Meat pie with ground beef (ćoravi burek) is a tasty, golden, crustless pie. Delicious pancake-inspired batter combined with flavorful minced (ground) meat, and topped with heavy cream is so good you might as well make two of them at once. Shall we?
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Background
Today's meat pie recipe is one of our favorite go-to lunches. It's delicious and incredibly easy to make! So easy, people sometimes affectionately call this dish 'the lazy housewife.' (?!)
However, the more widely known name for this dish is ćoravi or 'blind' burek (not to be confused with traditional burek), due to the ground beef pieces that are 'hidden' in the batter.
Like most of our dishes, you probably already have all the ingredients on hand. Prepare it once, and mark my words, you'll find yourself revisiting this meat pie recipe time and again.
Ingredients
Below are the ingredients you'll need to make today's oven-baked crustless meat pie recipe (ćoravi burek). (Topping ingredients are not pictured.)
- Ground Beef.
- Flour: regular white flour. (If you try it with other types, let us know in the comments.)
- Egg.
- Baking Powder: regular baking powder works best. No substitutions!
- Mineral Water: any unflavored mineral, soda water, or carbonated water works.
- Onion: a small yellow onion, grated. Substitute with white onion. Avoid red onion.
- Vegeta is your best friend for that perfect oven-baked chicken drumsticks and thighs crisp! Don't have it? Use stock powder or a (crushed) bouillon cube instead. Alternatively, use your own mix of preferred spices.
- Paprika.
- Salt and pepper.
- Yogurt: plain non-flavored European-style yogurt is best. Substitute with Greek yogurt, however, stir until it's runny (add a pinch of water if necessary!). Avoid flavored yogurts or other substitutions.
- Oil: your choices are canola, sunflower, vegetable, coconut, or avocado oil. Avoid olive oil.
- Heavy Cream. (Not pictured.)
- (Optional) Sour Cream: for serving.
- (Optional) Milk: to mix with heavy cream topping.
- (Optional) Clotted cream: to mix with heavy cream topping.
Instructions
Here are the meat pie instructions. As you'll notice the steps are similar to the chicken bake.
Step 1 for Meat Pie with Ground Beef (Ćoravi Burek). Season ground beef.
Steps 2 and 3 for Meat Pie with Ground Beef (Ćoravi Burek). Grease the pan and heat it up. Prepare the batter.
Step 4 for Meat Pie with Ground Beef (Ćoravi Burek). Pour batter into the hot pan. Shake the pan from side to side.
Step 5 for Meat Pie with Ground Beef (Ćoravi Burek)."Hide" meat in the batter.
Step 6 for Meat Pie with Ground Beef (Ćoravi Burek). Bake the pie.
Step 7 for Meat Pie with Ground Beef (Ćoravi Burek). Add toppings.
Handling
- Serving: let the pie rest for about 20 minutes before eating. It tastes best while warm or hot. For the creamiest taste, top with sour cream. Eat with hands or utensils.
- Storing: Keep it in the cooled-down oven for up to 5-6 hours. It's best to consume on the day it was made. Wrapped in plastic wrap, or a sealed container, it lasts up to 24 hours in the fridge.
- Reheating: reheat using your preferred method. Top with a little more heavy cream or stock. As always, the oven is the best choice.
Recipe FAQs
In most cases yes. However, like today's meat pie recipe, there are dishes called burek that are based on a (pancake-like) batter instead of phyllo dough.
Almost every country in the world has some type of meat pie in its culinary arsenal. The more famous ones include the Irish and German meat pies, and of course, the Balkan burek.
In fact, the Balkans boasts at least several different meat pies. Most of them are based on phyllo pie mixed with meat and vegetables like potatoes. Today's meat pie recipe includes a pancake inspired batter and ground beef.
Depends on which meat pie you are making. For our Balkan meat pie recipe, you'll need some mineral water, flour, baking soda, yogurt, and seasoned ground beef.
Other Ground Beef Recipes
Thoughts?
If you make today's meat pie with ground beef (ćoravi burek) and like it, please consider leaving a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (5-star) rating. This will help others find the recipe more easily!
You can also leave a comment, I read EVERY one! Finally, if IG is more your thing, consider tagging us @balkanlunchbox.
Prijatno, Dobar Tek, and Bon Appetit!
Meat Pie Recipe with Ground Beef (Ćoravi Burek)
Equipment
- 1 14-inch diameter (35 cm) round baking pan, or 13-inch (33 cm) square pan substitute with a pan with a volume of approximiately 154 square inches
Ingredients
Meat and Seasonings
- 10-14 ounces ground beef
- 1 yellow onion small, grated
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1 tablespoon beef stock powder substitute with 1 beef bouillon or bouillon cube, or 1 tablespoon Vegeta
- 1-2 tablespoons mineral water substitute with soda or carbonated water
- salt and pepper to taste
Pan Grease
- 3-4 tablespoons vegetable oil substitute with sunflower, canola, avocado, or coconut
Pie Batter
- 12.5 ounces white flour
- ¼ teaspoon baking powder
- salt to taste
- 1 egg
- 3.5 ounces plain yogurt European style or Greek stirred until smooth
- 3.5 ounces mineral water substitute with soda or carbonated water
- 14 ounces regular water tap, filtered or bottle
Topping(s)
- 9 ounces heavy cream
- 3.5 ounces milk
- (Optional) 2 tablespoons butter
- (Optional) 2 cups beef stock instead of heavy cream and milk
- (Optional) sour cream for serving and/or reheating
- (Optional) 1-2 garlic cloves minced
Instructions
Season the ground beef
- In a medium bowl combine meat and seasoning ingredients. Mix well with your hands until the mixture is completely integrated. Set aside.
Heat oven and pan
- Heat oven to 485°F (250°C). Grease the baking pan generously and evenly, then place it in the oven so that it heats up.
Prepare meat pie batter
- In a deep bowl combine dry ingredients and stir. Add the egg, yogurt, mineral, and regular water. Whisk or stir the batter vigorously until it is completely smooth. (Batter consistency should be something in between crepe (thicker than) and pancake (thinner than) batter consistency.)
Combine meat and batter
- Carefully take the pan out of the oven, and pour the batter into it. Shake lightly from side to side so that it distributes evenly.
- Tear off small pieces (however much will fit between 2-3 fingers), of seasoned ground beef, and press them into the batter close to each other. Try to "hide" the pieces by having the batter "swallow" them. (It's fine if the pieces aren't completely hidden.) By the time you're finished, the batter should be generously filled with meat.
Bake
- Return the pan to the oven. Bake for 25 minutes. (If your oven runs hot, lower the temperature to 395°F (200°C) right away.)*
- Lower the temperature to 395°F (200°C) and bake for an additional 10-15 minutes. The pie should have a golden color, and be on the softer side. If the color moves closer to brown that's a sign it's getting too crispy. To prevent this, cover it with parchment paper.
- Near the end of baking, carefully lift up a part of the pie with a fork to check whether it's done on the bottom side. If the bottom is pale, transfer the pan to the lowest rack.
Add the topping(s)
- Carefully take the pan out of the oven, and turn the oven off. Mix heavy cream with milk and pour over the pie.
- If using it, add butter now, and return the pie to the warm (but turned off) oven for an additional 5 minutes.
Handling
- Let the pie rest for 20 minutes before serving. It tastes best warm or hot. (Optionally) top with sour cream and minced garlic. Eat with hands or utensils. Store outside the fridge for up to 4-5 hours (in a turned-off oven). The dish is best consumed on the day it's made. Alternatively, place the pie in a sealed container, or cover it with saran wrap, and leave in it the fridge for up to 24 hours. Reheat using your preferred method. Add a little heavy cream or stock after reheating. Do not freeze!
Notes
- Baking temperature: our temperature is the best recommendation. However, you should ALWAYS adjust it to your own oven. If it runs hot you may have to lower the temperature by about 50 degrees or so (about 20 degrees C). If the pie is blushing too much, cover it with parchment paper. If the pie is pale, turn the heat up a bit or bake, a few minutes longer, etc.
Tom says
just finished baking this. It looks fantastic. The only downside so far is that you are...how can i say...European, and the recipe is a mix of ounces, tablespoons and cups. As an ignorant American it sent me scurrying to the internet for conversions. After I got that all sorted out it was a straight forward recipe. The only thing that gave me pause was the high cooking temperature. Wow, that's a fast oven!
The burek is resting on the top of the stove now, and boy, does it smell amazing. Paired with Macedonian baked beans and a salad, I think this is going to be extra special.
Wow. It's a crepe. It's a pizza. It's a souffle. It's a crepizzasouf.
And it's really tasty. Another great recipe. Thanks again for the culinary trip through the Balkans.
Aida says
Tom,
Your description of the dish as a "crepizzasouf" is so appetizing! It seems like you've captured the essence of the dish perfectly.
Thank you for taking the time to share your experience, and I'm delighted that the recipe brought some extra special flavor to your table.
Kind regards!