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.
I’m trying to use what I have on hand… What happens if i don’t put the flour in the meat ?? Is it essential so can it do without ?
Best dish EVER!
My husband love it!! Always going to restaurants looking for the shepperds pie …nothing make him happy….i try before with another recipe and was like …nope this is not the one… i found this recipe …try it and he love it…this is it…The recipe was perfect in every way…the directions were perfect… thanks!!!
Love this recipe! Reminds me of my childhood!
Great recipe!! My 9 and 8 year old picky eaters asked for seconds. What? The only thing I did differently was green beans and corn (that’s what I had on hand), and I already had leftover mashed potatoes in the fridge. The filling was so yummy. A hit all around at our house!
It looks so yummy, I have a big family if i wanted to bake in a 9×13 could I just double the recipe??
That’s what I just did . It made enough to make a couple servings for my bachelor son, too! Yum!!
Best Sheppard’s Pie out there!!
Nice Irish Shepard’s Pie, even coming from a German! LOLOL!!!
Great recipe and my wife, Saoirse and I love it. CHEERS!
My daughter, 17 years old, loved the flavor. Very delicious.
I made this for my family and it was amazing, I have a big family so I tripled the ingredients and substituted 1 cup of beef Broth for a cup of Guinness! Very amazing 10/10 recipe!
This was such a fantastic recipe! My young kids, husband and I all gave it big thumbs up! I used ground venison my husband shot and potatoes, carrots, onions, corn, thyme and parsley from our own garden so it was super local! I also subbed skim milk for the half and half and reduced the butter. This will definitely join our meal rotation! Thanks for the recipe!
Delicious comfort food! I grew up eating what my mom called “Shepherd’s Pie” but apparently it was really cottage pie. This is the first time I’ve ever made it for my family & it was a hit…even with 3 picky teens! I doubled the recipe but didn’t double rosemary & thyme (Personal preference) and added extra 1/2 T Worcestershire sauce & 1/2 T coconut aminos. Also I didn’t have tomato paste so I substituted 1 c tomato sauce & used 1 c water with 2 beef bullion cubes.
I made this with ground turkey and it came out delicious! I did add a bit more broth and tomato paste to the meat filling to get the consistency a bit more moist. Also, I cut the butter in half and used milk instead of half&half and the potato topping still tasted amazing. We will definitely be making this again – was a great hit. Also reheated well for leftovers – 350F for 20 mins, covered, in the oven.
This was very tasty. we made it with half lamb and half ground beef so it was Shepherd’s Cottage Pie.
After cooking it once, I definitely recommend preparing the meat mixture ahead of time just to make the counter space logistics a little easier.
I also think the rosemary was a little overwhelming. I was using a brand new jar of rosemary from a spice store rather than from the grocery store so that may be the cause.
This was very good and we will definitely be making it again.
I just leave the rosemary out of mine and it still tastes great! We aren’t very fond of rosemary at our house.
Making this was a breeze. Directions were easy. Used Ground Lamb. Only had heavy whipping cream instead of half and half. Oops! Everything else was made precisely according to the directions. Great meal. Will make again.
Can I use corn starch , not flour?
Best shepherds pie ever and very easy to put together. Like that it can be made ahead of time and baked later. Quite a time saver.
Can I use chicken broth instead?
I used chicken and beef stock. Gordon Ramsey uses only chicken stock in his Shepherd’s Pie recipe. Along with my own experiment with the potatoes, I used both this recipe and his for making the “mince” portion (i.e. added peas, eliminated corn, used fresh thyme, dried rosemary as that was what I had on hand. The pie was delicious.
Delicious and easy to follow. I made one change, I added some gravy we had leftover from a Pot-roast, it had onions and baby Portobello mushrooms in it…it merged perfectly with everything else. Thanks
My husband and I have triplets, all boys and only 2 years old. Two of them are extremely picky eaters and sometimes I want to rip my hair out when I make something delicious and they throw it on the floor. Ive tried many different recipes and this one…this is the one. They sat at the table tonight and ate ALL of it, then they had seconds and ate ALL of that too! I was so happy i almost shed a tear. My husband and i loved it as well, very delicious. I didn’t change a thing. I will definitely be making this again and again!