Beef Steak Pie is a wonderful old recipe that needs to be brought back to life! It is a rich, meaty steak and mushroom pie recipe that gives you a taste of history and is super comforting for cold weather days!
This Beef Steak Pie was inspired by an old recipe published in a cookbook from 1747 and is a dish that, near as I can tell, would likely have been served by the townspeople of Salem, Massachusetts during the Salem Witch Trials a half a century earlier.
If you like this beef steak pie, I’m sure you will also love my Homemade Chicken Pot Pie Recipe, Beef Wellington, or Roast Beef Sliders!
A Beef Steak Pie definitely isn’t exclusive to Salem or the 17th century. Stewing meat is actually an ancient cooking technique, and a wikipedia article on meat pie says that it was the ancient Greeks who first filled something resembling a pastry crust with meat.
That dish eventually made it’s way to northern Europe where they were referred to as “coffins” (even more appropriate for Halloween, right?). The name “pie” became popularized in Medieval times, possibly because of the popularity of using magpies (which were originally just called “pies”) as the meat filling inside the pastry crust.
The Pilgrims brought the recipes for meat pies with them across the ocean when they came to the North American continent. While there are lots of meat pie variations depending on what meat you want to put into your pie, the idea of a Beef Steak Pie really appealed to me.
Steak pies like this are still popular today in Scotland during Hogmanay, which is their celebration of the New Year and the Scottish steak pie recipes I found online are pretty much just like the one I’m sharing here.
This Beef Steak pie is honestly so, so wonderful and homey and delicious. The chuck steak is cut into chunks, seared, and then cooked slowly with vegetables in a savory gravy made with beef broth thickened with flour and seasoned with some of my favorite herbs.
The long, slow cooking process could easily be accomplished in the slow cooker, if you want to go that route, as it breaks down the tissues in the inexpensive cut of beef to make it wonderfully tender.
And while delicious on it’s own, the beef stew is just incredibly wonderful baked under a classic, buttery, flaky pie crust. It puts any sad, soggy pot pie you had growing up to shame and reinstates this classic dish to its former glory.
It’s a bit of a labor of love to make, but it’s completely worth it and most of the cooking is passive time, so please don’t let that deter you. And you could easily make 2 pies at the same time and freeze one for and easy meal on another night!
Also, you definitely need to check out The Gingered Whisk’s Colonial Gingerbread Cake Recipe as a wonderful, authentic dessert to go with this dinner and complete the meal!
More Comforting Dinner Recipes Like This
- The BEST Homemade Chicken Pot Pie Recipe
- Slow Cooker Cuban Mojo Pork
- Best Ground Beef Stroganoff Recipe
- Authentic German Sauerbraten Recipe
- The Best Shepherd’s Pie Recipe
- Georgian Chicken Stew with Tomatoes and Herbs [Chakhokhbili]
- Slow Roasted Lamb Shoulder with Pomegranate Apricot Glaze
- Honey Roast Duck Recipe
- Crock Pot Mississippi Pot Roast
Did you make this recipe?
Let me know what you thought with a comment and rating below. You can also take a picture and tag me on Instagram @houseofnasheats or share it on the Pinterest pin so I can see.
