Our Vegan Cottage Pie is prepared with green lentils and haricot beans and topped with a delicious mashed potato. It is inspired from old-fashioned British recipes that were popular during the 1940s and 50s where making do with limited ingredients was crucial. New to plant-based and vegan diets? Our tasty and easy veggie cottage pie is the ideal introduction. Looking for vegan recipes that are tomato-free and celery-free? Our cottage pie is both free from tomato and celery, as well as being easy to prepare as gluten-free.
6 small individual pie dishes or 1 larger casserole or pie dish [each small pie dish about - 6 inch by 4 ½ inch and 2 inch deep (15cm x 11cm x 6cm) (or use a larger dish big enough to serve 6)
Ingredients
Mashed potato topping:
900gramspotatoes[chopped into even sized chunks]
6tablespoonsplant-based milk[or replace with veggie stock prepared with potato cooking liquid, use more or less liquid as required]
2tablespoonsvegan butter[or replace with hummus or nutritional yeast flakes]
Pie filling:
1tablespoonolive oil[or your regular oil, can replace with ½ cup veggie stock or potato cooking water]
200gramsgreen lentils[dried]
2mediumcarrots[grated]
1mediumonion[diced]
4clovesgarlic[diced, use more if liked]
1bay leaf
2teaspoonssweet paprika powder[or ordinary paprika, can use an extra teaspoon if liked]
1canharicot beans [navy beans][400g/14oz can drained, or 240g (1 ½ cups) cooked beans (can replace with any type of bean)
1litrevegetable stock[plus about ½-1 cup [120-240ml] extra, can use the potato cooking liquid to make up the stock with added vegetable stock powder/cubes/bouillon paste]
Optional garnish:
3teaspoonspaprika flakes[or red pepper flakes, chilli flakes, use more as liked, or replace with your favourite seasoning mix or nutritional yeast flakes]
Instructions
Prepare the mashed potato pie topping:
Cook the potato chunks in a saucepan of boiling water, with a few pinches of salt, until soft.
900 grams potatoes
Drain the water but reserve it in a jug as it can be used to make up the vegetable stock. Add the milk and butter to the potatoes, along with some salt and pepper. Mash until smooth adding extra liquid either milk, veggie stock or potato water as required to achieve the desired consistency.
Once mashed it can be set aside until required for the pie. If preparing in advance and will be keeping for a few hours or until the next day, store the mashed potatoes in the refrigerator once cooled.
Prepare the pie filling:
Heat the oil or about ½ cup of vegetable stock in a non-stick pan. Add the onion and cook over a medium heat for 5-8 minutes, stirring frequently. Add an extra few tablespoons of vegetable stock if necessary to prevent sticking even if you added the oil, as using a little stock or water to prevent sticking is better than adding more oil.
1 tablespoon olive oil, 1 medium onion
Add the garlic and cook for 2 minutes, stirring frequently.
4 cloves garlic
Mix through the carrot and cook for 1-2 minutes
2 medium carrots
Next, add in the green lentils, sweet paprika, and bay leaf. Season with a little salt and pepper.
200 grams green lentils, 2 teaspoons sweet paprika powder, 1 bay leaf
Pour in the vegetable stock and bring to the boil. Lower the heat and simmer for 25-30 minutes.
1 litre vegetable stock
Add the haricot beans along with ½-1 [120-240ml] cups of extra vegetable stock depending on how saucy you prefer the filling.
1 can haricot beans [navy beans]
Simmer for 5-10 minutes or until the lentils are soft. Taste the seasoning and adjust with extra salt and pepper if liked, although I usually find no extra salt is required. Remove the bay leaf.
Preheat the oven to 190 Fan, 210 C, 410 Fahrenheit, Gas 6.
Divide the lentil mix between your pie dishes or add to one larger casserole or pie dish.
Top with the mashed potatoes. Use a cutlery fork to create a wavy pattern if liked.
Bake near the top of the oven for 25 minutes until the filling is bubbling and the topping has crispy golden bits.
Sprinkle the top with paprika flakes before serving.
3 teaspoons paprika flakes
Notes
Nutritional information is provided for guidance only and is not a strict calculation as ingredients vary.
Store leftover pies within the cooking dishes, once cool, cover and store in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
Or freeze for 3-4 months, well wrapped.
It's important to not place a chilled pie or casserole dish directly into a hot oven as there is a risk the dish could crack with the sudden change in temperature.
To reheat: Bake at the cooking temperature (or slightly lower) stated within the recipe card, on the bottom-middle shelf for about 20-25 minutes. The mashed potato topping and lentil filling should both be piping hot before serving.
Serve with steamed greens such as cabbage or kale, or your favourite green veggies.
This is a tomato & celery free recipe but if you have an allergy to these ingredients do use a tomato or celery free vegetable stock and check all your other packaged ingredients.
For a gluten-free pie use a gluten-free vegetable stock, and check the other packaged ingredients for gluten ingredients.
The potato mash can be replaced with sweet potato mash or any root vegetable mash or a combination of root veggies such as - parsnip, celeriac, carrot, or swede [rutabaga, turnip]. Cauliflower is also quite nice mashed.