This Classic Shepherd’s Pie Recipe is the ultimate comfort food. Hearty ground beef is mixed frozen vegetables like peas, carrots and corn and topped with a garlic potato topping. This will warm you up on even the coldest day!
Rich gravy, hearty meat, plentiful vegetables and a garlic mashed potato layer that is baked to a golden brown. This Shepherd’s Pie is a classic dish that has been filling bellies for centuries!?!? We’ve made our version as easy as possible along with some shortcuts and substitutions to make it even easier, quicker or healthier. Read below to find out more or jump to the recipe card to get cookin’!
What Is A Shepherd’s Pie?
Ok, so before you head to the comments section to really give me a history lesson, we know this isn’t a true Shepherd’s Pie. It is more of a Cottage Pie, which is an English dish and traditionally made with ground beef. A traditional classic Shepherd’s Pie recipe hails from Ireland and is made with ground lamb (Shepherd’s would eat it while tending to their sheep). But, like many cultural and traditional cuisines over the years, the lines have been blurred here in America. So you will often see the dish we are making here referred to as a Shepherd’s Pie.
How To Make An Easy Shepherd’s Pie
Our recipe is SO EASY. And really only uses some common ingredients I’ll be you already have laying around your house! We use homemade mashed potatoes for this recipe. If you are in a real time crunch, you can also just use instant mashed potatoes. We won’t judge!
FOR THE MEAT LAYER
- GROUND BEEF – We used 80/20, but any ground beef will work. If you want to make this a little healthier, you could substitute for ground turkey or ground chicken. Make sure you drain the grease before adding the other ingredients.
- ONION – Just one small onion should do the trick. Dice it up into small pieces and sauteing it with the ground beef and garlic.
- GARLIC – Fresh garlic, minced. This will smell SO good cooking with the onion and ground beef mixture.
- SALT AND PEPPER – To taste.
- SPICES – We add additional depth of flavor with dried rosemary, thyme and parsley. You’ll add these to the ground beef before the frozen vegetables.
- FROZEN VEGETABLES – We use frozen peas, frozen carrots and frozen corn. You can use fresh vegetables if you’d like.
- BEEF BROTH – Helps this Shepherd’s Pie have that authentic, rich flavor.
- CORN STARCH – Use this to thicken your broth. We use 1 tablespoon, but you can use more or less depending on how thick or thin you want it to be. If you don’t have cornstarch, you can substitute for flour. You’ll need to add about twice the amount of flour than you would cornstarch since it has about half the thicken power as cornstarch.
FOR THE POTATO LAYER
- POTATOES – Russet Potatoes. Peeled and cubed. You’ll be boiling these until they are soft and mashable.
- SALT AND PEPPER – Once again, to taste.
- GARLIC POWDER – Because we ALWAYS put a little garlic in our mashed potatoes.
- BUTTER – Unsalted.
- MILK – We use 2%. But you can use whatever you’d like.
- PARMESAN CHEESE – Because, just like garlic, we ALWAYS put cheese in our mashed potatoes too!
Can You Make Shepherd’s Pie Ahead Of Time?
This Shepherd’s Pie recipe consists of two parts, the meat layer and the mashed potato layer. You can prepare each layer separately and put them in the refrigerator. When ready to bake, just put the mashed potatoes on the meat and veggies and bake according to the directions.
Storage and Freezing
You can keep leftovers for a couple of days in your fridge. We often use our Le Creuset Casserole Dish because it comes with a lid! You can just keep your leftovers right in your casserole dish in the fridge!
Or, if you are looking for something a little less expensive, this one works great too!
Shepherd’s Pie freezes pretty well too. Just let it cool and wrap it in freezer wrap. It will be good in your freezer for up to 4 months. When you are ready to reheat it, you can either thaw it out overnight in your refrigerator or throw it in the oven frozen. It should take about 25-30 minutes at 350 to bake when thawed. You’ll need to double that if frozen. Bake it covered.
For the last couple minutes of baking, remove the cover and broil the top to get that golden mashed potatoes we all love.
Notes, Tips and Variations
- USE A LARGE SKILLET – This recipe is a lot easier with a nice, large skillet to cook all the ingredients together. We love to use this Farberware NonStick Dishwasher Safe Saute Skillet. It’s 6 quarts, which means it’s big enough to get any recipe started no matter how many ingredients you are adding!
- HEALTHIER VERSION – This is true comfort food, designed to give humans much needed calories during the winter. So there isn’t really a way to make this “health food”. But you can trim some calories by using ground beef or ground turkey. Or by Using skim, low fat or almond milk instead of regular milk in the mashed potatoes. Or, if looking for a low carb option, you can also substitute the mashed potatoes for Cauliflower Mashed Potatoes!
