Sweet Potato Cottage Pie

Sweet Potato Cottage Pie

We started making this easy recipe when our whole family went on a gluten-free, sugar-free, dairy-free, no-preservative diet. We were trying to eat this paleo diet (like the paleolithic times!) to see if it eased my daughter’s eczema. Unfortunately, it didn’t really help her symptoms much and she still had a lot of itching and dryness. On the plus side, we felt great, it made us eat a ton of vegetables and healthy foods and cut out a lot of unnecessary junk in our lives.

Nowadays, we still eat pretty healthfully and I make shephards or cottage pie (or turkey) every few weeks or so. Its such an easy way to get a lot of veggies in a dish and its easy to prep in advance, most likely during a nap time. It also has such a homey, filling quality to it. I hope you enjoy it as well!

There is a lot of chopping involved here, but it really makes the dish super hearty and delicious. It’s something I feel really happy about feeding to my family 🙂 You can always do that step in advance and store until you are ready to cook.

Unfortunately, I didn’t have my special helper this time.

Harper chose to work on "her job" instead of cooking with me this time
Harper chose to work on “her job” instead of cooking with me this time

But this guy came to keep me company:

Waiting for any dropped food!
Waiting for any dropped food!

Sweet Potato Cottage Pie

2 lbs. ground beef (I used 93/7 this time.)
1 tsp each: thyme, basil, oregano
1 medium onion
1 red pepper
4 oz mushrooms
4 celery stalks
4 carrots (or big handful of baby carrots)
2 cloves garlic
1/4 cup tomato paste
2 TBL worcestershire
1 1/3 cup chicken broth, divided (Or beef broth)
2 tomatoes
2-3 large sweet potatoes*
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
1/2 cup milk
parmesan cheese

Sweet Potato Cottage Pie- Ingredients

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Peel and cube sweet potatoes and place in boiling water to steam 10-15 minutes, until fork-tender.

(*FYI I roasted my sweet potatoes the day before for 1 hr in 375 degree oven wrapped in foil and then cooled and refrigerated overnight).

Start filling by browning meat in large skillet and seasoning with salt and pepper and all herbs. Remove to another dish, leaving any fat in pan and set aside.

Sweet Potato Cottage Pie- Browned meat

Chop veggies: onion, celery, carrots, mushrooms, red pepper and garlic. Add to skillet on medium low heat until softened, about 10 minutes. Add salt and pepper.

Sweet Potato Cottage Pie- Chopped veggies Sweet Potato Cottage Pie- Veggies

While veggies cook, remove sweet potatoes and mash. (I use my immersion blender, it’s awesome!) Add garlic and onion powder, milk and 1/3 cup of chicken broth, salt and pepper. Mix thoroughly.

Sweet Potato Cottage Pie- Mashed sweet potatoes

Add 1/4 cup of chicken broth to veggies and scrape up any bits on bottom of pan.

Sweet Potato Cottage Pie- broth added

Chop tomatoes and add to veggies. Add tomato paste and worcestershire, continuing to stir.

Sweet Potato Cottage Pie- Tomato, worcestershire added

Add another 3/4 cup of chicken stock and bring to simmer, 1-2 minutes.

Sweet Potato Cottage Pie- skillet

Return beef to pan and stir to incorporate.

Sweet Potato Cottage Pie- Filling complete

Add beef and veggie mix to 9 by 11 in pan. I find it helpful to press everything down with my spatula to even-out the filling.

Sweet Potato Cottage Pie- in the dish

Mound sweet potatoes by the spoonful atop the beef filling.

Sweet Potato Cottage Pie- Sweet potato dollops

Grate parmesan cheese all over top. The dish can be covered and put in refrigerator if need be or placed directly in oven, uncovered for 30-40 minutes.

Sweet Potato Cottage Pie- grated cheese

I like to broil the top for the last 2-3 minutes to get cheese really melted. Let stand for 5 minutes, then dig in!

Sweet Potato Cottage Pie- in the oven Sweet Potato Cottage Pie- broiled

Please let me know what you thought of the Sweet Potato Cottage Pie! I would love to hear from you!

Sweet Potato Cottage Pie

2 thoughts on “Sweet Potato Cottage Pie

  1. I had a package of ground beef in the fridge that I hadn’t decided what to do with yet and this recipe was the perfect thing! I don’t love sweet potatoes but this looked so yummy so I tried it. And it was DELICIOUS!! The Parmesan was so good on top of the sweet potatoes and my husband and I gobbled it up! This is the perfect fall meal!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *