Raised beef and onion pie – with crispy yoghurt pastry

Raised beef and onion pie is made with crispy yoghurt pastry and crammed full of tasty ground beef, onions and vegetables in a thick beefy gravy. This is one of those pies that everyone needs in their repertoire. The star of the show has to be the pastry – it’s soft yet crispy and holds its shape perfectly. You’ll certainly impress family and friends when you place this on the table.

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Everybody’s favourite pie

I honestly don’t know which to rave about the most in this raised beef and onion pie recipe – the succulent, beefy filling, or the crispy pastry that holds it all together. This pie is just plain and simple no-frills British baking at its finest, and I can practically guarantee that if you make this pie once you’ll be making it over and over again.

Let’s start with the filling – it’s made with beef mince (or ground beef if you live in the US), fried with onions until the onions are sweet and caramelised and the meat is browned and juicy. Then it’s simmered with a selection of other grated vegetables and a simple gravy flavoured with good old Worcestershire sauce and tomato paste. Nothing fancy, just simple ingredients, but they all come together so well.

There are no hard-and-fast rules about the vegetables. I like to add grated carrots, courgettes, tomatoes and leeks – but you can use whatever vegetables you happen to have in the fridge. Mushrooms make a nice addition, or a handful of peas would add a touch of extra colour and sweetness.

Moving onto the pastry – this has got to be the easiest pastry recipe ever. It literally comes together in 5 minutes which is less time than it would take to defrost a roll of store-bought pastry. It’s so light, buttery and flaky, but it still has the strength needed to hold up a 5-centimetre-high raised pie with no problems.

What makes this pastry different from the normal flaky pastry is that it’s made with Greek yoghurt (or natural yoghurt if you prefer). This makes it extra crispy, yet soft at the same time. And even though you can’t really taste the yoghurt, it just seems to add an extra depth of flavour to the pastry. Now hubby is not a ‘picker’ at mealtimes. He eats what’s on his plate and NEVER has extras, but even he was picking the edges off the pie and saying ‘Oh this pastry is really nice‘

This beef and onion pie is a proper pie with pastry both on the bottom and on the top. The pastry case is blind-baked so that the pastry on the base of the pie is as crispy as that on the top. As Mary Berry so aptly puts it – nobody likes a soggy bottom!

I really hope you enjoy this raised beef and onion pie as much as I do!

How to make a raised beef and onion pie

**You can get the full recipe with the complete list of ingredients and detailed steps for making for this raised beef and onion pie on the printable recipe card at the end of this post**

I made this pie in a 9″ round spring-form pan, which makes it easy to remove the pie from the baking dish. For blind-baking the pastry I use an 8″ spring-form pan to hold the crust in place while it is baking (see below for instructions).

Ingredients for yoghurt pastry

These are the ingredients you will need to make the yoghurt flaky pastry:

• Flour – plain white all purpose flour (or cake flour if you live in South Africa) – not self-raising flour. We don’t need any baking powder in this recipe.
• Salt – optional as always, but I find a small amount does improve the flavour of the pastry.
• Butter – you can use salted or unsalted – it doesn’t matter, but if you do use salted butter you may like to leave out any additionl salt. The butter should be at room temperature to make it easier to rub into the flour.
• Greek yoghurt – this takes the place of milk or water that you would normally use to bind the pastry. You can use natural yoghurt if you prefer. Make sure this is plain yoghurt, not the fruit-flavoured kind.
• Egg yolk – this adds extra richness to the pastry. Medium to large is fine.

Ingredients for beef and onion pie

These are the ingredients you will need for the beef and onion pie filling:

Top tip – gather all the ingredients and prepare the vegetables before you start cooking – this way everything will be ready and to hand, and you will be less likely to forget an ingredient.

• Ground beef / beef mince – for this recipe I used beef mince with a 12% fat content. If you prefer you can use 5% fat content.
• Onions – you can use white or red onions. Because the pie is made with ground beef, which is quite fine, the onions should be quite finely chopped.
• Leeks – I normally cut my leek in half lengthwise, and then slice into semi-circles.
• Carrots – I like to grate them on the smallest holes of a box grater, but if you prefer you could use the larger holes.
• Tomato – finely chopped.
• Courgettes / zucchini / baby marrows (depending on where in the world you live you may know this vegetable by and of these names). These should be grated on the large holes of a box grater. Just wash them before use – there is no need to peel the skin off.
• Mushrooms – (optional and not pictured). I like to add mushrooms to my pie and they should also be quite finely chopped. You can use white mushrooms or chestnuts depending on your preference. A lot of people don’t like mushrooms, so it’s perfectly fine to leave them out.
• Worcestershire sauce – the good old English favourite – first sold in 1837 (so it’s been around for quite a while).
• Tomato puree / tomato paste – not to be confused with tomato sauce /tomato ketchup. This is highly concentrated tomatoes, normally sold in tubes or small cans.
• Paprika – paprika and beef always go so well together. You can leave this out if you prefer.
• Salt and black pepper – to your own taste.
• In addition to the above you will also need sunflower oil or olive oil for frying, a beef stock cube and a beaten egg for brushing on the pastry before it goes into the oven.

Note on the vegetables

You can use whatever vegetables you prefer in this recipe. I used courgettes because we had a glut of them from the allotment. You could use grated swedes or parsnips, finely chopped broccoli or cauliflower, or even grated butternut.

When substituting vegetables, just make sure you have 4 to 5 cups of chopped and grated vegetables (including the onion). The quantities aren’t too important – if you add extra, you will just have a larger pie 🙂 .

