Even if I don’t live in a sweet little cottage in the English countryside, I can easily conjure that dreamy feeling when I make this best cottage pie recipe. To me, it represents everything cottage life is supposed to be: cozy, simple, and humble.
I boosted the flavor of this recipe with a dash of vinegar and Worcestershire in the filling plus everyday seasonings that come through in each bite. And the delicious topping of smooth mashed potatoes gets infused with garlic and chives. It’s a perfect nourishing meal for chilly evenings.
Recipe Highlights
Serves a lot: I get a lot of food from a single well-rounded recipe that provides everything you need in terms of flavor and nutrients. I appreciate that it can serve my family of 5 for two meals.
Hardly any chopping: Even though this recipe is filled with veggies, you only need to chop an onion and some garlic cloves. The remaining veggies are convenient frozen peas, carrots, and corn that simply need to be added to the skillet.
Less than an hour: Cottage pie may seem fussy, but it only takes me 20 minutes of prep time and the full recipe is ready to eat in a total time of just 45 minutes.
High protein and nutritious: Every serving provides 30 grams of protein, as well as a full serving of vegetables and 3 grams of fiber.
Dairy free: Most cottage pie recipes incorporate some kind of dairy, whether its butter, sour cream, or cheese. But my recipe is 100% dairy free, which was a special request of my brother-in-law who was looking for a really good dairy-free shepherd’s pie.
Garlic mashers: The topping on this cottage pie is delicious and creamy garlic mashed potatoes, which adds a yummy boost of flavor to every comforting bite.
Featured Ingredients
- Ground beef – ground beef is typical in cottage pie, but you could use ground turkey or ground lamb instead. I prefer grass-fed and grass-finished ground beef, when I can get my hands on it, because of its healthier fat profile, including less total fat and more omega-3 fatty acids
- Frozen veggies – grab a 10-ounce bag of frozen peas and carrots and a bag of frozen corn. If you’re a fan of frozen green beans, you could simply use a large bag of frozen mixed vegetables that contains peas, carrots, corn, and green beans together
- Worcestershire sauce and apple cider vinegar – don’t skip these flavor makers, as they help deepen and brighten the flavor of the ground beef and veggie mixture. If you don’t have them on hand, use 2 tablespoons tomato paste or red wine
- Mashed potatoes – I typically use russet potatoes, but Yukon gold and little red potatoes taste great, too. Leftover mashed potatoes from another meal are perfect for making this cottage pie even faster – just reconstitute them with a little broth and olive oil and add the garlic, salt, pepper, and chives. My Instant Pot mashed potatoes method is another fast way to cook mashed potatoes without needing to boil a pot of water on the stove
Find the ingredient list with exact measurements in the recipe card below.
The Necessary Kitchen Tools
- Oven-safe skillet – every person on our team loves this Lodge enamel-coated cast iron skillet that can go from stovetop to oven. It’s perfect for making many of our one-skillet meals and this cottage pie
- Baking sheet – this is to set the baking dish upon inside the oven to prevent any spillover
- Large pot and colander – for cooking and draining the potatoes
- Hand mixer, stand mixer, or potato masher – for getting the potatoes creamy and smooth
Prevent Spillover
Since the skillet is nice and full from the ground beef and veggie gravy plus the garlic mashed potatoes on top, it’s a good idea to place the skillet on top of a baking sheet. That way, any gravy that bubbles up and over at the edges will get caught on the sheet pan instead of falling to the bottom of the oven, where it could burn and create a mess.
Make It Gluten-Free
The only gluten-containing ingredient in this cottage pie is the small amount of flour used to thicken the gravy. To make this recipe 100% gluten-free, simply use a 1-for-1 gluten-free flour alternative, such as Bob’s Red Mill 1-to-1 baking flour.
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Cottage Pie Recipe
A delicious dinner in one recipe provides protein and veggies in a cozy serving. The topping of creamy garlic mashed potatoes makes every bite of this comfort food dinner so good.
Ingredients
For The Cottage Pie:
- 2 lbs lean ground beef (can sub ground turkey, ground lamb, or a mix)
- 1 small onion, chopped (1 cup)
- 1 ½ cups frozen peas and carrots (1 10-ounce bag)
- 1 cup frozen corn
- 6 garlic cloves, minced (2 tablespoons)
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 2 teaspoons dried thyme
- 2 teaspoons dried rosemary, crushed
- 1 teaspoon fine salt
- ¼ cup all-purpose flour*
- 2 cups beef broth (may sub chicken broth or vegetable broth)
For The Garlic Mashed Potatoes:
- Water and salt
- 2 lbs russet potatoes (about 5 small-medium), peeled and chopped
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 6 garlic cloves, minced (2 tablespoons)
- ½ teaspoon fine salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- ½ to 1 cup beef broth or beef stock (or use chicken broth or vegetable broth)
- ⅓ cup minced fresh chives or fresh thyme
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400°F. At the same time, start cooking the potatoes: Fill a pot halfway with lightly salted water and bring to a boil over high heat.
