Easy Fried Pies, Southern-Style

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

My easy Southern fried pies include juicy pieces of cinnamon-spiced dried fruit encased in deliciously flaky canned biscuit dough for a simple shortcut that saves on time but not on flavor.

Looking inside a fried pie.

Previously I brought you my Granny Lela’s fried peach pies and promised you an easier version. This fried pie recipe is for those of us who don’t have time or perhaps just don’t have the desire to make our fried pie dough from scratch. I totally understand and I’ve got your back!

Believe me when I say that most folks who make fried pies have taken this shortcut at one time or another. Although it does yield a bit of a different result, I can guarantee it is still just as delicious. This fried pie recipe will certainly draw praise from those lucky enough to sample the wares.

So, besides the shortcut canned biscuit dough, what other ingredients do you need? It’s simple really! You need the dried fruit of your choice (I’ve opted for dried apricots this time around), as well as lemon juice, butter, sugar, and cinnamon to make the juiciest and most flavorful filling. Once the filling is cooked, we place that in the middle of our biscuit dough, seal them shut, and get to frying our Southern fried pies until they’re golden brown.

I just know you’ll love the combination of the flaky dough and sweet juicy filling. It’s a recipe for success! And hey, if you want to try another Southern fried pie recipe, let me direct your attention toward my chocolate fried pies recipe. Y’all, they’re SO good! Okay, enough talking, more fryin’!

Ingredients for Southern fried pies.

Recipe Ingredients

  • Canned biscuits
  • Cooking oil
  • Lemon juice
  • Ground cinnamon
  • Unsalted butter
  • Granulated sugar
  • Dried fruit

Helpful Kitchen Tools

How to Make Easy Fried Pies

Bring water and dried fruit to a boil.

To begin with, place your dried fruit in a pot and cover it with two cups of water. Bring to a boil.

NOTE: If you are using apples, you may find that your fruit needs about 1/2 cup more water. 

Simmer dried fruit until tender.

Bring that to a boil and then reduce heat and simmer until they are tender and soft.

This will take about 20 minutes.

To test, mash one with a fork and see if it is able to mash up a bit, like a cooked potato. If so, you’re ready.

Add butter to saucepot with dried fruit.

Turn off the heat and add butter…

Add sugar to pot.

Then sugar.

This looks like an insane amount of sugar but it’s half a cup. You can also use another sweetener such as Stevia or Monk Fruit. Due to their significant sweetness, you would need a whole lot less.

Add cinnamon to pot.

Add cinnamon as above.

Add lemon juice to pot.

Add a splash of lemon juice.

Stir ingredients together.

Stir all of that up really well.

Mash ingredients using a potato masher.

Then have a little fun smooshing it. 

I use a potato masher but you can use a fork if you like, or pretty much anything else that works.

Place canned biscuits on a floured surface.

Dough time!

Open a can of biscuits and place them on a floured surface.

Sprinkle flour over biscuits as you roll them out.

Sprinkle a little flour over them.

Biscuit dough rolled out to 6-inch circles.

Roll out to make a six-inch circle with your rolling pin or glass.

Filling Fried Pies

Place a little filling on half of your circle, being sure to keep it away from the edges.

Run wet finger around outside edge to help it stick.

Wet your fingertips and run them around the outside edge so it will stick when you seal your pie, just like in the picture above.

Crimp fried pie edges with a fork.

Crimp the edges with a fork.

Frying pies in a skillet filled with oil.

Pour about 1/2 inch of oil into a skillet. 

Heat on medium heat for 5 minutes or so.

This ensures that your oil is hot enough to sear and cook the pies rather than just soaking (prevents greasiness).

Place your pies carefully in the oil and cook for a minute or two on each side until golden brown.

Remove to a paper towel-lined plate.

Fry pies until golden brown.

Now that’s what I call a pie fried to golden perfection!

Fried Pies on a plate.

Gaze at your lovely creations and think about whose day you want to make a little brighter!

Start with yourself.

Storage

Because you’re deep frying the pies, you really want to serve them immediately and have no leftovers. Feel free to halve the ingredients to minimise waste.

Recipe Notes

  • Do you want to know another shortcut to use in fried pies? Pie filling instead of dried fruit! You can bypass all the steps and just pop a spoonful into the middle of the biscuit dough instead if you wish. I won’t tell!
  • Another option is to use fresh fruit like fresh Granny Smith apples instead of dried fruit. Follow the directions as above.
  • If you are making fried apple pies, I recommend adding a 1/4 teaspoon of ground allspice too! Anytime you are baking with apples and using cinnamon, just a pinch of allspice really makes your cinnamon flavor *POP*. Allspice amplifies cinnamon to that delicious degree that you smell when you go to cinnamon roll places or restaurants specializing in apple pie. Take a whiff of this amazing spice and you’ll understand.
  • If you like, sprinkle your fry pies with powdered sugar or a cinnamon-sugar mixture before serving.

Recipe FAQs

What’s the best dried fruit to use in Southern fried pies?

Any dried fruit will work, but my top suggestions are dried apples, apricots, and peaches. 

Can you bake the pies instead of frying them?

Yes, if you’d prefer baked pies over fried pies, you’ll want to place them on a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake them in a 390-degree oven for 20 to 25 minutes until golden brown. I recommend making a small incision on the top of the pastry before baking to help the steam release. They will be a different texture compared to frying, but still taste good.