- LEFTOVER MASHED POTATOES – You can make your own mashed potatoes for this recipe or use Instant Mashed Potatoes. But this is also a great use for leftover mashed potatoes too.
- ADD WORCESTERSHIRE SAUCE – You’ll see some versions of this recipe that add 1 teaspoon of Worcestershire Sauce. We opted not to do that. But feel free to if that sounds good to you!
- TOP WITH CHEESE – Sprinkle some Cheddar Cheese on top of the potatoes.
What Can You Serve With Shepherd’s Pie?
The great thing about Shepherd’s Pie is that is a complete meal just by itself! With combination of meat, vegetables and mashed potatoes, there really isn’t a need for any “side dish”. But you could also serve this with a salad or some bread or biscuits to dip into the rich sauce!
We hope you enjoy this recipe for an easy Shepherd’s Pie. Let us know what you think in the comments!
LOOKING FOR MORE HEARTY COMFORT FOOD? CHECK OUT:
- SCALLOPED POTATOES WITH HAM AND CHEESE
- BEEF TIPS AND RICE
- HAM, GREEN BEANS AND POTATOES
- PHILLY CHEESESTEAK PASTA
- CLASSIC CREAMED CORN RECIPE
Shepherd's Pie Recipe
Ingredients
Ingredients for the Meat Layer
- 1 pound ground beef
- 1 small onion diced
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon pepper
- ½ teaspoon dried parsley
- ½ teaspoon dried thyme
- ½ teaspoon dried rosemary
- 1 cup frozen corn
- 1 cup frozen peas and carrots
- 1 cup beef broth
- 1 tablespoon corn starch
Ingredients for the Potato Topping
- 4 large potatoes peeled and cubed
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon pepper
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1/3 cup milk
- ¼ cup parmesan cheese
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and prepare a 9x13 baking dish by spraying with nonstick cooking spray.
- Fill a large pot with water and bring to a boil. Add the diced potatoes and cook until tender. Remove from water and set aside.
- While the potatoes are cooking, brown the ground beef in a large skillet with the diced onion and minced garlic. Season with salt, pepper, parsley, thyme, and rosemary.
- Stir in the frozen corn, peas, and carrots.
- In a small bowl or measuring cup, whisk together the beef broth and corn starch until well combined. Pour over the beef mixture and simmer over medium low heat until thickened.
- Pour the meat mixture in the prepared baking dish and set aside.
- Prepare the potato topping by seasoning the cooked potatoes with salt, pepper and garlic.
- Stir in the butter, milk, and parmesan cheese. Use a potato masher to mash the potatoes until smooth.
- Spread the potato mixture over the top of the meat mixture.
- Place the baking dish in the preheated oven and bake for 45 to 50 minutes, until the potatoes have begun to brown and the sauce is bubbling.
- Remove from oven and allow to rest for five to 10 minutes before serving.
Nutrition
Comments & Reviews
Linda Treend says
Delicious! I loved the seasoning. Thanks for detailed instructions.
Kathy says
You are welcome! I am so happy you enjoyed our recipe!
SANDRA GRIFFITH says
Love This first time I ate it yummy
Kathy says
So glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for the comment!
Donna says
Delicious😊I changed up the spices to parsley, cayenne, and turmeric and no parm or milk in potatoes and it was amazing😊
Kathy says
I’m so happy you enjoyed it! Thank you for sharing!
Isabella says
My mother and I loved it! I’ll be making it again tomorrow to take to work for a few days!
Kathy says
Thank you for sharing. I am so happy you enjoyed the recipe!
Dawn says
I made I for my family of 5 and even my mom veggie eaters enjoyed it and wanted to know when I am going to make it again.
Kathy says
I’m so glad you and your family enjoyed it!
Lori says
First time making Shepherds Pie and this is so yummy, I doubled the recipe and made 2 smaller ones to freeze. Now to see how it turns out when coming out of the freezer for hubby while I’m convalescing from surgery.
Kathy says
Thank you! I hope it works well to freeze. Come back and let us know. Wishing you speedy healing on your surgery.
marion says
great recipes ,, but no,, no,, Shepherds Pie is made with left over roast Lamb and pickled boiled Lamb, minced together and added with tomatoe sauce and worcestershire sauce, a pinch if seasoning,, no vegies added,, only mashed potato on top, the pie is heated through in oven (as meat is already cooked) then put under grill to brown potato,, and serve with beans, carrot and cabbage,, the texture and taste is amazing ,,, but you need a meat mincer,,
Cottage Pie is made with mince meat to be cooked andvegies added from the cottage garden,, a huge difference !!!
