This easy Shepherd’s Pie recipe is filled with lots of veggies and tender ground beef (or lamb), simmered together in the most delicious sauce, and topped with the creamiest mashed potatoes. Perfect for St. Patrick’s Day!
Last month on Instagram, I happened to mention that I had never made a homemade shepherd’s pie before…and my inbox instantly exploded. So many of you love shepherd’s pie!
Even better, so many of you had shepherd’s pie tips and recipes that you were willing to share with me. ♡
So with St. Patrick’s Day just around the corner, I’ve been hard at work this past month testing and re-testing all of your recommendations until I landed on my own classic shepherd’s pie recipe that I’m happy to finally add to this site today. It’s overflowing (quite literally) with tender beef or lamb and lots and lots of veggies, including a generous handful of chopped mushrooms that bring a delicious depth of flavor and extra heartiness to the filling. It’s topped with my trademark creamy mashed potatoes (<– which you should totally double, while you’re at it, so that you can enjoy the extras as leftovers.) And best of all, it is made with an unforgettably rich and flavorful sauce that brings everything together perfectly.
After making multiple batches for testing, I can also vouch that the leftovers are fantastic and freeze well too. So whether you’re planning a big feast for St. Patrick’s Day, or just looking for some comforting meal prep for the week ahead, be sure to bookmark this recipe and let’s make some shepherd’s pie!
Shepherd’s Pie Recipe | 1-Minute Video
Shepherd’s Pie Ingredients
Alright, grocery list time. Here are the basic shepherd’s pie ingredients that you will need to make this recipe:
- Ground beef or lamb: It’s traditional to make shepherd’s pie with ground lamb (and “cottage pie” with beef), but feel free to use ground beef, turkey or chicken if you prefer in the recipe below. (Or see notes below for how to make vegetarian shepherd’s pie sans-meat too.)
- Veggies: Finely-dice lots of onion, carrots, celery, garlic and frozen peas. Plus I also highly recommend adding in some finely-diced mushrooms (baby bella, white button, or portobellos) too.
- Flour: I used flour to thicken the sauce, but see below for gluten-free substitution options.
- Beef stock: Or chicken or veggie stock, whatever you have on hand.
- Dry red wine: I also love the extra depth of flavor this adds. But if you prefer not to cook with wine, just add in an extra 1/2 cup of beef stock instead.
- Tomato paste: Which will give it that nice tomato-y base.
- Worcestershire sauce: A must!
- Herbs: Definitely toss in a few bay leaves. Then I also recommend adding in a few sprigs of fresh Italian herbs, such as rosemary and thyme. (Or if you don’t have fresh herbs available, you can add in 1.5 tablespoons of dry Italian seasoning.)
- Mashed potatoes: This recipe calls for a half batch of my favorite mashed potatoes recipe, made with potatoes, milk, butter and cream cheese.
How To Make Shepherd’s Pie
To make this Irish shepherd’s pie recipe, simply:
- Cook the mashed potatoes. Cook the large potatoes in a large stockpot until tender. Then drain, mash, and stir in the remaining mashed potato ingredients until combined. Set aside for later.
- Brown the meat. Meanwhile, in a large sauté pan, cook the ground beef or lamb in a bit of oil until browned, crumbling it with a wooden spoon as it cooks. Then transfer it to a separate plate with a wooden spoon, reserving any grease that it has left behind.
- Sauté the veggies. Cook the onion, carrots, celery, mushrooms and garlic in the leftover grease (or you can add in extra oil) until they are softened as well.
- Add in the flour and wine. Stir in the flour to help thicken the sauce. Then add the wine, and scrape the bottom of the pan with your wooden spoon to loosen any of those tasty brown bits.
- Add the remaining sauce ingredients. Stock, tomato paste, Worcestershire sauce, bay leaf, herbs and frozen peas. Then give everything a good stir, and cook the mixture until it reaches a simmer. Reduce the heat to let it simmer for a few more minutes, so that those herbs can really season the sauce. Then remove the herbs (including bay leaves), stir in the cooked meat, give the mixture a taste, and season with salt and pepper as needed.
- Layer it all up. Transfer the filling mixture to a 9 x 13-inch baking dish, and spread it out in an even layer. Then spoon the mashed potatoes on top and carefully spread them out in an even layer as well.
- Bake. Pop the whole dish in the oven for about 20 minutes, or until the potatoes are lightly golden and the filling starts to bubble up around the edges. (If you would like the potatoes to be a bit more browned, you can turn on the broiler for 1 or 2 extra minutes.)
