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.
Excellent recipe. Will definitely make it again.
Have you ever tried to freeze this? I’m thinking it would be great to have at the ready but not sure how the potatoes would fair.
Delish! I doubled (more like tripled) the Worcestershire sauce and used a herbs de provence blend instead of the spice(herbs de provence has thyme, lavender,fennel and basil). I also added a dash of fancy celery salt. Turned out amazing. Had to use a little extra flour because of the floor of Worcestershire sauce.
Very lovely this. Upped the worcestershire sauce to about 4 tbsp, but otherwise what a completely enjoyable weekend lunch this turned out to be. Kids and wife all thrilled with it.
Thanks so much!
This is a keeper fore sure. I used golden potatoes instead of russet and added shredded colby jack cheese to the top before baking. This recipe allows you to tweak and add things you want. Yummy!
Currently in the oven. I did put a layer of creamed corn and the corn.Hope there’s not too much spill over. Used a 13×9 glass casserole dish and probably should’ve piped the potatoes since it was a bit of work to spread the mash on that corn layer but I’m sure it’ll be fine. Perfectly worded receipe to follow and make into your own. 5 STARS!
Oh so delicious on a cool fall night! Made this for the hubby and I and we both loved it. I lightened up the potatoes by using WAY less butter (1 T) and Buttermilk instead of half and half. Otherwise followed the recipe and used beef. I’d love to try it with lamb.
Excellent recipe, I added a diced hot chili from the garden (most American and ALL Irish recipes are a bit bland for me), and added a 1/4 cup red wine. Amazingly good. Thank you for the recipe!
I use cream corn and Bible’s instead of peas
This was delicious! Made a few substitutes based on what we had in the pantry: fresh carrots and corn. Also sub’d cornstarch for flour and chicken stock.
Definitely make this again 😊
Shepherd’s pie is delicious! You simply cannot beat the classic element of this recipe though, in making it for dinner, I am adding a dash of some homemade BBQ sauce to the meat. 🙂
Thank you for this recipe…easy to make and the Best Shepherd’s Pie I have ever ate!
I made this to use up left over hamburgers from high school fund raising event. Came home with over 20 burgers. Chopped them up with food chopper and followed the recipe. We like garlic so we doubled it. Thanks for good recipe.
Was an awesome dish, the whole family loved! I just went heavier on all the spices. Will definitely make again!
THIS WAS DELICIOUS….MY HUSBAND AND I LOVED IT…WILL DEFFFINITELY MAKE THIS AGAIN!
Easy to follow directions…turned out delicios! Definitely will be making this again.
Very very tasty. Loved this recipe
I’ve made this several times now, and it’s just perfect! I wouldn’t change a thing, which says a lot coining from me, as I’m always modifying recipes!
Absolutely delicious 😋🤤
Best shepherds pie I’ve ever had! Made it exactly as written except I also added 1/3 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese to the potatoes to increase the cheesy-ness! Delicious!