A Glug of Oil

Easy and delicious recipes including midweek dinner ideas, English and world cuisine.

GREGGS Cheese and Onion Pasty

Greggs Copycat Recipe

Come on, who doesn't love Greggs? A delicious combination of mature cheddar, potato and onion crammed into crispy flaky puff pastry.  

GREGGS cheese and onion pasty. Cheese and onion pasty recipe with potatoes.

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*Post updated January 2023

GREGGS used to call them cheese and onion pasties but they dropped the name a while back, and now they call it a bake - Why? Who knows! 😐

Anyway, you can easily make these at home and they taste exactly the same.

For those countries that don't have Greggs bakery, you might be wondering who Gregg is! Well, it's a chain of bakery shops that are here there and everywhere in the UK and even at airports and train stations.

Golden, flaky puff pastry with a cheese and onion filling. Now, I had no idea how to copy their recipe but I checked out the ingredients as listed on the Iceland foods website since they sell them.

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!

So you see, homemade is best and you'll be pleased to know you can make these bakes, pasties, slices or whatever you like to call them, at home and without any weird ingredients!

A step-by-step guide to the perfect pasty

Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F or Gas 6

Peel and boil the potatoes in slightly salted water until they’re soft and then, drain well and mash them, but don't be tempted to add any butter or milk.

Add the butter to a large frying pan and melt.

Add the onions and cook while stirring now and then for at least 15 minutes over low heat until they are soft but not coloured. 

If you rush this bit your onions will taste raw and by cooking them slowly they will be sweeter in taste.

Stir the pepper and remove the pan from the heat. 

Onions frying in a pan

Add the buttery onions to the mashed potato and cheese mixture and, using a wooden spoon mix together until you have a smoothish mixture.

Stir the mustard, cream cheese and cheddar into the mash while it's still hot.

  Cheese and onion pasty filling in a saucepan

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.

Put the pastry shapes onto a baking tray onto a non-stick baking tray or onto greaseproof paper and brush around the edges with the beaten egg.

Making Greggs cheese and onion bakes

Spoon the filling into the middle of one side of each pastry and top with another slice of pastry.

Using a fork crimp the pastries around the edge to seal them.

Take a sharp knife and cut 'V' shapes and then brush all over the tops with the egg wash.

Cheese and onion bakes ready for the oven

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.

Cheese and onion bakes out of the oven

Serve while still nice and hot, but be careful as the filling will be piping!

You might also like these Cheese and Ham Pastry Puffs.

Cheese and onion pasty.

Have you tried this recipe? Please leave a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ star rating in the recipe card below!

greggs cheese and onion pasty, cheese and onion pasty, recipe
snack, baking, lunch,
English
Yield: 6
Author: Jan Bennett
Greggs Cheese and Onion Pasty

Greggs Cheese and Onion Pasty

Copycat GREGGS recipe. Golden, crispy puff pastry with a delicious cheese and onion filling.
Prep time: 20 MinCook time: 20 MinTotal time: 40 Min

Ingredients

  • 3 x 320g packs of ready-rolled puff pastry
  • 3 (450g) potatoes - peeled and cut into large cubes
  • 30g butter
  • large onion - cut into small dice
  • ¼ teaspoon white pepper
  • 200g Cheddar cheese - grated
  • 100g soft cream cheese
  • 2 teaspoons of Colemans English mustard
  • 2 egg yolks and a splash of water - lightly beaten together to make an egg wash

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F or Gas 6
  1. Peel and boil the potatoes in slightly salted water until they’re soft, then drain well and mash them, don't be tempted to add any butter or milk.
  2. Stir in the cheddar, soft cheese and mustard into the mash while it's still hot and put aside.
  3. Add the butter to a large frying pan and melt, then add the onions and cook while stirring now and then, for at least 15 minutes over low heat until they are soft but not coloured. If you rush, your onions will taste raw and, by cooking them slowly they will be sweeter in taste.
  4. Stir the pepper and remove the pan from the heat.
  5. Add the buttery onions to the potato and cheese mixture.
  6. Using a wooden spoon, mix together until you have a smoothish mixture. It will be quite dry looking but once they are in the oven the cheeses will melt and your filling won't be dry at all.
To make the bakes
  1. Remove the pastry from the fridge 10 minutes before unrolling.
  2. Unroll the pastry sheets and cut out the pastry to size. I cut mine to 16cm by 11cm, (the same size as GREGGS pasties) you will get four slices of pastry out of each 320g pack, so it will make 2 pasties per roll of pastry.
  3. Put the pastry shapes onto a baking tray onto a non-stick baking tray or onto greaseproof paper and brush around the edges with the beaten egg.
  4. Spoon the filling into the middle of one side of each pastry and top with another slice of pastry.
  5. Using a fork crimp the pastries around the edge to seal.
  6. Take a sharp knife and cut 'V' shapes and then brush all over the tops with the egg wash.
  7. Brush the pastry all over with egg wash and score with a knife. Bake on the middle shelf of your preheated oven for 20 minutes or until golden brown.
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4 comments

  1. Hi, Do you ever freeze them before baking?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi BBAP
      I 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.

      Delete
  2. Do you drain the potatoes after boiling? I didn't drain them and so my mixture seems too soft.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi T's Me, yes you have to drain the potatoes. I'll alter the recipe to say so.

      Delete

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Cheers
Jan