Anyone have a “healthier” cottage pie recipe

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LarryLorenz
LarryLorenz Posts: 54 Member
in Recipes
Cottage pie oh my oh my oh my. I need a healthy recipe for this or a woman who knows how to make a really good cottage pie

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  • springlering62
    springlering62 Posts: 7,606 Member
    edited June 2023
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    Take your regular recipe and get creative.

    I found this standard recipe on AllRecipes.

    https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/15509/proper-english-cottage-pie/

    First thing I’d do is either find a really lean ground beef (some are 140 cal/4 ounces). OR I’d use ground chicken or turkey, mix it with the Italian spices and let it sit in the fridge a couple of days before cooking it.

    I do this for lasagna and it’s amazing. You won’t even know it’s chicken.

    I’d cut the butter by 1/2 or 1/3. Most recipes use way more than necessary, and anyway I’d use margarine, which is almost half the calories of butter.

    Skim milk and low fat cheese.

    I’d cut the potatoes by half. As long as there’s a tasty crust it doesn’t have to be smothered in them.

    Voila. You’ve just cut your calories by 1/3, probably a lot more.

    Get creative how you think. There’s always a substitution or two or ten you can make to cut calories.
  • acpgee
    acpgee Posts: 7,658 Member
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    Use lean beef mince in the meat mixture, and stretch with plenty of grated vegetables such as onion, courgette, carrots, kohlrabi, celeriac. I find replacing 30% of the meat with vegetarian quorn mince is not detrimental to either flavour or texture.

    Make the mashed potato lean, using skimmed milk and no butter or just a scant amount.
  • moodymoron
    moodymoron Posts: 2 Member
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    I whip my potatoes and add cooked carrots in my mixer with just sour cream so they come out soft and fluffy without the milk and butter. I use lean ground beef with spices and a low sodium beef stock. the veggie I use what I have - so I have but in broccoli, turnip, frozen mix, asparagus and also add apples! I have seen recipes using Sweet Potatoe and ground turkey so that may be an option too! :) oh1 you could also replace the potatoes with cauliflower if you are into that...I am not Lol!
  • gentlygently
    gentlygently Posts: 752 Member
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    I’m a woman who makes a mean cottage pie - but sadly for you I make it for me and my hubby not ‘strangers’ … sorry!

    I use a lot of the tips above. I also
    A) sometimes make it with lambs mince - or shepherd’s pie
    B) use yoghurt for the mash rather than lots of butter
    C) add red lentils to ‘stretch’ the meat (as well as lots of veggies)
    D) put paprika on the top rather than cheese
    E) portion control ie have less on the plate but serve along side a nice big pile of carrots and peas.

    And enjoy it! I love cottage pie too…



  • takinitalloff
    takinitalloff Posts: 1,934 Member
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    I have a really good recipe for cottage pie that works for my way of eating, but what do you consider healthy?
  • rileysowner
    rileysowner Posts: 8,164 Member
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    What do you consider healthy? That varies from person to person. I would find anything with a lot of carbs unhealthy at this point in my life. Others would say fat is their issue. "Healthy" is a very imprecise term. I am going to assume you mean lower calorie.
  • perryc05
    perryc05 Posts: 214 Member
    edited July 2023
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    Try using celeriac to make the mash instead of potatoes or use a combination of both. Celeriac is lower in cals than potatoes:
    https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/320374#benefits
    You could also use Swedes instead too which are lower in cals than spuds
    As mentined above look for lean meat minces, use less meat and add more veggies like carrots, keep oil and butter to a minimum, avoid topping with cheese. (I sometimes used thin sliced tomatoes on top of mine).
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,874 Member
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    I've never considered cottage pie to be an inherently unhealthy meal. Every cottage pie I've ever had is pretty chalk full of vegetables.
  • springlering62
    springlering62 Posts: 7,606 Member
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    Ironically, I’ve never had one or seen one since they showed up regularly at the cafeteria in elementary school. In the darkest of dark ages.

    No idea how they got in the rotation. It’s not a typical “Southern” thing.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 32,436 Member
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    perryc05 wrote: »
    Try using celeriac to make the mash instead of potatoes or use a combination of both. Celeriac is lower in cals than potatoes:
    https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/320374#benefits
    You could also use Swedes instead too which are lower in cals than spuds
    As mentined above look for lean meat minces, use less meat and add more veggies like carrots, keep oil and butter to a minimum, avoid topping with cheese. (I sometimes used thin sliced tomatoes on top of mine).

    I can't speak for OP, whom I'd guess is not the the US, but in the US we have some decent-ish fairly calorie efficient cheeses. Many of the lower fat (usually 2% milk) cheeses aren't very tasty, but a few are pretty good for this purpose.

    Or, a quite small amount of finely-grated fresh parmesan adds some cheese flavor and a browning to baked things. An ounce (28-ish grams) of it runs around 110 calories, has 10g protein, and is IME enough to add a nice flavor to a whole typical cottage/shepherd's pie type dish.
  • kung22
    kung22 Posts: 1 Member
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    Hi. Replace half the beef with finely chopped mushrooms. You’ll barely notice.
  • neanderthin
    neanderthin Posts: 9,970 Member
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    Portion control. If something you feel is inherently wonderful and is made from scratch using whole foods, how is that unhealthy, unhealthy is eating too much of it.Cheers

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