Vegetarian Cottage Pie

5 from 25 votes

This easy Vegetarian Cottage Pie recipe is filled with goodness, is wonderfully hearty and totally delicious. Comfort food that’s so good and full of flavour and texture, even meat eaters will love this dish.

Prep Time15

Cook Time1 5

Total Time1 20

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Family Food

Servings:

Author: Sarah Rossi

Ingredients

2 tsp Olive oil
1 Onion Finely chopped
3 Cloves garlic Peeled and crushed
3 Carrots Finely chopped
3 Celery sticks Finely chopped
250 g Chestnut mushrooms Finely chopped
2 tbsp Flour
1 tsp Dried thyme
1 tsp Dried rosemary
1/2 tsp Freshly ground black pepper
800 g Green lentils 2 x 400g tins, drained and rinsed
4 tbsp Tomato purée
750 ml Vegetable stock
2 tbsp Marmite
2 tbsp Henderson's Relish

For the topping:

1 kg White potatoes
2 tbsp Butter
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Instructions

Heat the oil in a saute pan, oven a medium heat. Add the onions, garlic, carrots and celery and fry for 5 minutes.
Add the mushrooms in for another 5 minutes.
Add the flour, thyme, rosemary, pepper and fry for 3-5 minutes until everything is well coated.
Add in the lentils, tomato purée, stock, Marmite and Henderson's Relish. Cook for 30 minutes until the sauce is rich and thick.
Meanwhile, boil up the potatoes until soft enough to mash. Mash with butter and salt and pepper.
Top the base with the mash potato, then smooth over with the back of a fork to create grooves. Bake at 200C for 20-25 minutes until golden and crispy.

Notes

Make ahead for the freezer: Once your pie is assembled (step 5 in the recipe below) you can chill and then freeze for up to one month. When you are ready to use the pie, defrost in the fridge overnight, then bake as normal (step 6). It may take a little longer than normal to bake, as always, check it is piping hot inside before serving.

Technically, it can also be cooked from frozen – cook at 160C/fan 140C/gas 3 for 1 hr-1 hr 20 mins until piping hot in the centre. I have to say I prefer to defrost overnight first as the pie won’t dry out as much.

To stop sinking: The trick here is to make sure your sauce is a little firm and not too watery, and let it cool for a while before you add your potatoes on top.

To make gluten free: Substitute the plain flour for cornflour (check your packaging to ensure it is gluten free) or any gluten free flour. Check all other ingredients too of course.

Substitutions: Feel free to change up your vegetables in here according to what you have in or prefer. For example, frozen peas, swede, leeks or sweetcorn would work well. You can also swap the white potatoes for a sweet potato topping if you prefer

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