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Aussie Meat Pie

Name: Aussie Meat Pie
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 45 min
Total time: 65 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: Australian
Ingredients: 500 g Coarsely minced beef; 400 g All-butter puff pastry; 150 g Onion; 300 ml Beef stock; 25 g Plain flour; 20 ml Worcestershire sauce; 30 g Tomato paste; 20 g Unsalted butter; 8 g Fine sea salt; 3 g Ground black pepper

Individual hand-held pies of rich, gravy-thick minced beef baked in flaky pastry until the top puffs and browns — the handheld staple of Australian footy matches and lunch counters alike.

Prep: 20 min
Cook: 45 min
Difficulty: Easy

About this dish

The meat pie arrived in Australia with British settlers, but became something distinctly Australian through sheer ubiquity — sold at milk bars, service stations and, most famously, at Australian Rules football matches, where a pie eaten one-handed in the stands is considered close to a national rite. Australians reportedly eat well over 200 million meat pies a year, a scale that turned a humble British staple into a genuine piece of national identity, usually finished with a squeeze of tomato sauce on top, never on the side.

Not vegetarian because of Coarsely minced beef, Beef stock, Worcestershire sauce
Contains gluten because of All-butter puff pastry, Plain flour
Contains dairy because of All-butter puff pastry, Unsalted butter

Ingredients

4servings

500gCoarsely minced beef
400gAll-butter puff pastry
150gOnion
300mlBeef stock
25gPlain flour
20mlWorcestershire sauce
30gTomato paste
20gUnsalted butter
8gFine sea salt
3gGround black pepper

Instructions

Melt the butter and fry the onion until soft, then add the beef mince and cook, breaking it up, until browned all over.
10 min
Tip: Break the mince into small, even pieces as it browns — big clumps stay grey and undercooked at the centre while the outside overcooks.
Stir in the flour and cook 1 minute, then gradually add the beef stock, Worcestershire sauce and tomato paste, season, and simmer 15 minutes until thick enough to hold its shape on a spoon.
15 min
Tip: The filling needs to be genuinely thick before it goes anywhere near pastry — a runny filling turns the base soggy and the pie collapses when you pick it up.
Let the filling cool completely, then divide between individual pie tins lined with pastry, filling generously.
5 min
Tip: Cooling the filling first matters more than it seems — hot filling straight into raw pastry starts melting the butter layers before the pie even reaches the oven.
Top each pie with a pastry lid, seal and crimp the edges, cut a small steam vent in the top, and bake at 200°C for 20–25 minutes until deep golden and puffed.
25 min
Tip: That steam vent isn't optional — trapped steam with nowhere to escape splits the pastry open unevenly, instead of a clean, contained puff across the whole lid.