The Best Classic Shepherd’s Pie – AKA Shepards Pie or Cottage Pie. Ground Beef (or lamb) with vegetables in a rich gravy, topped with cheesy mashed potatoes, and baked.
Shepherd’s Pie
So, this is how you spell it: Shepherd’s Pie. But, from doing a quick google search, it came to my attention that TONS of people think it’s Shepards Pie.
Irish Shepherd’s Pie
Traditional Irish Shepherd’s Pie would actually call for ground lamb. The difference between Shepherd’s Pie and Cottage Pie is the meat. Cottage Pie uses ground beef, while Shepherd’s Pie uses ground lamb.
I called this recipe Shepherd’s Pie. But, I wrote the recipe so that you could use ground beef or ground lamb.
I typically use ground beef because it is widely available. But, for a special occasion, like St. Patricks day, I would use ground lamb.
How To Make Shepherd’s Pie
(Note – The full printable recipe is at the bottom of this post)
- Sauté some chopped onions in olive oil.
- Add ground beef or ground lamb.
- Add dried parsley, dried thyme, dried rosemary, salt, and pepper.
- Stir and cook the meat mixture until the meat is browned.
- Add minced garlic and Worcestershire sauce.
- Cook the garlic for a minute.
- Add flour and tomato paste.
- Add beef broth, frozen mixed peas and carrots, and frozen corn kernels.
- Simmer the meat gravy until it is thick.
- Boil some peeled and chopped potatoes until they are soft.
- Drain the potatoes
- Add butter, half & half, parmesan cheese, garlic powder, salt, and pepper.
- Mash the potatoes until smooth.
- Pour the meat mixture into a casserole dish.
- Top it with the cheesy mashed potatoes.
- Bake until the meat is bubbling and the potatoes are golden.
Easy Shepherd’s Pie
Making the best Shepherd’s Pie is not difficult. But, there are a few steps to it. You have to make the meat mixture, the mashed potatoes, assemble the casserole, and bake it.
I find that the easiest way to make this dish is to work ahead. You could make the beef or lamb mixture ahead of time. Or, you could make the mashed potatoes ahead of time.
You could also make the whole recipe ahead of time. Just assemble the casserole, cover the dish, and keep it in the refrigerator until you are ready to bake it. I find it is best to bake it within 3 days of preparing it.
When you are ready to bake it, take it out of the refrigerator for about 20 minutes before you need to bake it to let it start coming to room temperature. Uncover it, and bake.
What to serve with The Best Shepherd’s Pie
- Deviled Eggs
- Roasted Broccoli from Skinnytaste
- The Best Chocolate Chip Cookies
Watch the Video for the Best Classic Shepherd’s Pie Below.
Find more of my recipes on TikTok
Best Classic Shepherd’s Pie Recipe
Video
Ingredients
Meat Filling:
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 cup chopped yellow onion
- 1 lb. 90% lean ground beef -or ground lamb
- 2 teaspoons dried parsley leaves
- 1 teaspoon dried rosemary leaves
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 2 garlic cloves -minced
- 2 tablespoons all purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1 cup beef broth
- 1 cup frozen mixed peas & carrots*
- 1/2 cup frozen corn kernels
Potato Topping:
- 1 ½ - 2 lb. russet potatoes -about 2 large potatoes peeled and cut into 1 inch cubes
- 8 tablespoons unsalted butter -1 stick
- 1/3 cup half & half
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1/4 cup parmesan cheese
Instructions
Make the Meat Filling.
- Add the oil to a large skillet and place it over medium-high heat for 2 minutes. Add the onions. Cook 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Add the ground beef (or ground lamb) to the skillet and break it apart with a wooden spoon. Add the parsley, rosemary, thyme, salt, and and pepper. Stir well. Cook for 6-8 minutes, until the meat is browned, stirring occasionally.
- Add the Worcestershire sauce and garlic. Stir to combine. Cook for 1 minute.
- Add the flour and tomato paste. Stir until well incorporated and no clumps of tomato paste remain.