Beef Steak Pie
Ingredients
Pie Crust
- 1 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour plus extra for the work surface
- 1/2 teaspoon table salt
- 3 Tablespoons vegetable shortening
- 5 Tablespoons salted butter cut into 1/4-inch pieces and chilled
- 4-6 Tablespoons ice water
Beef Stew Filling
- 2 lbs. chuck steak cut into 1/2- to 1-inch cubes
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 2 Tablespoons olive oil
- 1 onion chopped
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 1 celery rib chopped
- 3-4 carrots peeled and chopped into bite-size chunks
- 1 yukon gold potato unpeeled, washed and diced
- 8 ounces button mushrooms sliced
- 2 Tablespoons fresh rosemary chopped
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- 3 cups beef broth
- 1/3 cup flour
- 1 large egg beaten
Instructions
- Prepare pie crust by stirring together the flour and salt. Using a pastry cutter or a food processor (affiliate link), cut the shortening and butter into the flour until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.1 ¼ cups unbleached all-purpose flour, ½ teaspoon table salt, 3 Tablespoons vegetable shortening, 5 Tablespoons salted butter
- Sprinkle 2 tablespoons of the ice water over the flour mixture and gently stir it in using a fork, then repeat with the remaining water, adding 2 tablespoons at a time, just until the dough starts to come together. Use your hands to press the dough into a ball, then flatten into a disc and wrap tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.4-6 Tablespoons ice water
- Season the meat with the salt and pepper. In a large skillet or dutch oven over medium-high heat, add the oil. When the oil is hot, add the seasoned meat, working in batches if necessary, and searing until nicely browned on all sides, about 8 to 10 minutes. Remove from skillet and set aside.2 lbs. chuck steak, 2 teaspoons salt, ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, 2 Tablespoons olive oil
- Reduce the heat to medium and add another tablespoon of oil if the skillet is looking dry, then add the onions and garlic and sauté for 2 minutes.1 onion, 3 cloves garlic
- Add the carrots, celery and potato and cook for another 6 to 8 minutes, until the vegetables are starting to soften a bit and the onions look translucent. Add the mushrooms and continue to cook 2-3 minutes more.1 celery rib, 3-4 carrots, 1 yukon gold potato, 8 ounces button mushrooms
- Add the chopped rosemary, thyme, and oregano and cook for another 30 seconds, then sprinkle the flour over the vegetables and stir to coat everything evenly. Cook for another 2-3 minutes.2 Tablespoons fresh rosemary, 1 teaspoon dried oregano, 1 teaspoon dried thyme, ⅓ cup flour
- Stir in the beef broth until flour is completely dissolved, then add the seared beef back to the vegetables and gravy. Cover the skillet or dutch oven with a lid and reduce the heat to low. Simmer gently for 1 1/2-2 hours or until the meat is tender, stirring occasionally. Allow the chilled pie crust dough to sit on the counter for 10 minutes before rolling it out to assemble the pie.3 cups beef broth
- Pour the beef stew filling into a deep pie dish until ¾ full. Any remaining stew can be used to make individual size pies or eaten plain.
- Roll out the pie crust on a floured surface, then transfer it to cover the beef filling, making sure there is some overhand so the crust doesn’t shrink entirely away from the side of the pie dish while baking.
- Decorate the pie with leaves cut from scraps of pie crust, if desired and brush the entire crust with the beaten egg. Cut slits in the top of the pie to allow steam to escape, then bake for 25 to 30 minutes in a 400°F oven until the filling is bubbling and the crust is golden brown.1 large egg
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 30 minutes before serving.
That is one good looking pie! Perfect comfort food now its getting cold outside!
Ok totally making this for dinner some time!!!!
Do it! And let me know what you think!
Made this today – Was great. I live in the Rockies and sometimes pastry crusts can be challenging, but this came out wonderful. Great seasoning for the filling too.
Oh, And I totally love gingerbread cake too. I’m going to try it with half treacle (golden) as your recipe suggests because last time I made it I got heartburn from it.
Thanks for the recipe.
We made this last night. It was incredible! A delicious meal for a cool fall night.
Hi, I’m an American, living in Scotland, and yes, this is a traditional Hogmanay dish (New Year’s Day) they do use suet, readily found in the grocery stores, and use puff pastry, which I’m not fond of. So, , thought I’d try making my own and will be making this tonight!
Could this filling be made in a slow cooker? Thank-you!
Yes, absolutely! Or even an instant pot!
You can’t be serious. You don’t know what suet is? It’s what the English put in a steamed pudding. Sort of a fatty white substance that comes with beef. Here, they use it in bird feeders.
My god, how big is the pie tin lol…… surely this would be bigger than a normal 9” tin ?
It’s a deep dish pie plate, not a regular one.
I searched high and low for an easy steak pie recipe to follow and happened upon yours and happy that I did. This was my first attempt so I wanted to get it right. I did however cut corners and got store bought pie crust because it’s Mother’s day and I didn’t want to create extra work. The filling came out rich and flavorful. I did use red wine and stock, along with a medley of potatoes (red, yellow, purple) since I didn’t have any mushrooms on hand. The finished product was a crowd pleaser to my family, so I’ll save this for future reference.
I have never posted a comment about all the recipes I have collected through the years but this is me and my husband’s favorite dish to make, I’m going to attempt to make 2 of them tonight with the leftover filling because we’re having our daughter and her boyfriend for dinner, I figure I always have leftovers with the filling so hopefully this works… wish me luck and thank you for the delicious recipe 🙂