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.
Definitely worth repeating!!
This is a great recipe, getting ready to make it again. Very easy to make.
The recipe turned out good, but half the thyme and Rosemary. It seems a little too strong at the current Ratio. IMO.
Delicious! Great fall/winter all-in-one meal. My first time making Sherpherd’s Pie and it turned out great. A must have recipe! Note: If you’re not a fan of rosemary and/or thyme, use half. It will still have great flavor.
Awesome recipe, easy to follow and make and melted in the mouth when eaten. I will be saving. I have made a version in the past many times. Wanted to have a recipe just to refresh my memory and I think it was the best I’d ever made.
Excellent recipe. Enjoyed by family including young grandchildren!
I start with mirepoix and use fresh garden corn and peas. The flavor is amped up if you have access to all fresh veggies. Grass fed, local farm lamb is a must! And Aroostook county (Maine) potatoes. Perfect for a dreary and rainy day dinner.
This works great with ground Beyond Beef for a wonderful plant based version!
My wife and I made this tonight, we enjoyed very much,it will be on the dinner list,put in rotation
I’be used this recipe so many times now and it’s my absolute FAVORITE shepherds pie. I don’t always follow everything to a t anymore but honestly the original is so good there is NOTHING I’ve really felt needed to change. This is one of my husbands favorites that I make and I have to agree. I love serving this with dinner rolls. Absolutely delicuous👌
My mom makes these once a week and it’s seriously my favorite dinner!! I literally told my friends about it and now my besties dad makes it too 💀 it’s seriously delicious like YUMMM
Never made Shepherds pie but I had the main ingredients, and wanted something different. I had to go with a couple of tweaks based on what I had, but I was pleasantly surprised. I can only imagine what the paste and the Worcestershire sauce did to it but I didn’t have it. I used a tomato. I also had chicken broth instead of beef. And cheddar instead of Parmesan. Still very yummy!
DELiCIOUS
Family loves this recipe! So much better than using dehydrated sauces.
I didn’t have parmesan cheese so I used Irish cheddar cheese that I had. I put a little on top and oh my it was so good! Thank you for the best sheppard pie ever!
Great recipe. Made 3 times so far.
Great recipe! Family loved it! Being from the mid west, I added some cheese on top.
Wanted to make something different for a change ! Easy to put together, love ❤️ this recipe !
Made this last night- my husband and I loved it!
This recipe is excellent! I have made it several times. I have one request. Is there a chance that you could add a standard/metric option? The amount of work anyone outside the US must put in to use the recipe is immense. I have to use a convertor website to convert measurements, temperature and pan size. Thank you!
Pretty good