Spicy kebab pie crowned champion of British Pie Awards 2025

A Scottish-born fusion between a shortcrust pastry pie and a spicy doner kebab has been named Supreme Champion at the British Pie Awards 2025.

The Kebab Pie, produced by Bathgate-based Boghall Butchers, was judged best ahead of more than 900 other entries at the 17^th edition of the competition held at St Mary’s Church in Melton Mowbray on 5 March. It also triumphed in the Fusion Pie class, which was introduced last year.

It features a mix of chicken, beef, and lamb doner meat marinaded in chilli for two days, with added layers of white and red onions, grated Cheddar, and sweet chilli sauce. The Scottish firm said it had chosen to use shortcrust pastry for the casing to suit pie-eating preferences in England, along with a puff pastry lid.

Judges praised the pie for its originality, good looks, and great pastry with good flavour. “The Kebab Pie just had the taste that gave it the wow factor to become the supreme champion,” commented head judge Mike Holling of Bakewell Bakery, who was assuming the role after 12 years as a class leader.

Boghall Butchers co-owner Paul Boyle told British Baker he was “absolutely flabbergasted” to finally win the top award after several years of trying – it previously won the Dessert Pie class for its Traditional Bramley Apple Pie in 2023.

“We’ve been working at this every year since 2009 and never thought the day would come,” he remarked, noting that the winning recipe had been developed last June after a few months of customer requests for a pie with kebab meat. “The team at the shop are absolutely delighted too,” Boyle added, revealing that sales had jumped up over the weekend since the news of the award win broke. The company is also celebrating its 50^th anniversary this year.

The Kebab Pie succeeds last year’s supreme champion, the Minted Wensleydale Lamb & Potato Pie by Middleton in Teesdale Fish & Chip Shop.

British Pie Awards chairman Dr Matthew O’Callaghan OBE said the standard of entries in the annual event was consistently rising. “We are one of the few competitions that send back the judging sheets which not only give comments on how the pie performed but tips as to how to improve,” he said.

There was a total of 26 classes this year, with O’Callaghan noting that a few new classes had been added to tidy up the beef and chicken categories. The number of judges increased from around 140 last year to 168, including representatives once again from as far afield as Japan and the US.

Savoury pastry manufacturer Samworth Brothers had a particularly good year with its Ye Olde Pork Pie Shoppe and Dickinson & Morris brands scooping up a quartet of class wins. Arbroath-based WeeCook and The Farmhouse Kitchen Co in Southport both came away with double class honours.

Meanwhile, Tom de Terre from Manchester claimed the Small Producer Award, Mariage Frères in London won the Newcomer Award, and WeeCook’s Cairn Robbie picked up the Young Piemaker trophy.

Here’s the complete list of class winners from the British Pie Awards 2025: