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.
Wonderful recipe. I’ve made it three times now and had to double it this time to make sure I have enough lol. I would only add a little more salt.
Family loves this recipe. I make it often.
This truly is the best Shepherd’s pie I have ever made. Thank you
Cheers
I loved it!! I will make this recipe over and over again.
Delicious. But definitely would’ve been better covered if I’d had the full 2 lbs of potatoes.
wanting to incorporate lamb into my families diet, even just on occasion, i wanted to learn how to make a true shepherds pie. i had never tried lamb before and figured the ingredients on this recipe seemed familiar enough to not scare us away. and wow! the first time i made this it was a hit with everyone! i made it again last night and decided to leave a review. the only thing i change in this recipe is instead of using frozen veggies, i cut up fresh ones, and i have them cooking from the start so that by the end of the meat filling being done, the carrots will be soft enough. my husband doesn’t like peas and doesn’t want to learn to like them, so this time i added some celery so we could still get a pop of green. i would love to try this with ground beef sometime.
Love this recipe
Made this over the Christmas holiday when we had a couple guests and so much leftover mashed potatoes. It was delicious and so easy to make. It immediately got written into my recipe book and put into the monthly rotation of winter meals.
Oh my gosh!! Sooooo delicious!! Thank you for the recipe and I have made it many times now for family and others!
This is such a comforting dish, we all loved it.
This is easy to make and delicious. I used frozen vegetables and ketchup because I didn’t have any tomato paste . I will definitely make this again
Made this recipe for myself and 4 grown men … it was a hit … ( I doubled the recipe )
I’m making it again tonight and it smells delicious while I wait for the potatoes to brown up a little bit !!
The first time I heard the term Shephard’s Pie, I did not have good thoughts. My son kept telling me to make it, so I gave in and made it with him. After making it, I was very happy I did. Since then, I have come back to this recipe several times. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS RECIPE!!!
Delicious and forgivable if you leave out an ingredient or have less than it calls for. We used ground bison because that’s what we had on Hand. 100% will make again.
I have made this dish 8-10 times because everyone loves it! It is definitely best with the full list of ingredients, but I made a couple substitutions when something was missing from the cupboards. A few more tablespoons of flour if no tomato paste on hand. Chicken stock if no beef stock. And Italian blend herbs if no rosemary and thyme. Also, draining some of the meat’s oil early on helps, and I like to double the worchestershire sauce for some extra snap and zhuzzh. 10/10 recipe!!
I made this the other night and it was a huge success. Thank you!
I made this tonight. My hubby looked at me after his first bite and said, “Wow Baby! This is FANTASTIC!”
I won’t be changing a thing on this recipe. Thank you!!
Delicious!!
Love this recipe, it’s my go-to-recipe for shepherds pie. I’ve made this recipe for family, friends, and meal trains. The only adjustment I’ve made is using half of the suggested amount of butter. And, omitting thyme because my kids don’t like the spice.
The best!! Thank you… I’m not the best cook but I’m going to impress them tonight 🤓