Fried pies are one of the lesser known pies in many areas of the United States. You may have seen Paul Dean make fried pies on one of her FoodNetwork television shows. Her sons have also featured fried pies on their show as well.
My grandmother and her Assembly of God women’s group would make fried pies at least two times a year to raise money for their church in a small town in Oklahoma. Many of the women would can peaches and apples during these two fruits seasons to help in the costs of the pies.
For the chocolate, cherry, lemon, and apricot fillings they would purchase the commercial size cans of pie fillings for these fried pies. They would make their own pie crusts from scratch. They would use large canning size pots to fry the pies in. They would save about a dozen large coffee or vegetable cans to cut out the pie crusts before filling.
Making your own homemade fried pies isn’t as hard or time consuming as one would think. They are just as easy and fast to make as a regular oven baked pie.
Materials Needed for Fried Pies
Deep Fryer, Large Deep Skillet. Any of these items will be used to heat the oil to 350 degrees to fry your pies.
Oil. Any type of oil, except olive oil, will work to fry the pies in. You will need to have at least three to four inches of oil in your skillet to fry your pies.
Turner. You will need a type of food turner that won’t melt to turn the pies so they will cook on both sides.
Paper towels and platter or plate. You will want to use paper towels on a heat resistant plate to drain the excess oil and to cool.
Pie Crust Recipe. You can use your favorite pie crust recipe. If you do not have one, I have written an article on How to Make a Fresh Homemade Apple Pie which has a pie crust recipe in that article.
Pie Filling. Your choice of pie fillings. You can use the canned pie fillings for making your fried pies. Also, if you use chocolate or other types of fillings follow the directions for pies.
Pie Crust Cutter. You will want to use some sort of cutter for pastries if you want to have a certain size of fried pie. You will not want your pastry cutter to be any larger than six inches in diameter. You can also roll the pie crust out into four to six inch circles.
Directions for Making Fried Pies
Make your pie crust.
Preheat your oil to 350 degrees.
Roll out or cut your pie crusts four to six inches in diameter.
Place one to three tablespoons of pie filling on the front half each crust. The amount of pie filling will depend on the size of the pie crust.
Fold over the pie crust to cover the filling. Crimp the pie crust with your fingers gently as to not puncture the crust.
Fry the pies on each side for one minute or until golden brown.
Place the fried pies on a plate covered with paper towels to remove the excess oil and transfer to another plate so they do not become grease soaked to cool.
You now have made your first batch of fried pies. Enjoy!!
