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.
Wow! This a little piece heaven! Soooo flavorful!!! Thank you for this recipe 😊
Absolutely delicious. Thank you.
I’ve made this several times now. Always a hit with my family. Even my picky 5 year old will eat this! I add a whole bag of frozen veggie mix with peas, carrots, corn, and green beans. I also add a bit more worcestershire, garlic, and salt than called for. Sprinkle a little extra cheese on top before baking and it’s perfect!
This is ridiculously good! We LOVED it! This is by far the best recipe I’ve ever tried, and is definitely the only one I’ll ever make again!
Made the cottage pie version tonight, using lean ground beef and making a few substitutions to lower the fat. I used olive oil spray to brown the meat, adding some onion flakes since my husband does not like chopped onions. I drained what little fat there was after browning the meat. I added more veggies: par-cooked fresh chopped carrots and green beans, along with frozen peas and corn. Instead of plain flour, I used 2 1/2 T of onion gravy mix, 1/2c low sodium beef bullion and 1/2 c water, along with the Worcestershire, tomato paste and the dried herbs. To the salted, cooked potatoes, I added only 1 1/2T of butter, 1/8c of half and half, 1/4 c light sour cream, a little low fat milk, garlic salt and 1T grated Parmesan. I tried to keep the potatoes on the dry side. I used 4 individual pot pie tins and cooled the meat mixture slightly before topping it with the mashed potatoes, as some of the tips indicated. I baked it for 30 min. It was savory and seasonings were just right. We cleaned our plates. A keeper!
Wow! This was amazing and was pretty easy to put together. My family LOVED it. This was our first time having Shepherd’s Pie and we are now fans. Thank you so much for providing this wonderful recipe!
I made this for St. Patrick’s day and it was a big hit. Everyone loved the taste of it. One of the best recipes for shepherds pie I have tasted! It will deffinately be on my list of go to meals. Company worthy. A great comfort food too. I am making it for a friend who recently lost her husband.
I will also try it with ground turkey instead of beef to cut down some fat and calories.
Thank you so much for posting this recipe.
Delicious!
Would it make any difference if I used canned peas and corn and fresh carrots? I usually have those on hand but not so much frozen versions.
Do you guys drain your ground beef or not ? I was confused by this… I didn’t see it anywhere in the recipe…
I drain the beef before adding the parsley, thyme, etc., but I also use 80-85% beef. Great recipe!
No, the flour and broth added makes the gravy.
I have never been a fan of Shepherd’s Pie but I make it once a year for my husband who loves it. This is a game-changer! I followed the recipe with only a few minor changes which include using unsalted chicken stock instead of beef broth or beef stock, about six cloves of garlic minced, and maybe 4 tablespoons of fresh parsley as opposed to one teaspoon of dried. I only used about 2 tablespoons of Parmesan in the mashed potatoes because my husband is not a great big fan of parm. Absolutely delicious and I look forward to making it again. Many many thanks for this delicious recipe.
I didn’t use russet potatoes, but Yukon Golds and the potatoes were too runny. My fault. Nevertheless, this was truly delicious. Based on another comment, I did measure the herbs a bit scant, but I think they would have been fine with the full measure. Perhaps the other person who thought they were too strong used ground instead of full leaf rosemary and thyme? In any case, the seasonings were just right.
I really loved the parmesan in the potatoes! I was very generous with my measure of that (maybe double) because I used a rasp grater which usually ends up making the cheese under-measured.
I am certainly saving this recipe, and if I use the Yukon Gold potatoes (which tasted great) again, I’ll carefully watch how much liquid I put in rather than go with the recipe amount.
DELICIOUS! Easy to make, will be adding this one to the rotation, thanks.
This was the best shepherd’s pie I have ever had. The family loved it! I made it with ground lamb, yukon gold potatoes, fresh herbs, extra garlic and much less butter. It was amazing.
Amazing!! One of my husbands favorite meals.
I substituted cream corn for the frozen (forgot to buy) and it was really good.
My first Shepherds/Cottage Pie ever and we loved it!! However, I did take a shortcut by using prepared mashed potatoes from the grocery store (time saver), doctored them a little and it was still absolutely delicious! Will definitely use this recipe again.👏👍
This is an amazing dish! I made it for St Patrick’s Day and we all loved it. Even my 13 month old gobbled it up. Not hard to make and so flavorful! I’d highly recommend this recipe!!!
Made this for St. Patrick’s Day last night, and it came out great! I substituted ground turkey for the beer/ lamb. Your time estimates seem to be a little optimistic though – this took me almost 2 1/2 hours to make. Also I feel like you could be making the potatoes while cooking the meat mixture to save time, I don’t see any reason to delay that step.
Fantastic flavor! A huge hit in this household. New favorite recipe 😋