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.
ONLY YOUR SHEPHERD PIE IS THE BEST WITH ALL THOSE SEASONS AND EVEN PARMESAN CHEESE ADDED MAKING IT DELICIOUS.MOST PERSON DO NOT SEASON THIER PIE SO IT FAR FROM DELICIOUS YOUR PIE IS FIRST CLASS
Make this for bingo night in a retirement community. They rave over it. Have never had any left over. Thanks for making me a favorite person here.
Recipe was delicious. I added a cup and a half broth and it was still no juice when I took it out of the oven.
This was so good! Loved everything about it.
It was a hit! All my kids and their friend’s loved it for dinner! Great recipe, thank you! 5 stars!!
I use this with half ground lamb and half Venison. Added some extra garlic, And used garlic, mashed cauliflower potatoes. Made it Keto friendly and it was delicious. I’m not keto but my family is and I still enjoyed it.
Im cooking this tomorrow night…looks yummy. I’m going to try the lamb..my family loves lamb.
Hi, I’m making this to take a meal to our son and daughter in laws house. They just had our first grandchild. 🩷 and this is my son’s favorite meal. I also make it GF since he has Celiac disease. Anyway, I am tripling the recipe so I’m wondering if I should use 3 sticks of butter in the potatoes. Seems like a lot!
Delicious!
I added more worsty-sauce, as I was working with more beef, and A FEW teaspoons of miso. The miso adds a great depth and more umami to beef 🙂
This is the best shepherd’s pie. My husband said he loved this dish. I looked it up on a Google search. He loves it!
This was excellent! I did not have tomato paste, so I used 2 tbs of tomato soup and it still came out very flavorful! Definitely a keeper!
LOL I use instant mashed potatoes, an envelope of baby reds because I am always in a hurry and maybe a little lazy, everyone loves this recipe, the substitution is good for busy weekday meals. 😉
I did this recipe and found it to be delicious. Top with cheddar cheese.
We made it with 1.5 lb of ground lamb.
Also use fresh thyme and rosemary. 2 tsp of each. Delish!
Wonderful! Just like my Mum used to make. I made it in foil dishes for the freezer and pull them out when I’m too tired to cook.
Made this couple of times now and came back here to leave a review. I omitted rosemary and thyme and used Bob Evans traditional mashed potatoes. I highly recommend a family size package. This pie is better with more potatoes. I also sprinkled some thick cut shredded cheddar cheese and broiled the pie for couple of minutes at the end of cooking time. Pie came out beautiful and delicious. Really quick to put together with pre-made potatoes. Hope this helps someone.
This IS the best Shepard’s Pie recipe!! (I was recently going to try another and my husband said “Why?? Nothing can be better than the one you make!”) My family (kids too) love it! It’s my go to for the first brisk Fall day and a frequent meal in the winter!
(For our palettes though I eliminated the rosemary and thyme! )
I use this as my base recipe for venison shepards pie. I add a little extra worcestershire and whip my potatoes to peaks to get nice golden tips when baking. Great go-to recipe!
Delicious. Thanks for the recipe.
My husband suddenly decided that he wanted Shepherd’s Pie, which I had never made. This recipe was so easy to follow and the flavor was outstanding! I’ll definitely be making this a regular menu item!
This was so delicious! I loved the seasoning of the meat part. So good!
This was so yummy! I didn’t have any tomato paste but I was still really pleased with the result! I’ll add the tomato paste next time!
My go to Shepards pie recipe! I double the recipe and freeze the extra pie for another day! Simple and delicious. Makes a great portable meal for new parents or sick loved ones too!
DELICIOUS RECIPE!! ** I would recommend doubling the amount of potatoes – as the recipe is, the layer of potatoes when spread on top comes out as a very thin layer and the meat mixture kind of boils over the top of the potatoes while it’s in the oven because the layer of potatoes is too thin.
I’ve made this multiple times now for different people and is currently my go to recipe for shepherd’s pie.Nobody has drowned it in ketchup!!!! There’s no need to. The gravy is wonderful and very tasty. I will teach it to my granddaughters, who absolutely love it, so that they will utilize it as their “go to” shepherd’s pie recipe. Thank you for this awesome recipe 😊
Love the shepherds pie. Very easy and fast and the addition of Worcestershire sauce and tomato paste is wonderful
We loved it! We are having leftovers tonight. What is the best way to reheat? Thank you.
This was super delicious! Everyone had seconds and really enjoyed it. Served 3 hungry adults.
My little sister very like it 😊😁
I tried this recipe, it tasted delicious. The only issue was, when cutting the pie, it kind of fell apart lol. How did you get the potatoes to sit firm on top of the meat mixture? Your picture looks like an actually piece cut from a pie.