Copycat recipe, you will not find a better-tasting pasty anywhere else. 😉 Cheese, potato and onion crammed into crispy, flaky puff pastry; the pasties are even the exact size as GREGGS!
*Post updated October 2025
GREGGS used to refer to them as cheese and onion pasties, but they changed the name some time ago, and now they’re simply called bakes. Why? Who knows! 😐
Anyway, you can easily make these at home, and they taste exactly the same.
For those in countries without a GREGGS bakery, you might wonder who Gregg is! It's actually a popular chain of bakery shops found all over the UK, including airports and train stations.
Golden, flaky puff pastry filled with cheese and onion. I wasn’t sure how to replicate their recipe, so I looked up the ingredients listed on the Iceland Foods website, where they’re also sold.
Deary goodness, I was actually quite horrified to read the long list of ingredients. Check them out!
Ingredients in a GREGGS cheese and onion bake
Water, Fortified Wheat Flour (Calcium Carbonate, Iron, Niacin, Thiamin), Palm Oil, Diced Onion (7%), Full Fat Soft Cheese (4%) (Soft Cheese (Milk), Salt), Grated White Mature Cheddar Cheese (4%) (Milk), Dried Potato, Grated Coloured Mature Cheddar Cheese (3%) (Cheddar Cheese (Milk), Colour (Carotenes), 😕 Glaze (Water, Sunflower Oil, Rapeseed Oil, Modified Starch, Milk Protein, Emulsifier (Mono- and Diacetyl Tartaric Acid Esters of Mono- and Diglycerides of Fatty Acids, Mono- and Diglycerides of Fatty Acids)
Not finished just yet!.......
Skimmed Milk Powder, Stabiliser (Carboxy Methyl Cellulose, Carrageenan, Cellulose), Acidity Regulator (Sodium Phosphates), Colour (Carotenes), 😑 Modified Starch, Rapeseed Oil, Cheese Powder (Cheddar Cheese (Milk), Cheese (Milk), Milk Solids, Salt), Salt, Wheat Gluten, Cream Powder (Milk), Flavouring (contains Milk), Stabiliser (Hydroxypropyl Methyl Cellulose), 😟 Mustard Powder, Ground White Pepper.Ingredients in my recipe
Puff pastry, potatoes, butter, onion, white pepper, cheddar cheese, soft cheese, Coleman's English mustard, egg yolks and a splash of water, and that's it!
Homemade is always the best, and the good news is you can easily make these bakes, pasties, slices, or whatever you prefer to call them, right at home without using any strange ingredients.
A step-by-step guide to the perfect pasty
Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F or Gas 6
Peel the potatoes, boil them in lightly salted water until tender, then drain thoroughly and mash. Resist the urge to add butter or milk.
Add the butter to a large frying pan and melt.
Add the onions and cook, stirring occasionally, over low heat for at least 15 minutes until they become soft but remain uncoloured.
If you rush this step, your onions will taste raw; cooking them slowly will bring out a sweeter flavour.
Stir the pepper and remove the pan from the heat.
Add the buttery onions to the mashed potato and cheese mixture and, using a wooden spoon, mix together until smooth.
Stir the mustard, cream cheese and cheddar into the mash while it's still hot.
Preheat your oven to 200°C/400°F or Gas 6
Unroll the pastry sheets and cut out the pastry to size. I cut mine to 15cm by 11cm, but you can make them any size you like.
Place the pastry shapes on a non-stick baking tray or greaseproof paper and brush the edges with beaten egg.
Scoop the filling onto the centre of one side of each pastry, then cover it with another piece of pastry.
Using a fork, crimp the pastries around the edge to seal them.
Use a sharp knife to cut a 'V' shape, then brush the tops thoroughly with the egg wash.
Brush the pastry all over with an egg and score with a knife. Bake on the middle shelf of your preheated oven for 20 minutes or until golden brown.
Serve while still warm and fresh, but be cautious, as the filling will be extremely hot!
You might also like these Cheese and Ham Pastry Puffs.
Have you tried this recipe? Please leave a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ star rating in the recipe card below!
Greggs Cheese and Onion Pasty
Copycat GREGGS recipe. Golden, crispy puff pastry with a delicious cheese and onion filling.
Ingredients
- 3 x 320g packs of ready-rolled puff pastry
- 3 (450g) potatoes - peeled and cut into large cubes
- 30g unsalted butter
- 1 x large onion - cut into small dice
- ¼ teaspoon white pepper
- 200g Cheddar cheese - grated (shredded)
- 100g plain soft cream cheese (I used Philadelphia original)
- 2 teaspoons of Colemans English mustard
- 2 egg yolks and a splash of water - lightly beaten together to make an egg wash
Instructions
- Peel the potatoes, boil them in lightly salted water until tender. Drain them well and mash thoroughly - resist the temptation to add butter or milk.
- Mix the cheddar, soft cheese, and mustard into the hot mash, then set it aside.
- Melt the butter in a large frying pan, then add the onions and cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, for at least 15 minutes until they are soft but not browned. Rushing will leave the onions tasting raw, but slow cooking brings out their sweetness.
- Stir in the pepper, then take the pan off the heat. Mix the buttery onions into the potato and cheese blend.
- Use a wooden spoon to mix until the mixture is fairly smooth. It might look a bit dry, but once in the oven, the cheeses will melt, and the filling will turn out perfectly moist.
- Remove the pastry from the fridge 10 minutes before unrolling.
- Unroll the pastry sheets and cut to size. I cut mine to 16cm by 11cm (the same size as GREGGS pasties). You will get 4 rectangles out of each 320g pack, which will make 2 pasties per roll of pastry.
- Place the pastry shapes on a non-stick baking tray or greaseproof paper and brush the edges with beaten egg.
- Spoon the filling onto the centre of one side of each pastry, then cover it with another piece of pastry.
- Use a fork to crimp the edges of the pastries, sealing them securely.
- Use a sharp knife to cut 'V' shapes, and then brush the tops generously with egg wash.
- Coat the pastry evenly with egg wash and score it gently with a knife. Place the baking tray on the middle rack of your preheated oven and bake for 20 minutes, or until golden brown.
Hi, Do you ever freeze them before baking?
ReplyDeleteHi BBAP
DeleteI haven't ever frozen these but if you were to freeze them, they would most certainly be better frozen before baking and without the egg wash. Then once defrosted add the egg wash and cook as per the recipe.
Or, I'm thinking you could bake straight from the freezer (add egg wash - then bake them for longer, however I've never tried this.
Do you drain the potatoes after boiling? I didn't drain them and so my mixture seems too soft.
ReplyDeleteHi T's Me, yes you have to drain the potatoes. I'll alter the recipe to say so.
DeleteI wonder 🤔 which cream cheese would be nice with this as I feel Philadelphia would be too over powering.
ReplyDeleteDo you use mustard powder or out of a jar?
I may attempt of doing half potato half powdered potato (smash)
Thanks 🙏🏼 for the fun blog look forward to more recipes 💞
Hi The Mad Hatter, I'm so sorry your comment went into spam and I have only just seen it! Not helpful I know. I used Philidelphia Original and yes Coleman's mustard from a jar.
Delete