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.
Such a great recipe! Added a bit more salt than what the recipe calls for after the meat/veggies were cooked (used low sodium beef broth so that might have been a factor) but otherwise followed the recipe to a T and it came out amazing. Will definitely be making this again!
Can I use instant mashed potatoes
So flavorful/herby – I feel like I’m in the French countryside! I’ve made it twice with ground deer meat – it freezes well, too. Thank you for this!
Excellent recipe. I doubled for 9×13 pan. Great flavor! I used a bit more beef stock in meat and about half the butter in the potatoes. Highly recommend making this.
Great recipe!!! Made this tonight for my boyfriend and I , and will be making this again and again!
I’ve tried several Shepherd’s Pie recipes over the years and this one is, by far, the best! Hubs agrees. This is now my sole recipe for this dish, which has now graduated to the regular rotation. Thank you, Amanda, for sharing! Yum:)
Really good recipe with a diverse number of ingredients to give it an amazing depth of flavor! A hit with my wife and kids, I’ll be making this recipe again and again for years to come!
It was fun to make and tasted wonderfully delicious!
I made it just like the recipe and it was wonderful. and i’m the type of person who adds a little this and that. But I’ve found if you follow the recipe the first time, and it’s good, don’t mess it and tell the cook this…so I did. Thank you
Used half ground beef and half fake meat.
Made this and it was delicious! Great go to for a fast weeknight recipe! Uses all the staples that are in the house.
So trying this recipe but thinking about making it in my large muffin pan for individual ‘pies’ that I can make and freeze.
Yummm.. just made this and it came out so delicious. I had to make few subs because I didn’t have everything, but stuck to the quantities and flavour profile. The meat sauce came out creamy and flavourful, as did the potatoes. Will my super picky toddler eat this? Probably not haha. But that’s ok – more for me.
I had no Worcestershire Sauce and used Bragg’s Liquid Aminos instead- but quadruple since it’s relatively weaker/waterier. Success!
I didn’t find the prep time very accurate, even though I made the potatoes in advance it still took me 35 mins to make and assemble everything. I have made it twice in the past month great taste profile. Easy home cooked meal with mostly staple ingredents.
10/10 recommend!! This was amazing.
New tip: make upside down. Place potatoes on the bottom, veggies in the middle, and meat on top so the sauces seep into the layers below. Did this by chance (added to stored my leftover potatoes from a precious meal) but will do on purpose from now on!
We are a picky group of 3. Dinner is a challenging meal. MIL doesn’t eat beef or pork, I will not eat mushrooms or olives and the hubby, well … it just depends. We used impossible burger and chicken broth and it was very good. I think next time I may add a small amount of red chili flakes, or not. Thank you for this recipe,
Can you use the pre-made mashed potatoes for this recipe?
Very delicious and flavorful. It’s just as good as the popular local Irish Pub’s Sheperd’s Pie.
I made this recipe exactly as written except o switched out 99% FF ground turkey breast for ground beef. So delicious! What I loved was the Parmesan cheese mixed into the potatoes. So scrumptious!