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Slow cooker cottage pie

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Using my slow cooker, particularly in Winter, has to be one of my favourite ways to make a tasty meal for my family. I love being able to load up the ingredients for this slow cooker cottage pie, and then at the end of a long work day we have a tasty meal to enjoy together as a family.

It only takes a few minutes for me to load up the slow cooker with the ingredients, and then I know that dinner is under control.

Meal planning with mince is a great way to save money on groceries. Meal planning always helps me with my money saving challenges as groceries are one area you can cut back and save quite a few pounds every week!

I love the convenience of the slow cooker and that we can eat our dinner, together, whenever we are ready. This means if one of our daughters is unwell, or stays up later than expected, that our dinner is not ruined.

This takes just over 5 minutes to get into the slow cooker. If you’re looking for some inspiration for other slow cooker recipes then be sure to check out my Easy slow cooker recipes (UK recipes).

Be sure to check out my slow cooker tips while you’re here too.

Slow cooker cottage pie, with mash, in a white bowl.
Onions, celery, carrots, garlic, thyme, brown sauce, Worcester sauce and stock ready to be turned into slow cooker cottage pie.

Ingredients for slow cooker cottage pie:

Carrots

Onions

Celery (add any other vegetables like leeks or lentils)

Mince (I use 5% – 250g for a large cottage pie)

Thyme – 1 tablespoon (use a little less if you don’t like strong herb flavour)

Garlic cloves (to your preferred strength – 3 cloves for us)

Brown Sauce – 1 tablespoon

Worcestershire sauce – just a dash

300ml of beef stock (reduced salt)

Flour – 1/2 tablespoon

Two brioche buns filled with BBQ pulled pork and coleslaw

Mash topping for slow cooker cottage pie:

800g potatoes

30g butter

I’ve also used my root vegetable mash, pressure cooker mash, air fryer mash or slow cooker mashed potatoes in the past too.

Slow cooker Chicken Tikka Masala in a serving dish with handles and a side dish of rice with coriander on top

Method for slow cooker cottage pie:

Brown the mince first if that is your preference. I feel this makes it have the most flavour so strongly recommend spending a few minutes on this if you have them to spare.

Diced the carrots, onions and celery into a small fine dice.

Add all of the ingredients, minus the flour and mash ingredients, into the slow cooker pot.

You can cook these ingredients on high for 4 hours, or low for 8 hours. You’ll want to set a reminder to carry out the next steps 2 hours before serving, so do that now!

30-45 minutes before adding the mash I take the flour, mix with a little water, and then stir this threw the cottage pie ingredients.

Once another 15-30 minutes have passed I cook the mash and then add this to the top of the slow cooker cottage pie filling. I cook for another 1-1.5 hours on high.

Often we cook ours in the oven, as we love the crispy top. Top the slow cooker cottage pie filling with mash, and scrape a fork across the top. This will help to get lots of lovely crispy bits. Cook it on gas mark 6, 200c, for around 25-30 minutes. Alternatively, you can grill it if you have hot mash ready and just want a crispy top.

Can you make a slow cooker cottage pie without browning the mince?

Yes, if you’re short on time then you can just throw the mince in and skip this step. However, do not use frozen mince – fresh only! Frozen mince may take too long to come up to a safe internal temperature and you don’t want your convenient dinner to make you unwell!

A metal serving dish, with handles on the side, filled with slow cooker chicken curry, served alongside basmati rice and mini garlic and coriander naan breads

Can you make slow cooker cottage pie with sliced potatoes?

Yes! I would recommend, just like with my beef hotpot recipe, that you can make an absolutely delightful looking meal by using sliced potatoes. You’ll want to dab the top of the potato slices with butter, and finish this off in the oven, rather than in the slow cooker, for a delicious crispy potato top.

Making Colmans cottage pie in the slow cooker:

You absolutely can use a cottage pie mix to make it in the slow cooker. Consider cutting down on the liquid slightly, as it won’t evaporate in the slow cooker like it will in the oven. You can cook the Colmans mix for the same time as my above recipe, and it will turn out great!

These mixes have lots of flavour and can be a great way to make a tasty meal without keeping a large stock of herbs and spices – perfect if you’re not a regular cook!

ALL of the slow cooker recipes on this website have been cooked using a Ninja Foodi OL750UK, or the previous model, but you can use ANY slow cooker, as timings should be very similar.

5 great slow cooker recipes

Like this slow cooker cottage pie? Fancy trying another one of my slow cooker recipes? Here are some great ones:

Why not try one of these fantastic slow cooker accessories:

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How to make my slow cooker cottage pie:

A look at the slow cooker cottage pie
5 from 1 vote
Print

Slow cooker cottage pie

How to make a delicious cottage pie in your slow cooker

Course Main Course
Cuisine British
Keyword beef, slow cooker
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 4 hours
Total Time 4 hours 10 minutes
Servings 4 servings
Calories 375 kcal
Author Katykicker

Ingredients

  • 300 g carrots
  • 2 large onions
  • 2 stalks celery
  • 250 g mince I use 5%
  • 1 tbsp dried thyme
  • 3 cloves garlic
  • 1 tbsp brown sauce
  • 1 splash worcestershire sauce
  • 300 ml beef stock
  • 1/2 tbsp plain flour

Mash topping

  • 800 g potatoes
  • 30 g butter
  • seasoning

Instructions

  1. Brown the mince first if that is your preference. I feel this makes it have the most flavour so strongly recommend spending a few minutes on this if you have them to spare.

  2. Dice the carrots, onions and celery into a small fine dice. 

  3. Add all of the ingredients, minus the flour and mash ingredients, into the slow cooker pot. 

  4. You can cook these ingredients on high for 4 hours, or low for 8 hours. You'll want to set a reminder to carry out the next steps 2 hours before serving, so do that now! 

  5. 30-45 minutes before adding the mash I take the flour, mix with a little water, and then stir this threw the cottage pie ingredients. 

  6. Once another 15-30 minutes have passed I cook the mash and then add this to the top of the slow cooker cottage pie filling. I cook for another 1-1.5 hours on high. 

  7. Often we cook ours in the oven, as we love the crispy top. Top the slow cooker cottage pie filling with mash, and scrape a fork across the top. This will help to get lots of lovely crispy bits. Cook it on gas mark 6, 200c, for around 25-30 minutes.

  8. Alternatively, you can grill it if you have hot mash ready and just want a crispy top.Mash topping for slow cooker cottage pie:Method for slow cooker cottage pie:

Note: All calorie information is for demonstration purposes only and is based on the specific uncooked ingredients that I used when creating the recipe.

If you enjoyed this post I’d love it if you could pin it on Pinterest!

Slow cooker cottage pie. Get this ready in just a couple of minutes. #slowcooker #mince #dinners #slowcookerdinner #recipes #slowcookerrecipes
Recipe Rating




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Sarah

Thursday 24th of September 2020

All the recipes I found, brown the mince and the veggies first and I thought that kind of defeated the object, in the mornings before I go to work I need quick and easy! This is perfect!

katykicker

Friday 2nd of October 2020

Sometimes you just want to dump and go don't you! x

katykicker

Thursday 31st of August 2017

It is SO convenient. Especially if you're a busy working parent!

katykicker

Tuesday 29th of August 2017

Perfect when the colder weather comes!

katykicker

Monday 28th of August 2017

It is SO nice!

katykicker

Monday 28th of August 2017

I can't believe it is finally warm!! Enjoy x

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