- Add the broth, frozen peas and carrots, and frozen corn. Bring the liquid to a boil then reduce to simmer. Simmer for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Set the meat mixture aside. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
Make the potato topping.
- Place the potatoes in a large pot. Cover the potatoes with water. Bring the water to a boil. Reduce to a simmer. Cook until potatoes are fork tender, 10-15 minutes.
- Drain the potatoes in a colander. Return the potatoes to the hot pot. Let the potatoes rest in the hot pot for 1 minute to evaporate any remaining liquid.
- Add butter, half & half, garlic powder, salt, and pepper. Mash the potatoes and stir until all the ingredients are mixed together.
- Add the parmesan cheese to the potatoes. Stir until well combined.
Assemble the casserole.
- Pour the meat mixture into a 9x9 (or 7x11) inch baking dish. Spread it out into an even layer. Spoon the mashed potatoes on top of the meat. Carefully spread into an even layer.
- If the baking dish looks very full, place it on a rimmed baking sheet so that the filling doesn’t bubble over into your oven. Bake uncovered for 25-30 minutes.** Cool for 15 minutes before serving.
Notes
Nutrition
Check out all of my great ground beef recipes.
Best recipe thus far for sherperd’s pie
Amaaaazing! I do about double the potato, and it’s still killer.
Great recipe! My family loved it. Just wanted to note, the carb nutrition fact % may be totally wrong, as I went, I wrote down each ingredient total carb then added all together and divided by 6 and it came out to 37 carbs. This is for the T1D people out there that need the carb ratios!
Made this dish several times already according to this recipe.
What can I say – fantastic, great taste, easy to make and always some leftovers for later and the next day 🙂
5 out of 5 stars, well deserved.
Cheers from Germany
Delicious Shepherd’s Pie. Best I ever tasted. Thank you !
Made the filling as specified. Didn’t have time to make home made potatoes. Used family sized four cheese instant mashed potatoes. Put together in the am, refrigerated, and baked in a 3 qt. Casserole dish for dinner at 375° for 35 minutes. Delicious! Will see how well the leftovers hold up. Should be enough for two more meals for two. Will make again using frozen, cooked O’Brien potatoes. The filling is the best and should pair well with various toppings, although I’m sure it would better when made with the potatoes as specified.
So will make again..
Really really delicious! I used a mix of russets and yellow potatoes and doubled the recipe and everyone loved it! Second and third helpings meant little leftovers.
My husband and I love this recipe- especially on cool fall or winter days. I do have a question though; we are about to have a baby, would it be possible to freeze this before going into the oven? We’d love to be able to meal prep one of our favorite comfort foods.
Excellent dish! Only extra thing we did was add an egg yolk to the mashed potatoes so they are golden throughout. Thanks for the new easy rotational dinner!
This is the best recipe I’ve ever used for this. I did add a little more salt, garlic, and Worcester to taste. So so VERY good!
If I were to double the recipe and make it the day before, what temperature and time requirement be to reheat it
Made this for the first time today. Turned out amazing! Didn’t have any peas and carrots so I used mixed veggies. Also added a few mushrooms that needed to be used. Didn’t change spices or anything else. Wonderful! Thanks so much!
It is an easy recipe and tasjes super. I made several changes by adding more vegetables. So its not “real” sheperds pie! But still delicious!
Yumm YUMMM YUMMMM SOOOO good – what a classic….
My husband does not typically like herb heavy meat and I have a two year old who has a typical toddler appetite. I made this for dinner today and it was an absolute hit! Usually I change recipes to fit my taste but I followed this one exactly (except I substituted heavy cream for half and half because that’s all I had). It was perfect as is. This will be a regular in our fall/winter rotation!
Tried this tonight to make for my bf. We used ground turkey and chicken broth since it’s what we had, and already had premade mashed potatoes. This turned out amazing ! Didn’t taste test it once throughout making . Just trusted the process and it’s amazing ! So pleasantly surprised . 5 starts ! Can’t wait to make it again already !
Best shepherd’s pie recipe! Absolutely delicious!