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.
such a great recipe to get the right texture but is say go easy on the rosemary….it’s a very strong flavor and it really over powers the rest
I subbed out beef for beyond meat and beef broth for veggie broth and used vegan butter to make this recipe animal free and it was so so so good. Wow. Must try, even for people who eat animals.
Did you use a substitution for the Worcestershire sauce? If so, what did you use???
My family wants this every week. Delicious!
this recipe sounds amazing i have no 1/2&1/2 cream what can i do ?
Milk works fine, or whipping cream mixed with milk. I’ve also used sour cream and milk mixture.
You can use water (the water you boiled potatoes in) or you can use regular milk or heavy cream. The half and half is not absolutely required.
Use creamer! Bout 1/4 cup
You can use milk. I used milk and a little bit of heavy cream. The goal is to make the potatoes smooth to spread.
Milk will work. You can Google the conversions.
Milk is a good substitute as well as just using additional butter! Hope that helps
The whole family loved this recipe. I had to substitute a few ingredients because I don’t use milk or butter. I used ground turkey and use usually more seasonings because of that. I will for sure make this also in a vegan version for my husband with the Vegetarian Better than Bouillon No Beef Base. I have used this Bouillon also in the Recipe with the ground turkey which gave it a deeper flavor. Thank you for this great recipe!
This is my the third time doing this recipe. My family loved and each time gets easier and tastier. I added two egg yolks to the mash potatoes. Thanks
This is the best shepherds pie I have ever made. Omitted Worcestershire sauce because I didn’t have any. And I used a can of corn because my kids are not big fans of peas and carrots. Subbed milk instead of half and half in the potatoes because I didn’t have any And may have added some extra parm cheese cause it’s delicious!
also if your out of dairy Mayonnaise is a great substitute I used it in mine delish
Love this recipe 👍👍👍👍 Thank you so much❤️
Amazing recipe! I used more potatoes than the recipe called for and I brushed an egg wash on the potatoes before putting them in the oven. This recipe was so delicious and the best shepherds pie I’ve ever eaten
I really want to make this but don’t have beef broth. What can i use instead, please?
I used a beef packet from ramen noodle soup because so didn’t have any beef broth.
You can use beef bouillon to make broth in a pinch. Just follow the directions on the jar.
I actually used chicken broth and added beef stew seasoning to it. Was amazing
I didn’t have any beef broth. So, I used 1 can of undiluted french onion soup.
I used a packet of gravy
You can use the drippings fofrom the meat and then make a slurry from 2 tbsp of cornstarch and water mix together and bring it to a boil then let it rest and it cools it makes it thick like gravy
“Better than Bouillon”–1-2 Tbs. (I didn’t have beef so used vegetable–tasted great) mixed with boiling water to make the 1 cup called for.
Use any broth, I used chicken broth and subbed 1/2 C french green beans 1/2 C frozen yellow carrots from a Costco Normandy mix. I also put it in a deep dish pie shell and topped one with potato flakes and the other with au gratin boxed scalloped potatoes. Strained most of cheese sauce off to a side of Normandy veggies. Both pies got the thumbs up from family. Very tasty recipe, next time going to try it with the vegan hamburger made with lentils and mushrooms.
Just put it in the oven, used lamb and chicken stock.
I used vegetable broth and it was fine.
I am not a very good cook. I followed this recipe and made the most awesome dinner ever. Thank you so much.
I’ve been use if this recipe as a base for years. I use fresh carrots and dice them up, cook them with the onions and meat. I like white and black pepper with fresh Italian herbs.
I leave the skins on the Yukon gold potatoes, add bacon bits sour cream and cheese with butter and milk. I score the potatoes and add cheddar cheese to the top to get a lovely brown crunch on top.
You just can’t go wrong if you follow your heart!
I made the Shepherds Pie with lamb, just changing the beef stock for chicken stock. My husband asked me to marry him again. I had planned for leftovers but he finished 3 huge helpings and scraped the dish clean. Thanks for a great recipe. I have used others but this is truly the best!
Amazing! Very easy, and full of delicious flavor.
Followed the recipe exactly except for subbed half and half for heavy cream because I didn’t have it, and canned corn instead of frozen again because that’s what I had. This was exactly what I was looking for! Also I was very happy with the proportions of this recipe, a lot of times when I look up a recipe it is a huge amount of food. This fit into my 9×12 dish without spilling over the top at all. We’re a family of 3 and this only left us with a little bit of left overs. My husband said it was the best shepherds pie he ever had.
This is so delicious! Everyone in the fam approved. Made it two nights in a row.
I made this for myself to have as a prep dinner for a week, it held up really nicely after being refrigerated and reheated! Of course, it’s 10x better when you eat it the same day. Although, it makes for a lovely prep meal too if you want something with loads of flavor! There was a lot of mess with the big pans and potato masher, but overall it was super easy to make!
I have made this dish twice and my husband just loves it as do I! It’s easy to make, I made no changes to the ingredients, and freezes nicely. This is real comfort food.
Was really impressed with the flavours! Turned out great! Didn’t have beef stock so swapped tomato paste for 8tbsp of pasta sauce. Also swapped out parmesan for mozzarella ☺️ Still yumms!
Oh my grandmother would be rolling over in her grave, absolutely the best I ever had! I prefer garlic over a lot of things but the parmesan garlic mashed potato tapping was a home run!