How to cook the most delicious slow cooker cumberland pie. This Cumberland pie is made with minced beef, carrots and peas and topped with the best creamy mashed potatoes that are then sprinkled with breadcrumbs and grated cheese.
Looking for the best Cumberland pie recipe that you can cook in the slow cooker? Then you will love this dump and start option with hardly any washing up.
M&S Cumberland Pie
My first love for Cumberland pie was the M&S Cumberland pie. It was delicious. I would describe it as minced beef with carrots cooked in a thick gravy topped with mashed potatoes and cheddar cheese.
So good it became a favourite of mine, and I would buy a Cumberland pie whenever I was at Marks & Spencers.
Then on holiday in the summer in Northumberland everyone had a different take on Cumberland pie, and I thought it would make a great edition to our mince slow cooker week.
If you love cottage pie, or shepherds pie then you will love their sister Cumberland pie and even better you will love this slow cooker Cumberland pie recipe.
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Slow Cooker Mince Recipes
Over the next few days on Recipe This I am celebrating one of my favourite ingredients in the slow cooker and that is mince aka ground meat. I love how you can grab a cheap pack of it from the supermarket and use it to make your favourite comfort food and also have great variety too.
You can follow our slow cooker mince series below:
You can also get all our slow cooker mince recipes here.
What Is Cumberland Pie?
- Slow Cooker Cottage Pie
- Slow Cooker Shepherds Pie
- Slow Cooker Spaghetti Bolognese
- Slow Cooker Quorn Bolognese
- Slow Cooker Lasagne
- Slow Cooker Cumberland Pie (todays recipe)
- Slow Cooker Mince & Dumplings
- Slow Cooker Mince Cobbler
Cumberland pie is a British comfort food classic that is most associated with the North of England.
It is the baby sister of cottage pie and shepherd’s pie and is very similar to these recipes.
The official description of a Cumberland pie is savoury minced beef topped with potatoes. That is why you will see some recipes with a sliced potato topping and some with a mashed potato topping.
But on the top of all Cumberland pie recipes is a sprinkling of breadcrumbs and some cheese.
What Is The Difference Between Cumberland Pie And Cottage Pie?
The difference between Cumberland pie and cottage pie is that Cumberland pie has a breadcrumbs and cheese topping over the potatoes.
Many people have not even heard of a Cumberland pie and only find out about it when people are talking about the difference between shepherds pie and cottage pie and Cumberland pie is named as the third pie.
It’s like Cumberland pie has had a nice added extra added to the top of the pie and come on, we all like cheese and breadcrumbs don’t we?
So why not next time you make our instant pot cottage pie, that you top it with breadcrumbs?
Cottage Pie With Sliced Potatoes
Hang on a minute. Isn’t Cumberland pie just cottage pie with sliced potatoes? Well, it can be.
You see, because Cumberland pie is like mince topped with potatoes it can be either sliced potatoes like a hotpot or it can be mashed potatoes.
I see a mix between the two types online and if you would rather have a cottage pie with sliced potatoes, I recommend you follow our air fryer sliced potatoes and follow the theme of one of our hotpots such as our slow cooker beef hotpot.
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Cumberland Pie Ingredients
Mince – The most important ingredient is the minced beef, or ground beef as you may call it in the US. We used lean beef mince which is best for the slow cooker because there is a lot less fat and then it won’t make your cumberland pie taste greasy.
Potatoes – A cumberland pie, just like a cottage pie or a shepherds pie, is not the same without the big portion of mashed potatoes on top. We are using some white potatoes that need using up and cooking them first in the slow cooker.
Veggies – I love the mix of carrots, celery, and onion that go into a slow cooker cumberland pie. I use the onion first to sauté the slow cooker and the carrots and celery are added later and cooks with the mince.
Tomatoes – I also use both tinned tomatoes and tomato puree or as you might call it tomato paste. The tomato combo adds a delicious flavour to your mince.
Peas – a recipe for cumberland pie just wouldn’t be the same without stirring in some frozen peas. We love the colour of the peas in this slow cooked pie recipe.
Seasoning – Then for seasoning we used salt, pepper, mixed herbs, and parsley.
Extras – Also to make this cumberland pie recipe the best, I also recommend some milk, and butter for the mashed potato topping.
Cumberland – Then to make this a Cumberland pie and not just another cottage pie we are adding a layer of breadcrumbs and some cheddar cheese.
