Bacon and egg pies (breakfast pies) are a New Zealand classic! Juicy scrambled eggs, hearty whole eggs, thick smoky chunks of juicy bacon, lightly spiced flavorful soft leeks, and gooey cheese all encased in beautiful, buttery, flaky layers of puff pastry – this really is the ULTIMATE Bacon and Egg pie!
It’s a large pie that serves 4 (or 6 with a side salad), and is a great weekend brunch for the whole family!
There’s nothing quite like a great Bacon and Egg Pie for this Kiwi girl! This breakfast pie is a New Zealand classic. It only needs 3 ingredients; bacon, egg, and pastry. Give me those three, and I’ll be a happy camper making these bacon and egg pies till the end of my days. But, to make this version of my ULTIMATE Bacon and Egg Pie, you will need a little more than 3 ingredients. However, you can switch up those ingredients to make your own version of this breakfast pie. But this is my favorite cheesy, spicy bacon and egg pie version.
Why is this the ULTIMATE BACON AND EGG PIE?
Smoked Bacon
Make sure to get some good quality bacon. I bought nitrate-free, smoked, thick cut bacon. It’s so good that my hands smelt like applewood smoke for a while after slicing them up. Good quality fresh bacon goes a long way toward making these the ultimate bacon and egg pie!
However, regular smoked bacon is no slouch either! I’d recommend thick cut bacon so that you get nice thick chunks of bacon in this pie. Another option is to add a couple of drops of liquid smoke to the leek mixture so that you still get a subtle smoky taste, but that’s completely optional of course.
Eggs
Some bacon and egg pies call for scrambled eggs, but I prefer whole eggs. However, scrambled eggs are good at absorbing flavor and juices from the bacon and leeks in this pie, so I made a compromise and added both whole eggs and scrambles eggs into these breakfast pies. So out of the 8 eggs used for this recipe, 6 were whole, and the yolks of the remaining two were broken. This gave 2 “scrambled eggs” that spread through the pie and the other whole eggs were evenly placed throughout the pie. And I do recommend free-range eggs for this breakfast pie.
Leeks
Yes, I add leeks to this pie! I added leeks instead of onions because leeks have a milder, sweeter taste than onions, and has a herby-vibe too. The leeks were softened with butter, garlic, Worcestershire sauce and chili flakes to add plenty more flavor. So the leeks are great way to deliver more flavors like garlic, chili and herbs in this bacon and egg pie.
Cheese
Just a sprinkling of cheese adds more flavor. I used Monterey Jack which melts well and has a milder taste than cheddar. If you can’t find Monterey Jack (if you live outside the US), use a young, unsmoked gouda instead (smoked gouda has a stronger flavor). The cheese adds a delightful creaminess to the pie without making it too soggy – so I really love this addition.
Now here’s another serving tip. TOMATO KETCHUP! You just have to serve this with tomato ketchup, because that’s as Kiwi as it gets. It’s just not the same without it. So whether you make your own, or prefer store-bought tomato ketchup, make sure it accompanies this ultimate bacon and egg pie! 🙂
Tips and tricks for handling puff pastry and for making this ultimate bacon and egg pie
I also made my own puff pastry for this pie, using my recipe for rough puff pastry here. It’s a quick and easy, fantastic recipe that a lot of my readers have tried and loved, but if you’re looking to cut down on time, then I would recommend buying pre-made puff pastry instead. For this recipe you will need 3 frozen puff pastry sheets (about 1.5 lbs / 680 g). If you want to decorate the top of the pie (like I have here), you will need extra puff pastry (1 sheet or less) to cut out the shapes, but that’s completely optional.
For the bottom layer, I roll out the puff pastry to about 2 mm in thickness. Since the pastry layer at the bottom only cooks with the heat of the pan, it is important to keep this layer fairly thin, so that it browns on the outside and cooks properly.
For the top layer, I rolled out my puff pastry to about 3 – 4 mm in thickness. It’s better to keep it on the thin side as well, so that it cooks properly all the way to the center. But this layer does cook faster than the bottom layer (which is pretty obvious). But if the top browns too much, simply cover the top with foil and let it cook the rest of the way.
To help the bottom cook evenly, what I like to do is to keep a metal sheet pan in the oven while it’s preheating. This way the pan heats up and retains heat before you place your pie in the oven. I place the pie dish directly on this preheated pan, so that it can directly heat up the dish from the bottom (like a pizza stone).
What size is this bacon and egg pie?
This is a family style bacon and egg pie that you can make as a slab. I used a 1.5 qt casserole dish, but you can use an equivalent pie dish too. This will generously serve 4 people. It is quite filling, but if necessary you can serve 6 people with a side salad to make it a complete meal.
My casserole dish was about 10 x 7 inches and 1.5 inches deep. If your casserole dish is similar and has a volume of 1.5 qt, then this can easily be made in it. You can use an 8.5 inch or 9 inch pie dish as well.
