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.
This is the best Shepards pie! I’ve make it 3 times since finding it. I used fresh premade mashed from the grocery store to save time and added butter and parm. I also used gluten free flour and it was just perfect. Tmro I’m going to try to make mini ones inside of green bell peppers for single serve size ones but just will halve 2 peppers and bake them that way cuz it’s too good to waste if it doesn’t come out well.
By far the best sheperds pie I or my wife have ever eaten. Followed recipe to the tee. Did add some shredded colby jack to the top.
I don’t usually follow recipes to a T but I did this one and the reviews from my family were outstanding! This is a family treasure now and I tried to say it was a secret recipe but my Dad offered me $100 for it so I printed yours out and he still paid me the $100 haha! Anyone wanting to try it don’t change a thing it is perfect the way it is. Thank you for this we will enjoy if for years.
I made this for dinner, its perfect! My son never eats this, but I had him sample the meat and he said he’ll have some, so happy. Thanks for there recipe.
This recipe is perfection! I made it exactly as written. I have tried many and this one my husband asked me to write on a recipe card immediately after eating it. Thank you!
Wow this is delicious .
One word……DELICIOUS!!
I’ve made this recipe twice & it is absolutely delicious!! I grew up hating shepherd’s pie but your recipe changed my whole mindset about it. Thank you!
Great, even better the second day. I used a frozen mix bag with peas, carrots, green beans and corn. Added 3 tablespoons of beef gravy mix and flour mixture and turned out great!
Loved it! I substituted soy sauce for Worcestershire sauce, since I don’t like Worcestershire sauce. I also didn’t add any parsley, rosemary, or thyme, because it was flavorful enough without them. And I used freeze-dried minced garlic, because I’m lazy. It was delicious and I’ll definitely be making it again.
Supremely good! My mom and I made this together tonight and it turned out soooooo well, even with our big mistake! I cheated and got buttery mashed potato mix from the store (so I halved the amount of butter I used in the recipe). Somehow, we COMPLETELY missed step 5 which included some major ingredients. Just before the meat and potato…. dish (?) was done in the oven (that’s when we realized our mistake), we mixed together the missing ingredients, heated them in a saucepan, then after pushing back the mashed potatoes it was added to the meat mix then re-covered.
A++++++++
I just made this today and i can’t thank you enough for the recipe. It was delicious!!!!!!! The meat the mash EVERYRHINGGGG I never had mashpotatos with parm. I’m going to make this again.
First time making this. It was EXCELLENT! I used Idahoan Roasted Garlic instant mash, but added the butter and parmesan to it. This is definitely a keeper! Very easy to make as well.
This recipe is wonderful. I followed it completely and it did not disappoint. Definitely earned 5 stars.
On the recipe what does it mean by half and half?
My go to dish. Shepards pie one easy recipe. Simple and delicious. My son called today asked what’s for dinner. He usually takes me to dinner. Today it was Shepards pie. Thanking for sharing.
This recipe contained WAY too much fat for our food preferences, but Shepherd’s Pie did sound delicious… I followed the meat and veggies mixture recipe, then I only used 2 Tbsp of butter plus no half & half or parmesan cheese in the potato mixture (we like to top our Shepherd’s Pie with melted cheese instead) and it turned out fantastic! Thank you for providing a solid/basic foundation of a recipe that I could build my own less fat version from 🙂
Awesome recipe for shepherds pie, dué to health concerns, I substituted mashed cauliflower instead of potatoes. It’s delicious!!!
Thanks for your recipe, followed it pretty much to the t but tripled it for my big ol family. Recipe looked good, had the ingredients on hand, and you helped me get dinner on the table in a timely manner. It was real good and everyone went in for seconds. Thanks again!
Family says this is their favorite version. I have made many different recipes, the verdict is in YUM. Made in my cast iron skillet.
It was delicious!
Easy, full of flavor and great for a family meal!
Absolutely delicious.
This will now be my go to recipe for this dish
It’s become my favorite Shepher’ds Pie recipe. Be sure to use the parmesan cheese in the potatoes, it takes them to another level. (Real parmeson not kraft)