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Meat Pie recipe!

By Nagi Maehashi
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The great Australian Meat Pie!! Shortcrust pastry filled with slow cooked chunky pieces of beef in a rich gravy topped with golden puff pastry, this meat pie recipe requires patience but you will be regarded as a bloody legend by everybody fortunate enough to try one!

It’s way better than your everyday bakery and will rival some of the best meat pie makers in town – Bourke Street Bakery included! Bonus: old school beef mince meat pie recipe included. For a Family Size Meat Pie – see here!

Two homemade Australian Meat Pies with tomato sauce, ready to be eaten

Australian meat pie recipe!!

From midnight post-pub feasting to footy games, quick lunches on the run to essential road trip pit stops, Aussies never need an excuse to get stuck into meat pies!

That moment when you bite through the buttery, flaky golden puff pastry and the molten filling comes oozing out, and you frantically fan your mouth while mumbling “hot, hot, hot!!!”, cursing yourself for not letting it cool down but on the other hand you just don’t bloody care about third degree mouth burns because the pie is SO SO SO GOOD…..

That moment is something that every (non-vegetarian) Aussie is very familiar with.

And it’s a moment that Aussies who have moved abroad miss so much.

So today’s meat pie recipe is dedicated to all Aussies living overseas. Your hunt for a meat pie fix is officially over!!

Meat Pie on silver tray, fresh out of the oven
Close up of spoon with Meat Pie Filling

How to make meat pies

It’s not the fastest recipe in the world – truthfully, it’s quite fiddly – but I absolutely promise it’s worth it. Here’s an overview – and the video below is quite helpful. 🙂

  • Pie crust base – shortcrust pastry (homemade or store bought) fitted into pie tins then blind baked so they don’t go soggy once filled. Don’t have pie tins? Use large muffin tins or ramekins, or make one giant pie! I got mine from Woolies.

  • Meat Pie Filling – just like making a beef stew, it’s cooked long and slow so the beef becomes ultra tender and the sauce develops incredible deep, rich flavours; and

  • Puff pastry pie topping – the crowning glory of the Aussie meat pie experience is that flaky golden puff pastry topping! Store bought, all the way for me. 🙂

Why two types of pastry?

I use shortcrust for the base because it won’t go soggy and has the strength so you can pick the pie up with your hands. Then puff pastry for that classic flaky meat pie lid we love and know so well!

How to make Meat Pies

Meat Pie Filling

Here’s what goes in the meat pie filling. This is for a chunky meat pie – pieces of beef slow cooked until fall apart tender which makes an intensely deep, rich flavoured gravy.

The old school version is made with beef mince (ground beef) but the flavour of chunky beef pies is better because you can brown the pieces beautifully which forms the flavour base for the sauce.

After an old school beef mince version?

For a beef mince version, just swap the chuck beef for beef mince and read the recipe notes for how to tweak the recipe. The sauce needs a flavour bump because it will be missing the flavour boost you get from browning cubes of beef – this step is key to a really great meat pie sauce!

Meat Pie ingredients
Australian Meat Pie Filling in a cast iron pot

Meat Pie pastry

The base of meat pies is made with shortcrust pastry and the lids are made with puff pastry. For convenience, use store bought for both if you wish. In Australia, shortcrust pastry comes frozen in square sheets. If you’re in the US or Canada, use refrigerated pie crusts (the rolled up type).

I like to make the shortcrust pastry because I feel like there’s high returns for small effort (using a food processor, it’s a 5 minute job).

But I always use store bought puff pastry – I’ve made it once, and it’s probably the only time I ever will in my life!

Meat Pie Pastry

Meat Pie recipe tips

  • Brown the beef VERY well – this is key to ensure your filling has a rich complex flavour and is a deep dark brown colour. Brown in small batches – don’t crowd the pot otherwise the beef will stew in its own juices and will never brown! If this happens, just take some out.

  • Beef mince version – use recipe tweaks in the notes to give the sauce a flavour boost (because mince doesn’t brown like using cubes of beef)

  • Chunky vs beef mince – no question, chunky is superior in flavour and overall eating experience! Just can’t achieve the same sauce flavour using mince (but still so SO tasty!)

  • Start the day before – if you can. Firstly, it’s best for the filling to be fridge cold to ensure the meat pie base doesn’t go soggy. Secondly, as with all stews, the filling is even better the next day!

