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.
Very good recipe. I use fresh herbs like the rosemary and thyme. Very good. I also put rosemary and oregano in the mashed potatoes. So delicious. You can use the packet of dry potatoes and it’s quicker. They say “just add water” but I use milk and butter and lots of herbs and seasoning. Taste so good and quick. I also use canned veggies not frozen. A lot quicker and better. Total time with cooking was about 1hr. It also made 2 casserole 9×13 dishes. I also used 2lbs ground beef.
So creamy, savory, moist and wonderful! For some reason it takes me 3 hours but most cooking takes me way longer than normal people take. The only thing I do differently is sear the beef first to get a brown crust (I put little chunks in the hot pan) and then I deglaze the pan with some red wine. Otherwise I use this recipe everytime and it’s so delicious
My mother-in-law and my husband loves it so much. It will be my second time making it today. Thanks for sharing this recipe🙏
This is phenomenal! The spice mixture is perfect and creates something really delicious. I made just one modification to made it vegetarian (and added a couple splashes of my favorite Cabernet (Seven Moons)). I used one pound of beyond ground meat and 1 lb of sliced white mushrooms. I used 1.5x the spices, tomato paste, flour, and Worcestershire sauce (yes I know this has anchovies). The mushrooms cooked down considerably, so didn’t create so much mass the mashed potato couldn’t cover them.
Made it with instant mashed potatoes instead to save time, it was great!
This is delicious! I’ve made a few times now and just substitute the ground beef with Beyond Beef ground. Perfect for a chilly evening by the ocean. Thank you for sharing!
This is amazing! I had tried 1 other recipe last year and this is the best I have tried! It takes a bit of work to finish it but I actually did a double batch so I have a ton of reward for my effort! I omitted the flour and just added less broth to compensate and it turned out fine. I did not have cheese on hand and the food was so great I actually forgot about not having it! Husband and daughter loved it. Thanks for the recipe.
Excellent seasoning in this!! The rosemary and thyme really compliment the beef. I like a lot of vegetables so I will add a few more the next time I make this.
So delicious!! Third time I’ve made it in two weeks!! My recipe was ho hum but this one rocks! Thank you so much ❤️
Perfect recipe. Right amount of seasoning compared to others that end up being too bland. Definitely a keeper.
I made this tonight and my kids 5, 3, and 1 gobbled it up. We all loved it! Only problem was there wasn’t enough! Haha Making it again soon!
I just made this, had ingredients on hand. I got home at 630, started at 640 and it has 10 minutes left in the oven and its 735 now. I didn’t feel it was time consuming at all.
Thank you for a great recipe! I used left over meatloaf and mashed potatoes to create this today. It is wonderful!
This is a very delicious recipe. Very flavorful and I am making it again tonight.
An outstanding Shepherd’s pie! I used frozen peas, frozen corn and fresh carrots (cut into 1/4 inch chunks). The fresh carrots have have excellent texture to bite into – not too hard, not to soft. Fresh grated parmesan takes this to the next level as well.
I have frozen this recipe as well and it is fabulous! If you are contemplating what type of gift to give to a person that has everything, consider making a batch, and freezing it into single serving foil packs. I made 6 of these packages for my contractor brother who called me each and every night that he cooked a package to thank and complement me again.
Best gift ever given!
Can I ask what you mean by foil packs? I wanted to make this and freeze single-serve portions but I was struggling with thinking of a good way to freeze it!
I would like an invitation to your friend list. I apparently don’t have the right friends. If someone were to go through the effort of making this for me AND delivering it packaged? Well, they’d go straight to Best Friend for Life. All kidding aside, your friend are quite blessed.
Did you freeze before or after cooking?
Amazing recipe! Incredibly easy to make. I’m able to make this dish from start to finish in 55 minutes. The best part about this dish is almost all ingredients are already in the pantry. If you don’t have one substitute for another. If you have everything ready and can cook sauce while potatoes are boiling your able to have both done at roughly the same time. Then their both already hot and reduces baking time. Easy peasy and 5 stars from me
I am interested in freezing this recipe to bake later. Do you mind sharing how he cooked his? What do you recommend? Should I thaw it overnight in the fridge? Or should I just put it straight from freezer to oven for a longer time?
Do you cook it completely before freezing it?
I love this recipe but who are we kidding on time to make it. It takes at least 30 minutes to measure all ingredients out as a lot of ingredients plus shopping for the spices and frozen vegetables.
Another hour to get it together and then 30-40 minutes for potatoes. I have made numerous times and will
Continue to make but people should really not think this is a quick meal.
But in reality, can’t some of these items be done at the same time? I start the potatoes to cook- then work on the filling at the same time so that the timing isn’t stacked one after the other- they overlap. I find this to be a relatively quick comfort meal for weeknights. As far as measuring ingredients…I guess that depends on how you keep and measure them- but this is very doable for a weeknight in our house. I guess your mileage may vary!
I followed the recipe but cooked the potatoes while cooking the meat. Assembly and bake time were as directed. Wait time to serve was a little longer as I doubled the recipe in a 9X13” clay baker. It was fabulous.
I use boxed potatoes to make it quickly
Why would you include shopping in for time to make it?…..the time noted is after all ingredients are purchased
Exactly, Doris! Recipe websites often underestimate time, amount of ingredients, etc. Probably to make it seem simpler to prepare, lol. But this really is a delicious recipe !
I think you’re absolutely right! This took like 2.5 hours to make..
Hello Doris, yes I agree with you. If making from start to finish in one go, it absolutely is time consuming. I would suggest to chop and measure ingredients the day before as well as to prepare the potatoes ahead of time. The following day would be used to cook the meat mixture, assemble the ingredients according to the recipe and bake. I double the recipe as it freezes well too. This recipe is delicious!
I use instant mashed potatoes to save time. But you are right, it is time consuming to make!
Disagree. These are all kitchen staples – I had everything and have not been to the grocery store in over a week. Less than 30 minutes from refrigerator to oven. Easy and delicious weeknight meal.
My son is 16 and loves Shepherds pie. I’ve made many variations over the years, but when I made this one both my husband and son commented that it was the best yet. Thanks!
Easy breezy recipe and my housemates loved it! I added a 1/2 cup of dry red wine to the house and extra minced garlic
Everyone was right! This is delicious! So flavorful and satisfying. You need to make this…
This was easy and delicious. I enjoyed this dish and very filling.
Simplicity’s at its best so delicious my Son Dylan came over the other day for a visit after work we put it together and baked it in my large cast iron skillet comfort food at its best