Cheesy Cottage Pie Recipe

A traditional cottage pie recipe with minced beef in a rich wine gravy and cheesy mash to boot. It's the perfect filling dish after a long day.

Being a Northern girl in the UK, meals like this cheesy cottage pie recipe are my favourite kind of dish. Lancashire hotpot, minced beef hotpot, steak and ale pie, bangers and mash to name a few.

I've even shared my pork and bean cottage pie and a leftover chicken and mushroom cottage pie. What can I tell you? I just love most meals with gravy smothered in meat and vegetables with comforting carbs.

If you also find these kinds of recipes soothing too, then I suggest sticking around as you'll find plenty more.

Equipment I Need To Make This Cheesy Cottage Pie Recipe

• Saucepan
• Frying pan
• Spatula
• Salt and pepper grinder
• Chopping board
• Chopping knife
• Measuring spoons
• Measuring jug
• Weighing scales
• Baking dish
• Sieve
• Potato masher

How to Make Cheesy Cottage Pie Recipe

Please note, you can find the full printable list of ingredients and instructions in a recipe card towards the bottom of this page.

But essentially, you need to:

• Boil your potatoes in a saucepan
• Separately brown off your minced beef in a frying pan
• Set aside so you can saute all of your vegetables
• Add your flour and cook for a few minutes
• Pour in the passata for cook for another minute
• Add your red wine and Worcestershire sauce or Henderson's Relish (a Sheffield product) a reduce
• Then your beef stock, herbs and seasoning and simmer until thick and glossy (approx 10-15 minutes)
• Meanwhile, preheat your oven at 220 degrees
• Spoon into a baking dish *we used a 23cm squared dish
• Drain your potatoes and mash in cheese, milk, butter and seasoning and spread on your minced beef
• Sprinkle with extra cheese and bake for 25 minutes or until golden

Tips For Making a Cottage Pie Unofficially Slimming World Friendly

Disclaimer: This is an unofficial page and has no affiliation or endorsement from Slimming World.  Slimming World's website can be found at https://www.slimmingworld.co.uk/
*Any syn values are personal estimates and not verified by Slimming World.

Sometimes, we just fancy a cottage pie recipe that's a little bit more indulgent after a long day. However, if you're looking for a healthier cottage pie, then here's a few swaps you can do.

• Swap flour for 2 tablespoon of blended oats *allowed as part of your fibre content with some Slimming clubs
• Use spray oil to control calories
• Buy extra lean mince beef with 5% or less fat
• Use low-fat cheese, milk and (or no) butter in your mash
• Bulk your cottage pie recipe with more fresh vegetables to feel fuller
• And don't forget to aim for your meal to consist of a 3rd of vegetables

What Size Baking Dish Do I Need?

When making this cottage pie, I use my Denby Halo 24cm squared dish. It's 6.5cm deep and I find it's big enough for 4 generous portions.

However, if you want to spread this recipe a little longer on a budget, you can add more mashed potatoes. I wouldn't recommend using a larger dish with 700g of potatoes as you'll struggle to cover the surface area.

Storing Leftovers

With leftovers of this cottage pie recipe, I usually cover with tin foil and leave it to cool before refrigerating. However, you're probably best baking in a dish that comes with an attachable airtight lid where possible.

Although I love cooking meals that feed us through the week, this cottage pie recipe really is best to eat freshly cooked. We tend to find by day two when we've reheated while covered in the oven, the mash is dryer and there's less runny gravy.

Can I Freeze This Cheesy Cottage Pie Recipe?

It's great for cooking ahead of time and freezing before baking. So you could batch cook your ingredients and fill two dishes instead of one.

I personally would fill the 2nd one as normal, cover and freeze before fully defrosting and baking as usual.

Cottage Pie Vs Shepherd's Pie

It may be obvious to some, but recently I was talking to an American friend who said he didn't know the difference between a cottage pie vs shepherd's pie.

Traditionally, cottage pie is made be beef mine (aka ground beef), and a shepherd's pie is typically made of lamb mince. However, both are made very similarly with mashed potatoes on top.

But that being said, you could easily make your cottage pie vegetarian using just vegetables or Quorn mince meat.

More Recipes You Might Like

• Beefaroni (beef and macaroni)
• Slow cooker beef stew
• Cauliflower cheese (in the pic below)
• Sausages in onion and mushroom gravy
• Steak and onions
• Healthy Pork casserole
• Pulled beef
• Slow cooker sausage and bean casserole
• Beef hunter's stew
• Hunter's chicken
• Crushed potatoes with parmesan and shallots

Or why not try it with mash on the side in my mince and tatties recipe?

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