  • Don’t reduce the sauce too much. Some liquid evaporates while the filling is cooling and liquid gets absorbed by the pie crust. When you cut open the pie, you want the filling to ooze out and be nice and saucy, not dry.

  • Don’t make the pie crust too thin – if making your own shortcrust pastry, don’t make the base too thin otherwise it will break when the pie is picked up. Still tasty – but very messy!

  • To smear or not to smear?? To this day, I cannot believe there are people who eat meat pies without tomato sauce. I really try to respect personal preferences….. but I will never understand! 😂

  • Hands – or knife and fork? Knife and fork?? Shame on you! The Aussie meat pie is made for eating with your hands!!!🤣

Australian Meat Pie cut open to show filling inside

Worth the effort!

It will take you the better part of a day to make homemade meat pies. It’s quite involved and they’re especially fiddly because we’re making individual pies rather than one large pie.

But you will be regarded as a bloody legend by everybody fortunate enough to put one of these pies in their pie-hole!

Are they as good as what you can buy? YES. Better than your everyday bakery by a long shot, even using store bought pastry. Way WAY better than the average frozen meat pies from the supermarket.

That moment when you pull these golden beauties out of the oven – you’ll feel both excited AND smug (as you should……)

Overhead photo of Australian Meat Pies on a tray, fresh out of the oven

But then, you smear the still-hot-from-the-oven meat pie with some tomato sauce, and take a huge bite….

O.M.G.

There are no words. (But I shall try)

You’ve got a mouthful of buttery shortcrust pastry that literally melts in your mouth, juicy fall apart beef smothered in a rich gravy with flavour money can’t buy, and the flaky crispy puff pastry…..

Be still my beating heart.

There is simply no question. It’s one of the best food experiences in the world! – Nagi x

Close up of Meat Pie cut open to show meat pie filling inside, with tomato sauce on top

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Aussie Meat Pies

Aussie Meat Pie recipe

Author: Nagi
Prep: 40 minutes
Cook: 3 hours 40 minutes
Filling cooling: 4 hours
Total: 4 hours 20 minutes
Mains
Australian
4.94 from 120 votes
Servings6
Tap or hover to scale
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Recipe video above. The great Australian meat pie – made at home! Buttery shortcrust base filled with slow cooked fall apart chunky beef smothered in a rich gravy, topped with puff pastry. Legendary! {See notes for beef mince version}
Also see the Family Size Meat Pie, mini Party Pies and Sausage Rolls!

Ingredients

Pie Base – Choose ONE (Note 1):

Pie Lid:

  • 3 frozen puff pastry sheets, just thawed (300g/10oz) (Note 2)
  • 1 egg , lightly whisked

Filling:

  • 1.25 kg / 2.5lb beef chuck , 2.5cm/1″ cubes (Note 3)
  • 1/2 tsp each salt & pepper
  • 2 – 3 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 onion , diced
  • 4 garlic cloves , minced
  • 5 tbsp flour , plain/all purpose
  • 1 1/4 cups (315 ml) beef stock, low sodium (Note 4)
  • 3 cups (750 ml) red wine , dry full bodied (Note 5)
  • 2 tbsp tomato paste
  • 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
  • 2 tsp black pepper , coarsely ground
  • 2 bay leaves

Instructions

Filling:

  • Sprinkle beef with 1/2 tsp salt and pepper.
  • Heat 1 tbsp oil in a large heavy based pot over high heat. Add 1/3 of the beef and brown aggressively all over, then remove. Repeat with remaining beef, adding more oil if needed.
  • Turn stove down to medium high. Add garlic and onion, cook 3 minutes.
  • Add flour, stir through.
  • Slowly add beef stock while stirring constantly. Once flour is dissolved, add wine, tomato paste, Worcestershire, pepper and bay leaves.
  • Return beef into pot, cover with lid, adjust heat so it’s simmering gently.
  • Simmer 1 hr 45 minutes. Remove lid, increase heat slightly and simmer 30 – 45 minutes, stirring regularly, or until beef is fork tender and liquid reduces down to a thickish gravy, just about covering beef (see video). Do not reduce liquid too much – thickens more as it cools & in pie.
  • Remove from stove, cover and cool filling (I usually leave overnight).

