French Canadian Tourtière

  4.4 – 168 reviews  • Ground Pork Recipes

On Revéillon (Christmas Eve), a traditional French Canadian dish called tourtière (meat pie) is served.

Prep Time: 40 mins
Cook Time: 40 mins
Additional Time: 40 mins
Total Time: 2 hrs
Servings: 8
Yield: 1 9-inch pie

Ingredients

  1. 1 pound lean ground pork
  2. ½ pound lean ground beef
  3. 1 onion, diced
  4. 1 clove garlic, minced
  5. ½ cup water
  6. 1 ½ teaspoons salt
  7. ½ teaspoon dried thyme, crushed
  8. ¼ teaspoon ground sage
  9. ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
  10. ⅛ teaspoon ground cloves
  11. 1 (14.1 ounce) package double-crust pie pastry, thawed

Instructions

  1. Combine pork, beef, onion, garlic, water, salt, thyme, sage, black pepper, and cloves in a saucepan. Cook, stirring occasionally, over medium heat until mixture boils. Reduce heat to low and simmer until meat is cooked, about 5 minutes. Allow to cool to room temperature.
  2. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C).
  3. Spoon meat mixture into pie crust. Cover with top crust and pinch edges to seal. Cut slits in top crust so steam can escape. Cover edges of pie with strips of aluminum foil.
  4. Bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes; remove foil and return to the oven. Bake until golden brown, 15 to 20 minutes. Let cool 10 minutes before slicing.

Nutrition Facts

Calories 405 kcal
Carbohydrate 22 g
Cholesterol 55 mg
Dietary Fiber 2 g
Protein 18 g
Saturated Fat 8 g
Sodium 749 mg
Sugars 1 g
Fat 27 g
Unsaturated Fat 0 g

Reviews

Jeffrey Turner
I liked it
Jerry Davis
I used both beef and pork. First time I’ve made tourtière.
Joel Fuentes
Reading the comments and people saying it’s not traditional French canadian… just silly. My recipe is over 150 yrs old French Canadian and varies a lot. Completely different spices. Different regions will vary. Mine uses 50/50 beef and pork (1 lb each), Boil in water with 2 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp cloves, salt to taste. Boil and break down. Serve with Strawberry jam. I’m not fond of the turkey seasonings in this one but to each their own.
Kimberly Kim
This pie was great! Super simple, filling, flavorful, and was enjoyed by all.
Jaime Thompson
I ADDED 1 FENNEL BULB DICED INTO 1/4 INCH PIECES
Dawn Hernandez
Not French Canadian in the least. French Canadian contains Beef, Pork and VEAL. You may may prepacks at and grocery store at Christmas time. I live in Quebec all my life.
Robert Brown
I used all ground beef and as diabetics are eating I only used crust on top and sweetened with erythrotal came ou great
Erika Quinn
I made multiple pies. They turned out amazingly but the next time I will cut back on the water.
Kevin Rodriguez
made this and it was wonderful will make it again next time i will do it with the tourtire spice recipe that is here
Carolyn Simpson
No changes- take that same recipe and use it as stuffing in your turkey like my Mother did. Outstanding. As a leftover in a sandwich and as part of your meal.
Samantha Pratt
Awesome
Justin Terrell
My cookbook was packed away so I couldnt find my grandmothers recipe…and this is almost exactly it! We use broth or stock instead of water and add in some vegetables (not traditional but a little bit of diced carrot, celery and potato really pop it) It works for ANY combination of ground meat (venison is awesome). served with creamed peas (as per a friends suggestion based on her family traditions) this is a sure fire winner for when you cant find gramas recipe!
Lindsay Robertson
This recipe was perfect. 10/10
Nathaniel Gonzalez
Hubby LOVED it. I added mashed potatoes and cinnamon to the filling as per other reviewers and brushed an egg white onto the pie crust too. I’ve now made two pies in the last 3 days and there are no leftovers!
Christine Moreno
Nope, did it as written and it tasted great!! Have been making ever since.
Grace Ramirez
Couple things: 1. The first night – the flavor and scent was AWESOME …so very delish!! 2. I have no clue why this is in a pie. I cut into it, and it all falls apart. There is no binder for the filling. There is no means for it to stick together. It’s just a pile of cooked ground meat. 3. I drained the meat before putting it in the crust, but there still was some residual moisture – as such – I ended up with a soggy bottom crust! 4. While reviews reveled in the 2nd and 3rd day flavors – mine waned. I still could not cut a clean slice of pie. It completely fell apart – and nothing rivaled the very first day when pulling it out of the oven fresh. I want to save this dish – please !! Looking forward to any advice!!! Red
Elizabeth Dalton
Added much more spice and a handful of small par-boiled potatoes to get a traditional Quebec taste. Also substituted oatmeal stout for the water. Important to note that one of the keys to getting a traditional taste is to understand that the meat is boiled and not fried before cooling and spooning into the pastry shell. Good luck
Amanda Mcknight
Something off in the flavors. I think I’ll delete cloves and try once with italian seasonings only, and later try beer and worcestershire, salt and pepper
Ashley Ho
Awesome recipe even looked exactly like the picture!! My husband is French and loved It. Will definitely make it again!!
Rodney Adams DDS
Yum! I didn’t have any clove, so I used my clove essential oil. It was mild enough, I couldn’t taste it, which I think I prefer. Next time I will have to try with ground clove, though. I had tried another from here a couple of years ago, and I found it too strong of the allspice that it called for. That one I’m sure I used all pork for. I’m not sure what the point of the water was… I pulled my filling out of the water, and just included a little of the water in the pie. Next time I won’t use the water. I didn’t find it too salty, as many have complained of (maybe some of the salt stayed in the water I didn’t include). I think I prefer this with the beef/pork mixture. I also brushed egg white on before baking so it would brown nicely. I like some of the ideas to add some vegetables, so I will probably do that next time, as well. But, I was happy with how this turned out, overall.
Jacob Fischer
Brings back memories … My mom made hers with just pork and onions and seasoned with salt, pepper, cinnamon and cloves. I still make mine this way. This recipe is very close.

 

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