Guinness Cottage Pie is a hearty dish filled with ground beef, onions, and vegetables. Topped with a mashed potato crust, this savory pie is perfect for celebrating St. Patrick’s Day, or as a weeknight meal.
Cottage pie, or shepherd’s pie, is a classic comfort food originating from the United Kingdom and Ireland. This pie is filled with ground beef, peas, carrots, onions, and a flavorful sauce. Creamy homemade mashed potatoes serve as a crust that tops this hearty pie.
Guinness beer is the special ingredient in this recipe, adding an extra layer of depth and flavor to the beef filling. Or, beef broth can easily serve as a substitute to make this a family friendly recipe.
Cottage pie VS. shepherd’s pie
So, what’s the difference? Apparently up until the 20th century, both names were use interchangeably. Nowadays, shepherd’s pie is made with lamb, and cottage pie is made with beef.
However – feel free to use whichever name you prefer. People grow up in families calling this dish by one name or the other, regardless of the meat used. And other than the meat, the dishes are essentially the same.
For more information: Wikipedia – Shepherd’s Pie
Ingredients for Guinness cottage pie
There are two main steps in making your Guinness cottage pie. First, you’ll make your filling, then you’ll make your mashed potatoes. I’d recommend boiling your potatoes while your make your filling to save time.
For the mashed potatoes topping, you’ll need 2 pounds of potatoes, butter, heavy cream (or milk), salt, pepper, and some optional parsley to use as a garnish.
Peel your potatoes and slice them in half (or as many pieces as needed to make them uniform in size) and cover them in water in a large saucepan. Bring your water to a boil and cook your potatoes until they fall apart when pierced with a fork.
While your potatoes are boiling, you’ll also want to start your meat filling.
For the pie filling, you’ll need ground beef, Guinness beer, tomato paste, onions, salt and pepper, all-purpose flour, dried thyme, frozen peas & carrots, minced garlic, butter, and worcestershire sauce.
If you don’t have or want to use Guinness, this can be substituted with beef broth instead.
Making the meat filling
For this recipe, I made my pie in a 10.25 inch cast iron pan – this Lodge cast iron pan to be exact. You can use any oven-safe skillet or saute pan for this recipe.
Or, cook your meat filling on the stove top and transfer to a 2 quart baking dish to finish in the oven.
In a cast iron pan, add your ground beef, onions, salt, and pepper to the pan. Cook until beef is browned and onions begin to turn translucent. Add your butter and garlic and cook for another minute.
Add the flour and stir to coat your ground beef, cooking for an additional minute. The flour in this recipe will help thicken your Guinness (or beef broth, if substituting) into a sauce.
Next, add the Guinness, tomato paste, and thyme to the pan, stirring until tomato paste is incorporated.
Last, add your frozen peas and carrots to the pan and stir until combined. Remove your pan from the heat and set aside until your potatoes are ready.
Mashed potato crust
Your potatoes are done boiling – now what?
Once your potatoes are done cooking and have drained, place them back into your saucepan with your heavy cream.
Mash until creamy, then add your butter, salt, and pepper, and stir until butter is melted and incorporated.
Next, pour potatoes out over your meat filling and spread into an even layer.
The last step is optional – use a fork to create texture on top of your pie before baking. Bake your pie for 30 minutes, or until hot and bubbling. A tip – lay a sheet of foil below your pie in case any filling drips over the sides!
If you’d like a nice browned crust on top of your pie, turn on the broiler for a few minutes before removing from the oven.
Guinness Cottage Pie
Ingredients
Beef Filling
- 1 pound ground beef 85/15 or leaner
- 1 medium onion diced
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
- 8 ounces Guinness beer or beef broth
- 1 tablespoon worcestershire sauce
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
- 2 cups frozen peas and carrots
Mashed Potatoes
- 2 pounds russet potatoes
- 1/2 cup heavy cream or milk
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
Instructions
- To save time, I recommend starting your potatoes, then preparing the meat filling while your potatoes boil.
Meat Filling
- In a 10 inch cast iron skillet over medium heat, add onions and crumble ground beef into pan. Season with salt and pepper. Cook until beef is browned and onions begin to turn translucent.
- Add butter and minced garlic, stirring to combine. Cook for another 30 seconds, then add flour and stir to coat. Cook for another minute.
- Add Guinness, worcestershire sauce, tomato paste, and thyme to pan, stirring until incorporated. Add frozen peas and carrots, stirring to combine. Remove pan from heat and set aside until potatoes are ready.
Mashed Potatoes
- Peel potatoes and cut in half as needed to get uniform size throughout.
- Place in a large pot and cover with water. Over medium-high heat, bring to a boil. Reduce to medium heat and simmer until potatoes fall apart when pierced with a fork. Drain well.
- Add heavy cream and drained potatoes back to your stock pot. Using a potato masher or an electric mixer, blend potatoes and heavy cream until no lumps remain. Add butter, salt, and pepper, and mix until combined.
- Spread mashed potatoes into an even layer over meat filling. Optionally, add texture to the top of your pie using a fork.
- Bake pie, uncovered, for 30 minutes, or until heated through and bubbling around the edges. Remove from oven and serve.
Equipment
Notes
- Filling may bubble over the edges of your pan while baking. I suggest adding a layer of foil to your lower oven rack to catch any potential drips.
- Guinness beer can be substituted with beef broth.
- A 10.25 inch Lodge cast iron skillet was used for this recipe. If you do not have an oven safe skillet, simply cook your meat filling on the stove top, then transfer your filling to an oven safe dish for baking. Any 2 quart sized baking dish will work.
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