Scottish Steak Pie Recipe

This simple, old fashioned Scottish Steak Pie recipe with a golden puff pasty lid is a classic and so easy to make!

A steak pie is a real Winter warmer and pure comfort food. Serve with mashed/new potatoes and seasonal veg for a hearty, warming meal!

I hope you had a lovely Christmas!  We had a lovely quiet, relaxing time – which was exactly what was needed after the crazy December rush!

I just feel the past week has gone by incredibly quickly.  Can you believe it’s New Year’s Eve tomorrow?

Here in Scotland it’s traditional to have a great big steak pie on New Year’s Day. 

Like many others, I’ve often bought a steak pie from my local butchers and they are always delicious, but over the last couple of years I’ve made my own.  

traDitional scottish steak pie recipe

I keep things very simple – my steak pie recipe is admittedly a rich and tender slow cooked beef stew with a golden, crispy puff pasty lid on top. 

The stew is made from onions, diced beef, gravy and seasoning. That’s it. There is no tomato puree and no herbs because personally, I don’t believe they belong in a Scottish steak pie.

This easy, no frills recipe is exactly how my husband loves it, so I wouldn’t change a thing (I would never get away with it anyway even if I wanted to!)

I make no secret of the fact that I use shop bought puff pastry.

Homemade puff pastry may be delicious, but it is a proper faff to make yourself. I like to make things nice and easy on myself and buy a block of puff pastry from the supermarket.

ingredient list

(keep scrolling to find printable recipe card with detailed instructions, but there’s important information here to help you make this recipe perfectly!)

• 800g stewing steak or beef – try and use the best quality you can afford. It will really make a difference!
• 1 tablespoon vegetable or olive oil
• 1 tablespoon plain (all purpose) flour to thicken the gravy
• two large white onions, peeled and thinly sliced

• 400ml beef stock. I’ll happily admit I use Bisto gravy powder or granules and an OXO cube for extra flavour – just like my Granny and Great Granny did! I also use Bisto in my Scottish mince and tatties recipe.

• Salt and freshly ground black pepper to season to perfection

• 500g block or ready rolled puff pastry
• a beaten egg to glaze the pastry

how to make a Scottish Steak Pie

make the filling

• Place the flour in a bowl and season with salt and pepper. Add the diced beef and mix everything together so the beef is evenly coated in the seasoned flour.

• Heat the oil in a large pan, add the sliced onions and cook on a low-medium heat for about 10 minutes or until the onions have softened, beginning to turn light golden but not brown.

brown the beef

• Remove the softened onions from the pan and set aside.

• Turn the heat up to high and brown the beef cubes in batches, crumbling over the Oxo cube. Sealing (browning) the beef properly will give the best flavour, so it’s worth taking your time here.

• Pour in the beef stock, place a lid on the pan, turn the heat down to LOW and let it cook on a gentle heat for a minimum of two hours or until the beef is soft, tender and coated in a thick, delicious gravy.

• At this stage I usually allow the beef stew to cool down completely before chilling overnight. You don’t have to do this, but it really improves the flavour of the stew. It’s also much easier to assemble the pie if the filling isn’t hot.

assembling the pie

• Spoon the beef stew into a suitable pie dish. I use a rectangular ceramic pie dish and it works very well, but I also recommend these enamel round pie dishes.

• Roll out the puff pastry (if using a block and it’s not ready rolled, of course) on a lightly floured work surface. Roll it out to roughly the same thickness as a one pound coin and make it a little larger than your dish to allow for shrinkage.

• Dampen the edges of the dish with a little water and place the rolled out pastry on top on the dish. Trim the edges (don’t make it too short because again – the pastry will shrink slightly) and crimp in a decorative fashion. I use my fingers but you could also use a fork.

bake the pie

• If you like, decorate the top of the pie with cut out shapes from the excess pastry. I used stars for New Year. You don’t have to do this, but I can’t even bear to throw out spare pastry so I just use it up.

• Glaze the pie with beaten egg. Bake in a pre heated oven (200C/180Fan/400F) for 40-45 minutes, or until the pastry is golden brown and crispy.

what to serve with steak pie 

Creamy mashed potatoes is essential for soaking up all that delicious gravy, but you could also have buttered new potatoes or even homemade chips.  It all depends on your personal preference.  Roast potatoes would also be perfect!

When it comes to vegetables, I think buttered peas, carrots and mashed turnip (swede) is delicious served with steak pie.

can you make steak pie in advance?