Pastry:

  • Preheat oven to 180C/350F.
  • Cut out 6 rounds from the shortcrust pastry, then drape pastry into pie tins – don’t stretch and pull pastry, causes shrinkage. (Notes 1 & 6)
  • Place pies on tray. Top each pie with large sheets of parchment / baking paper and fill with pie weights (Note 7).
  • Bake 20 minutes, remove, then use paper overhang to carefully remove pie weights.
  • Return crusts into oven for 5 minutes or until base is light golden and dry (can skip, Note 8). Remove from oven.

Assemble pies:

  • Fill pies with cooled filling, push down to fill. Should be slightly mounded.
  • Cut rounds from partially thawed puff pastry – cut them slightly larger than the edge of the cooked pastry bases.
  • Brush edge of pie crusts with egg, then place lid on filling, pressing edges to seal puff pastry to the shortcrust pastry.
  • Brush lids with egg, then cut a 1cm / 0.5″ incision in the middle using a small knife.
  • Bake 30 minutes or until deep golden and puffed.
  • Devour hot and fresh, topped with tomato sauce or ketchup if desired!

Recipe Notes:

1. Shortcrust pastry – options:
Homemade – make 1 1/2 batches of homemade shortcrust pastry (click Servings and slide to scale recipe). Roll out to 2 – 3mm / 1/10″ thick then cut rounds. Make sure it’s not paper thin because otherwise it won’t be strong enough to withhold all the filling!
Frozen shortcrust pastry – comes in 20cm/8″ square sheets here in Australia. Thaw then line up to overlap edges slightly and press down to seal edges (to make one long sheet, reduces waste). Cut rounds.
Refrigerated rolled pie crusts (US/Can) – such as Pillsbury. Unroll and cut rounds as required by this recipe. Press together scraps if needed to make enough rounds. Pack will probably say no pre-baking required before filling. For this recipe, pre-baking is recommended to avoid soggy base (meat pies are meant to be eaten by hand!)
Cutting rounds – Use tape measure to measure from edge to edge of pie tin, pressing down into the dish. Then find anything that is around that size – I used a saucepan lid! 
Make sure rounds are big enough so it covers the lip of the pie tin as well – better to have pastry too large than too small, it will shrink slightly.
2. Puff pastry here in Australia comes in 20cm/8″ square sheets. I get 2 lids out of each so there is quite a bit of leftover from each sheet. Quick ways to use up scraps:
  • Brush with melted butter, sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar, cut sticks/shapes bake until golden. Try garlic butter, sprinkle with parmesan and pepper, or dukkdah or zaatar. Or just bake sticks plain and use as dippers with soups or stews.
3. Beef – chuck beef nicely marbled with fat is ideal for this recipe. Boneless short rib also works great. Do not try this with gravy beef – too lean. See note below for beef mince.
4. Beef stock – recipe doesn’t use much beef stock because I find that store bought beef stock can give the filling a slight artificial flavour edge, also can make it too salty because the liquid is reduced down and concentrated. Flavour base relies heavily on the browning of the beef + wine + slow cooking.
5. Red wine – merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, shiraz, Burgundy, Zinfandel, malbec, Tempranillo all good here. Avoid sweet ones and light reds like pinot noirs, Grenache. Use this chart as a guide – anything from Merlot or bolder will be great! 
I know this sounds like a lot of wine but the slow cooking cooks out the wine flavour and alcohol, plus the sauce reduces down a lot into a rich, deeply flavoured gravy. Using too much beef stock isn’t ideal here because once reduced, the flavour is too strong.
6. Pie tins – I used pie tins from Woolies (Australia), 10 cm / 4″. Can also make them in ramekins (this is what I used to do before I got pie tins), Texas muffin tins (the large ones), mini pies in normal muffin tins (then it’s Party Pies!) or one large pie dish (use leftover filling to make pie triangles using puff pastry!).
Fitting pastry into pie tins – drape and gently push in, do not stretch and pull pastry (this will cause pastry to shrink when it bakes).
7. Pie weights – heatproof marble size beads that weigh down the pastry to stop it from puffing and shrinking while it bakes. Sub with dried rice, dried beans or similar (save to reuse again as pie weights).
8. Pastry 2nd bake – this is just to dry the base out and make it crisp, if not needed then skip the 2nd pastry bake.
9. Beef mince – old school meat pies are made with beef mince but chunky style are more highly regarded for flavour and eating experience! Can’t get the same browning with mince, hence why sauce flavour is not quite as good. To make super tasty beef mince meat pies – completely skip salt, use beef cube and dark soy instead (doesn’t taste Asiany, adds flavour and colour to sauce otherwise it’s a pale unappetising brown colour):
  • Cook onion and garlic, then add 1.3 kg / 2.6lb beef mince (ground beef) and brown
  • Add flour and remaining ingredients per recipe including pepper but DO NOT ADD SALT
  • Add 1 beef cube, crumbled
  • Simmer gently, covered, for 1 hr 20 minutes
  • Uncover and reduce for 20 minutes
  • Add up to 1 tsp dark soy sauce to make the sauce colour a nice brown and add flavour (soy has more flavour than plain salt), simmer for 5 min. Add normal salt if you want it saltier.
  • Cool then use as filling per recipe.
10. Storage – Cooked pies keep in the fridge for up to 5 days, best to give it a quick microwave to warm the centre then pop in the oven for 5 minutes at 180C/350F to crisp pastry. OR wrap in cling wrap then freeze cooked pies, thaw then reheat in oven at 180C/350F for 20 minutes until centre is piping hot. Can also freeze pies once filled and topped with raw uncooked puff pastry.
11. Nutrition per pie. Best estimate taking into account unused pastry, erred on the high side to be conservative.

