Recipe
🥙 LUNCH
Pâté Chinois
Québec's beloved layered casserole: seasoned ground beef under a layer of creamed corn and a blanket of buttery mashed potato, baked golden.
Québécois · easy · serves 6
prep 25 min · cook 40 min
~474 cal · 26g protein · 46g carbs · 21g fat · 6g fiber · 6g sugars · 10g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Pâté chinois is an emblem of Québec home cooking, a simple, nourishing casserole that has fed generations without ever losing its appeal. Three layers tell the whole story: seasoned ground beef on the bottom, sweet corn in the middle, and a blanket of buttery mashed potato on top, baked until the surface turns golden.
The order of the layers is fixed and part of its charm, and the corn, usually creamed corn, is what sets it apart from a British shepherd's pie. Its curious name translates as Chinese pie, and its origins are a genuine mystery, though the recipe itself is pure Québécois pantry cooking, made from everyday ingredients passed down in home kitchens and Franco-American communities across the northeast.
It comes together in a few easy steps, browning the beef, spreading the corn, piping or smoothing the potato, and it is the kind of unfussy weeknight comfort food the whole table reaches for, almost always with a squirt of ketchup on the side.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally gluten-, nut-, egg- and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 6
1 lb ground beef
1 onion, finely chopped
1 large can (19 oz) creamed corn
2 lbs potatoes, peeled and cubed
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp paprika
to taste salt
to taste black pepper
Instructions
1
Boil the potatoes in salted water until very tender, drain, and mash with the butter and milk until smooth. Season and set aside.
2
Brown the onion in a little butter or oil, then add the ground beef and cook until well browned, breaking it into fine pieces. Season with salt and pepper.
3
Spread the beef in an even layer in a baking dish.
✎ Chef’s note
Keep the three layers distinct: beef, then corn, then potato. A layer of corn in every bite is what makes it pate chinois rather than plain shepherd's pie.
4
Spoon the creamed corn over the beef in an even layer, then spread the mashed potato on top and smooth it with a fork.
5
Sprinkle with paprika and bake at 375F for about 30 minutes, finishing under the broiler until golden. Rest 10 minutes before serving with ketchup.
Québec home tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Québec. The sugar shack is a season rather than a restaurant. When nights freeze and days thaw the sap runs, the cabanes a sucre open, and the meal is fixed: pea soup, ham, omelette, baked beans, pork rinds and pancakes, all of it doused in syrup, finished with tire sur la neige, hot syrup poured on snow and wound onto a stick.
🗺️
Canada. Canada's food reflects its vast geography and immigrant makeup, Québécois poutine and tourtière, Atlantic seafood, prairie grains, and Indigenous game and berries. Maple syrup remains its sweet national signature.
🌍
North America. Almost every regional cooking here records who arrived and on what terms. Enslaved West Africans brought rice, okra, black-eyed peas and the techniques behind Lowcountry and Creole food; Chinese railway labour and later Italian, Jewish, Mexican and Vietnamese arrivals built the way the cities eat; and Indigenous foodways sit underneath all of it.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Canada
PoutineHot fries, squeaky cheese curds, and glossy pepper gravy, rural Québec’s gift to late nights everywhere.
Nanaimo BarsA no-bake three-layer bar: coconut-crumb base, custard-cream middle, chocolate top, named for a BC harbor town.
Cretons sur Pain GrilléA Québécois spiced pork-and-onion spread, cold from the fridge, smeared thick on hot buttered toast with a smear of mustard.
Browse all Canada recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Oven.
Storing it: Keeps 3 to 4 days refrigerated and reheats covered in the oven. Most bakes can be assembled a day ahead and baked when needed.
Make it a Canada meal
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Frequently asked questions
What is Pâté Chinois?
Québec's beloved layered casserole: seasoned ground beef under a layer of creamed corn and a blanket of buttery mashed potato, baked golden.
Where does Pâté Chinois come from?
Pâté Chinois is a Québécois dish from Québec, Canada.
Can Pâté Chinois be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Pâté Chinois recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions, including several at once such as gluten-free and dairy-free together. Treat them as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Pâté Chinois safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Pâté Chinois take to make?
About 65 minutes total (25 minutes prep, 40 minutes cooking), serving 6.
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