Easy Cottage Pie with Cheese

This easy Cottage Pie with cheese mash topping is the ultimate comfort food! A base that is hearty, rich, and packed with flavour. And it's topped with a creamy, cheesy and buttery mash that’s impossible to resist.

The joy of this easy cottage pie with cheese mash topping is that it provides all of the major food groups in one serving. Sure, you can serve it alongside some more vegetables, but do you really need to?

It stands all on its own as a filling, wholesome meal for the whole family in my books. But you can let me know what you like to serve it with in the comments below.

Why mastering Cottage Pie is worth your time

I pride myself on providing tasty, easy-to-follow recipes for classic meals that I believe every cook should master at some point in their life. And the reason for that is that the classics can teach you so much about the fundamentals of cooking.

For example, this easy cottage pie recipe teaches you:

1. That browning the meat first (stainless steel pans are the best for this) adds a depth of flavour unrivalled - and definitely not achieved in a slow cooker.
2. Why frying off tomato paste removes its 'raw' flavour and transforms it into a richer, sweeter, and more savoury umami-rich ingredient.
3. That simple ingredients like marmite and worchestershire sauce can add another layer of tastiness to the dish with small thoughtful additions.
4. That plain flour works as a thickening agent to the beef stock, providing that classic Cottage Pie base gravy we all know and love.

And it's once you start mastering these elements that the joy in experimenting with cooking starts. So go on, have fun!

Other recipes that I would count with the 'classics' classification would include:

• Lasagne (the first recipe I ever shared online)
• Spaghetti Bolognese
• Moussaka and more...

And if you're Scottish then that list extends a little more ... but I'll leave that list for the bottom of this post.

Ingredients for Cottage Pie with Cheese

• Meat: beef mince (minced beef)
• Vegetables: carrot, onion and peas
• Beef Stock: I love using Knorr's rich beef stock pot as it adds a lovely depth of flavour and colour to the cottage pie base
• Plain Flour: this is a thickening agent for the gravy base - you could use a cornflour slurry instead (1 tablespoon cornflour/cornstarch mixed with 1 tablespoon water and stirred through)
• Other Ingredients: tomato puree, worchestershire sauce, marmite, bay leaves - all of these are additional extras that add extra flavour, so omit or add to these as per your personal taste and preference
• Mash Topping: potatoes, cheddar cheese, parmesan cheese, (garlic and herb) butter, milk

Mashed Potato Time Saver Hack

Don't be shy in using pre-made mash like this one from Albert Bartlett.

I wouldn't ordinarily encourage the use of pre-made items, but a lot of pre-made mash brands only use minimal ingredients (i.e. ones you recognise) so they're a nice option to speed the process along a bit. Plus their mash is always so smooth! Ready to simply add the cheese...

Or they also have a Colcannon mash version too, if you want to add some extra veg into the mix.

How to make Cottage Pie with Cheese Mash

Easy Cottage Pie Base

Heat oil in a pan and cook mince with mixed herbs, salt and pepper until browned - remove from pan and set aside. Drizzle in a little more oil then soften carrot and onion (finely chopped) for 10 minutes. Then add tomato purée and fry for 2 minutes.

Add marmite and Worcestershire sauce. Then stir through the plain flour.

Then pour in beef stock, browned mince and bay leaves. Simmer on medium heat for approx 30 minutes until gravy has thickened then add frozen peas.

Cheese Mash Topping for Cottage Pie

Peel potatoes, chop into halves or quarters and add them to a pot of cold salted water. Bring to the boil and cook for 10-15 minutes until you can pass a knife through the potatoes easily. Allow to steam dry, mash until smooth then mix through milk, butter and cheese.

Cottage Pie Assembly and Baking

Fill a pie dish with the cottage pie base mix, top it with the cheese mashed potato and sprinkle grated parmesan on top. Add little knobs of butter on top as this will help to create a golden crust on top when it melts in the oven.

Bake until golden and crispy on top and piping hot throughout.

Storage and Reheating

Cottage Pie is an excellent batch cook, freezer friendly meal.

Storage: in the fridge for 4-5 days or in the freezer for 4 months.

Reheating: best microwaved on full power until piping hot throughout.

If you want to prep ahead:

I would simply scale up the recipe volumes (toggle to 2x on recipe card below) so you can make this easy cottage pie with cheese once, but get two + meals from it!

• Make the cottage pie base
• Add the mash topping
• Then assemble in either a pie dish of oven-friendly baking tray
• Freeze until ready to cook
• Defrost overnight in the fridge
• Sprinkle cheese on top and add little knobs of butter and bake for 40-50 mins (longer than time stated below as cooking from chilled)

Et voila! A perfect batch cook meal option for the whole family.