Save your leftover beef and ale stew and transform it into the best tasting slow cooker beef and ale pie.
This is leftovers heaven, so simple to make and will work well with many leftover stews for a Monday night dinner.
Table of Contents
Steak And Ale Pie
Yesterday we shared with you how to make the most delicious ever slow cooker steak and ale stew.
But of course, even though we are feeding a family of four, two of them are kids and they don’t eat that much. This means that after a stew, we often have lots leftover in the fridge and the next day we upgrade our stew into the best ever pie and its so easy.
Best of all, you don’t have to do this with a steak and ale stew, it can be any leftover stew, following the same concept.
Such as our slow cooker vegetable stew, or our slow cooker lamb stew and dumplings.
So lets transform a hearty stew into a hearty pie with just 2 main steps……
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Can You Make A Pie In The Slow Cooker?
Yes, you sure can. You can make a pie with pastry like we are showing you today in our slow cooker steak pie, or you can cover a pie with mashed potatoes like with a slow cooker shepherd’s pie or a slow cooker fish pie.
What Is Steak And Ale Pie?
Steak and ale pie, or steak pie, is a delicious pie made from chunks of beef which is usually braising or chuck, that is slow cooked in ale. Or as you might call it beer.
The beer adds a delicious flavour to the meat and then it is topped with pastry for the ultimate old fashioned hearty winter pie.
Does Steak And Ale Pie Have Alcohol?
Yes, steak and ale pie does have alcohol. Ale is part of the beer family and even though you add alcohol to the pie you don’t really taste it as the alcohol cooks out. You could eat a whole steak and ale pie and never get drunk on it!
I often share our steak and ale pie with our kids and they are never affected from the alcohol content and instead it just adds a rich flavour to the steak pie.
What Beer Is Best For Steak And Ale Pie?
John Smiths Extra Smooth Guinness is probably most associated with the homemade streak pie.
But either Guinness or something similar will do the trick.
We used something totally different. We had some Yorkshire Pud Ale – which is just how it sounds ale that is made from Yorkshire pudding batter and it was delicious and close your eyes and tastes just like true Irish Guinness.
Puff Pastry Steak And Ale Pie
When you slow cook steak and ale pie, you’re probably wondering how to make the best steak and ale pie and add the pastry too.
Well, there is an easy option.
Warm up your pie ingredients first (this can be done in an hour in the slow cooker) and then add a layer of puff pastry over the pie.
Because puff pastry “puffs up” and it will make the pie feel like its bigger than what it is and wont sink into the slow cooker ingredients like if you used shortcrust pastry.
So what we do is warm through the pie as we are using leftovers, roll over puff pastry and then carry on cooking and it becomes the easiest steak pie.
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Steak Pie Ingredients
Stew – Let’s start your steak and ale pie slow cooker recipe with leftover stew. You can use any stew from the day before that needs using up.
Extras – Lets say your leftover stew is not enough to feed everyone, then this is when you add extras into your beef and ale pie. The easiest option is some frozen sweetcorn and frozen peas to fill it out a bit. But other leftovers work well as does some cooked potatoes.
Pastry. Then we recommend some puff pastry to be laid over the pie filling in the slow cooker. Then your slow cooker goes back on to cook the pastry.
Then for the kitchen gadgets that we have used in this recipe for steak and ale pie it has just been our Ninja Foodi. We have this one and its wonderful for many types of slow cooker recipes and also great for easy old fashioned dinners.
Plus, we recommend you head over to our slow cooker recipes category as we have more than 100 tried and tested slow cooker recipes and have been using slow cookers for 18 years.
How To Make Steak And Ale Pie?
- Reheat. Start by turning your slow cooker on high and cooking for an hour. This will heat through your leftover stew.
- Dump. Next dump in any extra ingredients that you plan to add. For example, we added in some frozen peas. And then give them a stir, though make sure they are fast cooking.
- Roll. Then on a clean worktop with a floured rolling pin roll out the puff pastry. Or not need to if using ready to roll. Place the puff pastry over the steak and ale. Brush with egg wash and then pierce the top with a knife to allow it to breathe.
- Finish. Then slow cook for an hour or if using the air fryer setting an extra 15 minutes at 200c/400f.
And I am sure you can see now how simple and easy this recipe for slow cooked steak and ale pie is why you should be doing the same.
How Long To Cook Steak Ale Pie?
The steak pie cooking time is JUST 2 hours if using leftovers, or if making from scratch i.e. no leftovers then expect it to take 4 hours for the filling and an hour for the puff pastry on top.
More Delicious Pie Recipes
- Air Fryer Egg & Bacon Pie
- Air Fryer Meat Pie
- Pie Maker Meat Pie
- Pie Maker Apple Pie
- Ninja Foodi Chicken Pot Pie
Your steak and ale pie recipe is below, note you can print it out with or without photos, adjust servings, or click between metric and imperial depending on where you are in the world.
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Slow Cooker Beef And Ale Pie
Ingredients
- 1 kg Leftover Slow Cooker Steak & Ale Stew
- 1 Sheet Ready To Roll Puff Pastry
- 150 g Frozen Garden Peas
- 1 Small Egg for egg wash
Kitchen Gadgets
Instructions
- Put the Ninja Foodi on slow cook for an hour on high to warm through your leftovers.
- Add in some frozen peas or any other cooked veggies that need using up and stir.
- Roll out the pastry on a clean floured worktop to the shape of just over your slow cooker.
- Place the pastry over the beef and ale pie recipe filling and get rid of any overhang with a knife and then pierce the top of the pie so the steam can escape as it cooks. Plus mix an egg and brush on egg wash to help get that golden glow on your pastry.
- Slow cook for a further hour or alternatively if using a Ninja slow cooker swap for the air fryer for 15 minutes at 200c/400f.
- Slice into quarters and then serve warm.
Notes
Nutrition
Can’t make it now? Then save it for later!
Does the puff pastry really turn brown in the slow cooker? I don’t have the appliance with the air fry option, just a regular old slow cooker.
Hi Dulke,
It does not. On point 5 we used the slow cook function on Ninja Foodi then for 15 minutes we switched the Ninja Foodi to air fryer mode and cooked the pastry for 15 minutes 🙂
My favourite pie and never tried it in the slow cooker method and with the air fryer been built into the ninja Foodi it is a genius way how to cook and brown the pastry on the top tasted good.