Traditional Scottish mince and Tatties is a family midweek meal that consists of tender minced beef with carrots, onions, and green peas served near creamy mashed potatoes. It’s an ideal midweek meal if you want to cook something quick and delicious for your family.

💁 Is Mince and Tatties Healthy?
To get a healthy meal in the end, it is necessary to use fresh meat and vegetables. It would also be a good thing to use homemade vegetables or meat broth.
💁 What is Scottish Mince and Tatties?
It’s basically ground beef with root vegetables and hearty gravy with mashed potatoes that originates from Scotland to England. It is very easy to make from a few simple ingredients that you can find in your fridge.
✨ Tips for Success? How to Make It Better?
- Use meat that has a fat percentage of 12-15%.
- Use homemade vegetable or meat broth.
- Choose higher starch potatoes like Russets or Yukon Golds. These will get you the fluffiest, smoothest, and most flavor-packed mash.
- Use butter from the farm to get a puree with a more intense taste.
- After you have added the flour, fry the whole composition a little to intensify both the taste of the meat and the vegetables.

❤️ Why You Will Love This Recipe?
- This is a quick recipe. You will need less than one hour from start to finish.
- You will need only ingredients that you always have at hand.
- You can prepare it ahead.
- It’s a budget-friendly recipe.
- It is a dish that is easy to cook for a larger number of people. If you have a larger family, this dish can be a good option for you.
- If you have kids – they will love this dish.
🥘 Ingredients Needed for This Recipe?

- 1 lb (454 grams) of Potatoes.
- 1 medium Onion. Diced or minced.
- 1 lb (454 grams) of Minced Beef. Ideally to use meat that has 12-15% fat.
- ½ cup of Frozen Green Peas.
- 2 medium Carrots.
- 1 small stick of celery, diced.
- 1 tablespoon of all-purpose flour.
- 1 tablespoon of Worcestershire Sauce
- 1 cup of Vegetable Broth.
- 7 tablespoons (100 grams) of Butter.
- Milk to taste.
- Salt and Pepper to taste.
- Garlic optionally.
🥦 Ingredients Swap?
- Minced beef. You could replace the beef minced meat with other types of meat, such as minced pork, or lamb. Just be careful not to use dry meat.
- Vegetables. I used apio celery, but you can also use celery roots, parsnips, or other roots. Also, a good fit in this recipe would be the taste of zucchini, tomatoes, or hot peppers if you prefer spicy food.
- Green peas. If you prefer a sweeter taste, you could partially replace the peas with sweet corn.
- Worcestershire Sauce. If you want to diversify the taste of the dish, you could replace it with soy sauce.
🥑 How to Make This Recipe Vegetarian / Vegan?
If you want to opt for a vegetarian or vegan option, you could replace minced meat with minced lentils. Use vegetable broth instead. The butter, you could replace it with olive oil or another type of oil you prefer. Also, I will not advise using coconut oil because its aroma does not match the rest of the ingredients.
💁 How to Scale the Recipe Up and Down?
Don’t be afraid to modify the proportion of vegetables and meat. If you prefer vegetables, you could add more vegetables, and if your family and friends are avid meat lovers, increase the proportion of the meat. This recipe does not involve fixed quantities of a particular product, so do not be afraid to experiment.
🥘 Slow Cooker & Instant Pot Instructions
If you want to prepare the mince and tatties in a slow cooker, you can follow the same recipe by browning the beef and vegetables then transferring them to a slow cooker with 1 cup of vegetable broth. Set the timer to 6 hours on low heat or 4 hours to high.
If you plan to prepare this recipe in an Instant pot, select the “Sauté” function to brown the meat and vegetables. After that, cook them on high pressure for 30 minutes.
👩🍳 Step-by-Step Detailed Recipe:
As the potatoes need a little more time to boil, we will start with them. For that, wash well the potatoes, peel them, and cut them into cubes of about 1 “. Put the potatoes in a large pan to boil. When the water starts to boil, add a tablespoon of salt. Let the potatoes boil, and let’s jump to the gravy that we are going to prepare.

For this, take a pan, melt the butter in it or just use olive oil. After that, brown the chopped onions for about 2-3 minutes.

When the onions start to become transparent, add the meat to the pan and mix well the ingredients. Let them cook for another 10 minutes.

Add vegetables and all-purpose flour. Mix all the ingredients and fry them a little to intensify their taste. This will take us another 5 minutes.

Add the Worcestershire sauce and the vegetable broth. Mix everything well and cover with a lid. Let everything cook for another 30 minutes.

In the meantime, return to the potatoes and check if they are cooked. When they are ready, remove the water from the pan and add the butter over the potatoes.