Because there’s no such thing as too many pie recipes…

Buttermilk Peach Pie With Canned Peaches

Coconut Meringue Pie

Japanese Fruit Pie

Chocolate Brownie Pie

Mini Boston Cream Pies Southern-Style

apricot for fried pies

Fried Pies

My easy Southern fried pies include juicy pieces of cinnamon-spiced dried fruit encased in flaky canned biscuit dough for a simple shortcut that saves on time but not on flavor.
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 45 minutes
Course: Dessert, Snack
Cuisine: American
Keyword: fried, fruit, pie, pies
Servings: 0

Ingredients

  • 6-7 ounces dried fruit
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 2 cups water
  • 1/4 cup butter or margarine
  • 1 tbsp lemon juice, optional
  • 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 10-15 flaky layer biscuits

Instructions

  • Place dried fruit in a pot and add water. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to simmer until the fruit is tender.
    6-7 ounces dried fruit, 2 cups water
  • Add other ingredients and mash together with a potato masher or fork. Set aside while you prepare the dough.
    1 cup granulated sugar, 1/4 cup butter or margarine, 1 tbsp lemon juice, optional, 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
  • Roll each biscuit out on a floured surface into a five or six-inch circle. Place two tablespoons of filling in each. Wet the edges and fold over, crimping with a fork.
    10-15 flaky layer biscuits
  • Cook in oil (which has been heated on medium heat for 5 minutes or so), until golden brown on both sides, turning as needed. Remove to a paper towel-lined plate.
Tried this recipe?Mention @southernplate or tag #southernplate!

To read more about the history of dried fruit in the South, visit my previous fried pie post.

Burn the candles and use the fancy dishes. Don’t save it for a special occasion. Today IS special.

~Southern Plate Reader, Vickie. 

Similar Posts

152 Comments

  1. Hello Christy!

    Just wondering, can I really use pie filling? I’ve looked high and low (and in the middle too!) for dried fruit. For some reason, I don’t think they sell it in Florida. I can’t find it anywhere! If the results will be fine with pie filling, I’ll be making your fried delights tommorrow night!

    Why not tonight? Well, thanks for asking! Tonight, I’m going to the monster truck rally and drag races. Now, there is living proof that a mom will come out of her comfort zone for her boys. I’m taking off my pearls and capris and putting on my jeans and boots. Wish me luck my friend! (I’ll take photos!)

    Cheers,
    Maralee

    1. Have you checked in the store area where the raisins and craisins are? I lived in southwest FL until April of this year and Publix and Winn-Dixie both carried dried fruit. Sometimes I even could find it at the Dollar Tree where they kept trail mix. Take a second look around and I hope you can locate some as I am sure it will be better than canned pie filling. I use that in a pinch but find it too gooey with filler.

      1. I can’t wait to see the photos!! I’ll never forget a first date I had when I was seventeen. He had a “surprise” date planned. I got all dressed up and spent two hours on my hair.
        Then he took me to a monster truck tractor trailer pull! We sat on the FRONT ROW! I was picking red dirt clumps out of my hair all night! lol

        YES, you sure can use apple pie filling if you like. I’d add a bit of cinnamon and allspice to it and then mash it up as you would if you had of cooked it.

        Sorry I’m slow on comments today, I want to respond to more but have so much work left to do before I can go to bed tonight!
        Gratefully,
        Christy 🙂

        1. 5 stars
          God bless you for helping me make the fried pies easier and just as delicious just like Mama’s and Grandma’s traditional recipe!!! I never watched them make them from start to finish. My Grandma had 12 children and Mama had 5 so no time to jot down recipes. No family members still living to ask for the recipe.
          I noticed your recipes are simple and simply Delicious! Thank you so much, you are the Queen of my favorite traditional sweet recipes☺️.
          Keep a cookin’

      2. Some stores carry the dried fruit in the produce area of the store. I have A Price Chopper and Shaws and both carry dried fruit near the end of the produce area. Try that. Another idea is using the prepared pie dough in the dairy section of most stores. In a pinch, it does have to be rolled a little and cut to 6″ in circles but they would cook better in the oven than biscuits do. Give it a try.

    2. I live in the Tampa Bay area and found the dried apples in the aisle with the kids fruit rolls, raisins and dried plums (formerly known as prunes). Dressing up the name does not change what they are.

      I am looking forward to making a batch using the biscuit method and if they are not so great (how could that happen) I will eat the evidence.

  2. My mom used to make fried pies this way when we were kids and she wanted to make something fast. She would use leftover fried apples.

    I have a rolling pin just like yours that my great aunt gave me when I got married. I love it.

  3. Oh my heavenly days………I remember my granny using fresh made biscuit dough for these things…and frying them up in her iron skillet………my mouth is just pouring with wanting these. Hmmm, guess I will have to use pie filling (shhh, don’t tell!). I have nowhere to get dried fruit around these parts.

    THanks for making my day today!

    sharon 🙂

    1. I just spent 2 days on a fried pie dough from a certain magazine. Butter & lard…keep it cold…..roll & fold, chill again…roll & fold.

      It was a great dough, however tremendous amount of work! I am going to try the biscuts and see if they compare.

      I was shipping them to family on the west coast… they are a great ‘taste of home’ for kids & grandkids!

    2. sharon; I too had a hard time buying dried fruit, especially the quality you can buy in california. i simply looked online and found a dried fruit in company from california and bought online. i was not disappointed. but there is a difference in dried fruit from california…it is so moist and fruity tasting.

  4. ok, the biscuit dough idea is just genius. I’m going to have to try this, when it isn’t 5 billion degrees outside (did I mention that we Washingtonians don’t handle heat well?)

    Stay cool!
    -Lindsay

  5. Holy Moly, I was first!! Woo hoo!! Does a happy dance… BTW we finally did the Monkey bread and it has got to me one of my favorites!!!!! *drools*

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe or Post Rating