Kathy says
Thank you for the comment. That is great info!
As I mention in the recipe, I say that it is not an “authentic” Shepherd’s Pie, it’s sort of our “blurred lines” version of a cross between Cottage Pie and Shepherd’s Pie.
Brenda Virgin says
I am from UK. I use ground beef, and then boil the mince with chopped onion in 2 cups water until mince is cooked. I add 3 English Oxo beef cubes so no salt needed. I separate meat from gravy, and when cool I put gravy in fridge. I sometimes do this day before. Next day there is 2” of hard fat on top of gravy which I remove and discard. Mashed potatoes. on top and put in oven for l hr. This extra time makes a brown crust on top. The gravy is like jelly due to all the protein from the meat. Heat and serve gravy – most people love the gravy – so rich. No fat visible but LOADS of flavour. I am going to make my next pie your way. Sounds delicious. I always serve a cruciferous veggie on the side – usually cauliflower or brussel sprouts.
Kathy says
Thank you for sharing your method. I hope you enjoy our recipe when you try it. Let us know what you think.
Craig says
Shepherd’s pie is made with ground lamb anything else made with ground beef or a meat mixture of is called cottage pie/ mutton pie please actually do research and produce the right information for the right meaning of the dish.
Kathy says
Did you read my post? That is actually exactly what I said in the post. Please actually read the whole post before making a snarky comment. Thanks! 🙂
Cheryl says
To: Marion & Craig……your criticism.
If these people are going to criticize your way to make Shepherds Pie, I’d tell them to take a flying you know what & don’t read your recipe. You didn’t post it to get criticized!!! Come on people, isn’t there enough of cruelty & judgement in this world already?!!! Try & be nice- it’s pretty darn easy….
Phyllis Drader says
So true , people criticize almost everything.
I am going to make the shepherds pie today and freeze , and yes out of hamburger. Haven’t tried this recipe before but it sounds great ..n
CharlotteJ89 says
Exactly!! Some of these comments are ridiculous!
S.N. says
If you don’t care for their recipe, then don’t make it. You don’t need to be a smat elic about it!
Cheryl says
Question, do you use an electric mixer/masher for the potatoes? I mashed mine manually and found that there was barely enough potato to cover a 9×13 dish. Thankfully I had some leftovers garlic mashed I mixed in to save the day lol. Wondering if I should double the potatoes? Thanks 😊
Kathy says
We just mashed ours with a potato masher and had plenty for the recipe.
Mary W says
I was able to use left over baked potatoes for this recipe (heated and mashed them) along with some other veggies. Recipe made an amazing dinner! Thank you.
Kathy says
Great idea!
Cathy Mockler says
You know what, all you Shepherd’s Pie aficianados, I used to make this almost identical recipe about 40 years ago, at least once a month. My kids grew up loving it. Not one of them complained about the lack of lamb, which we all like, btw. I stopped making it years later because, you know, potatoes! Heck with that. This recipe is making my mouth water, so I will make it tonight. You all might want to stop your griping and try it. You don’t know what your missing. Thank you for this recipe!
Kathy says
Ha! Thanks so much Cathy. That made me smile!
Bob says
Since you know that Shepherds pie is made with lamb, then quit calling it that.
Kathy says
This is starting to be my favorite thing about running this blog: everyone getting so upset about what exactly is, or isn’t a Shepherd’s Pie. 🙂
Nicole says
I dislike lamb so using beef as an alternative worked great for my family and myself. It was my first time making a Shepards pie/mock shepards pie! Nice and easy 😀 Thanks for the great recipe. It was delicious.
Bob, you’re lame. Stop being a Shepards pie elitist.
Kathy says
Ha! Thanks Nicole!
Big D says
Sounds good and easy to make, I’ll be trying it out this week!
Kathy says
Let us know how it turns out!
Jennifer says
This was delicious! Will be making this again. The flavour was amazing.
Kathy says
We are so glad you enjoyed it!
Luvey says
I am British and my grandmother made shepherds pie frequently. That’s what she called it and it was made with mince meat (hamburger). Regardless of lamb or burger it was delicious. Thank u for this recipe. I will be making it.
Gail Joyner says
Just made this came out great
Kathy says
Thanks for coming back and letting us know!
Cheryl says
Love this recipe. I wouldn’t change a thing.
Can this be made in the crockpot?
Kathy says
We haven’t tried that but I don’t see why not. Come back and tell us how it worked out if you do!