Classic Beef Shepherd’s Pie Recipe
This is the perfect dinner for St. Patrick’s Day or any night you want delicious comfort. Classic Shepherd’s Pie!
Shepherd’s Pie is so wonderfully comforting and delicious. It may seem like a lot of steps if you’ve never made one before, but it’s actually pretty easy and totally worth it. Amazing ground beef and veggie filling topped with creamy mashed potatoes is perfect comfort food. Plus, it makes for good leftovers too.
Scroll down to read more about how it all comes together or click here to jump straight down to the recipe.
What Is Shepherd’s Pie?
Ask an American and this recipe is definitely shepherd’s pie. Ask across the pond and they’ll chuckle and say that we don’t know what we’re talking about.
In the UK shepherd’s pie is made with ground lamb – you can try our Traditional Lamb Shepherd’s Pie recipe. If you make the same thing with ground beef, as Americans typically do, Brits call it cottage pie.
Whether you call it shepherd’s pie or cottage pie, it’s really good stuff. Meat and veggies in a rich gravy under a good thick layer of mashed potatoes is peak comfort food.
What Veggies Do I Need?
For this Shepherd’s Pie recipe, I’m sticking with the classic onion, carrots, and peas, plus some corn. You could skip the corn, or add some celery as well. But if you get too experimental with the vegetables, it won’t have the classic flavor we’re aiming for. Read more about what veggies can go in shepherd’s pie.
How To Make Beef Shepherd’s Pie
It’s not super difficult, but it does require a few dishes and some multi-tasking.
I like to start by getting the potatoes ready and in the pot of water, since it can take a little time to come to a boil. While those potatoes are cooking, you can get the veggies and ground beef going in a pan. Once cooked, the ingredients for the gravy are added to the beef mixture including tomato paste, beef broth, and Worcestershire sauce.
Once the potatoes are cooked, you can drain and mash them. I’m a big fan of adding in flavor and creaminess with butter, milk, and an egg yolk.
Now that both the filling and the mashed potato topping is prepared, it’s time to assemble and get it in the oven. Add the ground beef mixture to a casserole dish and top with potato, spreading it out to cover the filling completely. Bake about 25 minutes, until the mashed potatoes are browned.
More Cozy Dinner Recipes
If you’re all about the comfort meals, make sure to check out these recipes too.
- Classic Beef and Rice Stuffed Peppers
- Easy Taco Macaroni and Cheese
- Juicy Chicken Meatloaf
- Best Turkey Chili Recipe
- French Onion Chicken
Podcast Episode: Making Shepherd’s Pie
Listen to me explain briefly about how to make this recipe, with some great tips along the way, by clicking the play button below:
Listen to more Recipe of the Day episodes here.
Print
Classic Shepherd’s Pie with Beef
- Prep Time: 25 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Total Time: 50 minutes
- Yield: 6 servings 1x
- Category: Entrée
- Method: Baked
- Cuisine: Irish
DESCRIPTION
This is the perfect dinner for St. Patrick’s Day or any night you want delicious comfort. Classic Shepherd’s Pie!
Ingredients
- 2 and 1/2 lbs. Russet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2-3/4″ dice
- 1 Tbsp. + 1 tsp. salt, divided
- 1 Tbsp. vegetable oil
- 1 small onion, finely chopped
- 2 carrots, peeled and finely chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 sprigs thyme (or 1 tsp. dried thyme)
- 1 and 1/2 lbs. ground beef chuck, or other medium fat ground beef
- 1/2 tsp. pepper
- 2 Tbsp. flour
- 1 Tbsp. tomato paste
- 1 cup beef broth (low sodium)
- 2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
- 3/4 cup frozen corn, defrosted
- 3/4 cup frozen peas, defrosted
- 2 Tbsp. butter
- 1/4 cup milk, heated
- 1 egg yolk
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425°F.
- Place cut potatoes in pot filled with cold water. Add a tablespoon of salt. Turn heat to high and cover slightly. Once boiling uncover and drop heat to medium-high. Cook until you can pierce potatoes easily with a fork, about 10-15 minutes.