Nutrition Information:

Calories: 825cal (41%)Carbohydrates: 43g (14%)Protein: 46g (92%)Fat: 41g (63%)Saturated Fat: 14g (88%)Cholesterol: 165mg (55%)Sodium: 759mg (33%)Potassium: 1074mg (31%)Fiber: 1g (4%)Sugar: 2g (2%)Vitamin A: 145IU (3%)Vitamin C: 3.1mg (4%)Calcium: 71mg (7%)Iron: 7.5mg (42%)
Keywords: Australian Meat Pie, Meat Pie
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455 Comments

  1. Sarah says

    Hi Nagi, do you think this would work well with slow cooked pulled lamb? We Love your recipes in this house 🤗

    Reply

    • Nagi says

      Yes definitely, it will be great! N x

      Reply

  2. Joanne says

    5 stars
    We have started “quarantine traveling” to different countries and my husband picked NZ.. I figured you were close enough to NZ so borrowed this meat pie recipe for our “trip”. Wow… SO good! Complete with Kumara salad, a Sauv Blanc from the Marlborough Coast and your fabulous Pavlova… then a movie based in NZ. It was a great trip and the food was best! Thanks!! (I’m not a ketchup fan and thought it almost insulting to add to these delightful pies… but.. the ketchup is not wrong! 🙂 Lots of love to Dozer too. xo

    Reply

    • Nagi says

      Ketchup is a MUST Joanne 😂 N x

      Reply

  3. Tafara Soyer says

    This was my first time making meat pies. I come from Zimbabwe and live in Germany, we have no meat pies here but different amazing food.

    My sister ate pies on Saturday and that drove me to hunt for the best recpie I could possibly find on the net. I prepared the dough and filling last night and baked them today, they were absolutely DELICIOUS! I don’t need to look any further regarding a pie recipe, thanks lot Nagi!

    Reply

    • Nagi says

      Wahoo, I’m so glad you loved them Tafara!! N x

      Reply

  4. Sophia says

    Thanks for the recipe! I have heaps of guinness & beef stew leftover and use some of them as the filling.
    Question: what should we do with the remaining pastry? Are we allowed to store them in fridge/freezer again?

    Reply

    • Nagi says

      Hi Sophia, I usually toss any that I have thawed as it wont re-freeze successfully. N x

      Reply

  5. Shana Kinsley says

    Loved this pie was the most yummy filling. Im an Australien living in Germany and I miss meat pies so much. Only thing that crushed my heart was that I had a lot of trouble with the pastry recipe you linked and I made one big pie for the family and as it came out of the case the pie actually collapsed. So next time will just stick to my normal recipe. Other then that I really really loved it!

    Reply

  6. Ana K says

    Hello, I would love to make my own pies. I have a few questions about the mince version. Do you use the beef stock cube and the liquid stock? And do you cook the mince for 1 hour and 45 minutes. Thank you.

    Reply

    • Nagi says

      Hi Ana, yes the cube and stock – cooking instructions are in the recipe notes 🙂 N x

      Reply

  7. Mike says

    5 stars
    Just finishing the last pie of my second batch of these and thinking how darned good they are! In this batch I reduced the beef by about 10%, added mushrooms and doubled the black pepper to give me glorious peppered beef and mushroom pies… heaven!

