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.
Wife said, keep this recipe, its great! And don’t change anything.
This is a keeper, delicious!! Thank you!
Absolutely delicious!
Fabulous! I wanted to use my left over potato’s from Thanksgiving, remembered my mom used to make Sheppard’s Pie but I didn’t have a recipe. This was easy and pretty quick considering the potatoes were done…dinner within the hour. My kind of dinner and everyone loved it. Wonderful -delicious!,
Delicious! Sometimes I use a little Guinness for some of the stock. Freezes beautifully, and even my picky grandkids love it.
I enjoyed making your version of the classic shepherds pie. I used ground turkey instead and evaporated milk instead and came out delicious thank you for sharing
Its a cottage pie if there’s cheese on top, just saying.
The recipe was great! I used ground turkey and omitted the rosemary as I was out. Also, I used instant mashed potatoes. All turned out well. Recipe’s “a keeper!”
Fantastic recipe!!! Shepherd’s Pie is a staple in our house and this one is amazing!!
Lots of happy mouths over here!!! I’ve been trying different recipes for Shepard’s pie but this is definitely our favorite. I did everything exactly as the recipe except we only do canned green beans for the veggies.
I made this tonight for Sunday dinner. I wanted to save time so I used already made mashed potatoes, just make sure to buy enough to cover the entire casserole. I used a 24oz container and could have used two. Very easy and yummy.
Best shepherd’s pie ever. Keeping this recipe for sure.
My husband cracks me up. He said of this recipe; Well, this is a nice “filling” food, as he rubbed his tummy. I replied, You mean a nice comfort food? He said, Well if it was a comfort food, it would have tasted good. Sorry to say, we both cracked up because I agreed with him. Way too much spice of some sort and worchestishre sauce. Not a fan.
Made this last night and it was absolutely perfect. My husband had 3 servings in one night. He said he’d get one more but didn’t know want to be greedy (lol) will DEFINITELY be making again and again.
Thank you!!
I am making shepherds pie tonight, I like a more creamy gravy than a brown gravy, I use sausage instead of hamburger and I mix my veggies in a Alfredo cream cheese sauce and then I layer it and I put real mozzarella cheese it’s kind of expensive but you get thatGooey, stretchy cheese. It is amazing
Excellent! Love the cheesy potatoes!
Wow, I can’t even move off my bed ;D Just made this recipe for the first time although I had thrown one together in the past.I didn’t have rosemary on hand, and used fresh parsley and thyme while doubling the recipe. The kids ate it, the hubby took almost half the casserole dish and I made happy noises over every bite. Mine was a bit juicy so I scooped out about 3/4 cup of liquid but I could’ve drank it to be honest. Exceptional!
Easy to make and everyone loved it. *t was very tasty. I put some cheddar cheese on top and substituted ketchup for tomato paste From start to serving it was 1 hour and 10 minutes.
I made this last night for the first time. Also my first time making mash potatoes with real potatoes I always found it very intimating. I was so nervous my mash wouldn’t come out good. But let me say they came out perfect ! And the meat was very flavorful I only used corn because I have 2 picky eaters. My son and boyfriend ate ALL of it. And loved it . Definitely a keeper thank you.!
YUMMMM! This recipe is awesome.
I didn’t have Worcestershire sauce so I used 1/2 t sugar, 1/2 t lemon juice & 4 t soy sauce which seems to have worked out well. Also I added diced carrot to the onion instead of frozen and omitted the peas. My oven isn’t the best so I broiled the top for a few minutes at the end.
The parm in the potatoes makes them even better!