Buttery shortcrust pastry stuffed with a beautiful gooey cheese, potato and onion filling.
Full of flavour (no blandness over here thank you!) it's a comforting, meat-free dinner reminiscent of those yummy chip shop pies!
Being a Northern lass pies are very important to me.
Now that we've moved to Devon, most of the chippies near us don't sell cheese and onion pies.
Fortunately they all sell the most amazing fish and chips, but I do miss a cheese and onion pie every now and then.
So this is my homemade version - full of rich, cheesy, comforting goodness.
📋 What do we need?
- Pastry - use shortcrust pastry - you can use shop bought or make your own. If you want to make your own, take a look at my Cornish pasty recipe - where I make the pastry from scratch.
- Cheese - we want lots of flavour, so go for a mature/strong cheddar.
🔪 How to make Cheese and Onion Pies
***Full recipe with detailed steps in the recipe card at the end of this post.***
- Line individual pie dishes (I use the foil ones (<--affiliate link)) with pastry and prick the base with a fork. Line with baking parchment and baking beans, then bake in the oven for 10 minutes.
- Meanwhile boil a medium potato that's been cut into small chunks. Then drain. Whilst the potato is cooking, soften sliced onion in a pan with butter.
- Stir in flour, then stir in milk and cream. Add grated strong cheddar, mustard powder, salt, pepper and those cooked chunks of potato.
- Remove the parchment and baking beans from the pie cases and spoon in the cheesy sauce.
- Trim off the cooked pastry with scissors.
- Top the pies with pastry, trim again, then crimp the edges of the pastry and brush with egg wash.
- Pierce the top with a sharp knife then place in the oven for 20-25 minutes until golden brown.
👩🍳PRO TIP Use the back of a fork to crimp the pastry for that classic edging.
Serve the pies warm from the oven.
🍽️ What to serve them with
- Crispy Chips (who says you can't have potato with potato!!)
- If you wanted a British classic, serve with mushy peas! (do you want me to post a recipe for them? Let me know in the comments).
- If you want to go with a classic London East end combination, you've got to serve pie with mash!
Or just serve them up on their own. They make a pretty filling meal without the need for side dishes 😁
📺 Watch how to make it
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Individual Cheese and Onion Pies
Ingredients
- 2 x 320g (2 x 11oz) packs ready-rolled shortcrust pastry
- 1 medium potato (about 200g/7oz) - peeled and cut into 1cm cubes
- 2 tbsp unsalted butter
- 1 large onion - peeled and finely sliced
- 2 tbsp plain (all purpose) flour
- 180 ml (¾ cup) whole (full-fat) milk
- 50 ml (2 tbsp +1 tsp) double (heavy) cream
- 150 g (1 ½ packed cups) mature/strong cheddar cheese - , grated
- ¼ tsp mustard powder
- ¼ tsp salt
- ½ tsp freshly ground black pepper
- 1 egg - lightly whisked
INSTRUCTIONS
- Preheat the oven to 200C
- Unroll one of the rolls of pastry and slice into four squares (you'll have pastry leftover - we'll use this to fill any gaps)
- Line 4 individual pie dishes (measuring approx. 11cm diameter x 3.5cm deep - I use these ones (<-affiliate link)) with the pastry squares, so the pastry covers the base and sides and overhangs slightly. Use the leftover pastry from the roll you just cut to cover any gaps.
- Use a fork to prick several holes in the base section of the pastry.
- Cover each pie case with baking parchment and fill with baking beans (or use dried beans or rice).
- Place the pies on a tray and bake in the oven for 10 minutes to par-cook the base of the pies.
- Remove the pie bases from the oven, leave to cool for 10 minutes, then carefully remove the parchment and baking beans.
- While the pastry bases are cooking, make the filling.
- Add the diced potato to a pan and cover with water. Bring to the boil and simmer for 10-12 minutes – until the potato is very tender and starting to break apart. Drain and put to one side.