- In a very large oven-safe skillet over medium-high heat, brown the ground beef for 5 minutes. Add the onion and continue to saute until the ground beef is cooked through, 5-7 minutes more. Drain grease from the skillet and return to the stovetop over medium-high heat.
- When the water in the pot comes to a boil, add the peeled and chopped potatoes (to make the mashed potatoes).
- Once the potatoes are tender and easily pierced with a fork, drain the water from the pot and return the potatoes to the pot. Add the olive oil, garlic, salt, and pepper. Using a hand mixer, whip the potatoes until they are well mashed and creamy, increasing the speed as you continue to whip for a full minute or two. Add ½ to 1 cup broth and continue to whip until the potatoes are very creamy. Add the chives and whip again until the chives are incorporated. Set the mashed potatoes aside. (Alternatively, you can whip the potatoes with a stand mixer or a hand potato masher.)
- Back at the skillet with the ground beef, add the frozen peas and carrots, frozen corn, garlic, Worcestershire sauce, vinegar, thyme, rosemary, and salt. Stir until well combined.
- Sprinkle the flour all over the ingredients in the skillet and stir until dissolved.
- Slowly pour the broth over the ground beef mixture and continue to heat and stir until the broth thickens to a gravy-like consistency, about 5 minutes.
- Remove the skillet from the heat and place the skillet on a sheet pan (this helps prevent spillage in the oven). Gently add the mashed potatoes in a layer over the ground beef mixture. Use the back of a spoon to spread the potatoes evenly in a wavy pattern, or use a fork to draw a lined pattern.
- Place the sheet pan with the skillet on the top rack in the oven. Bake for 25 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and let sit for 5 minutes before serving. If desired, garnish servings with additional chives or fresh parsley. Store leftovers in a covered container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
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Notes
This large heavy duty enamel-coated cast iron skillet is a team favorite dish for recipes like this one that go from stovetop to oven.
For gluten-free cottage pie, use an equal amount of 1-for-1 gluten-free flour.
Nutrition Information
- Serving Size: 1 1/2 cups
- Calories: 365
- Fat: 14 g
- (Sat Fat: 4 g)
- Sodium: 698 mg
- Carbohydrate: 32 g
- (Fiber: 3 g
- Sugar: 5 g)
- Protein: 30 g
- Cholesterol: 71 mg
Dietary
Serving Suggestions
The best feature of cottage pie is that it’s a complete dish in one. It provides protein, carbs, and healthy fats for a well-rounded nutrient profile, as well as several food groups. It’s nice to know that I only need to prepare one recipe for dinner, and there’s really no need for side dishes. However, for brunch last Easter I served it with this favorite pea salad and the meal was a hit.
Storage Instructions
Transfer leftovers from the skillet to an airtight container and store in the fridge for up to 5 days. Reheat servings in the microwave or in a skillet over medium heat with 1 to 2 teaspoons of water added. I’ve also reheated a serving in the toaster oven, which was a nice method to get the top of the potatoes nice and crispy browned again.
The Difference Between Shepherd’s Pie And Cottage Pie
Cottage pie and shepherd’s pie are pretty much the same thing, the origins of both coming from the British Isles, where the protein- and carbohydrate-rich dish was a low-cost way to get a lot of good nourishment from a meal.
Some say the main difference between the two is that cottage pie uses ground beef, while shepherd’s pie is made with ground lamb, but I’ve seen them both ways. Others say that shepherd’s pie is an Irish dish, while cottage pie is of English origins. Neither of them is truly pie, in the sense that pies (like fruit pies and chicken pot pie) have a crust. Rather, the dish is known for being made with ground meat mixture, mixed veggies, and a mashed potato topping that all gets baked in the oven together. There are also many variations on this dish, including shepherd’s pie recipe made with lentils and shepherd’s pie topped with sweet potatoes.
Frequently Asked Questions
Place the oven rack in the top one-third of the oven so it’s closer to the heating element. For an even crispier top, place the baked pie under the oven broiler for 1-2 minutes, watching carefully so it doesn’t burn.
Yes, you can assemble this entire recipe and freeze it, tightly wrapped in plastic wrap, for up to 3 months. To bake from frozen, place the shepherd’s pie on a baking sheet in the top rack of an oven preheated to 400°F. Bake for 50-60 minutes.
The photos in this blog post were taken by Casey Colodny of The Mindful Hapa.
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