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 and the perfect thing to make with leftover corned beef!
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!
What you’ll need
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. If you find yourself a bit short of corned beef, consider some of the Variations below, to add extras to your pie.
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.
Breadcrumbs – Breadcrumbs are optional, but if using, you can use dried breadcrumbs or Panko, as you like.
How to make Corned Beef Cottage Pie
- Start by softening the onions in a skillet with some butter.
- Add the chicken broth, Worcestershire, ketchup, parsley and thyme. Stir to combine.
- Simmer the onion mixture over medium heat until it reduces by half.
- When the sauce has been reduced, add the corned beef.
- Simmer the corned beef mixture over medium heat to reduce the liquid.
- Cook until most, but not all of the liquid has cooked off. (I added some small peas to my dish here).
- Add the corned beef mixture to an oven-safe dish.
- Top the corned beef mixture with the mashed potatoes (I added some extra parsley to the potatoes here).
- Top the mashed potatoes with shredded cheddar cheese if using, then finish with some breadcrumbs (I’m using Panko here).
Recipe tips!
- 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 makes 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 :)
- If your cooking dish is filled to the brim like mine, be sure to place it on a baking sheet to catch any bubble over.
- My favourite way to eat this is with a generous dollop of ketchup on the side.
- 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.
Variations
- Add frozen peas to the simmering corned beef mixture.
- Add some diced tender-crisp, cooked carrots to the corned beef mixture.
- How about a bit of shredded cabbage? Add some thinly sliced cabbage to the simmering corned beef mixture.
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 a separate spice pack was included with your corned beef, add the spices to the water.
On the stovetop, 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.
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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 the potatoes then return the potatoes to a dry pot. Place over medium heat on the stovetop. 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 just starting to turn golden. Add the Worcestershire, ketchup, chicken broth, parsley and thyme to the skillet. Simmer over medium heat until the liquid reduces by half. Add the corned beef and reduce the heat slightly. Simmer for 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 the 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. To catch any bubbleovers, place the baking dish on top of a baking sheet.
- Bake in a preheated oven for about 30 minutes, or until the filling is heated through and bubbling and the top is lovely and golden.
Notes
If you find yourself a little short of corned beef, consider adding in some of the Variations listed below to make up for the lesser amount of corned beef. 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 makes 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. Variations Add frozen peas to the simmering corned beef mixture.
Add some diced tender-crisp, cooked carrots to the corned beef mixture.
How about a bit of shredded cabbage? Add some thinly sliced cabbage to the simmering corned beef mixture. Be sure to read the notes above this Recipe Card, where I share some valuable tips, options, substitutions and variations for this recipe! You’ll also find step-by-step photos that you might find helpful.
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!
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 :)