I haven’t been this excited about a recipe in a long time. These mushroom hand pies are something special. I mean, just look at them! Deeply roasted mushrooms and charred scallions are tossed with a lemony-miso paste and tucked into a golden pastry crust spiked with just enough cheese to make things creamy. If you like a bit of kick, add some chili crisp or Calabrian chili paste. So good!
The Inspiration
This is basically a pantry recipe at its core. I had a lot of mushrooms on hand, I also had dough ready to make one of my favorite pie crusts, so those were the two set variables. Also, these peach hand pies were so fun to make recently, I decided a savory hand pie was in order! From there, other ingredients I keep on hand entered the equation – miso, toasted sesame oil and seeds, scallions, lemon. I felt like roasting was the call here on the cooking front, it concentrates the flavor in the mushrooms and scallions with the bonus benefit that baking drives off much of the extra moisture in those ingredients. If you had a grill going with a griddle on it, you could cook the mushrooms and scallions that way as an alternative.
Mushroom Hand Pies: Ingredients
- Mushrooms: This is your substantial base, and main player. The mushrooms bring earthy savoriness, and you can use whatever varietal(s) you love – oyster, maiitake, cremini, whatever! Or use a blend of types for a mix of textures. Also, I like to slice the mushrooms thinly for this filling, but you could also chop them for a different texture if you like.
- Miso: Brings depth, flavor, umami-boost, and savoriness. The miso here helps bind the filling and bridges all the ingredients.
- Charred Scallions: The scallions bring the green here. As well as onion-y goodness that works so well with mushrooms. The kiss of browning and char is flavor bliss and brings a bit of edge to the whole medley.
- Sesame: I double down on the sesame flavor here using both toasted sesame oil and sesame seeds. And while I’m normally judicious with toasted sesame oil use (because it can be overpoweringly strong), I go hard here so the flavor stands up to the pastry and other mushroom filing components.
- Cheese: Strong flavor and a creamy way to bring everything together – these are the goals with the cheese here. My preference is gruyere or white cheddar to complement the mushrooms.
- Pie Dough: Your hand pies are only as good as your pastries. I use this pie crust. And because today’s mushroom hand pie recipe is savory I leave the sugar out of the pie crust.
How To Make Hand Pies
Here’s the step-by-step of how to make these hand pies. You start out by roasting your mushrooms and scallions and then combining it with a miso-lemon paste and some grated cheese for a strong filling. (photo below)
You roll out your pie dough and then use a cookie cutter to set the shape for your and pies. (photo below)
Load up the circles of pie dough with mushroom filling and be sure the edges are brushed generously with egg wash so the edges of the pie crust seal nicely.
The home stretch! Arrange another pie dough circle over the filling, seal well by pressing with your fingertips and/or using a fork around the edges of each hand pie. Allow to chill in a freezer for a bit, then brush with egg wash, sprinkle with sesame seeds and slash to allow steam release. (pictured below)
Bake until beautifully golden and gorgeous!
Make Ahead:
The two main components here are the pie crust and the filling. Both can be prepped ahead of time.
- Pie Dough: If you keep pie dough in the freezer, transfer it to your refrigerator a day before you want to roll out and fill your hand pies.
- Filling: You can make the mushroom filling a few days in advance of filling your hand pies.
- Freezer Hand Pies: Once you’ve assembled your hand pies, they freeze wonderfully. Freeze in a single layer on a parchment-lined baking sheet or plate. Transfer to a container for up to a couple months. When you’re ready to bake the hand pies, brush them with eggs, sprinkle with sesame seeds, and cut a couple slashes in the top of each pie before placing in the oven.
Make It Pretty
I just want to call this detail out – the egg wash is key. It helps make your pies golden and glossy. It’s also the glue that enables the sesame seeds to stick through the baking process.
Mushroom Hand Pies: Variations
- Spicy: if you don’t have chili crisp, use your favorite heat-boosting go-to. This could be Calabrian chile paste, curry paste (thinned out somehow), shichimi togarashi, etc.
- No Scallions?: You can substitute onions, shallots, or leeks.
- Toasted Nori: If you have some toasted nori on hand, crush it into small flakes and sprinkle a couple teaspoons it into filling.
More Pie Recipes
- Shaker Lemon Pie
- Pumpkin Pie
- Deep Dish Quiche
- Shaker Apple Pie
- Vegan Samosa Shepherd’s Pie
- Vegetable Pot Pie
- Berry Pie
- Peach Hand Pies
- Coconut Cream Pie
More Mushroom Recipes
- Mushroom Ragù
- Stuffed Mushrooms
- Mushroom Lasagna
- Mushroom Casserole
- Mushroom Stroganoff
- Mushroom Scallion Tartine with Poblano Yogurt
- Baked Mushrooms with Miso Butter
- Roasted Mushroom Sandwich
- all mushroom recipes
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