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.
Great flavours. I used beef tallow instead of olive oil. I also added the spices and garlic at the beginning with oinoins. Thanks for the recipe.
Made this last night and did my best to follow the recipe EXACTLY. (only deviations were used 80% beef instead of 90% lean, and I used fresh cubed carrots instead of frozen)
1) ABSOLUTELY Delicious! Going to make another batch tonight!
2) Needed to use a little more beef broth than called for in the recipe to get a little more gravy.
3) I used a 9×13″ pan!
4) The extra fat in the beef cooked into the potato topping and tasted great – not greasy.
Wow- this is a crowd pleaser! SO delicious! You won’t be disappointed!
The tastiest pie! My grandson who is very picky about his food asked for a second helping.
Best Cottage Pie I have ever made!
Absolutely delish! I have made this several times now. The only change I make is using heavy cream instead of half and half and omitting the butter.
I love this recipe! I prefer to use my circular ceramic dish to cook it because I never get to use that dish, but it cooks the same. Instead of making fresh potatoes, I use some that are dehydrated due to it using a ton less dishes and out dishwasher is TRASH. The only other change from the instructions are that I usually add the tomato paste when I add the broth because it’s easier to mix in and I put shredded cheese on top of the potatos instead of mixed in them because I like a cheesy crust on top.
10/10 recipe, highly recommend, easy to make and lots of flavor. Also reheats really well for people who take leftovers to work. For us, it’s about 2 portions each for 2 people, sometimes only 3 portions total depending on how much my partner eats that night.
I don’t know what I did wrong but the recipe wasn’t liquidy so there wasn’t anything to bring to a boil on the meat part but I added a little more broth then it was better. Other than that turned out amazing!
Oh my goodness! Talk about DELISH! My family loved this. I didn’t have corn so I just did 3/4 cup of carrots and 3/4 cup of frozen peas so there would be the correct total amount of vegetables. Everything else I did exactly as the recipe said. The directions were very clear and, at the moment, I’m getting ready to make it again! Thanks for the trip down YUM lane!!!!
I used ground beef (lean) and made the 1X amount. Substituted cooked chopped green beans for the peas and used half a can of kernel corn, chopped fresh mushrooms and finely shredded carrots (2) as well. Didn’t have fresh rosemary or thyme, so used dried and it was fine. My Irish Husband poured 1/2 cup of fine Irish Whiskey into the mix of veges and meat. It turned out FABULOUS!!!
I love shepherd’s pie, and decided to make it for 2 of my “picky” friends. They raved about it! Will be keeping this in my regular rotation!
SO delicious!! We double this with all organic ingredients and freeze the leftovers as single, vacuum sealed portions. Next we’re going to try freeze drying, because this would be a terrific “MRE”. Thanks so much for sharing.
I made this dish for Easter, it was absolutely delicious. I am going to make this as a regular meal from now on. There were a lot of ingredients, and they all blended together perfectly. The directions were perfect! A++++++++++++
Too often the average home-cook recycles their go-to Bolognese meat sauce to make their cottage pie; I was one of those. But this fail-proof recipe has made me appreciate the value of Rosemary and Thyme! An absolute winner with me and my family and guests every time I make it, and regardless of which variation of potato topping I end up using to top it off.
This was the best Shepherds Pie I have ever eaten! I rarely leave comments but this was worth it. The number of ingredients sounded like a lot but it really wasn’t. I did not have any Worcester sauce and it turned out great! I would give 10 stars if I could!
The best Shepard pie recipe I have had.
This recipe was a hit with my family. Tip: If your baking dish is on the larger side, you may need to make more potatoes. I put a little too much cheese, and the potatoes were thick—very delicious—but tricky to spread. Will incorporate in my meal rotation!
Currently baking it. So far so good! One hiccup I faced is that my potatos are on the thick side so spreading it was tough. Maybe I added too much cheese or my casserole dish is too big. Looking forward to trying it though!
It’s very simple to make I love it and my family loves it too thank you.
Just had this for supper. IT IS THE BEST CLASSIC SHEPHERD’S PIE. Got rave from husband and son. Just added a little Frank’s hot sauce on the plates. Will diffidently, make again. Even for guests.