Cottage Pie – comfort food central! This English classic has a deeply savoury beef mince filling smothered in gravy topped with creamy mashed potato, baked until golden. One of the best cosy foods to make with ground beef!
Wondering what’s the difference between Cottage Pie and Shepherd’s Pie? Same recipe except Cottage Pie is made with beef and Shepherd’s Pie is made with lamb! (Because Shepherd’s herd sheep….)
Cottage Pie
Cottage Pie is a fabulous English classic, one that us Aussies have adopted as one of our beloved winter favorites! Or in my case, all-year-round-favourite.
Easy to make, economical, every day ingredients and 100% freezer friendly, it’s the sort of food that has universal appeal (well, putting aside vegetarians 😂)
There’s two components to Cottage Pie – the beef filling and the creamy mashed potato topping. The filling is beefy and deeply savoury and it WILL take willpower not to shovel it in your mouth as you’re cooking it…..
….then you get on with that creamy mashed potato filling and it WILL take serious willpower not to shovel THAT into your mouth too…
But you’ll hold out because you know that it’s worth the patience because when you pull the bubbling beauty of of the oven and see that crusty golden top, your chest will puff up with pride, everybody at the table will clap their hands with glee, and no matter how dismal the day, it’s just been made a whole lot better with your Cottage Pie.
What’s the difference between Cottage Pie and Shepherd’s Pie?
There is quite often confusion over the difference between Shepherd’s Pie and Cottage Pie. Both are made the same way – a beef mince filling in a gravy sauce that is topped with mashed potato, sprinkled with parmesan 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!
What goes in Cottage Pie
Here’s what you need for Cottage Pie.
Feel free to switch the beef with any protein – this is delicious made with lamb (which makes it Shepherd’s Pie), chicken, turkey, pork. Also don’t fret if you don’t have carrot and celery – skip it or add other diced vegetables, like peas.
And here’s what you need for the mashed potato topping.
I like to put parmesan cheese on my Cottage Pie because it makes the top extra crispy and golden. But any melting cheese will work great.
Cottage Pie from scratch
This Cottage Pie is made from scratch, and it’s very straightforward. If you can make Bolognese and mashed potato, you can make Cottage Pie because it essentially follows the same steps!
Cottage Pie – 2 little tips
I just have 2 little tips to make your Cottage Pie a resounding success:
To stop the potato from sinking into the filling, cool the filling first. But this isn’t a deal breaker, it’s just a visual thing ie if you don’t cool the filling, the potato “bleeds” into the beef mixture; 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!
How to freeze Cottage Pie
Cottage Pie is one of those rare foods that is truly perfect to make in advance. It will keep in the fridge for 4 days – assembled and ready to heat, or once cooked.
You can also freeze Cottage Pie 100% perfectly. You can bake from frozen – though it does take around 1 hour (it’s a formidable block of ice!!) or thaw then bake. Cooked leftovers also freeze well.
What goes with Cottage Pie
This is a meat and carb heavy dish, so it goes really well with fresh side salads like a Rocket Salad with Balsamic Dressing, or a Garden Salad with French or Italian Dressing. I recently served it with this Carrot Salad with a Honey Dijon Dressing which was a hit!
For a cosy meal on a cold winter night, try it with a side of Glazed Roasted Carrots and Sautéed Garlic Spinach. The only other thing you need is a glass of red and a crackling fire…
Or in my case, squatting by an ancient electric heater! 😂 – Nagi x
Watch how to make it
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Cottage Pie
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 tbsp olive oil
- 2 garlic cloves , minced
- 1 onion , finely chopped
- 1 carrot , finely chopped*
- 1 celery , finely chopped*
- 750g / 1.5 lb beef mince (ground beef)
- 1/4 cup (40g) flour (plain / all purpose)
- 1/4 cup (55g) tomato paste
- 2 cups (500 ml) beef stock / broth , low sodium
- 1/2 cup (125 ml) red wine (or water)
- 1 beef bouillon cube , crumbled (stock cube, or 1 tsp stock powder)
- 2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tsp dried thyme (or 3 sprigs fresh thyme)
- 2 dried bay leaves
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
Topping
- 1.2 kg / 2.5 lb potatoes , peeled and cut into 2.5cm / 1″ cubes
- 2/3 cup (165 ml) milk , warmed
- 2 tbsp (30g) butter
Parmesan Crust (optional)
- 2 tbsp (30g) butter
- 2 tbsp (20g) parmesan, grated
Instructions
- 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.
- Turn heat up to high. Add beef and cook, breaking it up as you go, until browned.
- Add flour and mix in. Add tomato paste, broth, red wine, bouillon cube, Worcestershire sauce, thyme, bay leaves, salt and pepper.
- 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). Taste then add more salt if desired.
- Transfer to 6 cup pie dish (1.5 litre / quart). Cover, cool if you have time (even overnight). Cool filling = easier to top with mash (Note 2)
Assemble Pie
- Preheat oven to 180°C/350°F.
- 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).
- Add butter and mash until melted, then add milk and salt. Mash until smooth.
- Spread onto pie, use a fork to rough up the surface (rougher surface = more golden bits). Sprinkle with paremsan, drizzle with butter (or skip this and just drizzle with olive oil)
- 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.
- Stand for 5 minutes before serving, garnished with fresh thyme leaves if desired.
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
Originally published October 2016. Updated 2020 with fresh new photos and video. No change to recipe – I wouldn’t dare!
