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.
We make it almost weekly. It is easy to prepare and delivious! Here in Holland half and half is unknown, so we use cream or milk.
Perfect! Delicious! Highly recommend this recipe.
Only change
I make is I put pie crust on the bottom, prebake it per package directions, then fill and bake.
In a pinch, I use pre-made refrigerated mashed potatoes.
Made this for St. Patty’s Day dinner for my Irish family and it was a hugeeee hit. Everyone was obsessed and wouldn’t stop talking about how good it was. Definitely saving this recipe as a staple!!! Highly recommend trying it!
Excellent recipe, this was delicious! Thank you for sharing.
Thank you for this Amanda. Spent a lot of time over the past two days scouring the internet for a Shepherds Pie recipe. Yours seemed the most authentic to me in that it used simple ingredients prepared in simple ways. It would obviously live up to the savory tradition of this dish and it could be built all at once if you had the time to do it. Nothing beats fresh made right? I grew up in a poor but happy family and this dish fit the bill for us on a regular basis. I was going through recipes that my Wife and I have made over our past fifty plus years and noticed this childhood favorite was missing from among all the sometimes silly “Foodie” recipes as well as good old fashioned recipes. It was everything I had hoped for and I ate way too much..
Thanks again.
B Reed 3/18/2026
I’ve been making Shepherd’s Pie for years, this recipe is, hands down, the best I’ve ever made. It’s going to be my new St. Patrick’s Day and many other days meal. Thank you
Best recipe ever! And I’ve tried all of them. Easy too!
Made this for my family for St. Patrick’s Day and everyone really enjoyed it!
So yummy!!
Very good and delicious. My family loved it.
Amazing! The family wanted shepherd’s pie for St Patrick’s Day and this was the perfect recipe. It was easy enough to make again for a weeknight meal.
Approved
Very good easy to make kid approve
Absolutely loved this recipe! So easy to make and everyone loved it. The dish had so much flavor to it – Make sure you let it sit for a little while before serving like it says too!
Simple. Good. Correct. I don’t have more words of praise.
made this with Impossible meat for a vegetarian option and it was absolutely delicious!
OMGeeee, this is the Best Shepherd’s Pie! So savory and the potatoes are buttery and cheesy. I’m going to make this every St. Patrick’s Day and more! Thanks.
Made this recipe on Saturday for an early St Patrick’s Day celebration along with the corned beef and cabbage. I followed the directions exactly and it was 😋 DELICIOUS‼️ It’s an easy recipe and everyone LOVED it! I would like to add Guinness the next time I make it. Guess I’ll just have to adjust the beef stock. Definitely a Keeper!
It was so good. Only issue was I didn’t triple the recipe because it was all gone before I knew it.
Made the meat filling almost as is. I had expired parsley, so I didn’t use that, and was shocked I had no tomato paste, because it is a staple in my house, so I used Sugarfree ketchup, like someone suggested. I make mashed potatoes, all the time, so didn’t need the recipe, it’s basically identical. I doubled the recipe. It was a huge hit. I was told to Pin it, and make it again. Great recipe!Linda
Very easy and delicious, make it a point not to substitute anything!
Serv with a salad