    Reply

    • Nagi says

      YUM!!! Sounds fabulous Mike!! N x

      Reply

  8. Joyce Ko says

    Hi, Nagi,
    We worked in Norfolk Island 30 years ago. The meat pie was what we loved the most. $3.50 each at that time. We missed the taste(as we moved back to USA) so much that my husband asks me to make but I never can find a right recipe. Few months ago, I followed yours, oh, my, that’s it!
    I gave to friends, they love it.
    A lot of work, but worth. Today, is my fourth time to make. I’ll try more your other cooking. Thanks again!

    Reply

    • Nagi says

      Wahooooooo!!! I LOVE hearing this Joyce! N x

      Reply

  9. Cassie says

    5 stars
    Forgot to rate!

    Reply

    • Nagi says

      Thanks so much Cassie! N x

      Reply

  10. regan says

    5 stars
    Making these again!! 🙂

    Reply

  11. Maria says

    Leaving Australia tomorrow after an absolutely fabulous trip. My husband has fallen in love with these pies! He asked if I could make them and I knew you would be the person to go to for the recipe! We have so enjoyed our time in your beautiful country! He also loved these wraps of spicy lamb from Boreks! They were delicious 😋

    Reply

    • Nagi says

      That’s great to hear Maria – thanks so much for letting me know!!

      Reply

  12. Ron Vosshage says

    5 stars
    Absolutely loved this, been looking for a good pie recipe and i think I’ve found it!

    Reply

    • Nagi says

      WAHOO!!!! Love hearing this!

      Reply

      • Peter says

        Hi honey! Lovin the look of this recipe! Sooo gonna make this over the weekend, I am the only meat eater in the house so can I freeze these bad boys? Xxx

        Reply

  13. Miss Glitteryone says

    5 stars
    Off the charts yum. I am a vegetarian but I have made these pies for friends twice and the third time today I am making them in little brioche tins. Ultra cute. Thank you for your fabulous recipe.

    Reply

  14. Eva says

    Hello again Nagi,

    I am making x2 lots one with chuck other with mince.

    What mince do you recommend please?

    Lean mince ? Or just normal regular mince please?

    Reply

    • Nagi says

      I’d use regular mince – I hope you love them! N x

      Reply

  15. Janine says

    I made the mince version of the pies and popped them in my Kmart pie maker. These are the best pies I have made! The filling was tasty and a great consistency. The whole family enjoyed them…always a bonus!

    Reply

    • Nagi says

      Wahoo! Awesome Janine!

      Reply

  16. Neil says

    what is the size of the pie tins you are using? I would like to make here in the US and order disposable tins, but not sure of the size for the handheld pies. is it a 5″ tin ? smaller or larger?

    Reply

    • Nagi says

      Hi Neil, I think mine are slightly smaller than 5″ but thats approx the right size! N x

      Reply

  17. jeanne says

    5 stars
    I finished the recipe today ( started yesterday)
    delicious !!! i wish i could paste a picture of the dish here . Thank you again Nagi 5 stars for you 😉

    Reply

    • Nagi says

      Wahoo! I’m so glad you enjoyed them Jeanne ❤️

      Reply

  18. Gemma Hicks says

    5 stars
    I made this recipe at the weekend and everyone said it was better than shop bought! I also used the left over beef with rice for a dinner the next day 🙂

    Reply

    • Nagi says

      Woah – how great is that!! N x

      Reply

  19. Shakirah says

    Hi, I can’t take alcohol. Can please suggest a good substitute? Thank you so much!

    Reply

    • exo says

      use cranberry juice, grape juice or pomegranate juice as a red wine substitute. maybe vinegar ?

      Reply

      • Shakirah says

        Thanks for the suggestions!!

        Reply

  20. Regan says

    These are a hit with the family, delicious. They did stick to the pie tray a little any suggestion on how to prevent this next time. 😁

    Reply

    • Nagi says

      Hi Regan, I use non-stick but if you’re finding they still stick, just grease them up a little ❤️

      Reply

      • Regan says

        Thanks, yeah I did that… I went and got some new cheap Kmart pie tins and tried another batch and it worked perfectly. Taking these pies on our camping trip this weekend 😁

        Reply