Cottage Pie is comfort food central! A tasty ground beef (mince) gravy filling topped with mashed potato, baked until golden perfection. Swap the beef for lamb, and you’ll turn this into a Shepherd’s Pie.
Easy to make, and freezes really well. I love this Cottage Pie so much, I make it all year round – even in the height of summer!
I am pretty sure I am the most frequent visitor of my website. Not just because it’s my job. But also because it’s my actual “recipe tin” – albeit a digital form of the old recipe boxes I used to collate recipes in.
I popped onto my blog to grab my Cottage Pie recipe….and had a moment of disbelief.
I hadn’t shared Cottage Pie yet??
Me – the Potato Queen, the lover of all things gravy, the girl who craves hot comfort food even in the height of summer – hadn’t posted Cottage Pie yet.
Well. I decided I better fix that quick smart!
Cottage Pie is a fabulous English classic, one that Australians have also adopted as one of our beloved winter favorites. Or in my case, all-year-round-favourite.
There is quite often confusion over the difference between Shepherd’s Pie and Cottage Pie. Both are made the same way – a ground beef (mince) filling in a gravy sauce that is topped with mashed potato, then baked. (That crusty top is everything!!) The only difference is that Shepherd’s Pie is made with lamb instead of beef.
So if you want, just swap the beef in this recipe with lamb and you’ll have a Shepherd’s Pie.
This is an easy Cottage Pie recipe. Actually, I am not sure how hard Cottage Pie recipes can be, but I’m sure there are posh versions around. 🙂 Mine is a classic, and I don’t fiddle with it and try to fancy it up. Oh wait, I lie. Sometimes I add peas. And when I feel deserving of a treat, or if I’m making this for company, I add a big handful of cheese into the mashed potato. But for every day purposes, I don’t feel the need to add cheese into the potato because Cottage Pie is so tasty as it is anyway.
The only tips I have for making Cottage Pie are:
- To stop the potato from sinking into the filling, cool the filling first. But this isn’t a deal breaker; and
- Ensure the filling reduces down enough (see video) to ensure you don’t end up with a watery filling after baking. It’s so disappointing when you break through the potato to be greeted with a beef sitting in a watery sauce!
Those of you familiar with my Baby Hands will recognise that the hands in the video are not mine (see below recipe). My mother did most of the cooking for the video, I filmed and “directed”. By “directed”, I mean I stood behind the camera, instructing my mother to move “faster, faster, faster!” as she added the ingredients into the skillet (because, as I tell her, whenever I watch footage of my mother cooking, I feel like I’m watching a movie in slow motion – ba ha ha!!)
She hates being my hand model. Claims I stress her out. 😉
– Nagi x
PS Is it just me who wants to do a face plant in this bowl?
MORE COSY PIES
- Chicken Pot Pie
- Shepherd’s Pie (lamb – because Shepherd’s herd sheep!)
- Chunky Beef and Mushroom Pie
- Fish Pie
- Leftover Turkey Pot Pie with Garlic Bread Topping
- Browse all cosy Winter Warmers
- 1 1/2 tbsp olive oil
- 2 garlic cloves , minced
- 1 onion , finely chopped
- 1 carrot , finely chopped*
- 1 rib celery , finely chopped*
- 750 g / 1.5 lb ground beef (mince)
- 1/4 cup / 40 g flour (plain)
- 1/4 cup / 55g tomato paste
- 2 cups / 500 ml beef stock / broth
- 1/2 cup / 125 ml red wine (or water)
- 1 beef bouillon cube , crumbled
- 2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tsp dried thyme or 3 sprigs fresh thyme
- 2 dried bay leaves
- 1.2 kg / 2.5 lb potatoes , peeled and cut into 2.5cm / 1" cubes
- 2/3 cup / 165 ml milk
- 2 tbsp / 30g butter
- Nutmeg (optional)
- Olive oil or melted butter, for drizzling
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Heat oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add onion and garlic, cook for 1 minute. Then add carrots and celery. Cook for 3 minutes or until softened and sweet.