- Garnish and serve. Then remove the pan from the oven, sprinkle with a few extra herbs if you would like, and dish it up while the shepherd’s pie is still nice and warm. Yum.
Easy Shepherd’s Pie Variations
Want to customize your shepherd’s pie recipe? Feel free to:
- Make it vegetarian. To make a vegetarian shepherd’s pie, just omit the meat and double the amount of mushrooms. (It could also be delicious to stir in a cup of cooked farro as well.) And of course, use veggie stock instead of beef stock, and vegan Worcestershire sauce (if you don’t eat anchovies).
- Make it vegan. Do the above, plus use vegan butter, milk and cream cheese in your mashed potatoes.
- Make it gluten-free. Nix the flour and whisk 1.5 tablespoons cornstarch together with the (room-temperature) stock before adding it to the sauce. Also be sure to double-check, as always, that all of your other ingredients are certified GF.
- Use sweet potatoes: For an amazing sweet+savory combo, feel free to use sweet potatoes instead of Russets or Yukon golds in your mashed potatoes. So good!!!
How To Store Shepherd’s Pie
You can either store your shepherd’s pie leftovers in a sealed container:
- In the fridge: For up to 3 days, or…
- In the freezer: For up to 3 months
What To Serve With Shepherd’s Pie
You’re welcome to serve this shepherd’s pie with extra gravy on the side, if you would like. Otherwise, we enjoyed ours with:
- A simple side salad: Such as my Everyday Salad recipe.
- A loaf of crusty bread: If you’re interested in more carbs. ;)
- Corn on the cob: A simple and colorful side dish.
- A nice cold Guinness: Cheers!
Happy early St. Patrick’s Day, everyone! Hope you enjoy!
Shepherd's Pie
Ingredients
Shepherd's Pie Ingredients:
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1.25 pounds ground beef
- 1 medium white onion, peeled and diced
- 8 ounces baby bella or white button mushrooms, finely diced
- 2 medium carrots, finely diced
- 2 stalks celery, finely diced
- 4 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
- 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup dry red wine (or you can sub in more beef stock instead)
- 2 cups beef stock (or vegetable or chicken stock)
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
- 2 bay leaves
- 2 sprigs each fresh rosemary and thyme (or whatever herbs you love)
- 1/2 cup frozen peas
- sea salt and freshly-cracked black pepper
- 1 batch mashed potatoes (see below)
Mashed Potato Ingredients:
- 2.5 pounds potatoes (either Russets, Yukon golds, or a mix of the two)
- 1/4 cup butter
- 1/2 cup whole milk, or more as needed
- 2 ounces cream cheese (or 1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt)
- sea salt and freshly-cracked black pepper
Instructions
- Cook the mashed potatoes. Follow the instructions here to prepare a half batch of this mashed potatoes recipe. Once the mashed potatoes are ready to go, remove from heat and set aside until ready to use.
- Brown the beef (or lamb). Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large sauté pan over medium-high heat. Add the ground beef (or lamb) and cook until browned, crumbling it with a wooden spoon as it cooks. Transfer the cooked beef to a separate plate with a wooden spoon and set aside, reserving any grease in the sauté pan that it has left behind. (Or if there is no leftover grease, add an extra tablespoon of oil to the pan.)
- Sauté the veggies. Add the onion and sauté for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the carrots, celery, mushrooms, garlic and sauté for 5-7 more minutes, stirring occasionally, until softened.
- Add in the flour and wine. Stir the flour in with the veggie mixture until evenly combined, then continue to sauté for 1 minute more, stirring frequently. Stir in the wine, then use a wooden spoon to scrape up any browned bits that are stuck to the bottom of the pan.
- Add the remaining sauce ingredients. Immediately stir in the stock, tomato paste, Worcestershire sauce, bay leaf, herb sprigs and frozen peas until combined. Continue cooking until the mixture reaches a simmer. Then reduce heat to medium-low to maintain a low simmer, and continue cooking for 5 more minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove and discard the bay leaves and herb sprigs. Stir in the cooked meat Taste and season the mixture with salt and pepper as needed.
- Layer it all up. Transfer the filling mixture to a 9 x 13-inch baking dish and spread it out in an even layer. Spoon the mashed potatoes on top and carefully spread them out in an even layer as well.