- Melt the 2 tbsp of butter in a second pan and add the sliced onion. Stir and cook over a medium heat for 5 minutes until the onion softens.
- Sprinkle on the 2 tbsp of flour and stir to coat the onions. Cook for a further minute.
- Add the 180ml (¾ cup) of milk a splash at a time, whilst stirring, until the milk is fully incorporated.
- Add in the 50ml (2 tbsp + 1 tsp) cream, 150g (1 ½ packed cups) cheese, ¼ tsp mustard powder, ¼ tsp salt, ½ tsp pepper and the cooked potatoes.
- Stir together until the cheese has melted and the potatoes break down. The filling should be thick and only just pourable. You can stir in an extra splash of milk if the filling looks too thick.
- Divide the filling between the four pie cases.
- Trim the overhanging edges of the cooked pastry using a pair of scissors.
- Brush a little of the egg wash onto the edges of the pastry.
- Unroll the second roll of pastry. Slice into four squares and place a square on top of each pie dish.
- Cut off any excess pastry with scissors, then crimp the edges of the pastry together using a fork.
- Brush the tops of the pies with egg wash and pierce two holes in the top of each pie using a sharp knife.
- Place the pies on a baking tray and bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes until golden brown.
Video
✎ Notes
Reheat, uncovered, on a tray, in the oven at 180C/375F for 20-25 minutes, until piping hot throughout. Can I freeze them? Yes - make the pies, cool, place in an airtight container and freeze. Defrost overnight in the refrigerator.
Reheat, uncovered, on a tray, in the oven at 180C/375F for 20-25 minutes, until piping hot throughout. Nutritional information is per pie.
Nutrition
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Rita Banks says
Hi Nicky I haven’t any deep dishes so have filling left over, could I freeze it
Regards
Rita
Liz says
Made these pies twice now and a success both times. Very tasty and my husband loves them. I find a lighter option to using mashed potato too which is always good!
Carol says
Nicky, we prefer cheese & onion pasties to pies (easier shape to eat on picnics/days out) so I am wondering whether this filling would be too soft/wet for pasties? Also, would have to miss out the blind-baking, so probably soggy! What do you think? If not practical, please can you give us a cheese & onion pasty recipe that would work? Will also be on the look-out for mushy peas recipe - we love them. Thanks.
Jenny says
love this one, looking forward to making it.
Love that you give tips on everything especially on freezing as there are only 2 of us so we have many leftovers, great.
Angie says
Your video advises that the recipe for Cornish pasties gives instructions for making pastry that can be used for these pies as an alternative to using shop bought, but 450g of plain flour makes enough for 6 pasties which seems like more than you would need to make 4 of these delicious looking pies, or are they deceptively big?
Christine says
I didn't realise how much I had missed cheese and onion pies from the chip shop until I made these. Absolutely delicious😋
Grahame says
G'day Nicky, you're very brave offering a mushy peas recipe, I would love to see it.
Have made a few of your dishes and none have disappointed.
Keep up the good work (and post the mushy peas 😉
Ex Northerner now in Aus. xxx
Chuck says
We caught your video on this recipe quite by accident. This sort of pie really isn't in our heritage, but it looked so good with the cheese oozing out, we had to immediately try it. A winner and something we will be making again and again because it was so simple.
STEPHEN SAUNDERS says
Hi Nicky, would love to have your mushy pea recipe.
MYRON Piantkiwskyj says
Hi Nicky can't wait to try your cheese and onion pie recipy but can you forward the recipy for mushy peas please.
Do you have a recipy for a Chinese takeaway curry sause?Not an English chip shop one.
Many thanks
Mike
Nicky Corbishley says
Thanks Myron. I haven't got a recipe on the site for mushy peas unfortunately. It's on the list, but not one we've done yet.
For Chinese curry sauce, I haven't done a standalone sauce. The closest is the sauce from this recipe: https://www.kitchensanctuary.com/chinese-style-curry-juicy-meatballs/.