the bakels supreme pie awards 2025

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 Growing up in New Zealand in the 70’s and 80’s the staple of your diet was a good old mince pie. 2000 degrees Kelvin straight from a pie warmer where it could have been sitting for weeks. Thrown into a white paper bag and 50 cents to a $1 was a standard price.

Fast forward to 2025 and oh how things have changed. As the creator of Pies of Canterbury on Instagram I’ve been lucky to share in some incredible pie experiences, and some not so good ones. Unfortunately, the days of being satisfied with $1 pie are long gone and the simple New Zealand Pie has become an epicurean delight with bakeries in hot competition to create the best. Theres even an app, “Mean Pies” that lets the average kiwi rate their experience.

My role at Pies of Canterbury is to journey around the province with three criteria to choose from. Pie vibe – What’s the feeling like when I enter the bakery/ pie store. Is service good. Crust and filling and then taste. These days the mince has fallen by the wayside for more exotic fillings Sage and chilli pork sausage, Pork belly and taro, Steak cheese and jalapeno, King prawn with onion, tomato, mushroom and Tom Yum just to name a few of what you can now get. I’ve tried pies that start at $3 and to the eye watering $28.

Every year I’m always keeping an eye on The Bakels Supreme pie award and this year is no different. Entries are open now and will close on the 24th of June with judging in Auckland on the 23rd and 24th of July.

The Bakels New Zealand Supreme Pie Awards, established in 1996, are the nation's premier celebration of pie-making excellence. Attracting over 500 bakers and more than 5,000 entries annually, the competition spans 11 categories, including classics like mince and cheese, and innovative gourmet creations. Judging s conducted blindly by a panel of experts and a celebrity chef, ensuring impartiality and a focus on quality and creativity.

In 2024, history was made when Arlyn Thompson of Rangiora Bakery in North Canterbury became the first South Island baker—and only the second woman—to win the Supreme Award. Her winning entry, a slow-cooked Sumatra-style beef pie, featured tender meat infused with lemongrass, galangal, ginger, chilies, and coconut milk, complemented by caramelized onion and cheese. Celebrity judge Sid Sahrawat praised it as “so beautiful to eat,” highlighting its balanced Flavors and comforting appeal.

Demand for last year’s Bakels NZ Supreme Award pie completely took the winners, Rangiora Bakery by surprise selling on average 335 a day. “This slow-cooked Sumatra beef pie, in coming out of leftfield, we had to set up a separate pie warmer just to keep up with it,” says Rangiora Bakery managing director Ron van Til.

“From a retail point of view, we run a very busy café, and you think you’re busy and then this happens. And then you look back at it and go ‘wow!’. We can hold about 150 people in our café, but to have queues forming and going out the door was a novelty for us, and they were all coming in to try the pie.”

During the first few weeks Ron says he noticed quite a few groups in the café doing their own little judging session to decide whether they liked the pie and whether it was worth the award. 

He points out that introducing the Sumatra beef flavour, which would be unrecognisable to most New Zealanders, was very intentional. The filling contains 28 ingredients, and Ron calls it his one-world recipe. “A lot was to do with the naming of it because no one knew what a Sumatra pie is. If we went with what we were originally going to call it a lot of people would have said it doesn’t taste like whatever the flavour is. But we came up with a left-field name to challenge people to go into our café and say, ‘oh I’ve never had a Sumatra pie, I must try that.’ That worked quite well because it took away anyone’s preconceived ideas.”

The awards not only recognize outstanding craftsmanship but also boost winners' profiles, often leading to increased sales and national acclaim. 

With a top prize of $7,500 and extensive media coverage, the Bakels Supreme Pie Awards continue to inspire innovation and excellence in New Zealand's beloved pie industry. It’s my holy grail for pie eating of the year. I must admit living in Canterbury, I do get fomo that the awards are in Auckland but It’s not that bad. We have bakeries around us like Rangiora Bakery, Michaels in Hillmorton, Hills Road bakery (their mussel pie is DIVINE) , Aorangi bakery, Kidds bakery and the magnificent butchers pie shop at Riverside. We are spoilt for choice, and I make the most of it. I look forward to seeing the plethora of awards from Bakels supreme Pie awards across Aotearoa. 

Enjoy your pie, I’m off to the gym.

Words: Nick Henare