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.
Outstanding flavor. A bit of prep time (think like lasagna) but well worth the effort. Used ground lamb and it was so flavorful. Will make again.
This is a delicious recipe! Only change I made was to use milk in place of half and half.
Best recipe I’ve tried! The whole family loved it and asked that I make a double batch next time.
First time ever leaving a comment/rating on a recipe. This was SO SO GOOD! I didn’t grow up with Shepherd’s Pie, but liked it the few times when I had it elsewhere (always with beef). That is, until I was grown – now they all seemed rather lackluster. But I wanted to try again for St. Patrick’s Day, and this one looked promising. It did not disappoint – it was the perfect balance of flavors, even for someone who doesn’t always like lamb!
3 modifications: I drained the fat from my lamb/onions after cooking, used canned carrots because I don’t like frozen ones, and used vegetable broth, because I didn’t have beef. Otherwise, I followed the recipe to a tee!
I followed the recipe except for a few mods and it came out PERFECT! This was my first time making Shepard’s Pie and I was a little intimidated, but it was beyond a success!
I only made a few small modifications bc it was all I had on hand:
substituted ketchup for tomato paste
canned corn for frozen
for potatoes I used instant (1 packet of Idahoan) but used 2 cups milk instead of water to make potato mix
added 3 tbsp butter
doubled the parmesan (all to enhance flavor of instant potatoes)
still used 1/3 half and half and spices
Thank you Amanda for an AMAZING recipe!
This recipe is super delicious, loved it thank you Amanda!
I’ve never had Shepherds Pie before but wanted to make something Irish for St. Paddy’s Day. I had asked several friends about it and they raved about the dish. So I decided I’d find a recipe… and here I am with a review.
So, I prepped everything as written but after doing a taste of the meat mixture I added 1 tsp of red pepper flakes (we like spicy stuff) & doubled the garlic. I also added a bit of white cheddar to the top of the mashed potatoes and broiled the last 5 minutes to crisp them a bit.
Definitely going into our winter rotation! Thanks for the recipe.
** Side Note**
My husband saw the meat mix (while it was resting on the counter waiting for the potatoes) and made a disgusted face and asked why I was even trying a new recipe. I have to admit it didn’t smell or look pretty. However, when dinner was served, hubs took an unusually small portion… Then went back for seconds… Then stated, “I could eat the whole pan.”
This recipe was amazing. I used ground lamb for the first time ever (on sale today for St. Patty’s Day.). Made a few changes to reduce fat: only used half a stick of butter in the potatoes and also used fat free half n half. Completely delicious and my husband and I both loved it! Highly recommended.
I forgot to mention that i also subbed 1;1 gluten free flout and used GF Worcestershire sauce, so that the whole meal was gluten free! Awesome.
As good as the Irish bar we frequent.
Easy to fix for a last minute St. pattys day feast!! Yum
Thankyou
So good & easy!!
This recipe was awesome! I put a bay leaf in when I browned the meat and used demi glace with my beef broth. My husband was licking his plate 😛
Perfect!!
Delicious! Better than any Shepard’s pie I have had😋
I really enjoyed this but I would decrease the rosemary and thyme to 1/4 tsp. Definitely a keeper.
can this recipe be made ahead?
Happy St. Patrick’s Day!!! I just cooked this recipe, and it came out great!!!
This dish was fabulous! My family definitely wants me to make this again. (I used ground beef) It’s a winner!
I made this today for St. Patrick’s Day. Replaced the potatoes with cauliflower and everybody LOVED it!!
Thank you ❤
Delicious! I only used 1/2 the butter for the potato mixture just to cut a few calories and it was still delicious!