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.
Soooo tasty! This is our new Family favourite go to recipe. We had to sun savoury for rosemary as we ran out but it was just as delicious.
This Shepards pie recipe was amazing!!!! I will forever be using this mashed potatoes recipe!
Delicious comfort food! Used sun-dried tomoato paste for a bit more flavor.
Can you freeze it after making and before baking it?
Best Shepherd’s Pie recipe!!! Made the top with yams instead of potatoes and tripled the vegetables. Sooooo good!!!
I’ve made this recipe twice. It made me underatand why I never liked my mom’s shepherd’s pie. It was always just beef, corn and potatoes. No sauce or flavor enhancements of any kind. My bf likes it too. I’m so sorry, mom. 😭
Delicious recipe, thanks for sharing. It’s now one of my favourites, especially the topping. Did not have any parsley in my cupboard so I used oregano instead – turned out really well.
I make this recipe as it’s written using ground lamb but substituting Yukon gold potatoes for the russets. It is an easy delicious one dish meal.
Fool proof and delicious! My New Mexico friend suggested adding green chiles which I plan to do next time.
Made this, because I was in a hurry used mashed potatoes from super Market. Well known sausage maker and restaurant. Aslo subbed herbs do Provence for parsley, thyme and rosemary because I had only fresh from garden and no time to prep. It was delicious.
I like this recipe, but I put cheddar cheese on top the potatoes then bake.
I have never made this before but I found ground lamb at the store so I bought it (for the first time ever) and I used that. This recipe was delicious! Food gasms with every bite! We BBQ lamb frequently but this was relatively quick and easy ( I’m the slowest cook in the world) and so so tasty! Thank you for the recipe!
This is hands down one of my favorite recipes. I modified it one day because I had an inordinate amount of pulled pork left over and was running out of ideas to use it up, so I tried it with this recipe instead of the ground meat. As insane as it sounds, it was incredibly delicious!
So good and easy to make. We added parm on top.
Yes, I was surprised too to find a 5 Star recipe for Shepherd’s Pie rated by over 300 people until I tried it! If you’re wondering if it could seriously be THAT good, the answer is a resounding YES! This recipe is legit! I only make Shepherd’s Pie when I’m looking to use up leftover mashed potatoes. I followed the recipe exactly doctoring up my own leftover potatoes by adding some butter, half and half or light cream, garlic salt (I didn’t have powder) and the parmesan cheese after warming them up in the microwave and mixing it well till creamy. The seasonings in this dish are so perfect, it could honestly be served in a restaurant! We all raved about it! This excellent and delicious dish is a new favorite and will be my go to recipe anytime I have leftover mashed potatoes . . . which I hope will be more often! I may just throw a few extra potatoes in the pot, accidentally on purpose, of course, just to make that happen! 😉
Made this tonight. I used the ground lamb. It was delicious!!
Thank you. This was easy to prepare and the result more than worth it! I used ground lamb but I will make this again using ground pork. I’m sure it’ll be just as delicious!
Very delicious
Absolutely awesome make all the time
I made this Shepherd’s Pie, especially for my son, who had insisted that Shepherd’s pie needed to be made with lamb mince. I had always used beef mince and he had declared “that’s cottage pie, not Shepherd’s”.
This recipe has been a game changer, so tasty and comes out perfect every time. No more beef mince for us. Thank you