Wait until you taste this flaky, gluten free hand pie recipe! These homemade hand pies have a buttery crust that wraps around a delicious fruity filling. These homemade gluten-free hand pies are so easy to make in under 30 minutes! Drizzle them with icing, or enjoy them plain!
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I am so excited to share this new recipe with you. It uses my popular Gluten Free Pie Crust recipe and can be made in your air fryer or in your oven. You can make them in any shape, from traditional to holiday shapes, so grab your favorite cookie cutters.
This gluten free hand pie recipe is flexible, and you can use ANY fruit filling in this recipe, even canned peaches! You can use pie filling or even this apple filling I used in my Gluten Free Apple Crumble Bars.
If you are trying to decide on what air fryer to get, I have a great list of the best air fryers for gluten free. I include a great pros and cons list for each model.
Why this gluten free hand pie recipe is the best:
- If you love super flaky hand pies but are short on time, you will love my new gluten-free Air-Fryer Hand Pies Recipe!
- The flaky crust is from my tried and true gluten free pie crust recipe, which gets rave reviews!
- Use any filling from fruit to Nutella!
- From start to finish, you can make these flaky hand pies in under 30 minutes!
This worked great! I ended up with about 14 individual hand pies; I plan to freeze some without filling for later use. But the air fryer worked like magic! Very happy with these. I also cut them out with a mug but rolled them a bit flatter and in an oval shape for better crimping/filling without running over. I used King Arthur measure for measure GF flour.”
Amanda M., Pinterest comment
Allergen Information:
This recipe is gluten-free, soy-free, and nut-free. Make it dairy-free by using plant-based butter and a dairy-free flour blend. (Cup4Cup has milk powder, so do not use this blend.) Note that I have not tested any egg replacers in this recipe.
The flaky crust is based on my popular Gluten Free Pie Crust recipe.
Ingredient Notes:
For the full list of ingredients and amounts, please go to the recipe card below.
- Gluten Free Flour Blend – I tested this recipe with Cup4Cup and King Arthur Measure for Measure. Note: Cup4Cup recently changed its flour blend formulation, and it doesn’t behave exactly like the old formulation. I haven’t had a chance to retest this recipe with the new flour blend formulation. That doesn’t mean others will not work; I have not tested other flours.
- Sugar – Use cane sugar.
- Xanthan Gum—If your gluten-free flour blend doesn’t contain xanthan gum or guar gum, please add 1 teaspoon.
- Unsalted Butter – To make this recipe dairy-free, substitute the butter for vegan butter.
- Eggs – Use large eggs.
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!
If you are gum-free and can not have xanthan gum, use my DIY Gluten Free Flour Blend. It works well in this recipe.
Tips For Success
1. Make sure the butter is VERY cold. This will help create those flaky layers.
2. If you use cookie cutters to shape your hand pies, rinse them every few cut-outs so they pull away easily.
How To Make Gluten Free Hand Pies:
For this recipe, I used my Ninja Foodi Air Fryer, but any air fryer will work well. Note the temperatures I used may vary slightly 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 chunks into the bowl with the dry ingredients. Use a pastry blender to cut the butter into the flour. You can also freeze your butter and use a cheese grater to grate the butter into the flour mixture.
Step 3: This is what your flour blend will look like with the cut-in butter.
Step 4: Mix the water and egg to create the flaky dough.
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Step 5: Place the dough onto the wax paper. Dust the dough and wax paper with a little flour if needed.
🔑 Sandi says: Every gluten free flour blend has a different grain-to-starch ratio and may vary slightly on how sticky the dough is. Use your best judgment so you can work the dough easily.
Step 6: Roll the dough to 1/4 or your preferred thickness. Use a large circle cutter to cut out your dough circles. You can also use any shape of cookie cutter.
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 of the seams.
Step 9: Brush each hand pie with an egg wash. This will allow the top to brown. *Don’t forget, I include oven baking directions below.
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 on the basket 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 cooking time to 15 minutes.)
Step 13: Allow the gluten free hand pies to cool on a wire cooling rack and then drizzle with icing.
