This steak and potato pie is one of the most comforting pies you’ll ever make!

Typically a steak and potato pie would use beef and potatoes as the filling. However, today we’re going to have a bit of fun and place the potatoes on top like a potato gratin. Yes, heaven truly is a place on earth. Follow me…

potato steak pie fresh out the oven with scoop showing filling

Steak Pie

Don’t worry, when I say ‘steak’ I don’t mean you’ve got to use expensive cuts of steak for this pie. It’s just a more general term for a chunky beef pie.

What kind of beef should I use?

Your beef selection is important. What you want is beef that’s suitable for braising/slow cooking. A good sign of this is the beef having marbled fat. This will ensure the beef stays tender over the long cooking time. Don’t use lean beef, it’ll come out dry. Full disclosure, the beef I filmed with was not optimal in terms of the meat-to-fat ratio (it’s all had access to at the time!).

Preparing the beef

Preparing the beef happens in two stages:

Slicing – you want quite large chunks. Large chunks will be more robust throughout the cooking process (they’ll break down as they cook).
Seasoning – whilst the beef will soak in some flavour from the gravy, it’s always a good idea to season the meat directly before cooking.

Frying the beef

I like to sear the beef before it simmers, just to develop a bit more flavour. You’ll want to work in batches and over a very high heat. You don’t need to cook the beef at this point, just brown the outside. Doing this will also create ‘fond’ in the base of the pot, which in turn adds more flavour to the gravy.

Process shots: slice and season beef (photos 1&2), fry in batches (photos 3&4).

Steak Pie Filling

The aim of the game with the filling is to create a gravy with a thick texture and a deep, rich flavour. Besides the gravy ingredients, you’ll want to add some onion, carrot and garlic.

Steak Pie Gravy Ingredients

Oil & Flour – create a roux to thicken the gravy.
Red Wine – adds a gorgeous depth of flavour and pairs perfectly with the beef.
Stock – creates the base of the gravy.
Oxo Cube, Worcestershire Sauce & Tomato Puree – add more depth of flavour.
Bay Leaves – the perfect herb for braising beef!

Simmering the sauce

Before you make and bake the pie, you’ll need to simmer the beef with the gravy. This is crucial for a few different reasons:

Tenderise Beef – the beef needs to tenderise and soften before adding it to the pie.
Flavour – simmering will allow all the flavours to marry together.
Reduce – simmering will reduce and thicken the sauce.

We’re going to initially simmer with the lid on to tenderise the beef and marry the flavours, then we’ll remove the lid to reduce and thicken the gravy. The end result might look a little more saucy than you’re used to for a beef pie, but it will reduce more in the oven as the potatoes soak in the gravy.

Process shots: fry onion, carrot, garlic (photo 1), stir in flour (photo 2), stir in wine (photo 3), stir in stock, Worcestershire sauce, Oxo, tomato puree and bay leaves (photo 4), add beef (photo 5), simmer (photo 6).

Steak Pie and Potato Pie

Once the filling is done, you must allow it to cool in the baking dish. This will allow a skin to form over the top, which acts as a protective layer that prevents the potatoes from sinking into the filling.

Potato gratin pie

You could add mashed potatoes to this, you could also add pastry, but we’re going to layer on some sliced potatoes. Technically this makes this more of a hotpot, but we’re too far deep into calling it a pie now 😅. In between 3 layers of thinly sliced potatoes, we’re going to brush on some rosemary garlic butter for added flavour.

Baking the pie

It’s important to initially bake the pie with foil. This will allow the potatoes to cook without the gravy underneath reducing. You can then remove and continue baking until the potatoes are knife tender and browned on top.

Process shots: cool filling in baking dish (photo 1), layer potatoes with garlic rosemary butter (photo 2), cover and bake (photo 3), uncover and bake (photo 4).