One bite of this flaky buttery crust wrapped around a delicious fruity filling, and you will be hooked! These homemade Gluten Free Air Fryer Hand Pies are so easy to make in under 20 minutes! Drizzle them with icing, or enjoy them plain!
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I have had a baked Gluten Free Hand Pies recipe on the blog for a while but I really wanted to make this recipe in the air fryer. Where my original recipe uses a store-bought premade pie crust, this new recipe includes a sweeter adaptation of my popular Gluten Free Pie Crust recipe.
You can use ANY kind of fruit filling in this recipe, even canned peaches! You can use pie filling, an apple filling like the one I use in my Gluten Free Apple Crumble Bars, or even Nutella and bananas!!
Why these are great:
If you love super flaky hand pies but are short of time, you are going to love my new Gluten free Air Fryer Hand Pies Recipe! From start to finish, you can make these flaky hand pies in under 30 minutes!
I have several incredible gluten free pie recipes. Let me know which you like best :-). You may also love these Gluten Free Cranberry Hand Pies, they are a great way to use up leftover cranberry sauce too!
Ingredient notes:
- Gluten free flour blend - I tested this recipe with Cup4Cup and King Arthur Measure for Measure. Although both worked well, I believe the Cup4Cup made a better hand pie because of a much flakier crust. That doesn't mean others will not work, I just have not tested other flours.
- Xanthan gum - If your gluten free flour blend doesn’t contain xanthan gum or guar gum, please add 1 teaspoon.
- Butter - To make this recipe dairy-free, substitute the butter for vegan butter.
The flaky crust is based on my popular Gluten Free Pie Crust recipe.
Step by step directions:
For this recipe, I used my Ninja Foodi Air Fryer. It has two sections, which helped me fit in a lot of these little hand pies! You can use any air fryer, just note the temperatures I used as many air fryers have different temperature settings.
Step 1: Add your dry ingredients to a bowl and whisk to blend.
Step 2: Add cut cold butter into the dry ingredients. Use a pastry blender to cut the butter into the flour.
Step 3: This is what your flour blend will look like with the cut in butter.
Step 4: Add the water and egg and mix them into a flaky dough.
Step 5: Place the dough on wax paper. Dust the dough and wax paper with a little flour.
Step 6: Roll the dough to ¼ or your preferred thickness. Use a large circle cutter to cut out your dough circles.
HINT: My biscuit cutter was only 3 inches so I used a large coffee mug to cut out larger circles.
Step 7: Spoon some fruit onto each half of each circle of dough. Be sure to leave the edges plain so they can be crimped later.
Step 8: Fold the dough over the fruit. Use a fork to press the edges together around the dough. Cut 2-3 air holes for the steam from cooking fruit to vent out. This will help prevent the fruit juice from coming out the seams.
Step 9: Brush each hand pie with an egg wash. This will allow the top to brown.
Step 10: Sprinkle each hand pie with coarse sugar. Preheat the air fryer to 350º F for 5 minutes.
Step 11: Remove the air fryer basket and spray a little oil in the basked of the air fryer then place the hand pies in the basket. Make sure air can circulate around each hand pie.
Step 12: Cook the hand pies in the air fryer at 350º F for 12 minutes. (If your hand pies are large, you may need to set the cook time to 15 minutes.)
Step 13: Allow the gluten free hand pies to cool and drizzle with icing.
Hand pie filling ideas:
- Nutella
- Pie filling
- Fresh fruit (tossed with melted butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon)
- Canned fruit (I used canned peaches)
- Smores with chocolate and mini marshmallows
If you love pie as much as we do, you will want to check out these 50+ Gluten Free Pie Recipes. You are guaranteed to find some new favorites!
Oven baking directions:
If you prefer to bake your hand pies, follow the directions from my Baked Gluten Free Hand Pies recipe.
Tips and Recipe FAQ:
Brushing the hand pies with egg wash seals moisture so the hand pies don't get soggy. Also be sure not to overfill the hand pies. Too much juicy filling can make them soggy.
For this recipe, I liked Cup4Cup the best. King Arthur Measure for Measure tasted great as well, but Cup4Cup definitely was the flakiest.
You can eat hand pies warm or cold. If you prefer them warm, reheat them for 10 minutes at 350º F.
