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.
The best Shepherd’s pie I’ve ever had. It’s become a family favorite. Definitely try it with lamb although beef is good too.
This has become a weekly favorite for the whole family! So delicious 😋 thanks!!
So scrumptious! Every time I make this, my husband and I have to remark again about how delicious it is. The perfect comfort food.
Awesome comfort dish! We really liked the hand mashed potato topping. Subbed Beyond burger “meat” for the beef (wife doesn’t eat red meat), and Better than Bouillon veggie broth (with a little Guinness beer) instead of beef broth….it worked very well! Also sprinkled some extra Worcestershire sauce on top just before baking, then sprinkled fresh chopped parsley on it just before serving. Anticipating some great leftovers this week, too!
This was very delicious and easy. Agree the worstchester sauce adds a great flavor. To answer another poster’s question, it freezes very well. I made it a few weeks ago. I am singleton, and the recipe is family size. So I froze two dinner-sized portions in to-go containers. I pulled one out, heated in the microwave and it was as good as day one. Definitely adding this to the regular rotation.
I made this for my family last night and it was a big hit! I made a few changes—cooked the ground beef first to drain the grease, used shallots instead of onions, and added Salt Lick and Jack Daniel’s steak seasonings. Turned out amazing! This is a must-try recipe!
This is a fantastic recipe that I’ve made for years now. HOWEVER, as written the ratio of potatoes to filling is too heavy on the potatoes. My solution has been to make 1.5x the filing recipe, while keeping the amount of potatoes the same. Everything still fits easily in a 9×9 pan, and you end up with more food, and a more reasonable 1:1 filling to potatoes ratio.
Made this to bring in to work for St. Patty’s Day potluck. I did not bring any leftovers home, and asked for the recipe. Told ’em it was a Finnegan family secret (lol nah I sent them your way, and that’s not my real name). Thanks a bunch!
Thank you for being considerate enough to distinguish between a shepherd and cottage pie. My preference would be to use lamb over beef. Besides having a richer flavor, for those watching nutrients, lamb has a significant advantage over beef in omega three fatty acids; sometimes it’s described as ‘land salmon”.
Best Shepherds pie recipe! A family favorite
Tripled this recipe for a party. Everyone loved it! Must drain the ground beef after browning it!
One of my guests stated that this is hands down the best shepherd’s pie she’s ever had in her life! Seasoning was spot on and we didn’t end up with any leftovers. There were lots of other food choices for people to make, but everyone went back for more until there wasn’t anymore to have!
My fiancée and I are addicted to this recipe! We don’t change a thing! We have made it over 4 times now!
Made this for St. Patty’s day and it was so good! I used ground turkey and instant mashed potatoes just because that’s what I had and I was in but of a hurry. It tasted so good and of course would have been even better with real mashed potatoes 😋 definitely recommend!
Absolutely amazing! This recipe was so good! I added a 1/2 cup of red wine at the worchestire stage, and cooked it until it evaporated, after seeing Gordon Ramsay tips. Adding some good flavour but would be likely just as good without. Love this recipe!
5 out of 5 stars! The savory flavor is incredible! We made the meat filling the night before, and the potatoes the day of – along with the deviled eggs recipe suggested that uses pickle juice! Another great recipe. Thanks for making our 2025 St. Patrick’s Day dinner a huge success!
This was absolutely perfect. Will make many many more times.
Absolutely delicious! An Irish two-thumbs up and a thank you – THE BEST Shepards Pie recipe! I used both ground beef and lamb chops cut from the bone. Simply the BEST :))
This is the best shepherds pie recipe I’ve ever made!
Fantastically good recipe! Thank you very much… The details were on the mark, and the results are repeatable… this page is among my top bookmarks!