This article provides a comprehensive guide to making a keto-friendly beef pot pie. It incorporates elements of traditional pot pie recipes while adhering to low-carb principles.
Introduction
Craving a hearty and comforting meal without the guilt? This keto beef pot pie recipe is the answer. It combines the rich flavors of a traditional beef stew with a cheesy biscuit or gluten-free crust, all while keeping the carb count low. Inspired by classic British meat pies, this recipe is perfect for a cozy night in or a satisfying family dinner.
The Allure of Beef Pot Pie
There's something undeniably comforting about a warm beef pot pie. The combination of tender beef, savory vegetables, and a flaky crust creates a symphony of flavors and textures that is hard to resist. However, traditional pot pie recipes are often loaded with carbohydrates, making them unsuitable for those following a ketogenic diet. This keto beef pot pie offers a delicious and guilt-free alternative.
Keto Beef Stew: The Heart of the Pie
This keto beef stew is rich and hearty on its own, but topped with the cheesy biscuit crust it moves into beef pot pie territory.
Selecting the Right Beef
The choice of beef is crucial for a flavorful pot pie. While "stew beef" is an inexpensive option that works well with longer cooking times, chuck roast is also a good option. Chuck roast will give it a meaty flavor and soft, luscious texture to your stew. Be aware that chuck roast has a higher fat and calorie content than much leaner cuts of beef that are usually sold as stew meat. If you’re looking for a more budget-friendly option you can even go with ground beef. So use your favorite beef cuts, whatever is on sale, or whichever you have in your freezer at the time. You can’t go wrong with any beef.
Read also: Juicy Keto Meatballs
Low-Carb Vegetables: A Foundation of Flavor
Traditional pot pies often rely on potatoes and other starchy vegetables, which are high in carbs. This keto version utilizes low-carb alternatives to maintain the desired texture and flavor.
Radishes are used for bulk and to replace the carb heavy potatoes, but you can substitute celery root, turnips, or even cauliflower florets if that’s what you prefer or have on hand. Other suitable options include celery, green beans, and onions. While some recipes include a small amount of frozen peas and carrots for color and flavor, these can be omitted or replaced with other low-carb vegetables if desired.
Enhancing the Flavor Profile
To create a rich and savory flavor, the beef is browned in bacon fat before adding garlic and onions, tomato paste, and thyme leaves. Other flavor enhancers include Dijon mustard, Worcestershire sauce, and beef broth or stock. For a deeper beef flavor profile, use good beef stock or broth. Just don’t skimp and use all water or the pot pie will not be as flavorful and beefy, which is what set’s this beef pot pie apart. Some recipes even incorporate a touch of whiskey or low-carb beer for added depth.
Thickening the Stew
Typically pot pie recipes will call for white flour or corn starch to thicken the filling for the pie, and if you don’t care about the extra carbs, you can go that route here. But the extra carbs do not lend themselves well to weight loss. So I wouldn’t use them.
To achieve the desired consistency without adding carbs, low-carb thickeners such as xanthan gum or glucomannan (Glucci) are used. Use a low-carb thickener like Xanthum Gum or Glucomannan (Glucci). You can use your favorite or whichever you have on hand. How much you use will be determined by how thick you want your pot pie filling. I don’t like to use a ton of low-carb thickeners in my recipes because after too much I don’t like the texture they give to things. That means I leave my pot pie a little more on the runny or juicy side to avoid that, but you can decide that and do as you wish.
Read also: Explore Keto Beef Mince Recipes
Cheesy Biscuit or Gluten-Free Crust: The Crowning Glory
The crust is what elevates a simple beef stew into a pot pie. For a keto-friendly version, there are two main options: cheesy biscuits or a gluten-free pie crust.
Cheesy Biscuits
These are quick and easy to make, providing a soft and flavorful topping for the stew. The biscuits are typically made with almond flour, cheese, and other keto-friendly ingredients.
Gluten-Free Pie Crust
For a more traditional pot pie experience, a gluten-free pie crust can be used. These crusts often incorporate almond flour, coconut flour, and psyllium husk powder to achieve a tender and flaky texture. Due to this crust being gluten-free and made with low-carb ingredients, it is more fragile than a traditional pie crust so even though it is easy to mix and roll out, transferring it to the Beef Pot Pie will take some ease and patience. But thankfully it patches super easy and doesn’t have to be perfect.
Tips for a Perfect Crust:
- Make sure you are working with extra cold ingredients. The butter will need to be frozen so you and grate it into the dough ingredients and when adding the water to bring the dough together it needs to be ice cold.
- Don’t overwork the dough while mixing it or the warmth of your hands will melt the butter and warm the dough up defeating the purpose of starting with cold ingredients.
- Don’t skip the resting period where the dough chills in the refrigerator. This will give the ingredients like the psyllium powder to do their thing and help the crust hold together better.
Variations and Customizations
One of the great things about pot pie is its versatility. Feel free to experiment with different ingredients and flavors to create your own unique version.
- Meat: You can substitute goat, lamb, or even chicken thighs in this keto stew recipe, which will obviously produce a different result but it will be equally tasty! If you are not a fan of beef, or just prefer chicken pot pie, then check out this recipe for Keto Chicken Pot Pie. Beef can be replaced with lamb or even pork.
