Healthy Vegan Cottage Pie

This is not your typical Cottage Pie! Instead of meat, it only contains vegetables (yes, even the topping!) but is still super delicious! It’s healthy, vegan and so creamy.

Are you all familiar with Cottage Pie? There’s also Shepherd’s Pie so don’t get confused! It’s a mixture of meat and normally peas and carrots covered with mashed potatoes and grated cheese. Basically, the only difference between the two is the meat used. You traditionally use ground lamb in Shepherd’s Pie and ground beef in Cottage Pie. And which one is this one here, you may ask yourself? Well, strictly speaking neither one!

I wanted to create a delicious vegan version of a Cottage Pie which is neither lentil based nor uses any other legumes. Yes, it’s only vegetables and LOADS of them! So if – like me – you’re a vegetable lover, then this is for you. I’ve seen so many versions around that include cheese or protein but sometimes I just want to give my body a whole lot of delicious whole food. Whole30 doesn’t allow for legumes or dairy and I simply don’t want to eat meat with all my meals so I make a point to create these yummy vegetable heavy meals sometimes.

And believe me, it’s still oh so delicious and super flavorful! If the crispy cheese on top of a cottage pie is your favorite part, then you might have to add some vegan cheese. But I was good without it. This super healthy cottage pie is super creamy and delicious even without the added cheese. Of course, I also love the crispy cheese on occasion but it also means extra fat that I can sometimes do without.

The important thing is to have a super flavorful filling AND a super flavorful topping. If healthy food were always to taste boring and bland, nobody would ever eat healthy, right? It definitely makes a huge difference to me!

The filling consists of onion, zucchini, eggplant and carrots. I fried the onion, then added some garlic and then the diced vegetables. I added rosemary and other spices and simmered them until they were all soft (but not mushy!) and deliciously flavored.

The topping is only cauliflower! I know, the traditional cottage pie is potato but again, cauliflower is healthier and sometimes I just want a REALLY healthy meal. And trust me, it’s delicious anyways! If you haven’t tried cauliflower mash yet, you must give it a try – it’s so yummy!

I seasoned the cauliflower mash with salt, garlic, white pepper, ground rosemary and Dijon mustard. I also added a little bit of olive oil for flavor. Adding Dijon mustard to Bechamel sauce and mashed potatoes is a trick that a friend once showed me and I love the flavor it adds.

Will you make this for dinner soon? Or how about my Mexican Stuffed Sweet Potatoes?

Difficulty: Intermediate Prep Time 25 min Cook Time 80 min Total Time 1 hr 45 mins
Servings: 3

Description

This is not your typical Cottage Pie! Instead of meat, it only contains vegetables (yes, even the topping!) but is still super delicious! It's healthy, vegan and so creamy.

Ingredients

Filling

Cauliflower Mash

Instructions

  1. Peel and dice the carrots. 

    Dice the eggplant and the zucchini. You generally want to dice them quite small. 

  2. Peel and dice red onion. Peel and dice garlic clove.

    Heat up olive oil in a pan. Add diced red onion and fry for 5 minutes on medium heat. Add diced garlic clove and fry for another minute.

  3. Add the diced vegetables as well as the Allrounder Rice Spice and the rosemary powder. Fry for 10 minutes on medium heat, then add the lid and fry for another 10 minutes.

    Add the broth cube and simmer (with a closed lid) for another 20 minutes on low-medium heat. Add a splash of water if it becomes too dry. 

  4. Pre-heat oven to 180°C. 

    Spray or brush the inside of a casserole dish with olive oil. 

  5. To a pot, add the defrosted cauliflower together with 2 cups of water and 1 tsp of salt. Bring to a boil and cook for 20 minutes until very soft. Drain VERY well. 

  6. Add to a blender together with 1 1/4 tsp salt, olive oil, garlic powder, ground white pepper, ground rosemary and Dijon mustard. Blend until smooth. 

  7. Add the vegetable mixture to the casserole dish. Top with the cauliflower mash. 

    Bake at 180°C for 30 minutes. Enjoy!

Note

  • Just Spices Rice Allrounder Spice: it's a spice mixture that I really like using. It contains salt, red onion, bell pepper, paprika, tomato, leek, carrot, parsley, chives, garlic, pink pepper and chili. If you cannot find anything suitable near you, try adding more broth cube, paprika and chili powder. 

 

Keywords: cottage pie, vegan, vegan pie, vegan cottage pie, cauliflower mash, vegetables only, healthy meal, healthy recipe, whole30, whole30 friendly, whole30 pie, healthy dinner, vegan dinner,

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Andrea Epstein in her kitchen

Andrea Epstein

Hi, I'm Andrea, a full-time food blogger, mother of 1 wonderful son, 2 equally wonderful stepsons and wife to a darling husband. I live in Munich, Germany with my family. I loves traveling, sharing new recipes, and spending time with my family.

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