A spiced ground pork and beef pie in flaky pastry — Quebec's traditional holiday tourtière, served every Christmas Eve and New Year's.
Tourtière is Quebec's signature meat pie, a double-crusted pastry filled with a mixture of ground pork (and often beef or veal) seasoned with cinnamon, cloves and allspice, spices that might seem more at home in a dessert but that give the filling its distinctive warm, savory-sweet depth. It's inseparable from Quebec's réveillon tradition — the late-night feast held after midnight mass on Christmas Eve — where tourtière is served alongside fèves au lard as the centerpiece of the meal. The filling is simmered rather than simply mixed raw into the pastry, cooked down with onion, garlic and sometimes diced potato until the meat is fully cooked and the mixture binds together enough to hold its shape when the pie is sliced. Getting the spice level right is the defining challenge: enough cinnamon and clove to notice, but not so much that the pie tastes like dessert rather than dinner. Every Quebec family has its own version, varying the meat ratio, the exact spices and whether potato is included, but the double-crust format and warm baking-spice profile remain constant markers of an authentic tourtière.
Serves 8
In a heavy pot over medium heat, cook ground pork and beef with onion and garlic until no longer pink, breaking up the meat as it cooks.
Stir in potato, stock, cinnamon, cloves, allspice, salt and pepper. Simmer uncovered for 25-30 minutes until the potato is tender and the mixture has thickened enough to hold its shape.
The filling should look moist but not soupy — if there's still visible liquid pooling, simmer a bit longer.
Cool the meat mixture completely before assembling, ideally refrigerating for an hour, so it doesn't make the pastry soggy.
Line a pie dish with bottom pastry, add the cooled filling, and top with the second pastry sheet, crimping the edges to seal.
Brush the top with egg wash, cut steam vents, and bake at 200°C (400°F) for 20 minutes, then reduce to 180°C (350°F) and bake another 25-30 minutes until deep golden.
Rest 10-15 minutes before slicing so the filling sets and slices cleanly.
Cool the filling fully, ideally overnight in the fridge, before assembling — this is the single biggest factor in getting a crisp, non-soggy crust.
Go easy on the warming spices at first and taste the filling before assembling — it's easier to add more cinnamon or clove than to fix an overspiced pie.
Dice the potato small and uniform so it cooks through fully during the simmer rather than staying firm in the baked pie.
Use all pork, or add ground veal, depending on family tradition — ratios vary widely across Quebec households.
Skip the potato for a leaner, more traditional Lac-Saint-Jean-style filling, which some regions prefer without it.
Serve with a side of tomato chow-chow or ketchup, a common Quebec accompaniment.
Refrigerate baked tourtière up to 4 days; reheat in a 180°C oven for 15-20 minutes to re-crisp the crust. Freezes well unbaked or baked for up to 3 months.
Tourtière has roots in French settler cooking in Quebec dating back centuries, with the name possibly derived from the tourtière pan traditionally used to bake it, or from the now-extinct passenger pigeon (tourte) some early versions may have used as filling. It remains the centerpiece of Quebec's réveillon, the traditional Christmas Eve feast eaten after midnight mass, a custom still widely observed across French-Canadian households today.
This warm spice profile is a defining, centuries-old characteristic of Quebec tourtière specifically — it distinguishes it from other North American meat pies and is not a mistake, though the amount used varies by family recipe.
Yes — it freezes exceptionally well either unbaked or fully baked, which is why many Quebec families make several in advance for Christmas and New Year's gatherings.
The meat mixture needs to simmer uncovered long enough for excess liquid to reduce and the potato starch to help bind it — if it's still soupy after 30 minutes, keep simmering until it holds together on a spoon.
Per serving (260g / 9.2 oz) · 8 servings total
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