This breakfast pie really is the ultimate bacon and egg pie to me! I shared another breakfast pie on the blog before, which you can check out right here. This pie is even better because,
- You get the best of both egg worlds – hearty full-boiled eggs, and juicy scrambled eggs.
- Delicious, smoky chunks of bacon in every single bite.
- Lightly spiced, flavorful soft leeks adding another layer of flavor along with a mild onion taste and Worcestershire sauce.
- Gooey cheese that adds a delicious creaminess to the bacon and egg pie.
- Perfectly flaky, buttery puff pastry layers.
Who wouldn’t want a slice of this for breakfast? This is a New Zealand staple and classic. One bite of this ultimate breakfast pie, and you’ll know why! 🙂
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Ingredients:
Leek Mixture
- 1 tbsp butter
- 2 cups of sliced and washed leeks about 1 leek
- 3 - 4 cloves of garlic minced
- ½ tbsp chili flakes
- Pinch of salt
- 1 tbsp worcestershire sauce
Bacon and Egg Pie
- 1 ½ lbs puff pastry or 3 store-bought pastry sheets, thawed
- Extra puff pastry sheet for decorations optional
- 12 oz smoked bacon thick cut, cut into 1 cm thick strips
- 9 eggs 1 yolk is reserved for the egg wash
- 3 oz monterey jack cheese shredded
- Extra salt and pepper to taste
Instructions:
Leek Mix
- In a saucepan, melt the butter over medium-high heat. Add the garlic, leeks, pinch of salt and chili flakes and cook until the leeks have softened, while stirring frequently. Once the leeks have softened, stir in the worcestershire sauce. Allow the leek mixture to cool down sightly.
Bacon and Egg Pie
- Place a heavy sheet pan in the middle rack of your oven, and preheat oven to 400°F / 200 °C.
- Butter a 1.5 qt casserole dish. Make sure to butter the top edges as well, since the puff pastry will puff up over the edge.
- Lightly dust a work surface to roll out the puff pastry. Roll out about 14-15 oz of the puff pastry on the floured surface in a rectangle shape (to fit the bottom of the casserole dish), that's about 2 mm in thickness. If using puff pastry sheets, place two sheets slightly overlapping each other, and roll them out until they are about 2 mm thick (and the two sheets are joined together). This will be the bottom pastry.
- Roll out the remaining puff pastry (or 1 sheet of puff pastry) to fit the top of the pie dish, about 3 mm in thickness. Cover with a napkin/plastic wrap and set aside.
- Place the sheet of pastry in the casserole dish, and gently fit it on the bottom of the dish, with the pastry hanging over the edges. Be careful not to stretch it too much as this can result in shrinking. Using a fork, dock the bottom of the pastry.
- Place about ⅓ of the bacon on the bottom of the pie.
- Break 2 eggs into the pie dish and using a fork, break the egg yolks and spread the eggs on the base of the pie dish. Break an extra egg, but reserve the egg yolk in a separate bowl, add the egg white to the pie.
- Break in the rest of the eggs into the pie, while evenly spacing them through the dish. Sprinkle some salt and pepper on top.
- Dollop ½ of the leek mixture over the eggs, followed by the rest of the bacon, then the rest of the leeks and finally the grated cheese. Sprinkle a little salt and pepper over the cheese.
- Brush some water around the edge of the pie, and place the top pastry to cover the casserole dish. Press the edges gently to seal. Roll the excess to create a ridge along the edge of the pie, and crimp it using a fork to completely seal the edges of the pie.
- Mix the extra egg yolk with about 1 tbsp of water and whisk to combine. Brush this egg yolk over the surface of the pie. Cut extra decorations (optional), and place them on top of the pie. Brush the decorations with the egg wash as well. Make 5 slits in the pie carefully (to avoid piercing one of the eggs).
- Place the pie in the preheated oven, on top of the preheated baking tray. Lower the heat to 375°F/190°C, and cook for about 50 minutes.
- Check the pie after 20 minutes, rotate the pie if necessary and check every 10 minutes afterwards. If the top looks like it's going to burn, cover with foil.
- When the pie is baked, remove it from the oven and let it cool down. Slice and serve while warm or at room temperature.
- Serve with tomato ketchup or tomato relish.
Tips & Tricks
“This website provides approximate nutrition information for convenience and as a courtesy only. Nutrition data is gathered primarily from the USDA Food Composition Database, whenever available, or otherwise other online calculators.”
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Kat says
Would it work if I made the bottom crust thicker and blind baked it first?
Dini says
Hi Kat
It should be fine! You will need to use water or the egg wash to stick the top pastry layer to the blind baked bottom layer though, as they won’t pinch together to seal.
Hope that helps!