Then for the kitchen gadgets that we have used in this cumberland pie in slow cooker recipe it has just been our Crockpot. We have this one and its wonderful for many types of slow cooker recipes and also great for easy Sunday lunches.
Plus, we recommend you head over to our slow cooker recipes category as we have more than 100 tried and tested slow cooker recipes and have been using slow cookers for 18 years.
How To Slow Cook Cumberland Pie?
- Peel. Start by peeling and dicing your potatoes. Load them into the slow cooker with butter, or margarine along with mixed herbs and salt and pepper. Let them slow cook for 90 minutes.
- Prep. Next peel and dice your onion and carrots and clean and dice your celery.
- Sauté. Remove the potatoes from the slow cooker and load into a mixing bowl. In the meantime (no need to clean first) add your diced onion and sauté with a little extra virgin olive oil. Then brown your mince.
- Dump. Next dump in the rest of your ingredients (apart from the potatoes and peas) stir and then slow cook on high for 90 minutes.
- Mash. When the slow cooker is back on add margarine and any extra seasonings and some milk to the bowl and mash until you have creamy mash.
- Topping. When the slow cooker is done, stir the slow cooker and add in frozen peas and if not thick enough add in a little mash potato as they are a natural creamy thickener. Do a taste test and if needed add in extra seasonings. You now have your cumberland pie filling.
- Finish. Cover with mashed potatoes, breadcrumbs, cheese and then slow cook for the last hour before serving.
And I am sure you can see why this recipe for cumberland pie is a true favourite of mine.
How Long To Cook Cumberland Pie?
Our cumberland pie slow cooker recipe takes JUST 4 hours on high or 7 hours if using the low setting. We do this in three cooking stages including the making of the mashed potatoes, the minced beef pie filling, assembling your cumberland pie and cooking together.
More Slow Cooker Dinners
- Slow Cooker Corned Beef Hash
- Slow Cooker Pork Leg Joint
- Slow Cooker Vegetable Stew
- Slow Cooker Beef Bourguignon
- Slow Cooker Bacon Chops
- Slow Cooker Stovies
Your Cumberland pie recipe is below, note you can print it out with or without photos, adjust servings, or click between metric and imperial depending on where you are in the world.
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Slow Cooker Cumberland Pie
Ingredients
Slow Cooker Mash
- 1 kg White Potatoes
- 2 Tbsp Butter/Margarine
- 4 Tbsp Skimmed Milk
- 1 Tsp Mixed Herbs
- Salt & Pepper
Cumberland Pie Filling
- 750 g Minced Beef
- 1 Medium Onion
- 3 Large Carrots
- 2 Celery Sticks
- 2 Cans Tinned Tomatoes
- 1 Tbsp Tomato Puree
- 1 Tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- 2 Tbsp Parsley
- Salt & Pepper
- 400 g Frozen Peas
- 4 Tbsp Breadcrumbs
- 28 g Cheddar Cheese
- 240 ml Beef Stock
Kitchen Gadgets:
Instructions
- Peel your white potatoes and dice them and load the potatoes into the slow cooker with half the butter or margarine, salt, pepper, and mixed herbs. Allow to slow cook for 90 minutes on high to create soft mashed potatoes. After 90 minutes put the potatoes to one side in a suitable bowl and add the milk and other half of the butter.
- Whilst the potatoes are cooking in the slow cooker, peel and dice the onion and the carrots as well as cleaning and slicing the celery.
- When the slow cooker is done, and you have emptied out the potatoes use the slow cooker on the stovetop to sauté the onion, with extra virgin olive oil.
- Once the onions are sautéed add in the minced beef and brown all over but don’t cook.
- Then remove the slow cooker from the stovetop and add everything else into the slow cooker (apart from the potatoes and peas) and mix well. Slow cook for 90 minutes on high. When the slow cooker is back on mash your potatoes with the butter and milk until they are nice and creamy.
- After 90 minutes stir in the peas, fork test your carrots to make sure they are cooked and if needed add some extra mash to thicken up your cumberland pie filling.
- Load up with mash potatoes and then sprinkle with breadcrumbs and cheese. Next slow cook on high for 1 hour before serving.
Notes
Nutrition
Can’t make it now? Then save it for later!
Well i have never heard this before, so i thought i would try it and it was delicious. I have really not cooked much in my slow cooker apart from stews and that kind thing, so for this to work out as good as it did, makes me want to try more.