Clean Eat Ground Turkey Cottage Pie

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Cottage pie. It’s a staple comfort food. In my opinion, meat and potatoes is a signature classic and instant winner in any form it’s presented in, but I’ve taken that classic recipe, elevated it, and made it clean. My version isn’t quite as traditional as the original recipe, but I can promise you it’s delicious!

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What Is Cottage Pie?

Cottage pie is often called or referred to as Shepherd’s pie, however a traditional cottage pie uses beef while a shepherd’s pie uses lamb. Similarly a Cumberland Pie can be made of either lamb or beef but it contains an extra layer of either breadcrumbs or cheese on the top. My version is a bit of a hybrid in that it uses ground turkey and a lot of veggies, plus I’ve shifted the cheese layer to the middle. I wonder what my pie would or should be called!

Ingredients Needed For This Cottage Pie:

• Potatoes: opt to use a starchy potato like Russets.
• Butter: salted or unsalted butter can be used.
• Ground Turkey: or ground beef. This makes up the base of our meat layer.
• Olive Oil: or any neutral clean eating oil.
• Onion: white or yellow onion can be used.
• Garlic: we’re using whole cloves of garlic or in a pinch you can also use dehydrated garlic.
• Carrots: whole or baby carrots can be used.
• Butternut Squash: optional but this is a great way to sneak in some veggies to our meat layer. We will be finely dicing our squash to allow it to cook and meld quicker into our meat sauce.
• Spinach: I’m using baby spinach for today’s post but you can use any spinach of your choice or even thawed frozen spinach.
• Peas: A small amount of fresh or frozen green peas adds a pop of bright color, a touch of veggies to our meat sauce.
• Tomato Sauce: Pure, unseasoned tomato sauce makes up the base flavor of the sauce for our meat layer.
• Beef (bone) Broth: A touch of beef bone broth, beef broth or beef stock adds an even deeper flavor to the meat layer. If preferred you can use chicken, turkey, mushroom or vegetable stock.
• Herbs and Spices: I’m using a combination of herbs and spices including: basil, thyme, rosemary, oregano, smoked paprika, cayenne pepper, salt, and black pepper
• A blend of cheeses: You can use any combination of semi-hard cheeses including cheddar, pepper jack, Colby, fontina, mozzarella, gouda, provolone, etc.
• Optional ingredients: Worcestershire Sauce and Raw Organic Brown Sugar adds a great flavors to your meat sauce to mellow things out.

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Here’s How To Make This Cottage Pie:

This cottage pie consists of three layers so we’ll work on each one starting with…

The Potato Layer:

After we peel, wash, and slice our potatoes, we’ll boil them until they’re tender (about 15-20 min) before we drain them and add the butter, salt and pepper.

Once we mash the ingredients together, we’ll set the potatoes aside. This recipe does require a bit of multitasking. While the potatoes are boiling I typically use that time to make the meat filling. Then, while the meat filling simmers, I drain and mash the potatoes and shred the cheese.

The Meat Layer:

To make the meat filling we’re going to to cook the ground turkey in some oil along with the dried herbs and spices. We’re using the oil with the turkey since it’s a far leaner type of ground meat, however, if you’ve opted to use beef, you can skip the oil as beef’s fat content will naturally render as the meat cooks.

Once the meat is no longer pink, we’ll add the onions, garlic, carrots, and squash, and allow it to cook (covered) for a few minutes.

Next we’ll add in the broth, tomato sauce, and if you’re using either, the sugar and Worcestershire sauce. After covering it again, we’ll let it cook on med heat for a few more minutes.

The squash should be softening up nicely by now. This is when we’ll add in the spinach and cover the pan. Allow it all to simmer for a few minutes, after which you can smash (squash?!) some of the squash pieces so that the sauce thickens up a bit and the natural sweetness and creamy texture of the squash is fully incorporated.

Finally, we’ll add in the frozen peas. By now the sauce should be nice and thick, but in the event that it’s not as thick as you’d like, you can add in a tablespoon or two of your mashed potato mixture and blend it in to really help thicken the sauce to an almost gravy-like consistency.

The meat filling should be allowed to simmer. (This is where we turn our attention to…)

The Cheese Layer:

The cheese! Now, this layer is wholly optional. With just the meat and potatoes this dish is already a star, and traditional cottage pies did not contain any cheese, but I love cheese, and the cheesy middle layer makes this dish SO good! I like using a blend of cheeses, so feel free to use whatever you like or have on hand.

We’re on the homestretch. Now we just need to assemble it. Meat. Cheese. Potatoes. After ridging the potatoes with a fork, we’ll set it under the broiler for a quick moment to brown the top and voilà! We’re done! A deliciously decadent Cottage Pie chocked full of meat, veggies, and other wholesome ingredients. And don’t worry about your cheese, the hot, freshly made meat and potato layer that sandwiches the cheese will melt our cheeses together.

Now, all that’s left to be done is cut yourself a piece and enjoy. Wouldn’t you like a bite?