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Classic cottage pie

Easy Cottage Pie Recipe | How to Make Classic Cottage Pie

By Tom · Updated

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  • Serves 6
  • About 1 hour 35 min
  • Easy

Cottage pie is a classic British dish that's hearty, comforting, and full of flavour. It's typically made with minced or ground beef and very similar to shepherd's pie which is made with ground lamb mince, cooked with onions, carrots, and sometimes other vegetables like peas or celery.

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The recipe

Classic cottage pie

Cottage pie is a classic British dish that's hearty, comforting, and full of flavour.

  • Serves 6
  • 15 min prep
  • 1 hour 5 min cooking
  • 15 min hands-off
  • Easy

Times and difficulty are our estimates from the method, not stopwatch figures.

Scale
6 servings
Measurements

Ingredients

Mashed potato topping

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A dotted underline means the amount has been rounded to something you can measure.

Method

  1. Step 1

    Preheat the oven to 190°C Fan. Heat the olive oil (30 ml) in a large saucepan and sauté the diced onions (1 onion) and carrots (1 carrot) until soft. Next, add in the minced beef (750 g) and cook until it turns brown. Stir in the flour (30 g) and cook for 5 minutes.

  2. Step 2

    Gradually add in the beef stock (400 ml), tomato puree (30 g), Worcestershire sauce (40 ml), mixed herbs (½ tsp) and a pinch of salt and pepper. Stir and bring to a boil. Turn the heat down, cover and simmer for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, place the mixture into an ovenproof dish and allow it to cool slightly before adding the topping.

  3. Step 3

    To make the mash, peel and cut your potatoes (800 g) into quarters and fill a pan halfway full with cold water. Season the water with salt and add in the potatoes. Place over high heat and bring to a boil, turn the heat to low and simmer for 20 minutes or until tender. Drain and leave to steam dry for 5 minutes and place the pan back over medium heat.

  4. Step 4

    Add the cream and butter (30 g) into the pan and heat until the butter melts. Place the potatoes (800 g) back into the saucepan and take off the heat. Season with salt and pepper and mash until smooth.

  5. Step 5

    Spoon your mash over the cottage pie filling and spread it out using a fork. Bake in the preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes until golden and crisp on top.

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Questions people ask

How long does classic cottage pie take?

About 1 hour 35 min from start to finish: 15 min of prep, 1 hour 5 min of cooking, and 15 min hands-off while it waits. That figure is worked out from the method rather than timed with a stopwatch, so give yourself a little more the first time.

How many does it serve, and can I change that?

As written it serves 6. Use the scale control on the recipe card to change it: every quantity in the ingredients and inside the method steps updates with it. Seasoning, and anything measured in pinches or splashes, is deliberately left alone.

Can I see the ingredients in ounces and pints?

Yes. The metric and imperial switch on the recipe card converts every quantity, rounded to amounts you can actually weigh or measure rather than to four decimal places. Your choice is remembered for every recipe on the site.