Pate Chinois

Name: Pate Chinois
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 29 min
Total time: 44 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: Canadian
Ingredients: 4 cups Potatoes; 60ml Butter; ½ cup Milk; 450g Minced Beef; 1 finely chopped Onion; 500ml Creamed Corn; to taste Paprika; to taste Parsley; Dash Salt; Dash Pepper

By The Spice & Simmer Kitchen · Published May 3, 2026

A one-pot Beef recipe with Canadian flavors, built for busy weeknights when you want real food without a sink full of dishes. Comes together in roughly 51 minutes, serves about 4, and uses ingredients you can find at any normal grocery store. The technique is simple: build a base in your pot, layer in the main ingredients, simmer until everything has had time to talk to each other, and serve straight from the pan. If you're cooking for picky eaters, this one tends to land — the flavors are recognizable, the texture is comforting, and there's nothing weird hiding in the ingredient list. Perfect for the kind of evening where you want dinner on the table by 7pm and the kitchen empty by 7:30.

Ingredients

Makes 4 servings · 44 min total

4 cups Potatoes
60ml Butter
½ cup Milk
450g Minced Beef
1 finely chopped Onion
500ml Creamed Corn
to taste Paprika
to taste Parsley
Dash Salt
Dash Pepper

Step-by-step instructions

In a large pot of salted water, cook the potatoes until they are very tender. Drain.
With a masher, coarsely crush the potatoes with at least 30 ml (2 tablespoons) of butter. With an electric mixer, purée with the milk. Season with salt and pepper. Set aside.
With the rack in the middle position, preheat the oven to 190 °C (375 °F).
In a large skillet, brown the onion in the remaining butter. Add the meat and cook until golden brown. Season with salt and pepper. Remove from the heat.
Lightly press the meat at the bottom of a 20-cm (8-inch) square baking dish. Cover with the corn and the mashed potatoes. Sprinkle with paprika and parsley.
Bake for about 30 minutes. Finish cooking under the broiler. Let cool for 10 minutes.

Why this works on a weeknight

Pate Chinois lands at about 44 minutes total — a little longer than our 30-minute target, but most of that time is hands-off simmering, which is why it earned a spot in our Sheet-Pan Dinners collection. The technique is forgiving, the ingredient list is grocery-store standard, and the active cooking time is short enough that you can answer a text message in the middle without ruining dinner.

Cleanup notes

This is a single-pan recipe, so the cleanup is exactly one pan, one cutting board, and one knife. While the dish rests, fill the pan with hot soapy water — by the time you are done eating, the residue lifts off with a single pass of a sponge. Skip the steel wool on cast iron; a stiff brush and warm water are all you need to keep the seasoning intact.

Make-ahead and leftovers

Leftovers keep covered in the fridge for up to three days. Reheat in a dry pan over medium-low with a splash of water or stock to loosen the sauce. Pate Chinois actually improves overnight as the flavors keep talking to each other, so doubling the recipe and packing tomorrow's lunch is a high-leverage weeknight move.

Filed under 🍳 Sheet-Pan Dinners Beef Canadian MainMeal Alcoholic