This Corned Beef Pie is the love-child of Shepherd’s Pie and Corned Beef Hash. Make it with cooked, leftover or canned corned beef.
This Corned Beef Cottage Pie is just the thing to celebrate St. Patrick’s day or any day!
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, with the always handy canned corned beef. It’s not always easy to find great canned corned beef recipes beyond hash, but this one of them. I enjoy it with fresh cooked corned beef around St. Patrick’s Day, then with canned corned beef other times of the year.
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
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 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:
- 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
- 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 you might like …
Thank you for the great recipe! I made the recipe as written and the whole family really loved it. I would classify it as a comfort dish. I appreciate recipes that deliver great flavor and are easy to put together that do not have a long list of ingredients.Â
This will definitely be added to our family recipe book.Â
We served a salad on the side.Â
So glad you all enjoyed it, Sherry :) Thanks!
Wonderful flavor! I had scant leftovers for the 3 of us, but I will try them tonight. I used my own recipe for mashed potatoes which was made with 1 1/2# of potatoes, since one member of my family can never have enough potatoes! I doubled the cheddar cheese on top, which may have been overkill. My only criticism would be that it took rather a long time to make with all the chopping + measuring. But then, most things in life worthwhile take time + effort.
So glad you enjoyed it, Joan :) Thanks!
Wow! Lots of great ideas here. I too, will likely be making some up to freeze. I have a tin of corned beef in my cupboard to use up, plus some instant mashed potatoes.
Enjoy Judy :)
Tried this recipe last night and is was enjoyed by all!! Will definitely make again when I cook a corned beef!! Thank you!!
So glad to hear, Jan! Thanks so much :)
Omg! This cottage pie is heaven! We used our leftover corned beef, the broth too, and colcannon. This recipe is a keeper, and we decided it’ll become our annual post-Paddy’s day dinner! But let’s be real here, we’ll probably make it way more than once a year!
So glad you enjoyed it, Pixi! Thanks so much :)
I used leftover colcannon potatoes from St. Patrick’s day. :) yum!
Sounds great, Casie and such a great idea! My husband makes sure we never have any leftover colcannon (but next year I’ll hide a bit to try it :) Thanks so much!
I made the pie following the recipe exactly. But I made mine to freeze and have at a later date. Wondering how long you would bake it from frozen? Instead of 30 maybe 45 minutes? Thanks!
Hi Marnie and yes, I think 45-50 minutes should be about right from frozen. Enjoy :)
I used fresh corn that is knifed off tcob mixed into russet mashed potatoes . The filling I followed exactly but chopped up some green beans. And for the topping crumbled biscuits and cheddar. Yummy.
It does sound yummy, Will :) So glad you enjoyed it!
I just prepped this…a friend of mine ended up with a can of corned beef in her grocery order that was purchased by accident and she sent it my way. I wanted to do something different from just eating it on sandwiches and came across your recipe.
I added half of a 6oz can of tomato sauce that I had leftover from another recipe in place of some of the broth, and about 2 cups of frozen mixed veggies, and then did a layer of cream style corn like I do in my typical cottage pie. I ended up with enough for 2 dinners for our small family. So we will have one casserole for tomorrow night’s dinner and one to freeze for another night that we need something easy.
I could tell just from sampling the filling as it was simmering that it is going to be delicious! We like cottage pie and the occasional corned beef hash is one of our guilty pleasures, so I know this will not disappoint! Next time I think I might stick closer to your recipe and serve it for brunch topped with an over-easy egg, or with eggs baked in indentations on the potato topping! Thanks for the recipe, and for fueling my creativity!
Thanks so much, Monica :)
In your recipe was the chicken or beef stock made with stock cubes? Would it be as nice if it was?
Hi Trish, I actually use Better than Bouillon, which is a paste that is re-constituted with water. So it’s similar to cubes in that respect. I’d say any stock you enjoy will be fine here :) Enjoy!
I found this looking for something to make with leftover cornbeef. I added a bag of coleslaw mix, topped it with Swiss cheese and then put the potatoes on top. It was absolutely delicious!
Sounds delicious, Cheryl :) Thanks so much!
This recipe worked some magic on some perfectly below-average leftover corned beef. Yesterday’s dinner was timid, tasteless. Today’s was bold and savory! That sauce is delicious, just what the beef needed. I used my leftover potatoes for the mashed potatoes, and that worked perfectly. I will definitely use this recipe again!
So glad you enjoyed it, Abby :) Thanks so much!
Absolutely delicious – the whole family enjoyed it. I added a lot of extra veges in, grated zuchinni, beans, carrots, baby spinach. This bulked it out to feed our large family and definitely didn’t detract from the taste! An overall winner!
Sounds delicious and so glad you enjoyed it :) Thanks!
Can sliced corned beef, sandwich style be used?
Hi Jamie and yes, I think you could make it work. I would just dice it up and go from there with the recipe. Enjoy :)
This was amazing! I sautéed some leftover carrots with the onions just to use up some of our leftovers from the boiled dinner we had the night before. Even my daughter who is not a fan of corned beef loved it!
o glad to hear, Ann! Thanks so much :)
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 :)