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Hachis Parmentier (French Beef and Potato Casserole)

Hachis Parmentier is a French casserole made with layers of mashed potatoes and beef, topped with cheese. This dish is a fantastic recipe that uses leftover pot roast and turns it into new comfort food!

Slice of French Hachis Parmentier Potato and Beef Casserole with whole dish behind

What is hachis parmentier? 

Hachis parmentier could be considered the French version of Shepherd’s Pie or Cottage Pie. (And it’s quite possibly the originating dish for French Canadian Pate Chinois.)

Upon first glance, these dishes do look quite the same. 

All are casserole dishes made with a layer of seasoned meat that is topped with a layer of mashed potatoes. 

Hachis parmentier, however, started out as a way to use up leftover pot roast. So, you will often find the meat in hachis parmentier is a finely chopped, cooked roast. While the meat in shepherd’s pie or cottage pie is often ground meat (beef or lamb) that is cooked at the time you make the filling. 

More modern recipes for hachis parmentier do use ground beef as well, so we have offered instructions for that option as well in our recipe below. 

French Hachis Parmentier Potato and Beef Casserole in a glass baking dish

Where does the name hachis parmentier come from?

In French, “hacher” means “to chop”. (It’s also the root word for the American “hash” breakfast dish.) In hachis parmentier, the meat is diced or minced.

“Parmentier” refers to the potatoes in the dish. The name comes from Antoine-Augustin Parmentier, who was a French pharmacist and nutritionist in the 18th century. He was a key promoter of the potato as a food crop. 

So, if you come across any French dish that bears the title “parmentier”, you know it likely will include potatoes in some predominant fashion. 

Choosing your meat for hachis parmentier

Preparing hachis parmentier is quite simple, but you have two options to choose from: using leftover pot roast or using fresh ground beef. 

Slice of French Hachis Parmentier Potato and Beef Casserole

While you will find both methods incredibly common these days, based on the name, the version that makes use of leftover pot roast, chopping it up and layering it with potatoes, is most likely where this dish originated. So, this is the version that we are primarily sharing with you today. 

We do however, give you instructions and measurements in our recipe below if you would like to use fresh ground beef to make your hachis parmentier. 

That way, you can enjoy this dish even if you don’t have leftover pot roast that you’re looking to use up!

How to make hachis parmentier using leftover pot roast

To make this dish using leftover pot roast, we recommend starting with a pot roast that has been seasoned fairly traditionally, with salt, pepper, and some herbs. The flavor of your pot roast will translate to and change the flavor of your hachis parmentier, so keep that in mind when making your pot roast. 

We purchased a very large beef roast to slow cook with carrots and potatoes for our pot roast, that way the preparation for this meal, could actually feed us for a couple of dinners!

Whole French Hachis Parmentier Potato and Beef Casserole with golden baked Parmesan cheese

(If you’ll be making your hachis parmentier this way, keep in mind that you probably need about 3 lbs of raw beef roast for the hachis parmentier, when purchasing your pot roast. Beef roasts will shrink at differing rates depending on the type of roast and quality, but 3 lbs should give you plenty of roast leftover to make your hachis parmentier.)

After enjoying our pot roast, we chopped up 4 cups of the roast quite small (about a 1/4-1/2 inch dice) and then refrigerated that overnight, until we were ready to make our hachis parmentier the next day. 

To prepare the filling for the hachis parmentier, we sauteed an onion and garlic clove, then added our chopped meat plus some extra seasonings, as needed.

We also found that the meat had dried out a bit overnight, so we added a few splashes of beef broth, just enough to moisten the filling slightly. 

If you like to serve your pot roast with mashed potatoes, you can even use your leftover mashed potatoes for your hachis parmentier. Just, make sure you have at least 4 cups of mashed potatoes leftover. Before making your hachis parmentier, warm the mashed potatoes and re-whip them with a little warm milk and melted butter. 

Then, you can layer everything up, top it with cheese, and bake until the cheese is golden!

This dish is such a fantastic way to use up leftover pot roast and mashed potatoes! Give those leftover some new life!

Wine Pairing with French Hachis Parmentier Potato and Beef Casserole Donati Merlot

Wine pairing with hachis parmentier

DISCLOSURE: We received samples of  Domati Merlot mentioned below. As always, all opinions are our own.

We paired our hachis parmentier with two Merlot that we received from Donati Family Vineyard as a part of October’s #MerlotMe Merlot Month. 

Donati Family Vineyard is located in the Pacines AVA located in the central of coastal California. We received both their 2016 Merlot and 2015 The Immigrant and, eager to compare the two, we popped both bottles to enjoy with our hachis parmentier. 

Their 2016 Merlot had a lovely deep purple hue which matched the purple berries in the wine’s aroma. On the palate the wine had velvety tannins, a strong plum flavor, and a hint of oak spice. After opening up for about 30 minutes, this wine paired nicely with the hachis parmentier. The darker fruits and oak spice notes played nicely with the deeper flavors of the beef in the dish. 

