Last updated on January 12th, 2024 at 07:54 am

Best puff pastry substitutes for beef wellington


beef wellington puff pastry substitutes
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Beef Wellington is a tasty dish made with beef tenderloin and puff pastry. As the puff pastry bakes, it becomes light and fluffy, which is great when you are taking a bite into it with a juicy piece of meat. The pastry is flaky and tender while keeping an elegant feel to the dish.

If you are craving a delicious Beef Wellington, but you just realized you are out of puff pasty, there’s no need to worry. You might have something in your fridge already that you can use as a substitution. But what are the best puff pastry substitutions for beef wellington? 

Most useful puff pastry substitutions for beef wellington include croissant dough, phyllo dough, biscuit dough, or pie crust.

puff pastry substitutes for phyllo filo dough

 

If you are looking for the best substitution for puff pastry, you will find it in croissant dough. They have similar textures due to the flakiness they get while baking. They are also both have a buttery flavor, so you won’t be missing out on the full Beef Wellington experience!

What is Puff Pastry?

Puff pastry is made from a dough that is made by using alternating layers of dough and butter. The pastry is buttery, flaky, light, and can be used with sweet or savory dishes. The puff pastry is made out of only four ingredients: salt, butter, flour, and water.

It may seem like an easy pastry to make, but it is more complicated than you would expect if you want to make it from scratch. There are several steps involved, and it is very time-consuming.

Puff pastry can be found pre-made in the freezer section of your local grocery store. This is preferred by those who do not have the time or patience to make their own puff pastry from scratch.

Can I even Substitute Puff Pastry on Beef Wellington?

There’s nothing worse than craving a dish, getting all of the ingredients together, and realizing that you are missing one of the main ingredients. Say you are in the mood for a delicious Beef Wellington, you get the oven started and start gathering all of the ingredients, just to find that your puff pastry isn’t good anymore.

You could turn everything off, put it all away, and run to the store to get some fresh puff pastry, but that would be really inconvenient. You can substitute a different ingredient for the puff pastry if you have it in your refrigerator already. 

Puff pastry is pretty hard to duplicate exactly, but there are a few very close substitutions. You can get similar taste and texture, but nothing will be as satisfying with Beef Wellington as puff pastry.

Croissant Dough

Puff pastry is flaky, light, and buttery. If you are looking for the best substitute for your lack of puff pastry, croissant dough will be what you are looking for. After it is baked, this dough will puff up much like a puff pastry does when it is baking. 

puff pastry substitute in beef wellington - croissant dough

You can use croissant dough that comes from the refrigerated section of the grocery store, which you might even already have in your refrigerator. Croissants are as similar to puff pastry as you will be able to get due to their buttery and flaky nature.

Here is a great recipe, if you have time and want to make croissant dough yourself:

1 ½ cups milk lukewarm
¼ cup brown sugar packed
3 ¼ tsp active dry yeast
3 ¼ cups all-purpose flour up to 4 cups if needed
1 tbsp salt
1 ½ cups butter unsalted, cold
1 egg for egg wash

Recipe instructions

If you don’t have time to make it, you can always get it online or in your local store:

Phyllo or filo dough

You will be able to find phyllo dough in the freezer section of your grocery store. They are super thin sheets that are made up of flour, water, and oil. Most recipes that use phyllo dough require it to be brushed with butter before you stack it in layers.

Layering could make your Beef Wellington crust extra flaky. You will get a similar outcome to a puff pastry that is just a little crispier. 

homemade phyllo dough

Here is a great recipe, if you want to make phyllo dough yourself:

2 cups flour
¼ teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1/3 cup olive oil
½ cup warm water

Here is my blog post on how to make super stretchy homemade phyllo dough!

If you don’t have time to make it, you can always get it online or in your local store:

Biscuit dough

Biscuit dough is going to give you a similar outcome that croissant dough. To get the best outcome possible, you will need to handle your dough as carefully as possible. Make sure all of the ingredients you are using are cold, and if you are using store-bought dough, make sure it’s straight out of the fridge.

You should also freeze the dough for about 15 minutes before you roll out your dough. It is best to roll the dough out to about 1/4 of an inch thick. If you want layers, fold the dough a few times and roll it out again. 

puff pastry substitute in beef wellington - biscuti dough

You could also use biscuit dough that is premade and comes refrigerated. This is another ingredient that you might find already in your fridge. Biscuit dough that is already made will save you the extra time of having to make the dough yourself.

Here is a great recipe, if you want to make biscuit dough yourself:

2 cups all-purpose flour (250g)
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1 Tablespoon granulated sugar
1 teaspoon salt
6 Tablespoons unsalted butter very cold (85g)
3/4 cup whole milk¹ (177ml) buttermilk or 2% milk will also work

Recipe instructions

If you don’t have time to make it, you can always get it online or in your local store:

Pie crust

Pie crust won’t give you the same flakiness that you get from a puff pastry, but if you are making homemade crust, there are some things you can do to add some extra flake. You can also add extra layers to pie crust by utilizing the roll and fold method. 

Using the roll and fold method will give you the nice, flaky layers you get from the puff pastry, but it still won’t be quite the same. 

puff pastry substitute in beef wellington - Pie crust

Here is a great recipe, if you want to make pie crust dough yourself:

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup cold butter, cubed
2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup ice water

Recipe instructions

If you don’t have time to make it, you can always get it online or in your local store:

Conclusion

If you are wondering if there is a simple substitution to puff pastry when you are making a Beef Wellington, the answer is yes. You can substitute things like croissant dough, phyllo dough, biscuit dough, or pie crust. None of these will give you the exact same outcome as puff pastry.

The substitution that would be the most similar is the croissant dough. It will give you as close to the same buttery and flaky texture that you would get from puff pastry. As stated, these substitutes will not be exactly like puff pastry, but they will give you a similar taste and texture when you are in a pinch.

 

Rok

I am a kind of person that would sneak a taste out of grandma’s pot when I was barely tall enough to reach it. I grew up in kitchens full of love and liveliness and have spent my whole live learning, experimenting and succeeding in the art of cooking. At Pro Family Chef, every day is an opportunity for a new meal and a brand new flavor. I created this website to connect people that love to cook, with the products designed to make their cooking easier, hassle-free and rewarding every time.

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