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.
It was so tasty! My family of 4 adults and two kids enjoyed it so much that they asked me to double it next time so everyone can have seconds or leftovers. It’s only been one day and I’ve already passed on this amazing recipe to family members three times.
The best recpie I have ever seen for shepherds pie! I thank you and more importantly my husband thanks you!
This is so good and very easy to make. yummy comfort food
Fantastic!!!!! I am an accomplished home cook and was looking for the best way to flavor a Shepard’s pie. These astringent seasonings play so well with the rich flavor of the beef and the umami of the Worcestershire Sauce and tomato paste made it almost seem as if I’d added red wine….which would be an ok addition.
Anyway, this recipe is saved and will be a go to, for sure.
I do a lot of cooking but for some reason I’ve never made shepard’s pie before. This was one of the first recipes that came up and sounded super easy. It was not only easy but delicious!! I didn’t change the meat mixture at all but
made a couple changes to the potatoes. Instead of butter I added about 4 oz of cream cheese and added some American cheese. Then I did a thin layer on shredded cheddar between the meat and potatoes. And also crumbled some bacon on top right at the end 😋
Absolutely delicious, I used fresh carrots and had to substitute tomato sauce for paste but it was absolutely delicious. Next time I think I’ll crush the rosemary before adding to give extra flavor and less needles when eating.
More parmesan cheese is not going to hurt either
I don’t eat meat so I used beyond beef and it came out delicious!!!!!
I just made it with the Impossible burger beef and it is so good!
I Made this the other night and started by doing sweet onion, garlic, celery and fresh carrots all finely diced in some butter, then added the ground beef which was a 93% mix. Lastly added peas and corn, 1/2 beef broth with the flour to thicken. Boiled 4 Idaho potatoes. I like them the best because the texture is more like a potato grown in Ireland. Added the herbs. Used some buttermilk (it was left over from an Irish Brown Bread recipe) a Tablespoon of sour cream and butter, along with cheddar cheese (about 1/4) before mashing the potato. Prior to baking sprinkled the top of the casserole with additional cheddar. This is a fairly simple recipe that can be adapted to what someone has on hand. As a younger person thought this to be a complicated dish, but as my cooking skills improve it became a cinch. My son makes this for his family and follows the recipe to a tee. They love it.
made this for supper tonight it was a hit ! I didn’t have all ingredients so modified recipe a bit. Instead of tomato paste I used ketchup. I also used beef broth to mash the potatoes as I didn’t have half and half nor believe it or not milk lol. My hubby loved it so so so good I will be making this again. Maybe next time with the right ingredients.
I’ve made Shepard’s for 20 years, and since using this recipe, I’m suddenly getting lots of compliments. Thank you!!!! 🙂
I’ve made this recipe several times before, but I’m finally adding a comment and rating. It has become one of my go-to dinners and is a household favorite. It is so easy and so delicious. Leftovers are fabulous, if I’m lucky to have any. I didn’t tonight, but I usually add mushrooms. Aside from that, I follow the recipe exactly and it never falls. Thank you!
Ohhhh! That sounds good! When do you add the mushrooms? Fresh, canned, sauteed? Would love details. Thanks for the idea!
Like others have said, I have been craving a good shephard’s pie. We used ground turkey (because pandemic said no ground beef for you!) and 3 tsp Italian seasoning instead, as we don’t use the herbs listed enough to justify the purchase. I used the frozen green beans, corn, carrots, and peas bc also, pandemic says no willy nilly choice for you! I also made mashed potatoes the way I usually make them, which calls for wayyyy more salt than what was listed.
This.
Was.
So.
Good!
My 13 year old told me to put it in the recipe box, which is usually only reserved for stuff she wants to eat again. Total win, and this will enter our rotation.
Do veggies have to be frozen?
I had frozen peas and corn but raw carrots. I just diced carrots and steamed them for a few monutes in the microwave. Then added them in with the rest of the veggies.
This looks really good and very simple/easy! Going to make this for my 99 year old mom tomorrow! I’ll let you know what she thinks! Lol
Your pics of this are really beautiful!
Thank you so much for this recipe! It was superb! I made a dairy-free and gluten-free version, and my husband told me that he loved it and PLEASE to never make my usual low-carb cauliflower-based shepherd’s pie again, LOL! Thanks for this great recipe!
I just made this. We already had a great recipe for Shepard’s Pie and we are very picky. I figured i’d try a new one just to give it a go. This one was fantastic! It was even better than the one we usually make! I’d absolutely recommend it! My son ate two servings of it!
Delicious. Never made it before.
Sure will try, look so yummy
Yes wonderful
I made this recipe last night and it was delish! I followed the meat filling recipe exactly, but I only had 85% ground beef and just drained the fat before adding all the herbs. I also did not make the mash potatoes. I had a tub of store bought mash potatoes that I Just heated up as per the directions and added to the top of the meat mixture. It turned out perfect. Thank you for the recipe.
Wow! I’m not normally a Shepherd’s Pie fan, but my husband loves them so I decided to make this. It was absolutely delicious! My husband said it was the best Shepherd’s Pie he’d ever had! The only changes I made (due to not having/not being able to get to the store) were: I used shredded cheddar cheese instead of Parmesan; I used 1/4 teaspoon of ground thyme in place of the thyme leaves.
Very tasty! I was craving shepherds pie after my recent trip to Ireland, I stumbled across this recipe and it did not disappoint.
I used 5 potatoes instead of 2, and I used half a stick of butter instead of a whole and the mashed potatoes turned out wonderful. Thank you for this fabulous recipe!