Festive bake-style chicken, sage and onion stuffing pastry

The Christmas Bake that’s become a year-round Greggs cult classic — shredded chicken, sweetcure bacon, sage and onion stuffing and cranberry sauce wrapped in flaky puff pastry. Tastes like Boxing Day in a bake.

Ingredients

• 500 g sheet ready-rolled puff pastry
• 300 g cooked chicken breast, shredded (a rotisserie chicken is ideal)
• 200 g good sausage meat (or 4 sausages, skinned)
• 150 g sage and onion stuffing mix (dry, made up per pack instructions)
• 100 g dried cranberry sauce (or 80 g cranberry sauce + 1 tbsp redcurrant jelly)
• 100 g bacon lardons or chopped streaky bacon
• 1 small onion, very finely diced
• 1 tbsp fresh sage, chopped
• 1 tbsp fresh thyme leaves
• 1 egg, beaten (for glaze)
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• Salt and black pepper
• A little flour for dusting

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C / 180°C fan. Line a baking tray with baking paper.

2. Cook the stuffing per pack instructions (usually 200 ml boiling water + knob of butter, leave to stand for 5 minutes). Let it cool slightly.

3. Cook the bacon. Heat the oil in a frying pan and cook the lardons for 4-5 minutes until the fat renders and they start to crisp. Add the onion and cook for 4-5 minutes more until soft. Stir in the sage and thyme for 30 seconds, then tip into a bowl to cool.

4. Make the filling. Combine the shredded chicken, sausage meat (broken up into small pieces), stuffing, bacon and onion mix, and most of the cranberry sauce. Season. The mixture should hold together when pressed — if it’s dry, add a splash of chicken stock; if wet, a tablespoon of breadcrumbs.

5. Roll the pastry out on a lightly floured surface to a 30 x 40 cm rectangle. Cut into 6 equal squares (about 13 x 13 cm each).

6. Fill the bakes. Spoon a generous heap of filling (about 90 g) into the centre of each pastry square. Dot with a small spoonful of the reserved cranberry sauce.

7. Seal. Brush the edges of each square with beaten egg. Bring the opposite corners up over the filling and pinch to seal, then pinch the other two corners , you should end up with a neat parcel. Flip seam-side down onto the baking tray.

8. Score the tops with a sharp knife (two diagonal lines). Brush all over with beaten egg.

9. Bake for 25-30 minutes until the pastry is deep golden and puffed, and the filling is piping hot in the middle. Serve hot.

Notes

The cranberry sauce is non-negotiable , it’s what cuts through the richness. Use good sausage meat (or skinned high-quality sausages); cheap sausage meat makes the filling taste of filler. Best eaten the day they’re baked.