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.
Wonderful recipe. I substituted ground venison and added for the meat and added a tbd of g butter and included some mushrooms pan roasted and added to the base. Thank you so for sharing this recipe. It was wonderful even with the changes.
Does the lamb pie freeze well?
I am from South Africa so I had to google what half and half is. The pie was delicious, and will definitely be my go-to recipe. Thank you for sharing.
Wonderful recipe! I used 7 medium potatoes and a little more half and half for the mashed potatoes. I also used one cup each of the peas, carrots and corn. It was the best Shepherds Pie I’ve ever had.
This is a phenomenal recipe! Highly recommend! We add extra Worcestershire sauce since the word is long and hard to pronounce and it enhances the flavor! Caveat: the prep time listed here is cheating the system somehow. It took me a full hour running around at record speed before it got to the oven bake time. Enjoy!!!
As a cancer patient w/ swallowing challenges I’ve been looking for healthy options. This has become a staple for me. Really tasty and even better as left overs.
We really enjoy this recipe.. we never have peas on hand, so I use canned string beans and cut those in half so they’re more the size with the carrot pieces. What I like about this dish is I can make the mashed potatoes during the day so when it comes time to preparing the meat it seems to be a lot easier… even though it’s technically the same amount of work and time… 🤣😉
Delicious!
I added a little red wine to it. This was a house crowd pleaser. My 8 year old, and 3 year old loved it!!!
Seemed to be a typo either in the amount of beef or the amount of potatoes. Weighed another potato after we finished layering and they were nearly 1 pound each on the money. The meat and veggies were 1 1/2 inches deep and only about 1/2 inch of potatoes. Either needed to cut the beef part in half or double the potato’s. Taste thought is 10/10. Thanks!
Made this for the first time. The only thing I changed was adding japanese golden curry paste. With a sprinkle of cheddar after potatoes were golden brown, my son is sometimes picky and my fiance was skeptical. I used 2xs recipe and let me say it was phenomenal. I thought I’d have lord of left overs, but nope husband had 3 helpings, my son and I had 2. New favorite thank you!!!
Shaun,
I weighed my russet potatoes in the store and bought 1 1/2 pounds, which was 4 good size russet potatoes and the meat layer was the same depth as my mashed potato layer. This recipe is a keeper for us.
This has to be the best Shepherd Pie ever made.Made multiple times. Due to Husband is a picky eater.
Due to cost of groceries, could the filling be made then FREEZED for future meal. When ready to make defrost then add mash potatoes.
Any suggestions greatly appreciated.
Bkkajn
This dish is awesome!!! My husband’s all time favorite!!!! Thank you for the recipe!!!!
This has become a family favorite and I often make it for guests too, who always love it! In fact I am making it again today for my husband and I and thought I should finally give compliments to the original chef for the recipe! It is delicious! I use lamb when I make it by the way!
I finally commented today as I also made it again!! The best recipe!
Wow this was the bomb! Best shepherds pie ever!
Thank you!
This recipe was amazing! My family was crazy for it! Most definitely will be a main staple in my cooking routine!!! Minor changes: I used butter instead of oil, and cooked fresh carrots and celery with the onions. I only had fresh rosemary on hand, but it all turned out yummmmmy.
Best ever Shepherd’s. So much flavour. I used half cauliflower and half potato for topping and added some mushrooms to the meat (to get some extra vegetables into the dish) component. Many thanks highly recommend making this dish so much flavour.
Made for my partner’s birthday and we absolutely loved it. Great recipe.
Love it. I double the recipe to have enough since my family loves it so much!
For those that have doubled the recipe….did it work good…any modifications? This is one of our families favorite recipes and I am having a big family dinner tonight and would like to make it. Suggestions welcome!!
Doubled it and it’s just as good. Did 10 more min in oven and let it sit for 30 min
This is delicious! Just made it for the third time!!
Awesome directions 👌
Can you use canned peas and cooked diced carrots? Thank you!
This is now my go-to Shepherds Pie recipe (after trying so many others). Adding garlic powder to the mash makes this extremely special.