Absolutely.  If you can, make the pie filling a day or two ahead. This is such a time saver. The beef stew will keep well for up to two days in the fridge and the flavour will only get better. Then all you need to do on the day is spoon the cold beef stew into your pie dish and top with the pastry.

Do bear in mind if you assemble the pie when the filling is cold, you’ll need to cook it for 45-50 minutes to ensure the filling is piping hot.

can you freeze steak pie?

Sure! To freeze a steak pie, prepare the pie as instructed (please make sure the filling is completely COLD) but don’t glaze with egg wash. Tightly wrap the whole dish in a double layer of strong cling film or use a large freezer bag. Freeze for up to three months.

Defrost overnight in the fridge before cooking at 180C/160Fan/350F for 40-45 minutes or until piping hot.

make a steak and sausage pie

In Glasgow it’s traditional to add sausages to a steak pie. It’s not something I’ve ever come across in the Highlands, but I have tried it and can agree it’s delicious!

All you need to do is fully cook the sausages separately – I shalllow fry them in a pan – cut them into pieces and add to the pie dish along with the beef stew.

cooking a scottish dinner for hogmanay?

My vegetable Scotch broth would make a great starter along with oatcakes or bread rolls. For dessert, you couldn’t go wrong with Scottish Cranachan and Scottish shortbread!

If you order a cup of coffee after dinner in a Scottish restaurant you’ll often find a piece of crumbly Scottish tablet on the side.

Want to see more Scottish recipes?

• Cullen Skink

• Tattie Soup

• Haggis neeps and tatties cottage pie

• Dundee Cake

• Empire biscuits

• Treacle Scones

Did you make this recipe? 

Let me know what you thought by leaving a comment – or if you have any questions or need any help, just let me know!  

If you made the recipe and loved it, I would really appreciate it if you would leave a rating by clicking on the stars in the recipe card.  Thank you! 

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Scottish Steak Pie

Yield: serves 4

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 2 hours 45 minutes

Total Time: 3 hours 5 minutes

This simple, old fashioned Scottish Steak Pie with a golden puff pasty lid is so easy to make! It's tradtional to serve steak pie in Scotland on New Year's Day, but it's perfect for anytime of the year. Serve with mashed/new potatoes and seasonal veg for a hearty, warming meal!

Print

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon olive or vegetable oil
• 1 tbsp plain flour, seasoned with salt and pepper
• 2 Large onions, sliced thinly
• 800g best quality stewing or casserole beef, cut into cubes
• 1 Oxo cube
• 400 ml good beef stock (I use Bisto)
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 500g block puff pastry
• flour for rolling out the pastry
• one beaten egg for glazing the pastry lid

Instructions

1. Place the seasoned flour in a large bowl.  Tip in the beef cubes, tossing it in the flour to ensure it is well coated.
2. Heat the oil in a large pan and add the sliced onions. Cook for about 10 minutes over a low-medium heat or until the onions have softened and are beginning to turn light golden but not brown.
3. Using a slotted spoon, remove the onions from the pan and transfer to a dish. Turn the heat up and brown the meat in small batches. Crumble in the Oxo cube and transfer the browned meat to a bowl while you do the next batch.   It's worth taking your time with this stage - browning the meat properly will give your gravy great flavour.
4. When all of meat has nicely browned, tip it all back into the pan along with the onions and pour in the beef stock.  
5. Turn down the heat to low, cover and simmer for 2-2 1/2 hours or until the beef is very tender and is coated in a thick gravy.  I often do this the day before to allow the flavours to develop. Stew always tastes much nicer the next day, doesn't it?
6. Pour the beef stew into a large pie dish and preheat the oven to 200C/180Fan/400F.
7. On a lightly floured surface, roll out your pastry a little larger than your pie dish (to allow for shrinking).  Place the pastry on top of your pie dish.  
8. Trim the edges, seal with a fork or crimp with your fingers and brush with beaten egg. 
9. At this stage you can cut out shapes from the pastry trimmings to decorate the pie, if you like.  Bake the pie for 40-45 minutes or until the pastry is golden and crisp.
10. Serve with mashed potatoes, carrots and peas (or whatever takes your fancy!)

Notes

To make a steak and sausage pie, shallow fry a pack of 4-5 sausages in a little oil until fully cooked. Cut into pieces and add to the pie dish along with the beef stew.

Nutrition Information:

Yield: 6 Serving Size: 1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 764Total Fat: 44gSaturated Fat: 9gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 32gCholesterol: 56mgSodium: 670mgCarbohydrates: 75gFiber: 4gSugar: 7gProtein: 17g

Calories and nutritional information are provided by a third party application and should be viewed as indicative figures only.

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