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.
Loistava resepti
This is my go to recipe for Cottage/Shepherd Pie. It is just so easy to put together and while I have tried other recipes, this is hands down the best one.
Tastes great. I don’t include corn in mine and it works very well even without it. I do add some red wine though in place of the broth. It gives it a rich color and flavour.
Excellent recipe! Thanks for sharing.
Best shepherds pie best the next day
Delicious! I was just winging it with shepherds pie and decided to follow a recipe one day. Never going back, this recipe is so good and I make it weekly. Thanks!
Made this for my toddler but the Worchestershire made it way too salty, feeling bummed! Will try it with less salt/ W sauce next time.
Have tried this recipe numerous times and is always my family’s favorite.
On the substitute question for All purpose flour just add cornstarch to broth then add 1 tablespoon to broth and for comment on half and half I’ve used sour cream it’s amazing
First time I have ever made shepherd’s pie casserole. I looked at a lot of recipes and this one looked the best. It was fantastic! So flavorful and delicious! My entire family LOVED it. I didn’t have frozen carrots or corn, so I used fresh carrots and chopped them up and put them in with the onions in the beginning. Then I used canned corn and put that in at the end. Absolutely delicious! Thank you for sharing!
Best shepherds pie I have ever had this was actually so amazing to follow
I love the flavor in this recipe. I would love to use ground lamb, but I can’t make it fit in the budget right now; so I just use 1 pound ground turkey mixed with 1 pound ground beef. That combination comes to $6.80, which would be $3.40 per pound of meat as opposed to $7 per pound for lamb. But I LOVE the flavor of lamb. I will simply mix it with beef when I do buy it.
I love shepherd’s pie and I think the name is so appropriate. ☺️
I didn’t know, however, that the name is different depending on the kind of meat used.
Thank you so much!
Oh, by the way, since I have a couple of picky eaters, I serve the veggies on the side and add cheese if I’m in the mood. (I usually am.)😉
It has deep umami flavor. 😋
One more thing, I didn’t follow the recipe to the “T.” But it was a great guideline since I already know what I’m looking for in a shepherd’s pie.
12 out of 10! Made this recipe with very minor accommodations for our family diet and WOWZA! Totally worth the time. I used a cast iron pan to cook the meat portion then added to that pan and baked for the final HUZZAH! Our pickiest eater had seconds, and this is a unicorn moment. So happy I found this recipe.
Turned out great! We used ground venison but otherwise stuck to the recipe.
I LOVE this recipe! I did cut the amount of rosemary and thyme to e second time. Just a personal preference otherwise I didn’t change a thing!!!
Tried it with two minor alterations. I used italian herb blend because that’s what I had on hand and added two egg yolks in the mash because I thought thats what made the mashed that golden color. But OMG, 100/10. Ill be making this easy and delicious recipe over and over again. Ps, this is my first ever food rate so definitely worth keeping it in rotation! YESSS!
So savory and scrumptious! Made it for dinner tonight and wanted more because it’s so delicious but couldn’t because it’s satisfyingly filling. Will definitely make this again.
This recipe is great! Easy to prepare. I had some leftover mashed potatoes from the night before, so I used those, dotted with some cheddar cheese.
Made a double recipe hopping to have left over! No such luck they ate it all. They said it was the best shepherd pie I’ve ever made.
This Shephard’s pie was INEDIBLE! What on earth were you thinking with 1 teaspoon of rosemary? It was 4 times too much! I wasted my time and all of the ingredients with this.
Absolutely the best. Easy Peasy to make. Made this several times.