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 is my first time making Shepherd’s Pie. My husband has enjoyed it before, but it’s new to me. Other than doubling the veggies, I followed the recipe and we love it!
Used ketchup instead of tomato paste, and put Parmesan cheese on top instead of in mashed potatoes. Yummy recipe!
A small question, potato topping third item says 1/3 half and half??? Not sure what this measurement is for.
Half and half is a mixture of half milk, half heavy cream. It’s basically just a thicker, creamier milk. Great for potatoes, shit for anything else 😅
Probably cup, and it seems to be right.
1/3 cup of half and half
Half and half is a mixture of milk and cream(half of each). It’s in the dairy section next to the cream. They mean 1/3 cup of “half and half”.
Half and half refers to 10% cream. So a third cup of 10% cream. If you don’t have that you could replace with 18% or 33%.
1/3 cup
yum yum
this was awesome
Made it exactly as per the recipe and it’s so delicious 😋
Excellent shepherds pie.
This has become my go-to recipe on St. Patrick’s Day. I’m not a huge fan of corned beef and cabbage, so I was on a mission to find something else to eat on that holiday. It’s a huge hit. My husband and I love it and have had it multiple times throughout the year! I even use your suggested mashed potatoes recipe when making them as a side dish. Thanks so much!
Best shepherds pie I’ve tried!
excellent.easy, and delicious..it was perfect and my family loved it !!!
Easy and delicious! I used corn and green beans for veggies, just my preference.I love this recipe!
I think that adding green beans is an excellent idea. Thanks for the help.
Did you use shredded Parmesan or the stuff you sprinkle of spaghetti?
I love this recipe, the combination of the two things is great but the mashed potatoes by themselves are amazing. This is my families new go to Shepard’s pie recipe. We love our pasta so it’s nice to switch it up with this. Great use of chopped meat too. Thanks for the yummy idea.
What an aroma, and full of flavour! My go to recipe. Thank you for sharing.
I lived in the UK and have missed real Shepherd’s pie with lamb so much. I came across lamb in the store and then found this recipe. This is the real deal. I did make some adjustments. I partially cooked the meat first and drained it. Then I cooked the onions and used some of the lamb fat instead of oil and then added the lamb meat back in. I also doubled the vegitables. My elementary aged son loved it so much that he asked me to make it again for his birthday dinner! (Draining the fat made it less mushy and runny.) I served it with Yorkshire Pudding and two veg on the side just like my best friends Mum back in England does. Yum!!!
I just made this fit the first time w/ lamb, delishious. I have leftover baked potatoes, I used then instead of boiling more… Best decision, peeled, cut up and heated them in micro. Added butter and heavy cream, smashed all up. Mixed with the cheese and…OMG. THANKS FOR SHARING.
Just made this tonight and it’s absolutely amazing! My husband said it’s as good as he had in an Irish restaurant we go to. Definitely saving this recipe!
My friends husband just got out of the hospital, they’re newlyweds so she’s had a pretty rough week, so I asked what they were hungry for,and I’d cook it for them. (He was tired of bland hosp food,) after much deliberation they told me Shepards Pie. I’m 58 and I cook alot, and I’m a good, no great cook, and I’ve never made a Shepards Pie. I found this one, and boy am I ever glad I did. This is fantastic, they loved it so much, shes never going to use her old recipe, only this one. I of course tweeked a few things. Omg, I could barely wait til it came out of the oven. I made some Red Lobster type biscuits , and mini cherry cheesecake tacos for dessert, what a wonderful meal. Thanks so much for sharing it with us.
Best Shepard’s Pie ever! I used ground beef. It tasted even better the next day . Thank you!
Wow! I never leave reviews but this is a great recipe! So easy and delicious
My family loves this. I make it with arrowroot flour instead of regular flour and regular frozen mixed vegetables. The family loves it and I’m able to keep it gluten free (we have a family member with an auto immune disease that gluten aggravates).
It’s definitely on a regular rotation.
I had to do some creative substituting once I realized I did NOT have tomato paste (pureed some canned tomatoes and used gravy instead of broth to help compensate for the moisture difference), but somehow it still turned out great. Thank you!