Oven Baking Directions:
- If you prefer to bake your hand pies, follow the assembly directions above.
- Preheat the oven to 350º F.
- Place the hand pies onto a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. This is important because it will be hard to remove if fruit leaks and bakes on your
cookie sheet . - Bake the gluten free hand pies for 15-20 minutes. The baking time will vary depending on the size of your hand pies.
- Remove the hot hand pies from the oven and place them onto a cooling rack.
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
Check out those flaky layers!!! 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!
Frequently Asked Questions:
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 also tasted great, but Cup4Cup definitely was the flakiest.
Hand pies can be eaten 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 for up to 4 days. Store them in an airtight container.
You can easily freeze these hand pies. Store in a zip-style freezer bag. They will keep fresh for 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
- Gluten Free Mixed Berry Pie
Love This Recipe?
If you made and enjoyed this recipe, I would be incredibly grateful if you could leave a comment below. Please include which flour blend you used. This will help others know this recipe is delicious. Thank you!
Gluten Free Air Fryer Hand Pies
Ingredients
- 2 cups gluten free flour blend *(see note)
- ½ cup unsalted butter COLD
- 1 tablespoon cane sugar
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 large egg
- ⅓ cup water + 2-3 tablespoons as needed (see note)
- 1 cup fruit canned or fresh with sugar/brown sugar
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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 1/4 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. Note: Cup4Cup recently changed its flour blend formulation, and it doesn’t behave exactly like the old formulation. I haven’t had a chance to retest this recipe with the new flour blend formulation. 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 fresh for up to 3 days in an airtight 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
SPECIAL NOTE
Please know that every gluten free flour blend has a different starch to grain ratio. If you use a blend I didn’t test, you may need to adjust your moisture levels in your baked goods.
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.
This recipe was updated from an older August 2021 post with more recipe details.
Are you using one or two eggs in the dough? It doesn’t state clearly.
Hi JoAnna, I use one in the hand pie and one to brush over the top of the hand pies as an egg wash.
Hi – I am going to make these for a Holiday Party – which Cup4Cup blend do you prefer for this recipe?
Hi Mike, That is a great question. A couple of weeks ago, Cup4Cup completely changed their flour blend formulation to eliminate milk powder. I haven’t been able to test the new version. If you have the old version with milk powder, yes, it is my absolute favorite in this recipe, my pie crust, and pizza crust. Our heat wave is just going away today, it had been to hot to bake. I hope to start testing the new Cup4Cup formulation soon.
Why egg in the dough? I understand brushed on the outside, but most normal pie dough’s have NO egg IN, the dough, just on the outside.
Hi Gordon, I guess that is why recipes differ. Mine does include an egg for this recipe.
I will never have an airfryer. Can I bake these in the oven and how can I do it?
Hi Cheryl, There are oven baking directions in the post. You can find it quickly from the table of contents under the first photo.
Can I just use apples??
Hi Allie, I want to make sure I understand your question. Do you mean use an apple filling?
I loved these! Made them with blueberry filling. It would have helped me to know how big to make the circles or how many pies this was supposed to make. I think mine ended up making 11.
I am so glad you loved the recipe. The blueberry filling sounds yummy.
These are delicious!
I am so glad you loved it!
I made this recipe using Bob’s Red Mill 1:1 Baking Flour & fresh apples. Absolutely excellent!!! Definitely on my make again list & I want to try to make “pizza hot pockets” with it too. I think my Celiac teen would love it! Thank you for this fantastic recipe♥️
I am so excited you enjoyed it…teens can be tough to please so I take this as a high compliment :-).
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!
I am so glad you and your kids loved them Kayla! Thank you for coming back to let folks know!
Super easy and delicious! Definitely a keeper!
I am glad you loved these, Allision. I appreciate your coming back to let others know how good this recipe is.
Hi. Do you think you can use this same recipe for empanadas?
Hi Karen, I bet you could but I would omit the sugar from the dough. Keep me posted on how they turn out.
I don’t have an air fryer so how long would I cook them in my oven?
I would bake them at 350º F 15-20 minutes, depending on how large they are. Check them in 12 minutes.