Mince and cheese pie recipe

Ingredients and substitutions

This homemade mince and cheese pie recipe uses mostly pantry staples, check through the list below and you may have most of the ingredients already in your cupboard.

• Cooking oil - we use canola oil but use your preferred cooking oil.
• Onion
• Celery
• Garlic
• Ground beef mince
• Carrot
• Thyme dried
• Rosemary dried or fresh - depending on what you have available we recommend ½ teaspoon dried or 1 sprig fresh
• 1 bay leaf
• Tomato paste
• Mustard - we recommend using a dijon mustard
• Worcestershire sauce
• Plain flour
• Beef stock - choice the best quality one available to you.
• Salt and pepper - to taste
• 4 slices cheddar cheese - A good quality strong cheddar cheese adds great flavour, you could also use sliced cheese.
• 4- 6 sheets puff pastry - We used frozen puff pastry sheets for this recipe but you can also use refrigerated or homemade sheets or blocks. Hint - We use puff pastry for the base and lid as we like the flakey puff texture, you could substitute the base for a savoury short-crust pastry but we highly recommend keeping the lid puff pastry.
• 1 egg, beaten

See the recipe card below for quantities.

How to make a mince and cheese pie

A great mince and cheese pie is really about the flavour in the filling and the deliciously golden puff pastry. So take your time to create that base flavour and your tastebuds will be rewarded.

1. Prepare the pastry

• If you are using frozen pastry, remove it from the freezer and thaw out.
• For block pastry, you will need to roll it out to size before preparing the tins.

2. Cook the filling

• Heat the oil in a large pan over a medium heat. Saute the onions, celery and garlic until soft and translucent but not too brown.

• Turn up the heat a little and brown off the mince. Use a wooden spoon to break up the lumps of mince as it cooks.

• Once the mince is all cooked, add the carrots and herbs. Stir and let them cook off for a few minutes.

• Then add the tomato paste, mustard, Worcestershire sauce and flour, stir to combine well and let cook for 2 - 3 minutes.

• While stirring regularly slowly pour in the beef stock then bring to a boil and season well. Reduce to a simmer, cover with a lid and allow to simmer for 30 minutes, until the filling has thickened, stir occasionally.
• Once ready remove the filling from the heat and let cool completely before filling the pies.

3. Assemble the mince and cheese pies

• Preheat your oven to 200 °C (392 °F) fan.

• While the mince is cooling prepare the pastry sheets. Cut out four pie bases and lids, using your tin as a size guide. Line and grease your tins. Gently add the bases to the tin then prick the puff pastry with a fork.

• Add the cooled mince filling (fill the pie to the top) and a slice of cheese.
• Use the egg to wash the pie lid, prick with a fork ¾ times then place egg wash side down on the pie.

• Crimp the edges with a fork or thumb and trim any excess pastry off from around the edge of the tin. Eggwash the tops and make 3 small slits in each pie.

• Place in the preheated oven and bake for 25 minutes or until the pies are golden and crisp. Remove and allow to cool slightly before serving.

Hint: For beautiful golden pies add plenty of egg wash to the tops!

Equipment

You will need either one large or four individual pie dishes.

For this recipe, we made individual pies using four individual pie tins. Or you can use one large pie tin to bake a family mince pie.

Variations

For delicious variations on the classic mince and cheese pie, you could try adding:

• Different vegetables - like peas, mushroom or spinach
• Bacon
• Difference ground meat - like lamb or venison
• Guinness - for a little Irish twist!
• Or leave off the pastry lid and pipe with mashed potato for a tasty potato top pie.

Serving suggestions

Serve these pies with your favourite side dishes for a great family dinner, we recommend serving them alongside a fresh salad, mash, sweet potato fries, salad or vegetables.

Try our orange and fennel salad, classic Greek salad or our roasted butternut squash and feta salad.

Storage

Refrigerate - Cooked pies can be cooled and stored in the fridge, in an airtight container for up to three days. Re-heat in the microwave until piping hot and let cool slightly before eating.

Freeze - These mince and cheese pies are perfect for freezing and great for meal prep. To freeze, cool quickly after cooking then place in an airtight container in the freezer for up to 3 months. Ideally, thaw out in the fridge overnight then re-heat in the microwave or oven till piping hot and let cool slightly before serving.

Meal prep

This savoury mince pie recipe is great for meal prep. You can make the filling a day earlier and store chilled in the fridge in an airtight container. The next day remove the mince from the fridge and allow it to sit at room temperature, while you prepare the pastry then proceed with the next steps in the recipe. When baking check the pie is cooked and piping hot throughout.

You can also bake the pie a day or two ahead and store it in the fridge as per our instructions and re-heating advice in our 'Storage' section above. Perfect for those busy week nights or for the weekends after sports.

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