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Turn heat up to high. Add beef and cook, breaking it up as you go, until browned.
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Add flour and mix in. Add tomato paste, broth, red wine, bouillon cube, Worcestershire sauce, thyme and bay leaves.
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Bring to simmer, then turn down heat so it is simmering rapidly - I have it on medium high. Cook for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally, until it reduces down to a gravy consistency (Note 1) (see video).
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Transfer to 6 cup pie dish (1.5 litre / quart). Cover, then refrigerate to cool for 1 - 2 hours or overnight (optional, Note 2)
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Preheat oven to 180C/350F.
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Cook potatoes in boiling water for 15 minutes or until soft. Drain then return to pot on turned off stove. Shake briefly and allow to steam dry for 30 seconds or so (Note 3).
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Add butter and mash until melted, then add milk and salt (+ optional nutmeg). Mash until smooth.
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Spread onto pie, use a fork to rough up the surface (rougher surface = more golden bits), drizzle with olive oil.
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Bake for 25 - 30 minutes or until golden on top and bubbling on the edges. Stick a knife into the middle to ensure it is piping hot.
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Stand for 5 minutes before serving, garnished with fresh thyme leaves if desired.
* Carrots and celery are used to make a truly great mirepoix / soffrritto flavour base for this pie. However, they can be omitted, but add 1 tsp of sugar instead.
1. Whatever the thickness of the sauce when you pour it into the tin, that's what it will be once baked - no steam escapes while baking to allow it to reduce any further. So keep cooking until it's the consistency you want.
2. Cooling the filling ensures that the potato doesn't sink into the filling and makes it much easier to spread. If you are in a rush - as I often am - pop it in the freezer while you make the potato. That works pretty well.
3. Watery potatoes drops excess liquid while baking into the filling which makes the sauce watery. So don't skip the step of steam drying the potatoes!
Also, make sure the mash is hot when spreading onto the pie. Cold mash is hard and so it is harder to dollop / spread onto the pie.
4. Variations: If I'm making this for company or am on a calorie-blow-out mission, I add a big handful of cheese into the potato and also top with more cheese before baking. It doesn't need it, it's a bonus. 🙂
For the filling, sometimes I add peas, or I reduce the amount of beef and add chopped veggies like zucchini.
5. Make ahead instructions: Assemble pie but don't bake it. Cool mashed potato topping then either refrigerate or freeze. Thaw if frozen (it will take way too long to bake from frozen) then bake as per recipe.
6. Nutrition per serving, assuming 5 generous servings.
WATCH HOW TO MAKE IT
Cottage Pie cooking video. Dozer fans – don’t miss Life of Dozer at the end of the video!
LIFE OF DOZER
That’s what Dozer looks like when he’s peeved. In this case, I’m pretty sure he’s cranky because he squeezed himself under this tiny table, waited so patiently for me to finish taking photos and he didn’t get a taste test.
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I usually make Melissa D’Arabian’s recipe but yours is less fussy so I gave it a try. Delicious! I didn’t have tomato paste and my spaghetti sauce was frozen solid so I used a little ketchup.
Hi Kathleen! I’m so glad you loved it!
Love this. Thank you for sharing the recipe.
Glad you enjoyed it Christine!! Thanks for sharing your feedback 🙂 N x
What would you recommend to substitute milk and butter? My toddler has a dairy allergy!
For the mash? Just use olive oil for the butter, and what about non dairy milks?? Any will be great 🙂
Doubled this recipe for 13 people. Was worried with the very soupy beef mixture at first but allowed about 2 hours to simmer down to an acceptable texture. The end result was truly delicious! The family said it was the best ever shepherd’s pie, I.e., cottage pie, everyone loved it. This is now our go to recipe for cottage pie.
