spoon approximately 1 tablespoon of filling onto half of the pastry rounds.

Seal the Pies

Step 5 – Place the remaining pastry rounds on top of the filled rounds. Gently press around the edges with your fingers to bring the edges together, then use a fork to crimp around the entire edge to seal. Poke a few holes in the top of each pie.

Step 6 – Whisk the egg and cream in a small bowl, then brush over the top of each pie.

Air Fry the Hand Pies

Step 7 – Place the hand pies in an air fryer basket in a single layer. Work in batches if necessary.

Step 9 – Air fry the hand pies. Set the air fryer to 350°F and cook the pies for 8-9 minutes or until golden brown and slightly crisp.

Frost the Hand Pies

While this step is optional, it will add so much flavour and take these strawberry pies over the top.

Whisk the powdered sugar and lemon juice in a small bowl until it is smooth and runny, then drizzle over top of the pies.

Let the icing set, which should only take a few minutes, and serve.

Substitutions & Variations

There are a few ways you can vary the ingredients in these strawberry hand pies or substitute items if needed.

• Pastry – If you want to make these fully homemade, you can use your own homemade pastry.
• Strawberries – If you can’t find fresh strawberries or want to make things easier, store-bought strawberry pie filling works great.
• Icing – You can leave the icing off if you like. Instead, sprinkle the top of the pies with coarse sugar before air frying. Or you can use a cream cheese icing or drizzle with white chocolate.
• Lemon – If you don’t like lemon, you can leave the lemon zest out of the recipe and make the icing drizzle with cream instead of lemon juice.

Storage

Store these strawberry hand pies in an air-tight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.

You can also store these in the freezer in an air-tight container for several months.

Tips for Success and FAQS

• Don’t overfill the pies. It is tempting to add lots of fruit filling, but if they are too full they will burst open when in the air fryer.
• Don’t crowd the basket. You need to cook these in a single layer and make sure to leave a bit of room around them so the air can circulate properly making sure the bottoms are fully cooked.
• Let the pies cool before icing. You don’t have to let the pies cool completely before icing them, but you want to make sure they are not piping hot. If they are too hot the icing will simply melt and absorb into the pies.

More Air Fryer Desserts

Printable Recipe

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