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Our Meat Pie recipe pulls out all the stops! Caramelized meat and vegetables in a luscious gravy, under a crispy golden crust. The entire family is sure to love this hearty meal!
When it comes to delectable comfort food, the Australians really know where it’s at! Meat pies are flavorful and satisfying. A classic street food, hand-held pies wrapped in paper and topped with ketchup are often sold hot from food trucks in Australia.
Inspired by the land down under, our meat pies include all of the delicious meat and gravy goodness of an Aussie pie, but we bake ours in individual ramekins to be served alongside our favorite side dishes at dinnertime.
The key to this Meat Pie recipe is in the flavor-seared, slow-simmered, caramelized meat which infuses each pie with deliciousness. While it does take some time to make these pies, the payoff of savory meat and flaky crust in every bite is worth every minute of the wait.
Why You’ll Love Our Meat Pies!
- All that flavor. That slow-cooked meat really satisfies the taste buds.
- The flaky crust. Between the homemade bottom crust, and the puff pastry topping – you won’t be able to get enough!
- You can prepare the meat pie ahead of time. Since this meat takes a while to cook, you can easily prepare it ahead of time and then just reheat it when you’re ready to load up your ramekins.
Key Ingredients and Substitutions
- The Filling
- Beef Sirloin – Any sirloin cut can be used for this recipe. We used choice sirloin tips for its flavor, and because it stews up well. You’ll be dredging it in flour and caramelizing all that great flavor.
- Vegetables – We included carrots, onions, and mushrooms. The key is to dice them up finely. You can add or omit whichever veggies according to your preference – in fact, some Aussie pies simply have beef and onions in the filling.
- Stock and Seasonings – A mixture of beef stock, Worcestershire sauce, and seasonings, this blend is designed to bring out the best in the meat.
- The Crusts
- Homemade Pie Crust – This is a quick and simple crust used for the bottom of the meat pie. You can use a premade store-bought crust, but you may need to ‘blind bake’ it to prevent sogginess.
- Premade Puff Pastry – We used frozen Pepperidge Farms puff pastry for the top crusts. (If you’re in the mood for a project, feel free to make some homemade puff pastry – but premade is much easier.)
Special Supplies Needed
- A food processor – you’ll use this to break down any big chunks of meat after cooking.
- Seven* 8-ounce ramekins (ours measure 2” deep and 4 ¼” wide). *You will be making six pies – the seventh ramekin is to use as a guide for cutting out the puff pastry tops.
- One 8” circle for cutting out the bottom crusts. We used an 8-inch serving bowl.
How Do I Make Meat Pies?
- Prepare – After cubing the meat and coating it in flour, let it rest while you dice up your veggies and prepare your other ingredients.
- Sear – In a large Dutch oven, the meat will be seared in hot oil for a few minutes on all sides. Be sure not to overcrowd the pan as you want the meat to caramelize at this point and putting too much in at once will result in a stew.
- Saute and Simmer – After sauteing the veggies and other ingredients, you’ll add the seared meat back to the pot and slow-boil or high simmer for an hour and a half. (See Chef’s Tip below.)
- Prepare the Crust – While the vegetables cook, prep and chill your bottom pie crust pastry. If you’re using frozen puff pastry for top, remove from the freezer to thaw.
- Process – After the meat mixture is cooked to perfection, place any big chunks of beef into your food processor bowl. Give it a few pulses just to break things down into small shreds. Don’t over-process. You could fork shred the bigger pieces instead, if you prefer.
- Assemble – Rollout, cut, and press the bottom crust into the ramekins. Fill each one to the brim with the meat mixture, and top with circles of the puff pastry. Brush the tops with beaten egg and water and be sure the edges of the pastry are pressed and sealed into the bottom crust.
- Bake – In a preheated oven, bake the pies for a bit and then lower the heat and bake some more, until the tops are golden.
- Serve – Serve hot straight out of the oven with some ketchup on the side.
Chef’s Tip
Keep an eye on the meat mixture while it simmers and add more water as needed to prevent it from sticking or scorching.
Frequently Asked Questions
- Can I make one big meat pie instead of individual ones? Yes, you certainly can, but you will need to adjust the baking time accordingly.
