Flaky Sausage Rolls at Home (Greggs-Style)

Name: Flaky Sausage Rolls at Home (Greggs-Style)
Prep time: 50 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 1 h 20 min
Yield: 6 servings
Cuisine: British
Ingredients: 500g good pork sausagemeat, or sausages squeezed from their skins; 1 small onion, grated and squeezed dry; 40g fresh white breadcrumbs; 1 tsp dried sage; 1/2 tsp ground mace or nutmeg; 1 tsp ground white pepper; 1/2 tsp fine salt; 320g all-butter puff pastry sheet, chilled; 1 egg, beaten with a pinch of salt; Flour, for dusting

Seasoned sausagemeat in puff pastry, glazed and baked until the layers shatter.

Prep: 20 min
Cook: 30 min
Chilling: 30 min
Serves: 6

Easy · Total 1 hr 20 min · Updated 12 September 2026

Why This Recipe Works

All-butter puff pastry is the whole point. It costs a little more and it is the difference between flaky layers and a pale, bready case.
A spell in the fridge before they go in sets the butter again. Cold pastry into a hot oven is what makes the layers lift instead of slumping.
Sausagemeat is seasoned generously because the pastry is not. Sage, mace and white pepper are what make it taste like a bakery roll rather than a sausage in a blanket.

How to Make It

Mix the sausagemeat with breadcrumbs, onion and seasoning, roll it into two long ropes, and lay each along a strip of puff pastry. Seal with egg wash, crimp, chill for half an hour, then cut, slash and bake at 200C fan until deep golden, about 30 minutes. Eat warm, not hot.

Ingredients

For the filling

500g good pork sausagemeat, or sausages squeezed from their skins
1 small onion, grated and squeezed dry
40g fresh white breadcrumbs
1 tsp dried sage
1/2 tsp ground mace or nutmeg
1 tsp ground white pepper
1/2 tsp fine salt

For the pastry

320g all-butter puff pastry sheet, chilled
1 egg, beaten with a pinch of salt
Flour, for dusting

Instructions

1
Mix the sausagemeat, onion, breadcrumbs, sage, mace, white pepper and salt with your hands until evenly combined. Fry a teaspoon of it to check the seasoning; adjust before you go further.
2
Unroll the pastry on a lightly floured surface and cut it lengthways into two long strips.
3
Divide the filling in two and roll each half into a rope the length of a pastry strip. Lay one along the centre of each strip, slightly off centre towards you.
4
Brush the far edge of the pastry with egg. Fold the near edge over the meat and press it onto the egged edge, sealing firmly. Crimp along the seam with a fork.
5
Roll each log so the seam sits underneath. Transfer to a lined baking tray and chill for 30 minutes, do not skip this.
6
Heat the oven to 200C fan. Cut each log into three, brush all over with egg and slash the tops twice with a sharp knife.
7
Bake for 28 to 32 minutes, until deep golden and firm underneath. Lift one to check the base is cooked, not pale.
8
Cool on a rack for at least 10 minutes. Straight from the oven the filling is too hot to taste and the pastry has not set.

Tips for the Best Results

Squeeze the grated onion properly. Wet onion steams inside the roll and makes the pastry soggy from the inside out.

Egg wash the top only. Egg down the sides glues the layers together and they cannot rise.

For a crisper base, bake on a preheated baking tray or an overturned oven tray.

A tablespoon of grated apple or a teaspoon of Marmite in the filling both work well, and neither is traditional.

Make Ahead & Storage

Assemble and freeze the uncut logs for up to three months, then bake from frozen with ten extra minutes. Baked rolls keep two days in a tin and reheat properly at 180C fan for eight minutes, a microwave ruins the pastry.

What to Serve It With

Brown sauce, or English mustard
A mug of tea, which is the correct answer
Piccalilli, if you are making a plate of it
Cold, from the fridge, standing up, the next morning

Nutrition (Estimated, per serving)

Nutrient	Per serving
Energy	430 kcal
Fat	31g
of which saturates	14g
Carbohydrate	24g
of which sugars	1.5g
Fibre	1.5g
Protein	13g
Salt	1.4g

These are our own estimates, calculated from the ingredient quantities above and divided by 6 servings. They are not laboratory figures, and yours will differ with the cut of meat, the brand of each ingredient and how generously you serve it. Treat them as a guide, not a measurement.

Frequently Asked Questions About Flaky Sausage Rolls at Home

Can I use ready-made sausages?

Yes, and it is the easy route. Split the skins and squeeze the meat out. Choose sausages with a high pork percentage, because a cheap sausage is mostly rusk and the filling will be dry.

Why did my pastry go soggy underneath?

Either the rolls were not chilled before baking, or the onion was wet. A preheated tray fixes most of what is left.

Can I make them vegetarian?

Yes. Use a well-seasoned vegetarian sausage mix, or mash butter beans with mushrooms and the same sage, mace and pepper seasoning.

Is this the Greggs recipe?

No. Greggs does not publish it. This is our own filling and method for the same familiar bakery item.

Curious what it costs to buy instead of make? The Greggs menu prices are here, with calories beside every item.