Grind the potatoes well and adjust the salt to your taste. If you prefer a softer consistency, add a little milk over the potatoes until you get the desired consistency. Mix everything well and our easy and delicious puree is ready to be served.

Serve the meat sauce over the puree. For extra freshness, on the plate, add over some fresh aromatic herbs. I used chopped parsley.

❓Answering Your Questions:
If you have picked tougher meat, cook it on low heat for a longer period (2-3 hours). And add the vegetables half an hour before the meal is ready.
If you have decided to prepare the mince and tatties but you’re limited on time, I have a few tricks for you that will allow preparing this recipe quicker. For the meat, pick tender meat. Which will allow us to cook it faster. If you want the puree to prepare more quickly, cut the potatoes into smaller cubes. This will make the potatoes boil faster.
A perfect alternative to mashed potatoes for this recipe is to use dumplings instead.
To add extra freshness to the plate, over the final dish, I decided to add a little fresh chopped parsley. Dill and coriander would fit just as well.
To control the thickness of the meal, I used all-purpose flour, but you could also use corn or potato starch. For an even healthier option, use oatmeal.
Sure. You can prepare the sauce with minced meat in a larger quantity, divide it into small portions, and freeze it. On the day when you want to serve the food, all you have to do is defrost the sauce and make a fresh puree.
If you have cooked a larger quantity, put it in a tightly closed container, and you can keep it in the fridge for another 2-3 days.
You can heat this dish easily in the microwave or on the stove.
A green salad would fit perfectly. A glass of red wine or beer also would be a great fit for this recipe.
📋 Recipe Card:

Scottish Mince and Tatties (Easy Ground Beef Recipe)
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 45 minutes
- Total Time: 60 minutes
- Yield: 2 Servings 1x
Description
Traditional Scottish mince and tatties. A family midweek meal that consists of tender minced beef with carrots, onions, and green peas served near creamy mashed potatoes.
Ingredients
- 1 lb (454 grams) of Potatoes.
- 1 medium Onion. Diced or minced.
- 1 lb (454 grams) of Minced Beef. Ideally to use meat that has 12-15% fat.
- ½ cup of Frozen Green Peas.
- 2 medium Carrots.
- 1 small stick of celery, diced.
- 1 tablespoon of all-purpose flour.
- 1 tablespoon of Worcestershire Sauce
- 1 cup of Vegetable Broth.
- 7 tablespoons (100 grams) of Butter.
- Milk to taste.
- Salt and Pepper to taste.
- Garlic optionally.
Instructions
1. Put the potatoes to boil.
2. Cook the onions for 2 minutes.
3. Add the meat and cook them for 10 minutes.
4. Add the flour (or starch) and vegetables you have decided to use. Fry them for about 5 minutes.
5. Add the sauce and broth into the pan. Cover with a lid and simmer them on low heat for about 30 minutes.
6. Grind the puree with butter and adjust to taste with salt and milk.
7. Serve the meat gravy next to the puree and optionally pour over the freshly chopped parsley.
Notes
In the recipe card, you will find only the short instructions. If you need more guidance, please read the entire recipe.
- Category: Side Dish
- Method: On Pan
- Cuisine: Scottish
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 2 servings
- Calories: 411 cal
- Sugar: 4 gr.
- Sodium: 1081 mg.
- Fat: 23 gr.
- Saturated Fat: 9 gr.
- Unsaturated Fat: 11 gr.
- Trans Fat: 1 gr.
- Carbohydrates: 13 gr.
- Fiber: 2 gr.
- Protein: 37 gr.
- Cholesterol: 105 mg.
Keywords: scottish, potatoes, mince, beef, vegetables, tatties
Such a comforting and easy combo! Loved the flavors in this.
★★★★★
I love learning about Scottish dishes that I am not familiar with, and this Mince and Tatties dish sounds so tasty! It reminds me of something my grandma used to make that was so warm and comforting. I can’t wait to try this!
★★★★★
This is going to be such a tasty and very flavorful dinner tonight! My family and I are going to be obsessed with this recipe. Excited to try this very soon! Thanks for such a great recipe!
★★★★★
I love an easy and delicious dinner recipe and this one hit the spot! Thanks for sharing!
★★★★★
This was total comfort food! We are mashed potato fanatics, so this was an instant hit. Will definitely put this on our dinner rotation!
★★★★★
Wow! That just looks so amazing! My mouth is watering.
★★★★★
This is now our comfort food go-to. Will add more veg to bulk it out next time but it’s so GOOD!
★★★★★
I’m going to make this for my dad tomorrow, our Sunday dinner. Thank you!
★★★★★
I grew up on this in Scotland and it’s total comfort food. I now make it vegan and it’s still something to look forward too. You make it look much more bonnie than it usually looks.
★★★★★