Skip to Content

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.

Four strawberry hand pies stacked on a small wooden plate with a basket of strawberries in the background.
Jump to:

This post may contain affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. 

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

For a complete list of ingredients, see the printable recipe card at the bottom of this post.

  • Pastry – To make things easy, I used refrigerated pastry. It is sold in a package of 2 deep dish pie shells which is 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, you can 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. If you have an allergy, you can leave the egg out without any issues.
  • 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. If you aren’t using lemon, you can use cream or milk instead.
Ingredients for strawberry hand pies.

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.

Process images showing strawberries chopped on a cutting board and mixed in a bowl with sugar and lemon zest.

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.

Process images showing pastry cut with a round cutter and one round topped with chopped strawberries.

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.

Process images showing hand pie sealed with a fork and brushed with egg wash.

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.

Process images showing four hand pies in an air fryer basket before and after cooking.

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.

Strawberry hand pies drizzled with icing on a cooling rack.

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.
A pile of strawberry hand pies with icing drizzle on a wire cooling rack.

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.
Do fruit hand pies need to be refrigerated?

Yes. It is recommended that you store these in the refrigerator due to the use of fresh fruit.

Can I make hand pies gluten-free?

Yes, you can. All you need to do is use your favourite gluten-free homemade or store-bought pastry.

More Air Fryer Desserts

Click here to join our Facebook Group : Air Fryer & Instant Pot Recipes and Tips

Printable Recipe

Four strawberry hand pies stacked on a small wooden plate with a basket of strawberries in the background.

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. 
5 from 2 votes
Print Pin Save Rate
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 8 minutes
Total Time: 28 minutes
Servings: 8
Calories: 272kcal
Author: Deanna

Ingredients

  • 2 Refrigerated deep dish pie crusts
  • 1 Cup small-diced strawberries approximately ½ pint
  • 3 tablespoon granulated sugar
  • 2 tablespoon corn starch
  • Zest of one medium lemon 2-3 tsp
  • 1 large egg
  • 2 teaspoon cream or milk

Icing Drizzle

  • ½ cup powdered sugar
  • 3-4 teaspoon lemon juice

Instructions

  • Mix the diced strawberries, granulated sugar, corn starch and lemon zest in a small bowl and set aside.
  • Unroll the pastry and cut each pie crust into 8 rounds with a 3.5-inch round cutter (or any shape/size you like). You should end up with 16 rounds.
  • Place 1 tablespoon of strawberry mixture in the middle of 8 of the pastry rounds. Top with the remaining pastry rounds, then use a fork to seal around the edges.
  • Poke holes in the top of each hand pie with a fork.
  • In a small bowl whisk together the egg and cream. Brush over the hand pies.
  • Place the hand pies in a single layer of an air fryer basket.  Set the air fryer to 350°F and cook 8-9 minutes until golden brown.  Work in batches if needed.
  • Let the hand pies cool, then mix the powdered sugar and lemon juice in a small bowl until it is smooth and runny.  You can make it as thick or thin as you like. Drizzle over the hand pies. 

Nutrition

Calories: 272kcal | Carbohydrates: 39g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 13g | Saturated Fat: 5g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 9g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 22mg | Sodium: 269mg | Potassium: 39mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 13g | Vitamin A: 50IU | Vitamin C: 11mg | Calcium: 7mg | Iron: 1mg

Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered estimates. Actual nutritional content will vary with brands used, measuring methods, portion sizes and more.

Click here to join our Facebook group : Air Fryer & Instant Pot Recipes and Cooking Tips

Sharing is caring!

Recipe Rating




Rose

Tuesday 25th of April 2023

Love these! I’m going to try freezing the filling on a cookie sheet in 2tbs dollops, then wrapping it frozen in the fresh dough right before air frying. Anyone else tried this? I figure it lets you do more filling without leaking.

Karen

Wednesday 6th of July 2022

Wow! These were so easy and delicious- I love that they use fresh strawberries and not canned filling. I tried the glaze as instructed and also did powdered sugar- both were fantastic. Yum!

Jamie

Tuesday 24th of May 2022

These hand pies were perfect for all the fresh strawberries I have in my garden! I followed your advice and resisted the urge to overfill them and spread them out in the air fryer. All of them baked up perfectly and tasted amazing!

Alex

Sunday 22nd of May 2022

Absolutely delicious! I am a new air fryer user, and have been keenly testing out some recipes - these were an absolute treat. I followed the recipe exactly, except for using gluten free puff pastry. So simple and so delicious - the filling, yum!