- Can I prepare this recipe a day ahead of time? This recipe can easily be prepared ahead of time. Just refrigerate the dough and the meat filling until ready to use. We recommend reheating the filling before assembling for even cooking.
- How long do meat pies keep in the fridge? You can store baked meat pies in the fridge, just be sure to allow them to cool before wrapping them up to prevent sogginess. They’ll keep fresh for 3-5 days.
- Can I freeze any leftover pies? You can. Let them cool completely before wrapping them up in plastic. Reheat right from freezing (don’t thaw) in a hot oven.
This recipe originally appeared on A Family Feast in October 2018. We’ve updated the post but the delicious recipe remains the same.
You may enjoy these other delicious Comfort Food recipes:
- Cheddar Topped Shepherd’s Pie
- Oatmeal Stout Beef Pot Pie
- Country Baked Chicken
- Turkey Pot Pie
- Lamb Shepherd’s Pie
We love seeing what you made! Tag us on Instagram at @afamilyfeast or hashtag #afamilyfeast so we can see your creations!
Meat Pie Recipe: An Aussie Favorite!
Ingredients
Filling
2 pounds beef loin choice sirloin tips, or other sirloin cut
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
4 tablespoons olive oil, divided
1 1/2 cups onion, diced very small
1 1/2 cups carrots, peeled and diced very small
8-ounce package white button mushrooms, diced very small
1 tablespoon minced fresh garlic
Few grinds fresh nutmeg
1 tablespoon tomato paste
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 quart beef stock
2 cups water
Bottom crust
2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
2 sticks cold butter cut into pieces (1 cup)
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
6–8 tablespoons ice cold water
Top crust
2 puff pastry sheets (one box will yield 6 portions) – we used a Pepperidge Farm 17.3 ounce package
1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon water
Instructions
Cut the beef into 2” cubes and place in a medium bowl.
Cover with the flour, salt and pepper and toss to coat. Set aside while you work on prepping the other ingredients.
In a medium to large Dutch oven (4 ½ to 5 quart), heat 1 tablespoon of the oil over medium high heat and once hot, sear one third of the beef, keeping the pieces from touching each other. Sear on each side for 2-3 minutes total, then remove to a dish or bowl. Then repeat two more times with the remaining beef and two more tablespoons of oil.
Once all of the beef has been seared, add the remaining oil along with onion, carrots, mushrooms, garlic and nutmeg and cook for three minutes, stirring as you go.
Clear a spot in the center and add tomato paste and cook for one minute.
Add vinegar and stir, scraping up and brown bits, then add Worcestershire sauce.
Add beef stock, water and reserved seared beef, bring to a boil then lower to a low boil or high simmer for 90 minutes uncovered.
During the final 30 minutes, make sure that the water doesn’t all evaporate. (You don’t want the mixture to stick.) Add a little more water as needed to finish with a thick sauce.
Remove from heat. If making ahead, cool, cover and chill. But reheat before filling ramekins.
Pick out the large pieces of beef with a slotted spoon and add to food processor and pulse 4-5 quick pulses to break the meat up into small shreds. Do not pulse too long, just enough to break up the meat. Add back to the liquid and stir. The filling should be thick.
While the beef is cooking, make the bottom crust by adding flour to a food processor along with the salt and cold butter pieces. Pulse to break up the butter into pea sized pieces.
Add 5 tablespoons of water and pulse to combine and then slowly add more water as needed until the dough starts to come together but is still a little crumbly.
Lay out a large piece of plastic wrap and pour dough contents into center. Then use edges of plastic to push the sides into a ball. Wrap tightly and flatten into a disc and refrigerate for 20 minutes.
If frozen, remove pastry sheets from freezer and lay out to thaw.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. and place a rack in a sheet pan and place into the oven to heat up along with the oven.
We used 8-ounce ramekins that were 2” deep and 4 ¼” wide. You will need six of these plus one more to use as a guide to cut out the tops. Also have on hand a circle that is 8” across to cut out the bottoms. I used a soup bowl.
Flour your counter and roll out the bottom crust dough 26”x18”. Then use the 8” bowl as a guide and cut out six circles.
