Cottage Pie vs. Shepherd’s Pie: What’s the Difference?

A cook makes shepherd’s pie in a baking dish with vegetables and lamb meat and a topping that is an even layer of mashed potatoes. The dish originated in Scotland and then became popular in Northern England and Ireland. The Irish were the first to start using potatoes instead of a pastry topping for the dish. Now shepherd’s pie is a St. Patrick’s Day staple.

Hachis Parmentier is shepherd’s pie with a French twist. Rather than just one layer of mashed potatoes atop the lamb, the French version of shepherd’s pie sandwiches the meat between two layers of potatoes. Some vegetarians and vegans also make “shepherdless” pie—the dish sans any meat at all.

Cottage pie is a meat pie made with potatoes, veggies, beef, and a beef stock (or broth). Traditionally, cottage pie has a sliced potato crust topping, but you can use mashed potatoes as an alternative. Cumberland pie is a close relative of cottage pie—the only real difference is that cooks use large chunks of beef rather than ground meat.

Like a traditional shepherd’s pie, cottage pie requires boiling potatoes and drizzling olive oil or red wine into a large skillet to sauté the meat and vegetables. After taking a potato masher to your spuds, you top the meat and veggie mixture with the potatoes and put the dish under the broiler at medium-high heat until the potatoes start to form a crust.

The key difference between a shepherd’s pie recipe and a cottage pie recipe comes down to the type of meat filling used. Cottage pie uses minced lean ground beef as its base and beef broth as its gravy. Shepherd’s pie, on the other hand, uses ground lamb, and the juices of the minced lamb become the gravy for this comfort food. You can serve either dish hot or at room temperature, depending on your preference, and both dishes reheat well.

If you already know how to make shepherd’s pie and cottage pie but are eager to put a new spin on your dish, here are a few ideas:

1. 1. Add different veggies. Both shepherd’s pie and cottage pie are incomplete without veggies, but you’re free to try out any combination you please. Fresh or frozen peas, green beans, and cooked carrots are usually the most common additions. Try incorporating leeks, onions, shallots, and other vegetables into your initial mixture, too. You could even add tomato paste.
2. 2. Include fresh cheese. Adding Parmesan or cheddar cheese into your potato mixture is an easy way to enhance the flavor of your shepherd’s pie or cottage pie. The cheese can give the creamy mashed potatoes a tangy zest.
3. 3. Use a meat mixture. You will often see the terms shepherd’s pie and cottage pie conflated despite the traditional differences in their meat ingredients. But there’s no rule that says you must use one or the other. Try including both beef and lamb, alter how you cut up your meat, or even use a chicken base with a chicken broth to top your meat pie.
4. 4. Change up the potatoes. Which type of potatoes you use or the style you can make them in for shepherd’s pie or cottage pie is up to you. Consider making one pie with russet potatoes and another with sweet potatoes. Maybe you’d prefer making one mashed and one sliced. Try different alternatives to see which you like best.
5. 5. Try different seasonings. Seasonings and spices can make or break a cottage pie or shepherd’s pie dish. Sprinkle seasoned breadcrumbs over the finished dish, or mix in salt and black pepper; chopped, fresh thyme leaves; and minced garlic cloves. Experiment to determine your ideal flavor profile. You don’t have to stick with meat broth either—try topping your dish with a Worcestershire sauce or another alternative.

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