I love a sausage roll but I’ve always thought, what if the sauce was inside? No more juggling a roll and a sauce bottle on your knee, no red stains on your shirt. We freeze the tomato sauce first, then wrap it in a classic beef filling and puff pastry. As they bake, the sauce melts into the centre, giving you the perfect bite every time. They’re golden, juicy, and ridiculously easy to smash. Perfect for parties, lunchboxes, or a weekend savoury treat.
Category
Lunch
Servings
8
Prep time
30
Cook time
30 minutes
I love a sausage roll but I’ve always thought, what if the sauce was inside? No more juggling a roll and a sauce bottle on your knee, no red stains on your shirt. We freeze the tomato sauce first, then wrap it in a classic beef filling and puff pastry. As they bake, the sauce melts into the centre, giving you the perfect bite every time. They’re golden, juicy, and ridiculously easy to smash. Perfect for parties, lunchboxes, or a weekend savoury treat.
Ingredients
- 250ml (1 cup) tomato ketchup
- 500g beef mince
- 1 brown onion, finely chopped
- 1 carrot, grated
- 3 cloves garlic, finely grated
- 35g (½ cup) panko breadcrumbs
- 2 eggs
- 20ml (1 tbsp) Worcestershire sauce
- ½ tsp dried mixed herbs
- ⅓ cup chopped parsley
-
sea salt and pepper, to season
-
375g sheet frozen puff pastry (or classic square sheets), thawed
Directions
Freeze sauce
Pour tomato ketchup into a silicone water bottle ice mould and freeze for at least four hours or until solid.
Prep the filling
Combine mince, onion, carrot, garlic, breadcrumbs, 1 egg, worcestershire, mixed herbs and parsley in a large bowl and mix until very well combined. Season with salt and pepper.
- Divide mixture into 4 portions. Wrap each portion of mince evenly around a frozen stick of tomato sauce, shaping into a sealed log the length of the pastry sheet.
- Transfer to a tray lined with baking paper and place in the freezer for 30 minutes to 1 hour to firm up.
Assemble the rolls
Preheat the oven to 210°C fan forced (410°F). Place a heavy based baking tray in the oven to preheat.
Cut the pastry into rectangles. Check each one will fully wrap around a mince log, with a little extra to seal. I make them quite long and then half them once they are cooked.
- Clean your bench and then beat the remaining egg.
- Place each mince log along the long edge of each of the pastry sheets. Brush the other side with some of the egg wash and then roll up to enclose pastry. You want to have a little gap between the meat and the end of the pastry to help it enclose.
- Transfer sausage rolls, seam side down to the baking tray, placing on a piece of baking paper. Brush the tops with the remaining egg wash.
Cook and serve
Bake for 20-25 minutes, until the pastry is puffed and golden and the mince has reached an internal temperature of 70°C (160°F).
- Allow the sausage rolls to cool for 10 minutes, before cutting them up into halves or your desired portions and serve.
Recipe notes
Origin
I took the classic beef sausage roll and made it less messy by building the sauce right in. No more juggling a dipping bowl.
Cook support
Make sure the tomato sauce is completely frozen before wrapping — the firmer it is, the easier it’ll be to shape the mince around it.
I made three larger rolls, but the mix can easily stretch to four thinner ones if you prefer more pastry-to-filling ratio.
Pastry size
I used a large 375g puff pastry sheet which you can find at good quality Green Grocer. You can adjust the sizing to use the smaller square sheets available at supermarkets. Just do a rough measure of your pastry by making sure it wraps fully around the diameter of the log.
Moulds
The sauce moulds are silicone ice stick trays, available online or at kitchen stores. Go for the 5-hole ones if you can.
Substitutions
Beef works well, but you can mix it up — pork and fennel, lamb and mint, or whatever you’re into.
Storage
Best eaten fresh out of the oven, but you can freeze them once they’re wrapped in pastry and bake from frozen later.
Make ahead
You can prep these up to the step before baking. Keep them in the freezer, then bake straight from frozen (just add a few more minutes in the oven).