Press these into the six ramekins pressing the overlapping dough into the sides. Let the excess flop over the top.
Fill each ramekin up to the brim with warm to hot filling.
Lay out the two pastry sheets and using the seventh ramekin, cut out three tops on each sheet.
Beat the egg with the water and brush over each overhanging edge of each ramekin then top with a puff pastry top and squeeze the two doughs together until they stick. Use a pair of scissors and cut around the edge to remove excess dough. Use a brush and brush off any excess flour.
Brush the tops with the egg wash then using a paring knife, make a vent hole in the top of each.
Open the oven door and place them on the preheated rack and pan and bake for 10 minutes then lower heat to 350 degrees and bake for 15-25 minutes longer, or until tops are puffed and golden brown.
Remove and serve hot, and to be traditional, serve with ketchup on the side.
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We love these aussie meat pies! My husband used to work in a farm kitchen and would bring home amazing meat pies. He couldn’t remember the recipe and this one comes closest to! I’ve also made these with some leftover sourdough pie crust I had in the freezer, and turned out just as great! Thanks for sharing!
You’re very welcome Shan! Glad you enjoyed the recipe!
I tried making this but the portions seem all wrong. The sauce never thickened – the meat was less than 1/3 of the sauce volume. The bottom crust has 3 times more butter than my standard recipe. It was just a lightly flowered ball of grease when mixed and did not solidify when cooked. Was this recipe converted from metric units incorrectly?
Sorry you were disappointed Milton. (We didn’t convert the recipe any metric version)
I am going to try your Aussie pies, finding a replica for Australia doesn’t come easy
Hope you enjoy the pies Giselda – it may not be 100% authentic, but we still think the pies are delicious!
Oh my gosh, these are so divine! Martha thank you so much for sharing this delicious recipe. I love meat pies but always concerned about what commercial companies put inside, especially when we are planning a pregnancy. Can do without preservatives and artificial ingredients. Good to be able to make at home ourselves. It is a winner with my husband! I just want to ask for your advice, we used a ready made short crust pastry for the base of the pie but it didn’t cook properly or it wasn’t crisp but still a little bit doughy. Although still delicious but would love the short crust pastry to be cooked through without having to make our own.
So glad you enjoyed the pies Imelda. To ensure that the bottom of the pies is cooked through, you could partially ‘blind bake’ the crusts before filling them with the meat. We have a post that explains the blinding-baking process here: https://www.afamilyfeast.com/how-to-blind-bake-a-pie-crust/ – hope this helps!
Hello Mark here from Australia I’ve been eating pies all my life I’m almost 60 that’s not how you make a meat pie in the traditional sense. For a start the filling does not go through a processor.
Thanks for letting us know Mark – we mentioned in the post that this is an adaptation inspired by a recipe saw in a magazine. Sorry to offend and we appreciate the advice from a local!
Hi, just reading through your recipe, I’m an Aussie living in the USA, looking for a taste of home. Just a quick FYI, while your recipe calls for tomato paste, the original reference in the your cook book that you adapted referred to tomato sauce. In Australia, we call ketchup, tomato sauce. So it was actually calling for ketchup. And some times ketchup on top;) Always… infact, most people apply it with a squeeze bottle and inject it straight into the pie until it puffs up then finish with a circle of ketchup on top.
Thank you so much Sean! We appreciate the correction!!
Can I put the hot ramekin on a dinner plate and then put the sides on the dinner plate? Not sure how to serve them when there are other side dishes.
Hi Cheri – Yes – that’s exactly how we serve these for dinner with other side dishes.
Excellent recipe. my only deviations were using a Pillsbury refrigerated pie crust for the base and shredding the meat with a fork. Really great flavor, it brought back fond memories for me. Many thanks!
You’re very welcome Murray – so glad you enjoyed the recipe!
Long time ago i’ve stayed in sydney australia to work.now i back to my country.i want to learn how to make australian pie.i just get penssion.i want to make it and sell pie to school canteen.i am singel father need extra money to keep going my life and my soon.thankyou.
You’re welcome Donal – good luck to you!
Can you make these into one big pie?
Sure Jessica!