Australian Beef Party Pies (Mini Meat Pies) (2024)

Move over bakeries, Australian Beef Party Piesare the simple homemade answers to crunchy bliss. Crispy flaky pastry meets beef gravy perfection inthese tiny bites. Freeze themfor make-ahead party food or a quick snack when you need them most.

Why We Love Making These From Scratch

The aroma of freshly baked beef pies is so mouth-wateringly good, that even though you KNOW they’re gonna be hotter than lava, you also KNOW you need to eat them. Right now just isn’t quick enough. So, of course, every time we have party pies we also end up with a burnt tongue… because in over 30 years we’ve still not learned how to resist them.

It’s so easy to buy pre-made pies from the freezer section. But when you have a little time to make them at home, you’ll never regret it.

With homemade pies:

• The flavour is so much more intense
• The pie crust is flakier and crispier
• The filling is much healthier – and for an even better experience, opt for organic produce and
• You get the extra satisfaction of getting your hands dirty in the kitchen and knowing you made it yourself

Related: Top 26 BEST Aussie Recipes to Celebrate!

What are Australian Party Pies?

Meat pies are pretty much a symbol of Australian cuisine. It’s usually a beef and gravy filling with a shortcrust base and flaky pastry top.

They’re so popular you’ll find them almosteverywhere, from bakeries to delis (corner stores), fuel stations (servos) to supermarkets galore.

In South Australia in particular, these are used in a Pie Floater – which is essentially a beef pie ‘floating’ on a bed of pea soup!

Related Party Food: / Zucchini Slice / Fried Spring Rolls

Where we learned this recipe:

As Australians, we grew up with party pies at almost every kid’s birthday celebration you could imagine. There’d usually be big plates fresh out the oven filled with mini pies, sausage rolls and pasties. The hoard of kids would run screaming to grab at the plates and we’d all proceed to burn ourselves in our eagerness to eat, despite the many warnings from concerned parents nearby.

Once the hot pastries were eaten, it wasn’t long before dessert was out and we’d get a sugar rush from a few slices of fairy bread and pavlova.

What You’ll Need

We’ve kitted out our meat pies to be extra delicious with some key ingredients and a couple of veggies thrown in too.

• The Pastry – To speed things up, we’ve used frozen shortcrust pastry and frozen puff pastry sheets, but feel free to make it from scratch if you have the time. We used two sheets of each for this recipe. The key to the bakery style texture is to use shortcrust pastry on the bottom (for crumblyness) and puff pastry on the top (for flakyness).
• Vegetables – We love slipping in a little extra health factor when we can – the grated carrot is perfect as it cooks down to nothing, while mushroom is just a favourite of ours that works well with beef. Feel free to swap things out for your own preferred vegetables or omit them altogether for a real classic simple beef pie.
• Spices – The nutmeg and smoked paprika give a nice hint of extra spice, without overtaking the flavour too much. Feel free to sub out the nutmeg for the more peppery mace if you have it.
• Red Wine – A dry red works well, we usually keep a cheap cask/box of shiraz (or cabernet sauvignon) in the cupboard as this lasts the longest and is great for adding to all sorts of dishes without breaking the bank.
• Beef Mince – We used premium Aussie meat – going with Angus beef mince. You can also use chicken, pork or turkey mince for a different flavour.
• Olive Oil – Always try and get extra virgin olive oil. You can also substitute with butter, vegetable or canola oil here in a pinch.

How to make mini meat pies:

1. Preheat the oven to 180˚C / 360˚F.Remove 2 frozen sheets of shortcrust pastry and puff pastry and leave them on the bench to thaw.
   Heat the olive oil in a large pan and throw in the onions and garlic. Stir them around and cook until nicely fragrant and you just want to eat them all up (around a minute or so). You know, that amazing “Oh my god as if that’s only onions and garlic” smell.
2. Add thebeef minceand cook until nicely browned, then pour over withred wineand sprinkle in thesmoked paprikaandnutmeg. Next, add in the mushrooms and carrots. Cook down until all the liquid has evaporated, stirring occasionally so nothing sticks and burns.
3. Now reduce the heat to medium and add in the tomato paste, beef stock and that glossy brown gravy. Give everything a good stir. Remove from the heat and start working on those pie crusts!

4. Use a large circular jar or bowl to cut out circles roughly 12 cm / 4.5 in in diameter for the shortcrust pastry bases, and 8 cm / 3 in for the puff pastry tops. Note: Sizes may vary slightly depending on the size of your muffin trays.
5. Press the shortcrust bases out into a muffin tin, then scoop in some of the beef filling until they’re full to the top. Don’t overfill, as this will cause the pies to leak while cooking and pop the tops off.

6. Next, place the puff pastry lids over each pie and press around the edge of each lid with your finger to seal them.
7. Baste with the beaten egg and pierce the tops 4 times each with a skewer. Pop them in the oven to bake for around 25 minutes or until the tops are flaky and golden brown.

Wandercook’s Tips

• If you like a really thick gravy, add in an extra tablespoon or two of instant gravy mix and stir through to get it just how you like it.
• If your pastry sheets are straight out the freezer, this is the best time to prise them apart. Carefully pull from a corner, it’s even easier if it has the plastic in between each sheet, as you can use it as a pull tab. Go slowly, and you’ll hear the sheet slowly come away from the pile. This should avoid the sheet snapping while frozen.
• If you push a spoon through the sauce and liquid pools in the space, it’s not thick enough yet, so let it cook down a little longer.
• Taste as you go – if it needs more flavour, add more gravy, spices or a pinch of salt and pepper.

FAQs

Variations & Substitutes

• Instead of a classic beef filling, why not fill your mini pies with leftovers. Chicken casseroles or curries, spaghetti bolognese or beef bourguignon would work perfectly.
• For a vegetarian alternative, fill with sautéed spinach and crumbled feta cheese.

Bake some more classic Australian favourites:

★ Did you make this recipe? Please leave a comment and star rating below!

This post was originally published on 26 July 2016, now updated with new photos, video, recipe notes and tweaks.