The Immigrant, 2015 Merlot boasted a deep red hue and the aroma of tobacco. On the palate were strong notes of raspberry and cherry, as well as faint notes of tobacco. After giving it some time to open, the tobacco notes paired nicely with the beef and the red fruit added a nice brightness to the palate between bites.

We also tried The Immigrant with some chocolate cake for dessert. You can’t go wrong with red berries and chocolate, and this case was no exception. 

The next night, we returned to these bottles to accompany our Risotto alla Zucca (Winter Squash Risotto) and we found The Immigrant to again be a stellar pairing for this fall dish. 

Wine Pairing with French Hachis Parmentier Potato and Beef Casserole Donati Immigrant Merlot

 

Yield: 1 (8x8) baking dish (double the recipe to fill a 9x13 baking dish)

Hachis Parmentier

Hachis Parmentier

Hachis Parmentier is a French casserole with mashed potatoes, beef, and cheese. It is a fantastic recipe for using leftover pot roast!

Prep Time 40 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Total Time 1 hour

Ingredients

For The Mashed Potatoes

  • 2 lbs russet potatoes, peeled and diced*
  • 3 Tbsp butter
  • ½ c milk, warmed slightly
  • Salt and pepper, to taste

For The Meat Mixture

  • 1 Tbsp butter
  • 1 onion, diced
  • 1 garlic clove, minced
  • 4c (roughly 1 lb) cooked beef roast, minced**
  • 2 tsp parsley
  • Salt and pepper, to taste
  • ¼ - ½ c beef broth (as needed)
  • 1 egg, lightly beaten
  • ¾ c fresh grated, Parmesan cheese

Instructions

  1. In a medium pot over medium high heat, bring the potatoes to a boil in lightly salted water. Boil until very tender, roughly 15 minutes.
  2. Once the potatoes are tender, drain the water and mash them with the warm milk and 3 Tbsp of butter.*
  3. While the potatoes are boiling, heat 1 Tbsp of butter in a large sauté pan. Add the onion and garlic and sauté over medium heat until softened, 3-5 minutes.
  4. Add the chopped beef** to the onion and garlic mixture. Mix well. Season with parsley and salt and pepper as needed. (The seasoning level here will depend on your roast’s flavor.) Add a splash or two of beef broth if the meat mixture looks dry.
  5. Remove the pan from the heat and add the beaten egg. Mix well.
  6. Preheat your oven to 400F.
  7. Spoon roughly 1 c of mashed potatoes into bottom of greased 8x8 baking dish. Spread to cover the bottom of the dish.
  8. Add the meat mixture, spreading to make it even.
  9. Top with the remaining mashed potatoes.
  10. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.
  11. Bake the dish for 20-25 minutes, until the cheese is golden and you can see little bubbles coming up the sides (if using a glass baking dish).
  12. Let stand for 10 minutes before serving.

Notes

*You can also make this dish using 4 cups of leftover mashed potatoes. If using leftover mashed potatoes, warm them slightly and re-mash with a little milk and melted butter, until they are smooth and creamy for spreading.

**If you don’t want to make this dish using leftover pot roast, you can also make it using 1 ½ lbs raw, lean ground beef. Simply add your raw ground beef to your softened onions and garlic and cook until the beef is cooked through before continuing with the recipe.

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

5

Serving Size:

1/5

Amount Per Serving: Calories: 402

For more fantastic Merlot pairings to try during October #MerlotMe Month, or any time of year, check out our fellow Wine Pairing Weekend (#WinePW) crew below. 

 

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Lynn

Monday 8th of May 2023

As a child in England we always had shepherd's pie (lamb) or cottage pie (beef) on a Monday, using up the leftovers from our Sunday roast. Mum used to cut the meat into tiny cubes. The recipe was identical to this except she never put a layer of potato on the bottom.

Sarah - Curious Cuisiniere

Thursday 18th of May 2023

Thanks for sharing Lynn!

martin lewis

Wednesday 17th of August 2022

Well done - clear instructions. Proper weights. You do not want to have a beaten egg, meat should separate out. You have described Cottage Pie, which differs from Shepherd's pie. The former uses beef, the latter lamb or mutton. And here in Occitanie we only EVER use confit de canard.

Sarah Ozimek

Monday 22nd of August 2022

Thanks for sharing Martin! We're glad you like the recipe.

Jo

Tuesday 30th of November 2021

I lived in France and Switzerland for 35 years and make this recipe often. But I have to ask: Why the beaten egg?

Sarah Ozimek

Tuesday 30th of November 2021

Hi Jo. The egg will add a little binder to the meat, to help hold it together a bit.

MARTIN D REDMOND

Saturday 19th of October 2019

Thanks for the introduction to Hachis parmentier. It sounds like a dish I would love...and a natural with Merlot!

Sarah Ozimek

Sunday 20th of October 2019

Hope you get a chance to try it Martin!

Cynthia and Pierre

Thursday 17th of October 2019

Super clear and enticing presentation on hachis parmentier! We haven't had one in a loooong time! It was a regular thing at the school canteen when Pierre was a kid, though the central city kitchen probably didn't pick meat quite as carefully!

Sarah Ozimek

Sunday 20th of October 2019

Thank you guys!

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