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.
Love this recipe. I added 4 tbsp of tomato paste instead of 2. I love tomatoes. This recipe is definitely a keeper!!!!
A comforting, and tasty Shepherd’s Pie that was enjoyed on a cold night. I made the recipe with minor changes based on what I had on hand, and like. Will make again this winter!!
So delicious and easy to make! My husband is vegetarian so I used Gardein beef 🙂
Used this recipe to get rid of some prime rib leftovers from Thanksgiving; chopped up the meat in the blender and used the Au jus for the “broth”. Only added some corn and parsley, thyme, and rosemary for the meat and did the potatoes as recipe calls for. It’s in the oven now, looks and smells amazing!
This is an excellent recipe! I add 1/2 of a can of cream corn (no salt added) to the veggie/meat mix right before assembly. My mom always added cream corn to her Shepherd’s Pie so I do too.
Absolutely delicious
Super delicious!! From now on I will definitely be making it this way. Satisfied all. Thanks 😊
Shepherds pie is made with Lamb, Cottage pie is made with Beef. FYI – Great recipe! Super tasty 😉
Delicious! Loved it…..perfect amount of rosemary and thyme (sometimes those can be overwhelming to me). I made mine with ground turkey and we thought it was great!
Your recipe for Shepherd pie was lovely and we enjoyed every morsel. Thank you for your goodness!
Hi! Loved your chili recipe, so I came back for another ground beef dish because we ALWAYS have ground beef in the house.
Any suggestions on making this in the pressure cooker? (After cooking the beef and potatoes separately of course.)
Easy to make, and delicious on a good autumn evening!
I have some extra. can I assemble and freeze?
This is delicious. Regular SP is gross to me. Tastes like stuff thrown together and zapped and named something. This however has flavor and is delicious. I’m pretty sure I made mine in two dishes total…. and Im about to do it again so, if you’re lazy, maybe two dishes is too many… I don’t know. People have been requesting it on repeat since I made it. My only wish is that I had the recipe for a bigger size dish.
Fabulous instructions and recipe. Thank you!
Super delicious dish! Everyone loved it!
Outstanding easy family friendly recipe!
Can you freeze leftovers?
Great recipe. Easy to watch a baseball game and step away a few times. One of the best Shepard’s Pie I’ve tried. While making the meat mixture I knew it would be good because it smelled amazing. Perfectly spiced. I did use insta potatoes because I’m a busy mom. But it was still delicious.
takes too long to make uses too many dishes too wash. regular sheppards pie much easier and tastier.
I just started cooking and have made this twice now and it is awesome. The directions were easy to follow. I put shredded cheddar on top before baking and made some brown gravy to pour on it. I like your chili recipe also
This was my second time making this amazing dish and our whole family still loves it! I think I needed extra potatoes because I did 1.5 lbs meat and in a 13×9 pan. Anyway we have a 9 mo old who I pureed his serving for and he loved it!
This was a total hit worth the extra work I used ground venison absolutely delish thank you!!!!