Awesome!!! Glad you enjoyed this Owen! N x ❤️
Hi there,
How much tomato puree can I use if I do not have tomato paste? I cant seem to find it in UK stores.
Best
Shaa’ista
Substituting gluten free flour ok?
This is the best Cottage Pie I have ever eaten. Cooked it last night and can’t wait to cook it again !
Thank you for the recipe. We had a great lunch today 🙂 It turned out excellent. Greetings from Slovakia.
Richard
Hi Nagi, At last I found a chef who is a gravyaholic like me. I have just made this recipe and it is so yummy. Thank you.
This was a GREAT dinner for my family, and my son (a scathing food critic at a ripe old age of 4 years old) squealed with delight when he saw the cottage pie out of the oven and actually said “thank you Mama for the dinner” (he only ever says this when he really enjoyed the food – no, he didn’t get the memo on manners).
Thanks for the tips of letting the mash cool down, and reducing the sauce… I sprinkled a handful of cheddar cheese on the mash, and the mash yielded a very nice golden brown!
Certainly going to make this again! But, I think my son’s going to want me to cook every single recipe on your blog soon! 😀 [And I can’t wait!]
Your son knows GOOD FOOD!!! 😂 What a star!!
Are we supposed to leave the bay leaves in? I’d always been told by my mother to fish them out once cooking is complete for any recipe. I’ll definitely try this version! Thank you!
Another winner Nagi! And thank-you for clarifying that it’s a cottage pie when made with beef. Cottage pie and shepherd’s pie taste different, and I get cranky when people call them by the wrong name.
That’s so great to hear Gerry!! So glad you enjoyed this, thanks for taking the time to let me know – N x
I’ve made this before and it is quite good. I do have a suggestion to speed things up. Most of the cottage pie I have ever had prior to this has a layer of corn below the potatoes. A can or so of corn is spread out on top of the filling and it allows the potatoes to be spread on while the filling is still warm without them sinking in.
GENIUS!!!
Great tip! Thanks!
Your version with three distinct layers and the creamed corn in the middle is called Pâté Chinois (a French Canadian spin on Cottage/Shepherd’s pie).
Thank you for letting me know this. I am from rural upstate New York and the canned corn I was referring to is actually not creamed, just the regular kernels. However, this sounds good and now I know what to call it. 🙂
IT SOUNDS SO GOOD!!!
Wow! That was really good!
Glad you enjoyed it Stephanie! Thanks for letting me know! N x
My cottage pies always are too runny, so I liked your point about making the consistency of the gravy what i want in the pie. I’ll try to reduce!
I learnt the hard way! 🙂 N x
Made it tonight…awesome!!
Nagi, I made this for dinner last night and we loved it! Actually…I made it the night before because I didn’t realize the filling would take so long to cool down–and I certainly didn’t want the mashed potatoes to sink into the filling! (Thanks for that tip.) So I cooled the filling, then spread the mash on top, and by that time, it was 9pm, so I decided to bake it the next night (and we had cereal for dinner instead). It really was such a good taste, with the sweetness from the carrots and onions, and the rich–but not TOO rich–filling, and the perfect mashed potatoes. But one thing: even though I roughed up the mash with a fork and brushed olive oil on top, the finished pie didn’t have the “golden bits” that you love. It certainly looked nice, and the edges were bubbling, but how can I achieve the golden bits next time? (Because I definitely will make this again!).
Hi Lori! I’m wondering if it was just the colour of the olive oil?? You know how olive oil can be really pale or very yellow? If you want super yellow, use a yellow butter and/or parmesan as well! N x
Nagi, you mean you are INSISTING that I brush the top of the mashed potatoes with butter and parmesan?? Well, OK…don’t mind if I do! (Next time.)
Oh, how cruel! Butter AND parmesan!
(Can I have a piece?)
😂
Winner dinner! I don’t know if we’ll have leftovers to freeze at the rate my husband, and my son are hungrily eating!