Yes! To make these with a savory filling, omit the 1 TBSP of sugar in the crust and don't sprinkle the tops with coarse sugar.
These hand pies will keep fresh up to 4 days. Store them in an air-tight container.
You can easily freeze these hand pies. Store in a zip style freezer bag. They will keep fresh up to 4 months.
More gluten free pie recipes:
- Gluten Free Pecan Pie
- Easy Gluten Free Banana Cream Pie
- Gluten Free Hatch Chile Apple Pie
- Summery Gluten Free Mixed Berry Pie
Recipe
Gluten Free Air Fryer Hand Pies
Ingredients
- 2 cups gluten free flour blend *(see note)
- ½ cup butter COLD
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 egg large
- ⅓ cup water + 2-3 tablespoons as needed (see note)
- 1 cup fruit canned or fresh with sugar/brown sugar
Instructions
- Add your dry ingredients to a bowl and whisk to blend.
- Add cut cold butter into the dry ingredients. Use a pastry blender to cut the butter into the flour.
- This is what your flour blend will look like with the cut in butter.
- Add the water and egg and mix them into a flaky dough.
- Place the dough on wax paper. Dust the dough and wax paper with a little flour.
- Roll the dough to ¼ or your preferred thickness. Use a large circle cutter to cut out your dough circles.
- HINT: My biscuit cutter was only 3 inches so I used a large coffee mug to cut out larger circles.
- Spoon some fruit onto each half of each circle of dough. Be sure to leave the edges plain so they can be crimped later.
- Fold the dough over the fruit. Use a fork to press the edges together around the dough. Cut 2-3 air holes for the steam from cooking fruit to vent out. This will help prevent the fruit juice from coming out the seams.
- Brush each hand pie with an egg wash. This will allow the top to brown.
- Sprinkle each hand pie with coarse sugar. Preheat the air fryer to 350º F for 5 minutes.
- Remove the air fryer basket and spray a little oil in the basked of the air fryer then place the hand pies in the basket. Make sure air can circulate around each hand pie.
- Cook the hand pies in the air fryer at 350º F for 12 minutes. (If your hand pies are large, you may need to set the cook time to 15 minutes.)
- Allow the gluten free hand pies to cool and drizzle with icing.
Notes
- I tested this flour with Cup4Cup and King Arther Measure for Measure. Both worked great but the Cup4Cup hand pies were flakier. This doesn't mean others will not work, I just have not tested other flours.
- If your gluten free flour blend doesn’t contain xanthan gum or guar gum, please add 1 teaspoon.
- To make this recipe dairy-free, substitute the butter for vegan butter.
- These hand pies will keep up to 3 days in an air-tight container, or up to 4 months in the freezer.
- Nutella
- Pie filling
- Fresh fruit (tossed with melted butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon)
- Canned fruit (I used canned peaches)
- Smores with chocolate and mini marshmallows
Nutrition
Nutrition Disclaimer
Nutritional information is an estimate provided to you as a courtesy. You should calculate the actual nutritional information with the products and brands you are using with your preferred nutritional calculator.
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Kayla
Absolutely delicious and so simple and fun to make! My kids made them with me and had a blast! Will be making these again and again!
Sandi Gaertner
I am so glad you and your kids loved them Kayla! Thank you for coming back to let folks know!
Beth
This post made me so happy! I recently went gluten-free and am on the hunt for tasty desserts. I will be eating a lot of these with every fruit I can think of!
Sandi Gaertner
I am so glad you loved it Beth :-). I have lots of resources if you need. Going gluten free is easy once you get the hang of it.
Karen Baer
Hi. Do you think you can use this same recipe for empanadas?
Sandi Gaertner
Hi Karen, I bet you could but I would omit the sugar from the dough. Keep me posted on how they turn out.
Hanna
Hand pies are totally nostalgic for me. I used to make them with my Grandmother! I love having a gluten-free version now. Thanks for all your great recipes!
Sandi Gaertner
I am so glad to bring back those beautiful memories. Thank you for stopping by Hanna :-).
Ella
I don't have an air fryer so how long would I cook them in my oven?
Sandi Gaertner
I would bake them at 350º F 15-20 minutes, depending on how large they are. Check them in 12 minutes.