This Corned Beef Cottage Pie is the love-child of Shepherd’s Pie and Corned Beef Hash. Make it with cooked, leftover or canned corned beef.
Tomorrow is St. Patrick’s Day, so naturally, a little corned beef is in order! This Corned Beef Cottage Pie is just the thing to celebrate.
The wonderful thing about this dish, is that it can be made with a cooked corned beef brisket, it’s perfect to use up leftover corned beef, or can also be made with always handy canned corned beef.
No need to wait for St. Patrick’s Day to enjoy this dish. If you enjoy corned beef hash and/or Shepherd’s Pie from time to time, add this one into the mix and enjoy it year round.
In short, if you enjoy Corned Beef Hash and Shepherd’s Pie, you’ll love this Corned Beef Cottage Pie. It has the flavours of potato and corned beef together, like hash, but it’s cooked up Shepherd’s Pie style.
Cook’s Notes for Corned Beef Cottage Pie
I used Yukon Gold yellow-fleshed potatoes for my mashed potatoes. You could also use Russets, if you like.
If you’d like, you can make the mashed potatoes ahead and cover and refrigerate. If you can, take them out of the fridge a bit early, so they can come up to room temperature before baking.
Top Tip! Be sure not to skip the step of reducing the liquid in the skillet before adding the corned beef. This process concentrates the flavours of the Worcestershire and Ketchup and make for a fuller flavoured finished dish.
After you have added the corned beef, simmer the mixture until there is just a bit of liquid in the pan, but don’t cook it until ALL the liquid has evaporated. This will keep your corned beef layer moist as it cooks in the oven.
The cheddar cheese and breadcrumb topping is optional. You can skip if you like and you will still have a very nice dish. Since I’ve never been one to “skip the cheese”, I usually add it :)
My favourite way to eat this is with a generous dollop of ketchup on the side, if you’d like to try that.
At my house, this dish served 2. Me and a very, very hungry husband. I’ll call it 3 servings, as it is more like 3 average servings. If you are serving more, just double the recipe and cook up in a larger dish.
Wondering how to cook up your Corned Beef brisket? Scroll down for instructions!
How to Cook a Corned Beef Brisket
Starting with an uncooked corned beef brisket, you can cook it either on the stove-top or in a slow cooker. Simply remove the brisket from it’s wrapping. Place in a large pot or slow cooker and cover with about 1 inch of water. If your corned beef came with a separate spice pack, add spices to the water.
On the stove-top, bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer, covered, for about 50 minutes per pound of corned beef. For the slow cooker, cook for 4 1/2 hours on HI or 8-9 hours on LOW.
Corned Beef Cottage Pie
Delicious Corned Beef filling, topped with mashed potatoes and cheese. Can be made with cooked corned beef, leftover corned beef or canned corned beef.
Ingredients
Mashed Potatoes:
- 1 lb potatoes peeled and quartered, about 4 medium-sized potatoes)
- 1/3 cup milk
- 2 Tbsp butter
- Salt to taste
Corned Beef Filling:
- 2 Tbsp butter
- 1 cup onion diced
- 1 tsp Worcestershire Sauce
- 1 1/2 Tbsp ketchup
- 1 1/2 cup chicken broth can use beef broth
- 2 Tbsp fresh parsley finely chopped (or 1 Tbsp dried)
- 1/4 tsp dried thyme
- 2 1/2 cups cooked corned beef finely diced (or 340g/12oz can corned beef)
- Salt and freshly ground pepper
Topping (optional):
- 1/2 cup cheddar cheese shredded
- 3 Tbsp dried bread crumbs or 1/4 cup fresh bread crumbs
Instructions
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Make the Mashed Potatoes: Add peeled, cut potatoes (evenly sized) to a large pot of cold water. Add salt to the water. Bring to a boil over high heat and cook until potatoes are tender, 10-20 minutes, depending on the size of the potatoes.
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Meanwhile, heat milk and butter in a small saucepan over low heat until warm, then keep warm until needed.
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Drain then return potatoes to dry pot. Place over medium heat on the stove top. Add milk/butter mixture to the pot. Mash potatoes until smooth. *Add a bit more milk, if needed. Taste and add salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste. Cover and set aside (or cover and refrigerate if making ahead).
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Preheat the oven to 400F.
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Make the Filling: Heat 2 Tbsp butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onions and cook until softened and starting to turn golden a bit. Add the Worcestershire, ketchup, chicken broth, parsley and thyme to the skillet. Simmer over medium heat until liquid reduces by half. Add the corned beef and reduce heat slightly. Simmer 3-4 minutes or until there is only a bit of liquid left in the mixture (don't let all of it cook off). Taste the mixture and add additional salt and freshly ground pepper, as needed.
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Spoon filling into a small baking dish (8-inch round-ish). Spoon mashed potatoes over-top in an even layer. Top with shredded cheese, then sprinkle with bread crumbs.
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Bake in preheated oven for about 30 minutes, or until filling is heated through and bubbling and top is lovely and golden.
Recipe Notes
Be sure to read the "Cook's Notes" in the original post, where I share some valuable tips, options, substitutions and variations for this recipe!
More Corned Beef Recipes from the Seasons and Suppers Archives
Hi Jenifer, I made this tonight with tinned corned beef and it was delicious, very tasty, just a bit salty for my taste but everyone loved it, thank you.
Glad you enjoyed it, Robyn. As for the salty-ness, it’s hard to reduce much when starting with canned corned beef (which is very salty). Using no-salt broth would be one thing to try and of course, no additional salting.
Hi Jennifer,
Does it require a thickener (flour, cornstarch) of some kind, so that it’s not too soupy after the addition of the chicken broth?
Hi Benita, I know it sounds like it would, but it doesn’t. Almost all of the broth will be absorbed and/or cook off. You should cook until there is just a bit of liquid left in the pan (don’t cook quite all of it off). It will be lovely and definitely not soupy after it’s trip to the oven :) Enjoy!
After living in England for 6 years, we have eaten and made many different cottage pies. This recipe is by far the best I have every made. LOVED IT! It was absolutely delicious and enjoyed by the whole family. Thank you!
So glad to hear, Kristie! I prefer it to standard beef cottage pie, for sure :) Thanks!
What a terrific way to use left over corned beef. Thank you for sharing your creative dish. :)
Thanks so much, Karen :)
Holiday comfort food at its best Jennifer! Delicious work!
Thanks so much, Mary Ann :)
All the comfort and so much flavor! It’s practically jumping off the screen!! Love it!
Thanks Annie :)
Cannot wait to try this and may make a corned beef just to do so!
Do enjoy, Margo! I think you will love it :)
What a brilliant idea to use corned beef here! Would love to give this one a try, looks super comforting! Pinned!
Thanks so much, Dawn :)
Wow this looks pretty darn fantastic! My husband would go nuts for a skillet loaded like this :) Happy St. Patrick’s Day!
Thanks so much, Tricia and Happy St. Patrick’s Day to you, as well! My husband is wearing the green and drinking Guinness, so he’s definitely in the spirit :)
Yum! What a wonderful Irish-inspired combination. I love that this is traditional yet unique!
Thanks Chris! It was so delicious. I dare say, I think I prefer it to Shepherd’s pie :)