As one of my most loved and most popular recipes, I had to include this in my Debut Cookbook ‘Comfy’!
Cottage Pie Filling
These baked potatoes are a funky twist on the Classic Cottage Pie that are super easy to make and even more delicious to eat! The filling is a key component of this recipe. There’s no good having a beautifully baked potato with a bland filling! The base of the filling is ground beef, although you could use lamb if you’d prefer these to be Shepherd’s Pies.
Red Wine
I highly recommend adding a glug of red wine to the filling. It pairs so beautifully with the beef and offers a real depth of flavour to the gravy. No need to splash out on anything fancy – just use what you’ve got on hand! Anything dry will do the trick. You can sub more beef stock if you’d prefer.
Gravy Granules
These are a game changer when making a cottage pie filling. Not only do they add flavour, but they also help thicken the gravy. I highly recommend using a trusted brand such as Bisto. If you’re struggling to find gravy granules you can sub flour (see recipe notes below).
Low Simmering
Once you’ve added in all the ingredients you’ll want to reduce the heat and gently simmer everything until the gravy thickens. This will also give chance for the flavours to marry together and will also help tenderize the beef slightly too. Process shots: add onion, carrot, mushroom & garlic to pan (photo 1), fry (photo 2), fry beef (photo 3), fry tomato puree and simmer red wine (photo 4), add stock, Worcestershire sauce, gravy granules, herbs & seasoning (photo 5), simmer (photo 6).
Baked Potatoes
Okay, filling done, now we need to get it inside the potatoes. As such, you’ll want to bake some large potatoes until knife tender, then gut them out to make room for the filling.
Cottage Pie Topping
To put the potato to good use, we’re going to mash it up with a concoction of goodies, then plonk it on top of the potatoes once they’re stuffed. Process shots: coat potatoes in olive oil & salt (photo 1), bake (photo 2), slice off top (photo 3), gut out centre (photo 4), add to bowl with butter, milk, cheese & seasoning (photo 5), mash (photo 6).
Cottage Pie Loaded Potatoes
To construct the potatoes, whack the filling in the centre, top with potato and more cheese, then bung them in the oven. One word of advice, make sure you clean up any cheese from the tray before going in the oven, otherwise it’ll burn (yes I made that mistake below 🤣). The potatoes are done when the skin is crispy and the topping is golden and bubbly. Process shots: add skins to tray (photo 1), add filling (photo 2), top with potato and cheese (photo 3), bake (photo 4).
Serving Cottage Pie Baked Potatoes
To serve, here I added some roasted broccoli and cauliflower, but do check out my Sides for more inspo! (Green Beans also work nicely). Alrighty, let’s tuck into the full recipe for these cottage pie potatoes shall we?!
How to make Cottage Pie Baked Potatoes (Full Recipe & Video)
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