Air fryer pukka pie

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I'm a big fan of the air fryer, as regular readers will know! I love nothing more than popping in a simple dinner, on those busier nights, and having something that is ready in quarter of an hour. The air fryer pukka pie is the perfect example of this.

When my husband gets in late from work I can pop him a pie, and some frozen french fries in, and in just 17-20 minutes he'll have something hot and tasty to eat, that took next to no effort.

Also, I love making whole meals in the air fryer, and when cooking for one person this is particularly easy! A pie, fries and a handful of green beans make for a tasty meal, especially when served with beef gravy or onion gravy.

When I’m serving up pie in my home we typically have it with mashed potatoes. These are simple to make, and cheap too, so are a great side dish for pies.

Other things that go down very well in my home are air fryer corn on the cob, baked beans, sweetcorn, peas or petis pots or whatever vegetables are in season at the time of cooking. 

I love a nice pile of Mediterranean vegetables too - particularly a mix of courgette, tomatoes, red onions and peppers with a nice olive oil dressing or other seasoning. 

For dessert on nights we have pie we will typically eat a nice hearty pudding such as air fryer rhubarb crumble, pineapple and rhubarb crumble or apple pie with ice cream. Custard works well with any of these desserts too and is always a hit in my home. 

This recipe is perfect if you're not an air fryer cook but want to get yourself an easy dinner cooking.

Ingredients for cooking a pukka pie in the air fryer:

1 pukka pie

Another air fryer side dish if you want to make a meal

Tomato ketchup or brown sugar BBQ sauce

Method for cooking an air fryer pukka pie:

Pre-heat your air fryer to 180C (355F approx) for a couple of minutes.

Place the pukka pie, still in its foil tray, in to the air fryer basket.

Air fry for 15 minutes at 180C (355F approx).

Check and cook for a further 3-5 minutes if needed. This will vary depending on

No need to turn or do anything else to it. Check it has reached a safe internal cooking temperature before serving. All air fryers have varying cooking times and this cooking time is based on my own air fryer.

Serve with your favourite side dish and enjoy!

Can you cook a frozen pukka pie in the air fryer?

You can, however, I don't recommend it. I've tested this a few times and always find that there are little part of the pie that is colder than other parts.

For this reason I would recommend defrosting in the fridge if you have a frozen pukka pie, or frozen pot pie, and then cooking from fresh.

Alternatively buy a Pukka pie fresh from the supermarket and then cook it direct from the fridge using the above method.

If you want to try this anyway then I would recommend 25 minutes, at 160C and use a meat thermometer to check the temperature of the pie in several places!

Do these timings work for another fresh pie?

These timings are based on an individual pie, around 200-210G in weight. These come in their own foil case typically, and I would recommend leaving the pie in this case. Any individual meat pie should work great on these timings.

So far I have cooked Pukka Pies; chicken and mushroom, meat and potato, all steak, chicken and bacon and minced beef and onion. These pies are similar to a chicken pot pie, lots of filling and a pastry outer layer.

I'm sure that the other varieties, including chicken balti, veggie cheese, leek & potato, steak & kidney and the Vegan ones will all have the same cooking timings.

Sauces for serving with pies

While a lot of pies have a self saucing inside, such as gravy or thick sauce, these can thin out a little upon serving. Also, when we’re having a big pile of vegetables and mashed potatoes we love to enjoy a tasty beef gravy or onion gravy with our meal.

A creamy bechamel sauce, mustard sauce, white wine sauce or mushroom sauce would all be absolutely delicious too. 

Do You Have To Defrost Pukka Pies?

Personally I love to defrost them in the fridge overnight before cooking, as this speeds up the cooking time on a busy day.

If you’re going to cook from frozen I’d advise lowering the temperature for the first half of the time, by 20C, and then adding 4-6 minutes to the total cooking time.

As always make sure you check the pie is cooked fully throughout before you serve it. No one wants to waste their delicious gravy on top of a pie only to open it and find that it is not cooked inside. 

What are the different varieties of Pukka Pies?

The main Pukka Pies that I see in stores are Steak & Kidney, Chicken & Mushroom and Minced Beef and Onion.

I have also tried Cheese & Onion and Veggie Balti. All of the cooking times are really similar for these pies so the method should work regardless of the flavour that you have purchased.

They often bring out seasonal and limited-edition flavours too, which are usually quite fun combinations, so look out for those in your local supermarket. 

If you're looking to make the most of using the air fryer then here are some of my other recipes that take a similar amount of time to cook:

• Air fryer cheese fries
• Loaded fries in the air fryer
• Air fryer pizookie
• Onions in the air fryer
• Air fryer frozen onion rings
• Air fryer garlic bread
• Bread rolls in the air fryer
• Air fryer frozen chicken fries

Something to note about air fryer recipes is that all air fryers have different sizes, depths and as such the cooking times can vary. All air fryer recipes on this website are intended as a guide, and not a guarantee that the timings will be perfect. Enjoy!

How to cook a pukka pie in the air fryer:

Note: All calorie information is for demonstration purposes only and is based on the specific uncooked ingredients that I used when creating the recipe.

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