Rachael B says
I’ll have give this version a try. As a NZ farm kid, I associate this pie with haymaking picnics on a summer evening…bliss. I have never heard of this as a breakfast thing, but why not.
I use frozen peas in mine, I like the addition of green for colour. My Nana used to add left over potato slices too.
Julie Bestic says
Fantastic recipe thank you
Hannah says
Can I prepare the day before and bake it the next day? Or will the pastry go soggy?
Dini says
Hi Hannah
If you want to prepare this the day before, I still recommend it baking it and then reheating it before baking. OR you can replace the raw eggs with soft boiled or hard boiled or scrambled eggs.
I hope that helps!
Ray Ingles says
Made this on the spur of the moment, had some puff pastry to use up. Could hardly wait for it to cool down but well worth it. Delicious and juicy so tasty, hard to stop myself eating it all. Half left for dinner what a treat it is. Thankyou I’m hooked
RAYMOND MCCRUDEN says
Tastes awesome
Oliver says
This was delicious! I’m a kiwi and have made many B&E pies before, but the addition of the spiced leeks and cheese took it next level. Thanks!
Michelle says
PS Def not anything similar to a NZ classic. New Zealanderss would never add Cheese into the tradition ones. (even the cafe ones dont have cheese).
plus wouldnt have the leeks at all. If you are modifying in NZ, it would onion and raw, skipping the whole first step so the onion gets cooked inside the pie.
Im sure its a great recipe, but nothing kiwi about this one sorry.
Dini says
Hi Michelle
I’m Kiwi. While I did eat the bacon and egg pies that you have described at cafes and stores, THIS is the way my family made bacon and egg pies, growing up in Wellington. While we liked the regular version as well, my friends and family always preferred it this way 🙂
Also, I don’t actually refer to this as a classic kiwi bacon and egg pie (as described in the post). That’s why I call it the ultimate version of a bacon and egg pie 🙂
Kia kaha!
Noeline Thresh says
I have one just like that in the oven now. I have also added a couple of skinned chopped sausages as well. That’s always nice for a change.
Lyn Stiles says
Can this be frozen
Dini says
Hi Lyn
I wouldn’t recommend freezing this recipe because raw eggs don’t have the same texture once they are thawed out (especially the yolks). This will result in egg yolks that have dried out.
If you do want to freeze this, then I recommend adding hard boiled eggs to the pie filling instead of raw eggs and then freezing it. OR adding partially cooked (soft) scrambled eggs instead of raw eggs. This will change the filling consistency too, but will make it freezable.
Hope that helps!
Noeline Thresh says
Yes it freezes beautifully
Isabel Hemming says
Delicious!
Kiwi says
If it’s a Kiwi pie, you’ll use tomato sauce, not tomato ketchup! Preferably Wattie’s 🙂
Dini says
So true. But I cant get any Watties where I live now, so have to be happy with the inferior ketchup instead…
Pauline says
Delicious thank you
Kirsten Elliott says
Made this for my husband as a childhood favourite and I’d never made before! What can I say one happy happy hubby and I thought was gorgeous too! Thank you!! Xx
Mike says
Wow – this really is the gen-u-wine Kiwi B&E pie just like my mum used to cook 🙂
I cooked it last night and it was absolutely fantastic. I halved it and used a smaller Pyrex pie dish (since it was just for myself and my partner) but we both got a large slice with enough left over for lunch today (and believe me, it’s even better the next day – whether reheated or eaten cold!).
I’ve also checked out your fennel and pork sausage rolls and will make them for the next family gathering we have as I can’t eat too much of that sort of thing these days 🙁
Whakawhetai mo te tiri (or thanks for sharing) 🙂
Diana Lopes says
WOW, I am seriously trying this one out. Maybe tomorrow already. I love it!
cakespy says
This looks absolutely PERFECT. I love the flavor combo, the pastry looks to have the absolute perfect sturdy yet flakey texture, and your presentation as always is impeccable.
Samantha says
This looks insanely good!! It’s all my favourite breakfast items wrapped into one amazing pie! Yum!
Maggie says
Hello
This recipe looks scrumptious!!!
Am I able to prepare this the night before and bake it in the morning?
Maggie…
Dini says
Hi Maggie!
This is best assembled on the day you will be baking it. You can have all the ingredients ready to go the night before though. This is because the raw eggs may cause the unbaked puff pastry to get soggy overnight.
You can however, cook the eggs first, and then add it to the pie. This way the eggs won’t have the opportunity to make it soggy overnight. You can either make the eggs soft scrambled eggs, or make jammy hard boiled eggs to prevent the eggs from over baking inside the pie. Bake it in the lower half of the oven, so that the bottom becomes nice and crisp. Hope that helps!
Cheers,
Dini
Lorena says
Those flowers on top are so so pretty!! A beautiful way to present breakfast to a crowd!