Traditional cottage pie

Name: Traditional cottage pie
Cook time: 50 min
Yield: 4 servings

Try this recipe for traditional cottage pie, a British classic that's bursting with flavour.

A traditional cottage pie in a round dish with a serving removed on a nearby plate

By Carlton Boyce | Published - 30 Dec 2025

I think that the key with a traditional cottage pie is to build up layers of flavour: when Bruce Springsteen was recording Born To Run he asked Phil Spector how he achieved his ‘Wall of Sound’. He was told it was just layer upon layer of music, and a good cottage pie is the same: you build layer upon layer of flavour into the gravy until it reaches an unctuous, gooey, meaty perfection. The buttery-smooth mashed potato on the top is just there to soak it all up.

This recipe serves four to six people, but leftovers can be frozen if that's too much for you.

Cooking Time

50 mins

Serves

Ingredients

For the mince

750g minced beef
1 large onion, peeled and diced
3 carrots, peeled and diced
2 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed
2tbs of Worcestershire Sauce
1tbs tomato puree
1 good squirt of tomato ketchup
1tsp Dijon mustard
1tsp smoked paprika (plain paprika is almost as good)
2 bay leaves
1-2tbs gravy granules

For the mashed potato

1.2kgs potatoes
75g butter
Salt and pepper

Method

To make the filling

To make, cook the carrots in salted boiling water for five minutes. Drain, reserving the water for the gravy, and set aside.
Cook the onion on a low heat with a glug of olive oil until soft and colourless. Add the garlic and cook for a further couple of minutes taking care to avoid burning it, which will give a bitter taste.
Add the mince and cook until brown. If it produces a lot of fat then drain some off.
Add the rest of the ingredients, including the carrots, and stir well. Add as much of the carrot water as necessary until you have a rich, thick gravy. Simmer gently for ten minutes before placing in the bottom of an ovenproof dish.

To make the mashed potato topping

Peel the potatoes. Cut into thick, even slices. Slicing the potato instead of cutting it into chunks makes the pieces more uniform in thickness, helping them cook more evenly.
Cook in a large saucepan of boiling, salted water until soft.
Drain and leave to dry in the colander for a couple of minutes.
Mash or pass through a potato ricer and add the butter. Beat with a wooden spoon until well-mixed and season to taste.
Smooth over the cooked mince mixture and fluff up the top with a fork to make sure you get the lovely crispy bits that are so important to the texture of the dish.
Place in a pre-heated oven for 20 minutes until golden and bubbling. Serve with peas.

Notes

Posh cottage pie

If you’re cooking to impress you can use beef stock instead of water and omit the gravy granules, thickening the gravy with a tablespoon of cornflour dissolved in a small amount of water instead.

You can also substitute half (or more) of the minced beef for the same weight of finely diced stewing steak, cooking the final meaty mix in the oven for a couple of hours until it is meltingly tender. Top with mashed potato as usual and sprinkle with 100g of grated cheddar cheese before finishing in a hot oven for 20 minutes.

Shepherd’s pie

Of course, you can substitute lamb mince for the beef, turning it into a shepherd’s pie.

Thrifty tip

You can use finely diced beef from the Sunday roast instead of the mince. In either case, leftovers will freeze very well.

(Hero image credit: Getty)

Written by: Carlton Boyce

Carlton gave up being a prison governor to become a freelance motoring journalist six years ago, and now earns his living travelling the world driving, photographing and writing about cars. He’s also previously worked as a lumberjack, police officer, retail manager, breakfast chef, and smallholder, allowing him to write about more than just cars.

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