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A new twist on the English classic Cottage pie. Flavorful beef cottage pie recipe is made easy in one skillet and Paleo-friendly! Ground beef and tender vegetables are topped with fluffy mashed sweet potatoes and baked to perfection for the best comfort food. It makes a delicious and warm comfort food recipe perfect for dinner or lunch, and it’s only 30 minutes.
This recipe is a family favorite for dinner or lunch, and it makes enough to serve a crowd if you have guests or a large family. I love that it’s a flavorful, hearty and satisfying meal with protein, starch, and veggies in every bite! And also, it’s made in one skillet and in about 30 minutes. This means easy dinner with minimal cleanup.
What is Cottage Pie
Usually, cottage pie is made with beef and topped with mashed potatoes. But I decided to make it with sweet potatoes instead to make it Paleo-friendly.
Cottage Pie vs Shepherd’s Pie
Cottage pie is made with beef and Shepherd’s pie is usually made with lamb. Here in the States, we love beef and most of the time, both Shepherd’s pie and Cottage pie made in the States are made with beef. But regardless of whether you make Shepherd’s or Cottage pie, they are both very delicious, and true comfort food.
How To Make One Skillet Cottage Pie (Paleo)
Even though it might sound like a very involving recipe, this cottage pie recipe is made as easy as possible. You need only 1 skillet and 30 minutes to cook.
First, I start by browning the meat and vegetables in the skillet on the cooktop. This is an important step to let all the flavors mend. After the meat mixture is done, top it with homemade mashed sweet potatoes (you can also use leftover mashed sweet potatoes), and then bake it for about 20 minutes. It’s also important to use an oven-proof skillet so you can bake it in the oven. This means without plastic handles and that fits in your oven, I use a cast iron skillet.
I used sweet potatoes to make it Paleo, but you could certainly make this skillet cottage pie with mashed potatoes instead if you prefer.
Cottage Pie (Paleo, Whole30)
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Ingredients
- 1 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 1 lb ground beef
- 3 medium carrots, chopped
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 2 celery stalks, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 3 Tablespoon tomato paste
- ½ cup vegetable broth (or water)
- 1 teaspoon dry oregano
- fresh thyme
- salt and freshly ground pepper
- 6 cups mashed sweet potatoes
Instructions
- Heat oil over medium-high heat in a cast iron skillet. Brown ground beef in the skillet for about 5 minutes.
- Stir in chopped carrots, onion, celery stalks, and minced garlic to the ground beef. Cover and continue cooking, stirring occasionally, for about 10 minutes, or until vegetables are tender.
- Preheat oven to 350 F. Pour in tomato paste and vegetable broth in the skillet and stir everything. Season to taste with dried oregano, fresh thyme, salt and freshly ground pepper. Cover and simmer for a couple of minutes, until most of the juices have evaporated.
- Remove from heat. Even out the vegetable mixture in the skillet, and spread out evenly the leftover mashed potatoes over it. If you are using a narrower baking dish, you might need less mashed potatoes. Make sure the mashed potato topping covers the vegetables.
- Place in the preheated oven and bake for 15 minutes. If you wish, you can place the skillet/baking dish under the broiler for the last 4 minutes. Make sure to watch it closely as it can burn quickly.
Great recipe! Easy to follow and delicious!
Note for anyone making the sweet potato mash, I’ve boiled sweet potato chunks in the past and feel like they take on a lot of water. Instead I make microwave “baked” potatoes, wrap potatoes in wet paper towel and cook for a couple minutes at a time until tender. Then cut them open, scoop out the insides into a bowl and add almond milk, butter, garlic and onion powder and whip until smooth. Keeps your potatoes creamy versus watery or baby-food like.
Thanks for sharing this! I had almost everything on hand to make and will probably make again. What a cozy (and healthy!) winter meal!
This was fabulous. I used ground chicken and added peas at the very end before popping in the oven, and everyone enjoyed thoroughly.