Timing breakdown

Even though this is an easy pie to make, there are quite a few steps.

I’ve broken them down by the time each step will take, and given suggestions for tasks that can be done in parallel.

Step	Minutes	Notes
Make the pastry	5
Rest the pastry	30	Start making the filling
Line the pie dish	10
Blind-bake pie crust	30	Continue making the filling
Make the filling *	45	Not included in elapsed time
Assemble pie	10
Bake pie	20	Relax – you’ve earned it!
Elapsed time	1 hr 45

Instructions

Yoghurt Pastry

1. Measure the flour and salt into a mixing bowl, then add the cubed butter. Using your fingertips, rub the butter into the flour until the flour is incorporated and the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs.
2. Tip in the egg yolk and the yoghurt
3. Mix the egg and yoghurt into the flour and butter using a flat-bladed knife. The dough should come together into a shaggy ball.
4. Tip the dough onto a lightly floured surface and press the mixture gently with your hands until it comes together in a smooth ball.
5. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for half an hour. This step is important as it gives the gluten time to rest, and will help prevent the dough from ‘shrinking’ as it bakes. It also firms up the butter, making the pastry easier to roll.

Line the baking tin

I use a 9″ springform pan to make this raised beef pie. You will need about 3/4 of the dough for the base and sides, and the remainder for the top.

1. Roll out the pastry to about one-eighth of an inch thickness and use it to line your baking tin.
   1. Use one-third of the dough to roll into a circle just larger than the base of the baking tin and place this on the bottom of the tin (Tip – place the base of the springform pan onto the rolled pastry and cut around it to get the right-sized shape).
   2. Roll the second third of the dough into a long oblong shape just wider than the depth of the pan. The circumference of a 9″ springform pan is 30 inches or 76 cm – so your pastry should be rolled out to that length. Use this to line the sides of the pan (Tip – do this in two pieces and line half of the pan first then just press the seams together to close them.) Let the bottom of the edges overlap the base of the pastry to prevent leakage. (See image 1 for the lined dish).
2. Cover the pastry in the dish with a piece of baking parchment, pressing it carefully against the base and sides.
3. Now cover the baking parchment with a layer of tinfoil.
4. Place a smaller springform pan (I used an 8″ pan) onto the tinfoil and then press a scrunched up piece of baking parchment between the inner springform pan and the tinfoil.

This might sound like a lot of effort, but it is easy to do, and absolutely necessary. Please don’t do what I did and think you can get away with just using parchment paper and baking beans. This is a very soft pastry and unless you support the sides properly, they will just collapse onto the bottom of the pie dish (I’m talking from bitter experience 🙂 )

Because the springform pan has a loose bottom, I always place it on a baking tray to make it easier to get in and out of the oven.

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius / 360 degrees Fahrenheit then bake the pastry for 20 minutes. Remove the pastry case from the oven, let it cool for a few minutes then carefully remove the inner springform pan, the tinfoil and the baking parchment. The bottom of the pastry will still be slightly undercooked.
2. Return the pastry to the oven and bake for a further 5 to 10 minutes to crisp the base. If the sides are browning too much, cover them with the tinfoil that you used originally.
3. Allow the pastry to cool. Do not remove it from the springform pan. It will be baked again in the pan once the filling has been added.

Make the beef and onion filling

For this step, you will need a large frying pan with a lid.

1. Fry the chopped onions and sliced leeks in 1 to 2 tablespoons of sunflower oil / olive oil for about 4 minutes until they turn translucent. Stir them often over a low heat, to prevent burning.
2. Move the onions and leeks to one side and add the ground beef. Break the beef up with your spatula and fry with the onions until the beef is nicely browned and completely separate.
3. If you are using mushrooms, add them now and continue to fry until they start to release their moisture.
4. Add the remainder of the vegetables, the paprika, the worcestershire sauce and the tomato paste. Crumble in the stock cube and add 1 cup of water and bring to the boil, stirring occasionally.

1. Turn down the heat, cover with a lid and simmer for 30 minutes until the vegetables are cooked and most of the liquid has evapourated.
2. Taste for seasoning and add salt and ground black pepper to your own taste.
3. Remove the pan from the heat and leave to cool for 5 minutes. Sprinkle with the flour and then stir the flour into the mixture.

Bake the raised beef and onion pie

All that now remains is to fill the pie and bake.

1. Transfer the pie filling into the baked pastry shell.
2. Roll out the remaining pastry into a circular shape large enough to fit on top of the pie. Lay the pastry over the filling, and press the sides of the filling into the pastry case to seal. Make a few slits on top of the pastry with a sharp knife to allow the steam to escape.
3. Brush the top of the pie with beaten egg and bake for 20 minutes until the pastry is crispy and golden.
4. Remove from the oven and let the pie stand for a few minutes then release the spring and remove the outer edge of the springform pan.

If you would like to tidy the pie up before serving, you could carefully neaten the edges with a sharp knife. I don’t bother because I like the way that the edges of the pastry give the effect of a ‘double-crust’.

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Tips and questions

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Other pie recipes

If you enjoyed this recipe for raised beef and onion pie, you may like to try some of my other pie recipes.

• Leftover chicken and ham pie with mushrooms
• Creamy chicken, leek and mushroom pie
• Traditional British meat and potato pie
• Old fashioned bacon and egg pie
• Homemade steak and kidney pie with puff pastry

The recipe

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