Steak and Sausage Pie (Scottish Recipe)

Steak and Sausage Pie is the ultimate classic comfort food, especially when served with a pile of creamy mash and buttery green vegetables. The addition of sausages are a must; as it makes it a great family-friendly dinner option too.

I’ve included the method for stovetop Steak and Sausage Pie and also how to make it in the Slow Cooker below. You can choose whichever option suits your situation best.

I had a conversation recently with my friend in the butchers about a customer who returned a Steak Pie because it was a Steak and Sausage Pie. The lady quite literally returned a half eaten pie because it had sausages in it. She had pointed at the wrong one when selecting it and returned it because it dared to have sausages. I am the total opposite; the inclusion of sausages infinitely improves the meal for me.

Plus my kids prefer sausages to cubed beef steak, so it offers a meal option that caters to the whole family. My husband and I eat more of the beef, whilst the kids dig into the sausages and gravy.

Hopefully you’re on this page because you prefer a Steak and Sausage Pie over the classic solo steak.

Scottish New Year Tradition

Bruce McColl, the member services manager for the Scottish Craft Butchers Association, was able to provide some insight into our January 1 delight.

He said: “One theory holds that steak pie became the national dish at New Years because January 1 wasn’t generally taken as a holiday so families were too busy to cook,” said Mr McColl.

“They would buy steak pies to feed their families instead, this continues to this day as people want a delicious meal after the previous night’s celebrations.

“So it was essentially one of the first ready meals.”

Ingredients for Steak and Sausage Pie

Carrot

Onion

These two vegetables are the classic choice for most Scottish dishes (we love to be predictable). You could add others (mushrooms, celery, leek etc.) to bulk it out if you want. But I prefer to opt to serve it with some green veg on the side instead of overloading the Steak and Sausage Pie itself.

Sausages: my preference is for pork link sausages from the butchers. Pork simply due to preference, but beef would work equally as well. And I opt to buy from the butchers for quality, but you can use any sausages you like the taste of.

Beef: lean cubed beef from the butchers. The two meat elements are the heart of the dish, so don’t scrimp on quality if you can help it as it makes a huge difference in the final dish.

Black Pepper

Flour: plain flour (all purpose) helps create a great crust on

Mixed Herbs: optional – it’s just always something both my Mum and Gran added to their Scottish dishes when I was growing up, so it features in mine too.

Brown Sauce: I use this interchangeably with Worcestershire Sauce, so choose one or the other. It adds a slight sour tang to the gravy that I would miss otherwise.

Beef Stock: I personally use Knorr (I love their Rich Beef Stock Pots) or OXO, but any supermarket beef stock is fine. Use whatever suits your taste as a family.

Water

Gravy Granules: I love Bisto gravy granules, but use whatever is your preference.

Egg: this is to egg wash the pastry to create that gorgeous golden crust, but you can also use milk in a pinch too.

Puff Pastry: I use JusRol Ready Roll Puff Pastry Sheets.

Method for Steak and Sausage Pie

Add oil into a large pan with onion, carrot and mixed herbs – start to soften on medium heat. Coat cubed beef in black pepper and plain flour in a large bowl.

After vegetables have been softening for 5 minutes, add sausages (cut in half) and continue to cook. Once sausages have browned and vegetables have softened slightly, remove from the pan into a separate bowl.

Add the flour coated beef into the pan, with a little extra oil, and brown on all sides.

Stovetop Method

Once browned, add brown sauce and softened vegetables and sausages back in with beef stock.

Bring to the boil, then reduce to a medium heat and simmer for approx 75 minutes (no lid). Stir through gravy granules (use more if you like the gravy to be thicker).

Slow Cooker Method

Once the beef has browned off, stir through the brown sauce to deglaze the pan and then add it to the slow cooker with the sausages and vegetables.

Either Method (Stove / Hob or Slow Cooked)

Cut puff pastry in shape of pie dish (I leave 1cm edge more than the size of the dish), and keep in fridge until needed.

Remove the puff pastry from fridge about 20 minutes before you plan to use.

Allow steak and sausage pie mix to cool in pie dish for a while first.

This helps the puff pastry to ‘puff’ up better. Adding the pastry onto a cold base is optimal.

Add the puff pastry on top of the pie, and either seal the lid on top with a fork or press shut.

Poke a couple of holes in the top with knife or fork (to let steam out) and egg wash with whisked egg.

To Cook:

Pre heat oven to 200C (fan) / 220C conventional / 375F

If cooking straight away (ideally leave the filling to cool down slightly first as this results in the best puff pastry results, as per above) then:

Oven bake for 20 minutes until golden brown

OR

If refrigerating first (i.e. you’ve made it in advance) then:

Oven bake for 35 minutes straight from the fridge.

Storage and Re Heating

Preparation and Storage

You can prepare the base for the Steak and Sausage Pie up to 4 days in advance.

And the base mix can be frozen once made. It will last approx. 4 months in the freezer.

However, I would recommend freezing the base only and cooking the puff pastry when you plan on serving as it doesn’t reheat particularly well.

Re-Heating

To reheat, either bake in the oven with the puff pastry from raw, as per cooking option above (35 mins).

If it already has cooked puff pastry on top then I would recommended also reheating in the oven until piping hot throughout. But you can also microwave if necessary.

And finally…

If you have any questions, or want to tell me what you think of my recipe, then leave a comment below!

If you like this recipe and are looking for more Classis Scottish recipes, then why not try my Mince and Tatties,  Doughballs for Mince, Lentil & Ham Hock soup or Scotch Broth?