This Corned Beef Pie is the love-child of Shepherd’s Pie and Corned Beef Hash. Make it with leftover corned beef or canned corned beef. Great comfort food!
Why you’ll love this Corned Beef Cottage Pie
- This Corned Beef Cottage Pie is just the thing to celebrate St. Patrick’s day or any day!
- It’s perfect to use up leftover corned beef or it can be made with the always handy canned corned beef.
- It’s not always easy to find great recipes that use canned corned beef recipes beyond hash, so it’s a great, back-pocket recipe.
- If you enjoy Corned Beef Hash and Shepherd’s Pie, you’ll love this corned beef mash-up version!
Key Ingredients
Corned Beef – as noted above, you can use left-over corned beef from a cooked corned beef brisket or reach for canned corned beef any time. Wondering how to cook up your Corned Beef brisket? Scroll down for instructions!
Mashed Potatoes – You can use left-over mashed potatoes or make some mashed fresh for this dish (you can make them ahead and refrigerate, then assemble the dish later). I used Yukon Gold yellow-fleshed potatoes for my mashed potatoes. You could also use Russets, if you like.
Cook’s Notes
- 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. Leaving some liquid 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.
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 its 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.
Get the Recipe: Corned Beef Cottage Pie
Ingredients
Mashed Potatoes (or use leftover mashed potatoes):
- 1 lb. potatoes, peeled and quartered, about 4 medium-sized potatoes
- 1/3 cup milk
- 2 Tablespoons butter
- Salt, to taste
Corned Beef Filling:
- 2 Tablespoons butter
- 1 cup onion, diced
- 1 teaspoon Worcestershire Sauce
- 1 1/2 Tablespoons ketchup
- 1 1/2 cups chicken broth, or beef broth
- 2 Tablespoons fresh parsley, finely chopped or 1 Tbsp dried parsley
- 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
- 2 1/2 cups cooked corned beef, finely diced or 340g/12oz canned corned beef
- Salt and freshly ground pepper
Topping (optional):
- 1/2 cup cheddar cheese, shredded
- 3 Tablespoons dried bread crumbs, or 1/4 cup fresh bread crumbs
Instructions
- 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.
- Meanwhile, heat milk and butter in a small saucepan over low heat until warm, then keep warm until needed.
- 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).
- Preheat the oven to 400F.
- 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.
- 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.
- Bake in preheated oven for about 30 minutes, or until filling is heated through and bubbling and top is lovely and golden.
Notes
More Corned Beef Recipes to Love!
Hi! I’m Jennifer, a home cook schooled by trial and error and almost 40 years of getting dinner on the table! I love to share my favourite recipes, both old and new, together with lots of tips and tricks to hopefully help make your home cooking enjoyable, stress free, rewarding and of course, delicious!
Hi, could you please tell me what corned beef is when you make it yourself? Thank you!
Hi Ann, Corned beef is essentially pickled beef. It is a beef brisket that is marinated in a vinegar and spice mixture, then it is generally boiled or baked. It is often bought pre-marinated here in packages and then is just cooked at home.