Our Cottage Pie is a classic comfort food of meat and potatoes is made with rich, meaty flavors and topped with broth-based mashed potatoes. It's the perfect dish for a cozy night in.
Similar to a shepherd's pie, a cottage pie is made with the same corn, green peas and carrot base, topped with creamy mashed potatoes except on a base of ground beef. For our version, we add a few secret ingredients to put a not-so-traditional twist on a favourite.
Made with a flavourful mix of onions, carrots, and celery. ground beef, tomato paste, and garlic, the richness of the meat is added using bone broth. The key to a delicious and flavourful Cottage Pie is all in the meat and vegetables, potatoes, and the assembly. It's the perfect comfort food to be eaten by itself or served alongside a nice simple salad.
How to Make Our Cottage Pie
Cottage Pie Ingredients
Olive oil, ground beef, onion, carrot, mushrooms, garlic, beef stock, tomato paste, Worcestershire sauce, corn, peas, russet potatoes, egg, salt and pepper
Boil and Mash the Potatoes
Your Cottage Pie is only as good as the mashed potatoes you top it with. Creamy, fluffy and rich, our russet mashed potatoes are flavoured by boiling the potatoes in beef broth. Yes, you read right. Instead of boiling them in water, we boil our potatoes in broth allowing the potatoes to take on the flavour. Once cooked, just mash them right into the broth.
After you've mashed them, our other trick of cracking an egg into our potatoes. This makes them crisp up in the oven leaving the insides creamy and rich. Season your potatoes with salt and pepper and get ready to assemble.
Sauté the Beef and Vegetables
Browning your meat is the first step to ensuring your pie is flavourful and rich. If time allows, cook your meat off in batches allowing all sides to brown and get a charred crust. Crowding your meat in the skillet makes the meat steam, preventing it from getting the flavor of a caramelized crust.
Next, add in mushrooms and onions and cook until the onions are translucent. While a traditional Cottage Pie doesn't have mushrooms, to us this casserole is the perfect way to add in additional vegetables. Add in the remaining vegetables of carrots, corn, and green peas. Finally, season with salt and pepper and cook with beef broth, Worcestershire, and tomato paste, cooking until thick.
How to Assemble Cottage Pie
Start by packing your meat and vegetables down into your cast iron skillet before you spread your mashed potatoes atop. Be sure to cover all the meat and vegetable mixture with the potatoes allowing no space between the two.
Then grab your fork and starting in the center of your potatoes, glide your fork in a circular motion inward out until you reach the edges. The imprint of the fork in the potatoes allows the higher edges to crisp and firm up in the oven. This provides an interesting design for your potatoes and a crispy and soft pillowy effect to the taste.
You're left with a flavourful beef and vegetable base with a fluffy and rich-tasting mashed potato topping. When cooking your Cottage Pie to keep the meat, vegetable, and potato ratio equal so that each bite is the perfect combination of all three.
Recipe Card
Cottage Pie
Ingredients
Filling
- 2 tablespoon olive oil
- 1.5 lbs medium ground beef
- 1 large onion peeled and diced
- 1 large carrot peeled and diced
- 2 cups mushrooms roughly chopped
- 2 cloves garlic peeled and minced
- 1 cup beef stock
- 2 tablespoon tomato paste
- 1 tablespoon worcestershire
- ½ cup corn kernels fresh or frozen
- ½ cup peas fresh and frozen
Potato Topping
- 2 lbs russet potatoes peeled and cut into large chunks
- 2 tablespoon olive oil
- ½ cup bone broth
- 1 egg
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375˚F
- Clean, peel, and chop potatoes, place in large pot with ½ cup of beef stock, and ½ teaspoon salt. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and cover. Cook until fork tender, approximately 20 minutes. Work on step 3 while potatoes are cooking.
- Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a cast iron skillet set on medium high heat. Once the oil begins to smoke, place 1 inch pieces of ground meat in the pan leaving space between. Sear for two minutes then stir the meat and continue to cook until browned. Cook in batches if necessary to ensure not to crowd the pan. Keep cooked meat aside in a bowl.
- Using the same pan, add an additional 1 tablespoon of oil (if necessary). Sauté the onions for 30 seconds, then add mushrooms. Season with salt and pepper. Once mushrooms release liquid, add minced garlic, and continue to cook until mushrooms are tender. Mix the browned beef into the mushrooms, then add the carrots, peas, and corn. Pour in broth, tomato paste, worcestershire and cook until thickened, about 5-7 minutes. Taste, and adjust seasoning to taste.
- In the pot with the potatoes, add 2 tablespoon of olive oil and black pepper. Mash until smooth and taste for seasoning. Adjust as necessary. Crack and egg open and immediately mash it into the mixture as quick as possible so the egg does not scramble.
- Smear potatoes on top of the meat mixture and smooth or distribute evenly to achieve your desired look
- Cook in preheated oven for 50 mins or until potatoes are golden brown
Recipe Notes
- While traditional cottage pie is made with ground beef, this can be substituted with any ground meat of your choice.
Diana says
Hello, what size skillet are you using for this recipe? Thank you. Diana
Philip + Mystique says
Hi Diana,
We use a 12" skillet for this recipe.
Steve says
yep, this is an awesome recipe, loved it.
Chef Sous Chef says
Thanks Steve! We're so glad you enjoyed the recipe.
Iain Morrison says
It is not traditional in the UK to have corn in a Shepherd's Pie, or a Cottage Pie. Peas and carrots? Yes! BTW, your recipe is for Cottage Pie, because "Shepherd's Pie" is always made from Lamb, because shepherds look after sheep...not cows.
Chef Sous Chef says
Hi Iain, Thanks for the comment and info. Mystique is obsessed with corn and puts it in everything. In our house we always called it Shepherd's Pie whether it was ground beef or lamb, and that's why we called it the Not So Traditional Ground Beef Shepherd's Pie. Thanks again for reading and taking the time to comment!
Lindsay says
Just finished up dinner. Absolutely delicious! Make sure to get a good seal when you cover the potatoes as they are steaming. I added a little parmigiano reggiano on top of the mash before browning.
Chef Sous Chef says
We're so glad you loved it! Great idea to add the parm.
Lindsay says
Is the 1/2 cup broth enough liquid to boil the potatoes?
Chef Sous Chef says
Hi Lindsay,
The potatoes get cooked by a combination of the broth and the steam from the broth. This amount ensures that you can mash the potatoes in the broth and still get a good consistency. If you have concerns, you can add extra broth, but just make sure to drain some of the excess before mashing so the potatoes don't turn out soupy.
Tracey says
Both the husband and I loved it—and went back for seconds! He even commented on how fluffy the potatoes were. And although the recipe said to leave the pie in the oven for 50 minutes, since mine gets pretty hot, 40 minutes would have been perfect (less browning on top).