More pie recipes
Shepherd’s Pie (lamb – because Shepherd’s herd sheep!)
Spanakopita (Greek spinach and feta pie)
Browse all cosy Winter Warmers
Life of Dozer
That’s what Dozer looks like when he’s peeved. 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!
This was Delicious!! I made this last night as written, except I cut up golden potatoes with skin on and mashed it chunky, bigger golden bits! i sprinkled parm on top.
Sounds great Linda! N x
Am so glad there are some of us that do not use “cottage pie” and “shepherds’ pie” interchangeably. One of my most serious culinary pet peeves.
Tried this. Sure would be nice to have quantities in recipe. Won’t try this again
Not only are the quantities included (obviously!), but there’s also a brilliant slider tool, so that you can automatically adjust the quantities to the number of servings! What more could you ask for?
Hi Leann – do you mean quantities of ingredients – as those are listed in the recipe card 🙂 N x
If I were to half the recipe, about how much potato would I need for the topping? I have some leftover mashed potatoes 😀
Hi Crystal – you can adjust the servings by hovering your mouse over the “servings” and use the scale to suit. N x
I’m just wondering more about a measurement for total amount of potatoes once they’re cooked from the ingredients listed, such as in cups or a weight
This was outstanding!!
Thanks so much Lisa! N x
The lots of time for cooking at home at the moment and I am raiding your recipe tin and cooking quite a lot of things from your site. Tonight I made this vegetarian style – a tin of lentils, and capsicum, corn, carrot and mushrooms in the mix. I found an online suggestion for substituting Worcestershire Sauce with a soy sauce/lemon juice/sugar/sriracha mix. Sooooo good!! But your recipe led the way – Thank you 🙂
Sounds great Donna! What a great alternative! N x
Hi Nagi, I am hoping to make this with chicken mince tonight. Will I need to sub the red wine or just follow the recipe as is? I don’t eat beef so I will be using chicken stock instead of beef so I wasn’t sure if the red wine would work.
Hi Suzie, it’s going to be very different as beef stock has a richer flavour. I’d still use the red wine and add a big splash of Worcestershire sauce as well to “beef” it up a little. Enjoy! N x
Great recipe! Definitely recommend draining the ground beef before adding. Also, 6 cup pan sizing for 5 servings is way off. I used a 7″ x 11″ baking pan which was full to the brim. Mixture bubbled up and over while baking so a larger pan is a must next time. Thanks for all of your great recipes!
Hi Susan, if you’ve used a high percentage fat beef mince then yes you may need to drain some of the fat off. This does make 5 generous servings, I’ve always found the 1.5litre dish I use to be the perfect vessel without any overflow 🙂 N x
Amazing recipe, soo tasty! Will 100% be using this recipe every time, beautiful rich flavour
That’s great to hear Olivia, I’m so glad you enjoyed it!! N x
Firstly, thank you so much for your website. It’s so amazing and I’ve made so many of your incredible recipes. I just wanted to share my grandmothers tip for making cottage pie. She always adds a can of baked beans! Sounds weird, I know, but it does add a level of richness. I’m from a family of greedy people so maybe it’s just us but I’d love for people to give it a try and see if they think it adds anything!
Sounds interesting Jonny!!! N x
I’ve just eaten dinner and I am full, but I am salivating just watching the video.
Will be making this Cottage pie soon.
You just know if Nagi has anything to do with it, it will be delicious, 🙂
This is a very good recipe. And it will be a keeper for me. I used peas and carrots as I didn’t have celery, will try it next time with celery. Also really like the authors style, the additional text of the meat mixture will not dry out when baked is gold info. Thank you.
Do you drain the grease from the ground beef after cooking?
I ran into the same issue. But due to no options at the supermarket I had to buy the very fatty hamburg. I’d do this recipe with fairly lean if I could, but it still was amazing.
Hi Heather, no I don’t (however, if you find that you’re using a fatty mince and there is a lot of grease, remove some to prevent the pie being too oily) N x
Hi Nagi,
LOVE your recipes and have been following them for years. Lately though our fam has started to eat more vegetarian/plant based meals. I’ve been using Quorn as a substitute (frozen section in Coles) not sure if you’ve experimented with this but I would love to see a little note on your recipes to show if they can be altered/ meat substituted or if meat is essential. I’m going to try this cottage pie recipe with Quorn and I’ll let you know how it goes.
Love to know how it turns out Jaz! N x
So I made it with Quorn. Definitely missing a level of depth that I think the beef provides. I think I’ll make it with the beef next time
I made this tonight for dinner and it was delicious! The plates and the dish were licked clean. Definitely a recipe for my recipe tin.
That’s the best compliment! Awesome to heat Mel!! N x
Hello Nagi, would I be able to substitute equal qtys of casserole beef or other beef stewing cut for the ground beef?
Hi Nagi!
Made a huge lot of this for dinner with leftovers for kids’ recess in school. So delicious!!
Perfect Wee!!
Will certainly make again!!
Excellent Kiera!
This cottage pie is soooo good would recommend to anyone. I’m loving all your recipes Nagi, thank you xx
I only discovered you recently and am a convert. You are now my “go to” for all recipes. Thank you, this is yet again a delicious crowd pleasing family dinner 🙂
Cottage pie (alias Shepherd’s pie) has been a staple in our family lo these many years. Your recipe has just the right amount of seasoning – can’t go wrong with Bay leaf ! London, Ontario, Canada.
I’m so glad you love it Gary, thanks so much for letting me know!