Mary Berry’s sausage and herb plait is a pork sausagemeat filling wrapped in puff pastry plaited into a lattice, baked at 220°C (200°C fan) for about 35 minutes on a hot baking sheet. It serves 6 to 8 and Berry says to serve it hot with dressed salad leaves.
Berry published this in Everyday (2017) and her headnote is practical: “Shop-bought puff pastry is excellent; buy the all-butter kind as it tastes as good as homemade. And buy the best sausage meat you can, or take six fat sausages, remove the skin and use the meat for the filling.”
The onion goes in boiled, not fried, which is different from every other sausage recipe in Berry’s books. She covers the chopped onion with water and boils it for 5 minutes until tender, then drains and cools it. Boiling draws out more moisture than frying, so the filling stays drier inside the pastry during the long 35-minute bake.
Mary Berry Sausage and Herb Plait
Course: SidesCuisine: BritishDifficulty: Easy6-8
servings20
minutes35
minutes405
kcal55
minutesBerry preheats the baking sheet in the oven before sliding the plait onto it. The blast of heat from below crisps the pastry base immediately, which stops the bottom going soft under the weight of the filling.
Ingredients
½ onion, finely chopped
450g (1 lb) pork sausage meat
Finely grated zest of ½ lemon
50g (2 oz) sun-blushed tomatoes, finely chopped
2 tbsp chopped parsley
1 tbsp chopped thyme leaves
1 × 375g packet of ready-rolled, all-butter puff pastry
Plain flour, for dusting
1 egg, beaten
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Directions
- Preheat: Set the oven to 220°C/200°C fan/Gas 7 (425°F). Place a large baking sheet in the oven to get hot.
- Boil the onion: Tip the onion into a small saucepan, cover with water and boil for about 5 minutes or until tender. Drain and set aside to cool.
- Make the filling: Measure the sausage meat into a bowl, add the lemon zest, chopped tomatoes and herbs, season with salt and pepper and mix with your hands to combine. Add the cooled onion and mix again.
- Shape the plait: Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured work surface into a rectangle roughly 20×40cm (8×16 in) in size and about the thickness of a £1 coin. Transfer to a sheet of baking paper. Arrange the sausage meat lengthways in the middle of the pastry, leaving a margin of about a third of the pastry on either side and about 5cm (2 in) at each end. Brush all over with some of the beaten egg. Fold up the two ends of the pastry over the sausage meat. Leaving a gap of about 1cm (½ in) from the sausage meat, cut the pastry on either side into long strips about 2cm (¾ in) wide. Fold each strip on top of the sausage meat, alternating from side to side to create a plait.
- Bake: Brush the top of the pastry and the ends with more beaten egg and carefully slide the non-stick paper, with the sausage plait on top, onto the hot baking sheet. Bake for about 35 minutes or until golden all over and brown and crisp on the bottom. Serve hot with dressed salad leaves.
Notes
- Calories: 450g sausage meat (1,350) + onion (30) + 50g sun-blushed tomatoes (120) + 375g puff pastry (1,650) + egg (78) = 3,228 ÷ 8 = 405 kcal per serving
FAQs
Why does Berry boil the onion instead of frying it?
Berry fries the onion in her Herbed Mini Sausage Rolls from the Complete Cookbook (2024), but here she boils it. Boiling removes more moisture from the onion than frying does, and in a plait that bakes for 35 minutes surrounded by pastry, any excess moisture turns the base soggy. The boiled onion goes in almost dry, so the only liquid in the filling comes from the meat itself.
It’s also faster if you’re already boiling a kettle. Five minutes in simmering water softens the onion completely without needing a frying pan, butter or oil. The flavour is milder than fried onion, which lets the lemon zest and herbs come through more clearly.
What are sun-blushed tomatoes and can I use sun-dried instead?
Sun-blushed tomatoes are semi-dried, softer and juicier than fully sun-dried ones. They come in oil or vacuum-packed and have a sweeter, less concentrated flavour. Berry’s Spicy Sausage Rolls from Simple Comforts (2020) use sun-dried tomato paste instead, which is more intense.
Sun-dried tomatoes work as a swap but chop them very finely because they’re chewier. If they’re the oil-packed type, drain them well or the extra oil will make the filling greasy. I’ve used both and the sun-blushed version gives a softer, more even texture through the filling. Sun-dried pieces stay distinct and chewy.
Why does Berry preheat the baking sheet?
Sliding the plait onto a hot sheet gives the pastry base a blast of heat from below the moment it hits the oven. This crisps the bottom immediately and stops it going soft under the weight of the sausagemeat during the 35-minute bake. Berry uses the same technique for her galettes in the Cookery Course, where she writes that “putting the galettes on a hot baking sheet ensures the pastry is crisp underneath.”
The baking paper makes it easy. You build the plait on the paper, then slide the whole thing, paper and all, onto the hot sheet. No juggling a raw, heavy pastry parcel with oven gloves. It’s a small detail that makes a real difference to the finished base.
How do I get the plait to look neat?
Berry’s method is more straightforward than it sounds. The filling sits in a log down the centre of the pastry, then you fold the short ends over first to seal them. After that, you cut the pastry on both sides into 2cm-wide strips and fold them over alternately, left then right, like lacing a shoe. Each strip overlaps the previous one slightly.
The key is leaving a 1cm gap between the filling and where you start cutting the strips. If you cut too close to the meat, the strips tear when you fold them. If you leave too much pastry, the plait looks bulky. Berry’s 1cm gap gives you strips that are thick enough to hold their shape but thin enough to bake through.
How far ahead can I make this plait?
Berry says it can be assembled up to 6 hours ahead and baked to serve, or cooked and reheated the following day. It also freezes well both cooked and uncooked, which makes it one of the more flexible recipes in her savoury pastry collection.
I assemble it on the baking paper, slide the whole thing onto a tray and refrigerate uncovered for up to 6 hours. The cold plait actually bakes better because the pastry is firm and holds its shape in the oven. If freezing, wrap the unbaked plait tightly in cling film then foil. Bake from frozen on a hot sheet, adding 10 to 15 minutes to the total time.
What’s the difference between this and Berry’s spicy sausage rolls?
The Spicy Sausage Rolls from Simple Comforts (2020) are individual rolls: six pieces, each about 12cm long, with a peppadew and garlic filling. They’re finger food you’d eat standing up. This plait is a centrepiece you’d bring to the table and slice.
The fillings share a sausagemeat base but go in different directions. The spicy version uses tomato paste and peppadew peppers for a punchy, garlicky heat. The plait goes for lemon, fresh herbs and chopped sun-blushed tomatoes, which gives a more subtle, rounded flavour. Berry positions the plait as “great for a family supper or a special gathering,” while the sausage rolls are pure comfort food.
