Make Ahead Cottage Pie

Cottage Pie is a one-dish wonder that is the ultimate in comfort food. This traditional Irish dish can easily be made ahead of time and reheated. In fact, I generally have several Cottage Pies in my freezer for those evenings when I just want something easy and absolutely delicious.

Cottage Pie versus Shepherd’s Pie

It’s not unusual for the terms Cottage Pie and Shepherd’s Pie to be used synonymously. Technically, however, they are different.

Both Cottage Pie and Shepherd’s Pie are British dishes where meat and vegetables are cooked in a savory gravy and topped with mashed potatoes. However, the one difference between them is the meat that is used. Cottage Pie uses beef; Shepherd’s Pie uses lamb.

The name “Cottage Pie” was originally used for a pie made with any type of meat and mashed potatoes by peasants who lived in cottages. Over time, the “any type of meat” was replaced with beef.

Shepherd’s Pie is so named because shepherds take care of sheep!

I often use ground turkey for the meat and incorrectly call the pie either Cottage Pie or Shepherd’s Pie. Shame on me, but I couldn’t think of another name to use!

Ingredients That I Used For The Meat Mixture

Because it’s a Cottage Pie, the main ingredient is ground beef. 

• Ground Beef: I like to use lean ground beef. For this particular dish, I used 90% ground beef. You could also use 85% ground beef.

• Gravy: For the gravy, I use low-sodium beef broth or chicken broth. Both work well – it depends on what I have on hand. To enhance the savory flavor, I add Worcestershire sauce, tomato paste, and Dijon mustard to the broth.

• Olive Oil: Regardless of the type of beef that I use, I always drain it well after browning. Therefore, I add a bit of olive oil to sauté the onions and carrots.

• Vegetables: I use chopped onions, chopped carrots, and frozen green peas for the vegetables.

• Seasonings: The seasonings are minimal – just salt and pepper.

• Thickener: My preference for thickening the gravy is Bisto Original Gravy Powder. However, while Bisto is readily available in the UK, it’s sometimes hard to find in the US. Therefore all-purpose flour works just as well.

How I Made the Meat Mixture

Making the meat mixture for the Cottage Pie is relatively straightforward.

1. First, I whisked together the beef broth, Worcestershire sauce, tomato paste, and Dijon mustard. Then, I set it aside for later use.

If I was using Bisto as the thickener rather than flour, I would have added it to the other liquid ingredients.

2. Next, I added the ground beef to a large skillet. I browned the ground beef over medium heat, breaking it up into small pieces.

3. Even though I used a relatively low-fat ground beef (90%), I drained the cooked ground beef in a colander and ran it under hot water until it ran clean.

Once the cooked beef had cooled a bit, I used my hands to break it up into even smaller pieces. I prefer not to have big chunks of cooked ground beef – a personal preference of mine.

4. While the meat was draining, I wiped the skillet with a paper towel to remove any remaining fat in the pan. Then, I added a small amount of olive oil to the skillet over medium heat and added the onions and carrots.

I cooked the onions and carrots over medium heat for about 5 minutes. After 5 minutes, I returned the ground beef to the pan.

5. Next, I added the salt and pepper and stirred to combine everything. Once the ingredients were well combined, I added the flour.

I stirred the combine the flour with the meat and vegetables. Then, I added the beef broth mixture. I stirred the Cottage Pie meat mixture and heated it, stirring constantly until it was bubbly and thickened.

I covered the pan and simmered the meat mixture for about 45 minutes until the meat was tender and the carrots were well-cooked.

6. As a final step, I added the green peas. The reason that I wait until the end to add the green peas is that they don’t take nearly as long to cook as the other ingredients.

How I Made the Mashed Potatoes

Because this is a Cottage Pie, I needed mashed potatoes to put on top of the meat mixture. While the meat mixture was cooking, I made the mashed potatoes.

1. For the mashed potatoes, I used russet potatoes, unsalted butter, milk, shredded cheddar cheese, Kosher salt, and freshly ground black pepper.

2. I cooked the potatoes in salted water for about 20 minutes until they were nice and soft.

When I cook potatoes, I always put a wooden fork into the pan to prevent the pan from boiling over. I’m not sure why this works, but it does!

3. After the potatoes were nice and soft, I drained them well in a colander.

Then, I returned the potatoes to the pan and added the butter, milk, pepper and shredded cheese.

4. I beat the potato mixture with my electric mixer until everything was well incorporated, and the mashed potatoes were smooth.

Since I was going to pipe the mashed potatoes on top of the meat mixture, I wanted to ensure that there were no lumps to clog the piping tip.

Finishing the Cottage Pie

Because it’s just the two of us, I consistently divide the mixture among three oven-safe dishes. That way, we have one Cottage Pie for dinner, and the other two are put into the freezer. You could certainly make one big Cottage Pie!

Next, I transferred the mashed potatoes to a piping bag fitted with a 1M star tip. I like to pipe the mashed potatoes onto the meat mixture. However, you could bypass this and just spread the mashed potatoes on top of the meat.

Then, I piped swirls of the mashed potatoes onto the meat mixture.

I ended up with three amazing Cottage Pies.

I popped one of the Cottage Pies into a 375° F oven for 30 minutes and froze the other two. After 30 minutes, the top of the potatoes was nicely browned, and the meat mixture was bubbly.

I served the Cottage Pie with steamed collard greens and steamed Brussels sprouts. What a tasty dinner we had. Yum!

What to Serve with Cottage Pie

In a way, Cottage Pie is a meal in and of itself. After all, it has meat, vegetables, and potatoes all in one dish! Therefore, the sides are really incidental to the meal.

Because the Master Taste Tester likes Brussels sprouts, I often serve them with the dish. In the wintertime, I like to serve collard greens on the side. At other times, a light salad or steamed broccoli goes well with the Cottage Pie.

Finally, I sometimes serve crusty French bread with it.

Frequently Asked Questions

Other British Recipes

In some quarters, the British have a reputation for less than inspiring cuisine. I think that’s totally wrong, as evidenced by the following:

• Beer Battered Fish & Chips and Mushy Peas: A pub classic that never goes out of style.
• Cheese and Onion Pie: The English are famous for their savory pies, and Cheese and Onion Pie is no exception.
• Bangers and Mash with Onion Gravy: Another pub classic featuring British sausage and mashed potatoes.
• Toad in the Hole: An English classic with sausage cooked in a Yorkshire pudding batter.
• Easy Peasy British Sausage Rolls: One of my most popular recipes.
• Savory British Beef Olives: “Olive” is a British term for wrapping meat around savory stuffing.
• Classic English Lemon Curd: Classic English Lemon Curd is smooth and silky with a tangy and tart flavor that overwhelms your senses.
• Chocolate Blancmange: An old English dessert that’s light and velvety smooth.
• Classic English Lemon Posset: A classic English dessert with a velvety smooth texture that magically congeals with only three ingredients.
• English Digestive Biscuits: To the English, a biscuit is what Americans refer to as a cookie.

Watch How I Made This Delicious Cottage Pie

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