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.
This was so delicious. I used grated parmigiana cheese for the potato topping as that’s all I had and doubles the tomato sauce as I had no paste. It worked out perfectly. Can’t wait to make it again. A true Winner
The best recipe ever as the title suggests. I can’t fault it in any way whatsoever, the flavour of the mince filling (which I use beef in making it a cottage pie) is absolutely fantastic and rich, and as for the mash… the mash topping is incredible, I now use it to make my regular mash because it is that delicious, creamy and flavourful. Credits to whoever wrote the recipe, clearly lots of thought has gone into it and a massive thank you from myself and my family who devoured it!
I did the same. Placed the cast iron fry pan on top of a sheet pan. Grandkids are coming for lunch tomorrow…guess what we’re having? Next time I will half the recipe as there are only two of us….so guaranteed left overs too! We loved it and so did the kids!
Perfect!
my. children requested shepard pie for easter dinner
Excellent recipe. My Grandmother taught me to make ridges in the potato mash with a fork so you get browned edges but she would sprinkle the cheese over the meat mixture and make garlic mashed potatoes for the topping. I found cheese in the mashed potatoes also browns it. It is important to have a bit of crust. Just score the whole thing with a fork in a crosshatch pattern before baking.
You can toss in small dice turnips, rutabaga to stretch it. I also deglaze the pan with red wine before adding strongly flavored broth or beef gravy. Add salt at the end since the bullion/bisto and broth/gravy has varying amounts of salt. You can always add more salt bit you cant easily fix it if oversalted.
This was absolutely delicious! My family and I have never had Shepherd’s Pie before, and this will definitely be a repeat in our household. I also love that the veggies don’t include green beans or lima beans like I’ve seen in some recipes.
The best shepherd’s pie recipe I’ve found! Thanks for sharing!
Great recipe. I love casserole dishes but my Son-in-law is not a fan, but he had two helpings!
Personally, I loved it. Easy to put together. Great recipe for a quickie meal. Served with some garlic bread. I was the “bell of the ball” tonight. Thank you for the recipe. Can’t wait to try more!!!!
Excellent recipe. I added dried basil in lieu of parsley as well as a whole can of tomato paste. I used beef broth with red wine. I also boiled 3 garlic cloves with the potatoes and sprinkled paprika on top before baking.
Hands down my favorite shepherds pie. My parents finished it the first night. Love it, thank you.
Delicious! I mashed the potato together with some sweet potato, I like that combination but the sweet potato is very creamy so the cream/milk may not be necessary. I can’t have cow dairy so I added some goat gouda cheese on top of the potatoes. I have made shepherds pie many times over the years but this was my favourite of them all. It’s a keeper! Thank you!
This was a big hit with my family…who practically liked the baking dish to get it all! I did make alterations due to what was on hand. Cheddar cheese instead of Parmesan and frozen mixed veg instead of peas and carrots. Thanks for sharing
Great recipe! Will make this again for sure.
YUM!
Instead of flour I used gravy mix. It turned out so good, it’s the best batch we’ve made of this recipe to date! Cooking on top of a baking sheet was a great idea. I used a cast iron pan and put it on top of a sheet while baking.
4th time making it. My entire family loves it.
Great recipe.
I’ve made this twice this month! The family loves it! The only thing I did different was added a little slap ya mama because I like a little kick. It’s not much and my kids couldn’t tell.
Absolutely delicious!! Super simple to make and my entire family (including my 2 year old) had 2+ helpings. Definitely a keeper, thank you so much for sharing!!
Always use this recipe but us ground chicken. Turns out great everytime
Turned out magnificent! Especially your suggestion to place Casserole on top of pan if it looks full. The juices certainly did boil over! I was protected though! Thanks!
Turned out great. No peas or carrots on my end, personal preference.
FYI: I added Spanish Rice with ground beef, red and orange pepper , minced garlic and onions to mix the. Rest of those are combined to put in oven 40 minutes…