- Vegetables: Customize the vegetable mix to your liking, using any combination of low-carb options.
- Cheese: Experiment with different types of cheese in the biscuit or crust for added flavor.
- Spices: Adjust the seasonings to suit your taste preferences. You could also add some savory herbs like thyme and basil if you like those flavor profiles.
Serving and Storage
This keto beef stew keeps well in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. The stew can also be frozen for up to 3 months. To reheat a single portion of the low-carb beef pot pie leftovers, just place it in the oven for 15 minutes at 350F. If you are reheating a larger portion of the entire pie it will take longer to reheat. You can also reheat it in the microwave if desired but for the best results use the oven.
Read also: Delicious Keto Meal
Recipe: Low Carb Beef Pot Pie
This recipe provides a detailed guide to making a delicious and satisfying keto beef pot pie.
Ingredients
Pie Filling:
- 1 kg braising beef (2.2 lbs), cut into 1.5 to 2 inch chunks
- 1 tsp sea salt
- ½ tsp black pepper
- 1 medium red onion, chopped (100 g/ 3.5 oz)
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1 large celery stick (64 g/ 2.2 oz), sliced
- 1 small carrot, sliced (50 g/ 1.8 oz)
- 200 g brown mushrooms, sliced (7.1 oz)
- 4 tbsp ghee or avocado oil, divided (60 ml)
- 500 ml low-carb, gluten-free beer (17 fl oz) or red wine
- 500 ml beef stock or bone broth (17 fl oz)
- 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce (15 ml)
- 1 tsp Dijon mustard or English mustard
- 1 tbsp tomato puree
- 2 bay leaves
- 3-4 sprigs of thyme
- Radishes (to replace potatoes)
- Green beans
- Frozen peas and carrots (optional)
- Low-carb thickener (Xanthan Gum or Glucomannan) to desired thickness
Crust:
- 1 1/4 cups almond flour (125 g/ 4.4 oz)
- 2 tbsp coconut flour (16 g/ 0.5 oz)
- 1 tsp xanthan gum
- Pinch of sea salt
- ½ stick cold unsalted butter (57 g/ 2 oz)
- 1 large egg, plus 1/2 egg for brushing on top
- 10-12 tablespoons of ice water (as needed)
- 1 tbsp coconut oil or olive oil
- 1 tsp minced garlic or garlic powder
- ½ cup chopped onion
- 1 ½ lb. ground beef
For the crusts add in the almond flour, psyllium powder, oat fiber, garlic, and onion powder and mix them well.## Next, grate in the cold butter and add the egg white. Mix to combine.## Then add in the ice water one tablespoon at a time. Mix them in after each tablespoon until the dough can be formed into a ball in your hand. With my ingredients mine usually takes about 10 tablespoons.
Instructions
Preparing the Beef Filling:
- Preheat oven to 150 °C/ 300 °F (fan assisted), or 170 °C/ 340 °F (conventional).
- Season the beef with salt and pepper.
- Grease an ovenproof casserole dish with a tablespoon of ghee.
- Add the beef and cook on high heat until seared and browned from all sides, for 3 to 5 minutes. Transfer to a plate and set aside.
- Grease the casserole dish with the remaining ghee and add the sliced onion. Cook for 3 to 5 minutes, stirring frequently, and then add the minced garlic, sliced celery and carrot.
- Pour in the stock and beer (or wine). Add the Worcestershire sauce, mustard, tomato paste, 2 bay leaves and 3-4 thyme sprigs.
- Bring to a boil over a high heat, cover with a lid and then transfer to the preheated oven.
Making the Crust:
- To make the crust, place the almond flour, coconut flour, xanthan gum, salt, cold butter and one egg into a food processor.
- Mix to combine.
- Place the dough on a strong piece of parchment paper or a silicon mat. Roll the dough into a round, flat crust. To prevent the dough from sticking, use a silicon covered rolling pin or wrap it in a piece of cling film. Measure it to make sure it's big enough to cover the whole pie (in my case it was 25 cm/ 10 inch). The crust will be fragile when the dough warms up. Carefully transfer into the freezer for 10 to 15 minutes.
- Let the dough rest in the refrigerator for at least 10-15 minutes.
- Remove the dough and place it between two pieces of parchment paper and roll it out until it is about 1/4-1/2 inch thick.
Assembling and Baking:
- Preheat the oven to 180 °C/ 355 °F (fan assisted), or 200 °C/ 400 °F (conventional).
- Remove the crust from the freezer and put on top of the pie, peeling the parchment off the other side.
- Use a fork to create a decorative effect around the top of the pie crust.
- Brush with the remaining egg (you won't need more than half an egg).
- Transfer into the oven and bake for about 20 minutes, turning the pie halfway to ensure even browning.
Tips for the crust :
- Remove the top layer or parchment paper and carefully lift and flip the crust onto the top of the beef pot pie filling.
- Slowly peel the remaining layer of parchment paper off the crust.
- Remember this crust is delicate so be patient, but if it tears just patch it back as it will still taste delicious.
- Gently press the dough down so it touches the tops of the filling.
Serving
- Eat warm or let it cool down and refrigerate for up to 4 days.
Notes
- If you end up with too much sauce, use a ladle to transfer the excess sauce into a saucepan. Cook over a medium-high heat for a few minutes until reduced enough.
- This recipe can be made in stages.