Haggis, Neeps and Tatties for Burns Night (2024)

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Haggis, neeps and tatties served on a plate is simple, and easy, Scottish comfort food. Whether it’s served plain, or with a quick whisky sauce, it’s always a perfect meal for Burns Night.

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Whether you’ve visited Scotland or not, you’ll surely have heard of haggis: the offal dish which is often served with turnip/swede/rutabaga (known by different names) and mashed potatoes.

The three components of this dish are known as haggis, neeps and tatties.

You may have seen my older recipe for a haggis, neeps and tatties stack, which looks a wee bit more appetizing, but more labor intensive than plopping on a plate. You can also read more on haggis, neeps and tatties on this earlier post, so I won’t repeat it here.

While haggis is eaten all year long in Scotland, it has a special place on tables across the world on January 25th in honor of Robert Burns, Scotlands national poet, for a Burns night supper. Here, you can find my recommendations and traditional Scottish recipes for a Burns night menu.

If you’re planning to buy haggis for Burns Night, and you’re in Scotland, you know you’re golden. However, for the rest of us, especially in the US, we have a much more difficult endeavor in this quest. Unless you have a Scottish butcher near you, you’ll have to resort to tinned haggis, or make it yourself.

While it’s still very tasty, tinned haggis is simply not like the original. For many of you, this may actually be a blessing in disguise as it doesn’t contain as much offal (no heart or lungs), only liver.

This is the ingredient list for The Caledonian Kitchen haggis with Highland beef as seen above: Highland beef, hydrated pin oats, water, refined beef suet, liver, spices and onions. I love that it contains no preservatives or artificial ingredients. (There are three types of haggis to choose from or you can buy the sampler of all three.)

If you’d like to give it a try, here’s my affiliate link to The Scottish Grocer USA.
Remember to use code CHRISTINASCUCINA for 10% discount on your entire order.

I recently shared the recipe for whisky sauce which goes perfectly with haggis, tatties and neeps, but also steak, Balmoral chicken and chicken Braemar. You’ll find the printable recipe for it below the first recipe card.

My friend, Debbie, recently gave me these lovely mini cloches and I just had to try one with a tiny version of haggis, neeps and tatties! They’re just too cute!

Haggis Neeps and Tatties Recipe

By Christina Conte. Serves 4

FULL PRINTABLE RECIPES BELOW

Ingredients

rutabaga/turnip/swede (N. America/Scotland/England+Australia+NZ)
potatoes
salt
butter
milk
cream
haggis

Whisky Sauce

olive oil
shallot
whisky
beef stock
cream
salt
black pepper

NOTE: for ease of recipe writing, I will refer to the neeps as rutabagas

Make the Whisky Sauce

Have the whisky sauce made and ready to heat and serve ahead of time (full printable recipe below.)

How to Prepare the Neeps and Tatties

Peel the rutabagas. Cut into cubes, and place in a pot and cover with water and add some salt. Boil until fork-tender, about 20 minutes.

In another pot, peel the potatoes. Cut into cubes, place in a pot and cover with water and add salt, just as the rutabagas. Boil under ready, about 13 minutes,

Drain the rutabaga and mash with some butter. Taste and season with salt.

Drain the potatoes and mash with butter, milk and cream. You’ll want a nice, creamy result, but you can omit the cream and just use milk, if desired. Taste and season with salt as needed.

Heat the Haggis.

Put the tinned haggis into a non stick pan and heat gently. You can do this over low heat while the neeps and tatties are nearly cooked.

How to Serve Haggis Neeps and Tatties

Spoon some of the mashed rutabaga (neeps) onto one side of the plates, then spoon some of the mashed potatoes on the other side, leaving a space between them. Have the whisky sauce heated and ready to pour.

Spoon a quarter of the haggis onto the plate in the middle of the two root vegetables.

Now pour the whisky sauce over the top–this is really a must if you’re going to do the dish justice. You can give everyone a little jug of gravy to themselves, or pass a larger jug around.

Enjoy with a wee dram of whisky.

Have I convinced you to try haggis, neeps and tatties? I hope so because it’s delicious!