- Bake. Bake uncovered at 400°F for about 20 minutes, or until the potatoes are lightly golden and the filling has started to bubble up around the edges. (If you would like the potatoes to be a bit more browned, you can turn on the broiler for 1 or 2 extra minutes, keeping a close eye on the potatoes so that they do not burn.)
- Garnish and serve. Remove the baking dish from the oven, sprinkle a few extra herbs on top if you would like, then dish up your servings while the shepherd's pie is still nice and warm. Or store the pie in sealed containers in the refrigerator for up to 3 days, or freeze for up to 3 months.
Did you make this?Let me know how it turned out in the comments below!
My son requested this dish, so I was excited to find this recipe. The flavor was incredible. I made the mashed potatoes too early in the process, as they were very hard to spread over the base layer. I look forward to making this again!
Made this tonight and I was delicious. My 2 year old had two servings – she couldn’t get enough! Thank you!
I made this for the first time and took it to a gathering celebrating “Half way to St. Patty’s Day”. It was a recipe which was easy to follow. I will also add that I made it the night before and stored it in the refrigerator. I made the potatoes the next day and finished off the dish prior to the event. It also traveled well. Many compliments were given and I thank you for inspiring me to try a new dish.
Thank you for this wonderful recipe. It’s the best shepherd’s pie ever!!!
This was the BEST shepherds pie that I’ve ever made!!! I made it almost exactly plus added two springs of Thyme and some cheese on top. Otherwise, it was perfect. I made mine own mashed potatoes because my family loves how I make mine already.
This was delicious!
Delicious and so simple to make. You can ‘fiddle’ with the herbs and just use what you have in your pantry and I used half mashed potato half kumara(sweet potato) and it was yum :)
Yum!
Ali,
I am about to make this recipe. I noticed two comments that asked about preparing it in advance, with no one responding. Please let me know if assembling the pie in advance, refrigerating it overnight, and baking it the next day, works. If so, at what temperature and for how long? Thanks!
Hi Cheryl, As a mum of six strapping men, English, living in the UK, with Irish Parents, I think I have the knowledge to give some advice.
Your Shepherds/Cottage Pie will be absolutely fine in the fridge overnight before you pop it into the oven to cook the next day. Whatever you do though, NEVER leave the dish with cooked potato out at room temperature unless you are going to cook it within an hour or so. Dangerous due to Bacteria!! (Same advice for any cooked, cooled potato)
Just make your pie with either the potato topping on or just the mixture without the potato topping (which you can make the next day if you wish to finish it off before popping it into the oven) If you have made the potato toppuing then as soon as you think it has cooled enough, pop it into the fridge asap.
If you have your prepared pie in the fridge overnight, bring it out for half an hour before you either add the potato topping or it is ready already to pop it into the oven, this is just to take the chill off it. Not essential but a good tip.
Don’t ever worry about keeping prepared Shepherds/Cottage Pie in the fridge, I make one or both every other week because it’s Husband’s favourite, he loooooves it. I usually make a large dish of it, use a third of it for our dinner with a salad, the rest I divide into individual one serve dishes, ensure it is cooled, wrap each in foil and pop them into the freezer until we need them for dinner again. They will keep well for up to 6 months in the freezer, and if in the fridge, up to 3 days (which is usually not long) lol.
If in the freezer, just bring them out the day before you want them, pop them into the fridge to defrost for 24 hours.
I will probably get slated for this but my advice is – please don’t use the microwave if you can help it, as it tends to dry the potato out and it never tastes quite right somehow. Far better to preheat your oven to 350/180/Fan 160/Gas 4, make sure you put your individual Pie onto an oven tray to prevent it splashing your lovely clean oven and reheat for approx 35/40 minutes. If I make a large dish of Shepherds/Cottage Pie if family dining with us, I pop it into the oven at the same temperature above but for a minimum 55 minutes. This ensures it’s lovely and hot througout and the potato topping has a golden crust. Yum. (through sheer habit, I still use the fork trick though). See Below…..
(A Foolproof method to check your Shepherds/Cottage Pie is piping hot -( sometimes you can see the sides bubbling a little, assume it is ready when it is not, it might only still be warm in the centre) so when the oven time is up, try this test – take a fork and stick it right into the centre, count to 15 and take the fork out, if the fork prongs are very hot, your pie is cooked or reheated to perfection.if it’s not, pop a bit of foil over the top to prevent potato getting too brown and pop the pie back in for a further 10 minutes. That should do the trick. It’s never failed me yet.
I hope the above helps.
Yum!!! I did substitute beef & added sage. Fresh corn cut off the cob & it is amazing!!