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The classic meat pie is a deeply cherished Aussie staple – typically a chunky beef number encased in a golden, flaky shell with a drizzle of tomato sauce. And as such an important part of our national identity, it makes perfect sense that we have annual competitions dedicated to finding the best of the best. One of the biggest among them is the Baking Association of Australia’s Best Pie and Pastie Competition, which crowns local winners in pastry-related categories, ranging from vegetarian and seafood to gourmet and gluten-free. But there's one award that competing bakeries want to get their flour-dusted hands on the most: the highly coveted title of Australia's Best Pie. This year, that sacred title was awarded to a bakery right here in Victoria.
Across three fierce days of competition on the Gold Coast, hundreds of entries face a double-evaluation by a well-respected industry panel. First, each pastry is assessed as a cold entry to inspect the bake, then heated and tasted again while hot – with the combined scores deciding who walks away with the title of Australia’s Best Pie and Best Pastie.
Drumroll, please… For 2026, Victoria’s legendary Country Cob Bakery has once again come out on top – marking its incredible fifth national title since the business opened in 2016. With locations in Kyneton, Boronia and Springvale, the regional powerhouse is famous for both its classic and innovative bakes. Their traditional plain meat pie won the Best Pie crown an incredible three years in a row (2018–2020), while their Cambodian-style fish amok pie made history in 2023 as the first seafood-based gourmet flavour to win the overall title in the competition's history.
Now following suit, Country Cob's Malaysian prawn pie has been crowned the 2026 champion. It features a fragrant blend of Southeast Asian spices slow-cooked in a rich, creamy coconut sauce, loaded with plump, juicy prawns, and encased in their signature golden, flaky pastry.
The Country Cob team says, “This pie wasn't created overnight. It took more than two weeks of testing and refining to get the flavour just right, and only when our entire baking team agreed that it was something truly special did we know we had a winner.”
Victorian bakeries cleaned up the awards at this year's competition – with seven of the sixteen key prizes going to Victorian gems. Last year's overall Best Pie winner, Buddy Bakery, pulled off a double victory to claim both the Best Plain Mince Pie and Best Chunky Plain Beef Pie titles. Meanwhile, North End Bakehouse won Best Vegetarian Pie and Heavens Bakehouse won Best Gluten-Free Pie. You can check out the full list of winners below.
Australia’s Best Pie and Pastie winners for 2026:
- Best Pie (overall): Country Cob Bakery, VIC
- Best Plain Mince Pie: Buddy Bakery Melton, VIC
- Best Chunky Plain Beef Pie: Buddy Bakery Melton, VIC
- Best Flavoured Beef Pie: Country Cob Bakery, VIC
- Best Vegetarian Pie: North End Bakehouse, VIC
- Best Seafood Pie: Country Cob Bakery, VIC
- Best Poultry Pie: Paradise Bakehouse, QLD
- Best Mushroom Pie: Banana Boogie Bakery, SA
- Best Gourmet Pie: Paradise Bakehouse, QLD
- Best Gluten-Free Pie: Heavens Bakehouse, VIC
- Best Pastie (overall): Orange Spot Bakery, SA
- Best Traditional Pastie: Banana Boogie Bakery, SA
- Best Cornish Pastie: Ray's Patisserie - Carseldine, QLD
- Best Gourmet Pastie: Orange Spot Bakery, SA
- Best Vegetarian Pastie: Finley Bakery, NSW
- Best Gluten-Free Pastie: Jo Jo’s Gluten Free Goodies, NSW
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