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.
Was a great recipe… easy and family loved it.
I made this recipe the other day and it is EXCELLENT! It made my house smell so good and it is absolutely mouthwatering.
Let me put it this way; if I, with a mild traumatic brain injury can follow this recipe and make this dish, then anyone can! Thank you for making the instructions easy and the dish so tasty. Will definitely bookmark this one. Thank you!
I topped the shepherd’s pie with scalloped potatoes. Awesome!
I never make,mashed potatoes from scratch anymore, the potato spuds are so good and easy. Can I use them on top instead?
Delicious; my husband really liked it. Now, I just have to figure out how to get the total time requirement down from 2 hours to something more reasonable.
Let’s just start by saying I don’t like to cook. I chose to commit to making this dish and I am not disappointed in the least bit. I’m a big fan of these the spices used in this recipe so the flavor turned out to be extremely satisfying to me.
Really good recipe. I’ve made shepherd’s pie before just winging it, but decided to try a recipe out this time. Glad I found this one and it will now be part of my meal rotation. This recipe doubled just fine.
I’ve tried many shepherd’s pie recipes, and this is easily the best one I’ve had. The best part is that it only uses ingredients I always have on hand!!! Absolute perfection <3
I made this for the first time and did not have tomato paste so I used barbecue sauce. It was a tiny bit soupy but still delicious!
I just made this and YUM!!! Hubby loves it too:)). I want to make a pan and freeze it for later. Have you tried this? I wonder how long I would need to bake it and at what temperature..? Thanks so much for sharing!!
Outstanding. Thank you!
This was wonderful! So flavorful! After I fixed the meat and vegetable filling in my cast iron skillet, I just topped it with the mashed potatoes and baked it in the skillet. I used a 12″ as I wasn’t sure if it would overflow a 10″.
Loved this recipe! Subbed a whole head of roasted garlic for the mashed potatoes and was able to find ground lamb and it was delicious. My husband couldn’t get enough of it and Can’t wait for me to make it again.
My family love it. I made the deviled eggs and broccoli too. A great combination.
I have been talking my wife for weeks about Shepard’s pie for weeks. I made this today and we loved it.
This is a keeper, My girlfriend thinks I should open a dinner.
Tried this recipe twice and both times the ratio of meat to potato mixture was WAY off. The flavor is great but if you want it to look like the photo with the fluffy mountain of potatoes on top, double the amount of potatoes (or even more than double it) It is frustrating when recipes do not accurately state what you need
This was AMAZING! My husband and I loved this recipe. He looked at me and said…you made this? It was that good! I bragged about it to my family and my mother made it for company this past weekend. They called me and raved about it! Thanks so much for making this a staple in my house.
This was delicious! I used ground lamb. I didn’t have frozen corn or the thyme so had to leave them out (will add next time I make though). Used fresh carrots and added them with the onions to saute. Possibly the best Shepherd’s Pie I have ever had, definitely recommend.