- While waiting for the potatoes to cook, prepare the filling. Heat the oil in a medium sauté pan over medium-high heat. Add the onions and carrots and cook until softened, about 5-6 minutes. Add garlic and thyme and stir.
- Immediately add in the ground beef, 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Stir occasionally until meat is cooked through, about 7-8 minutes. Drain excess fat.
- To meat, add flour and tomato paste. Stir until incorporated and cook for 1-2 minutes. Stir in the beef broth and Worcestershire sauce.
- Bring mixture to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer, stirring occasionally until very thick, 2-3 minutes. Remove thyme sprigs.
- Add defrosted corn and peas. Taste and season with salt and pepper, if needed.
- Strain the cooked potatoes and place back into the pot. Cook over medium heat until the potatoes are dry, about 1-2 minutes. Take off heat.
- Add butter and mash the potatoes. Once mashed, stir in heated milk. Quickly stir potatoes and add egg yolk, moving quickly to prevent cooking. Taste and season with more salt if needed.
- In a 11 x 7 baking dish add meat mixture and spread evenly. Top with mashed potatoes starting at the corners working around the edge. This should seal in the meat for better chance of avoiding boil-overs. Use a fork and create fast swirly motions to fluff up potatoes.
- Bake until potatoes are slightly browned, around 25 minutes.
Love this recipe? I’d appreciate it if you could scroll down and add a *5 star rating* to help others know they’ll love it as well!
This post originally appeared in March 2016 and was revised and republished in July 2024.
Can you use ground turkey?
Carla, Yes, but make sure to use ground turkey and not ground turkey breast. The turkey breast is going to be too dry in this recipe. You want ground turkey with 7-15% fat, as opposed to the turkey breast which can be as little as 1%. Having said that, if you really want to use the turkey breast, you can try cooking it as explained here, using mushrooms (or another vegetable) added in to add extra moisture https://thecookful.com/how-to-cook-ground-turkey/
Very tasty gravy better than one I did with red wine.
I doubled recipe barely fitting in a 13×9 pan and used red onion adding bell peppers and celery to vegetable medley. I added a tbsp of grey poupon as well to mix of beef.
To potatoes I mixed in a bit of Parmesan cheese and green onion and parsley from garden
Almost forgot the egg yolk realized after putting in oven so I added on top. Came out perfect.
Definitely glad I had a baking sheet under to catch grease spills
Thank you for sharing with us, Devon. Sounds great!
If you have a moment, I’d really appreciate you adding a 5 star rating which helps others find this recipe too. Thanks!
I’m not sure what you call it if you use ground pork and hot Italian sausage, but it sure was good. I used a pork bullion cube with my water. Onion, carrots celery and peas. I also used the little gold potatoes with the skins on. I used little individual dishes. My son’s comments were,”that was fantastic and so o o good!
Thanks for sharing your variation with us, Mary-Ellen!
Made this in a pinch and it turned out just fine. De-lish ! Looking forward to tomorrow, when the flavours have a chance to really combine fully. Easy, tasty recipe!
Thanks so much, Dee! Enjoy your leftovers, yum!
I have made shepherds pie many times but I wanted to try something a little different. This recipe was wonderful! I also added green beans !!
My Irish mom would’ve been proud of me
Sounds delicious, Dene! We’re proud of you too!
Can I make it in a large cast iron pan instead of a casserole dish and just go directly from sauteing the meat and vegetables to topping it with mashed potatoes and stick it right in the oven in the cast-iron.
Yes, Wade. That sounds fantastic. Great idea!
WOW! This was a big hit with my nephew and and his sons. Definitely a “5 star” recipe.
Didn’t have an 11 by 7 pan so I used an 8 by 8 glass casserole. If I make this ahead of time and refrigerate this will I have to adjust the cooking time at all? Can this be frozen? I would love to be able to make a few of these to keep in the freezer. Thank you so much for the wonderful recipe!
Linda, If you take it straight from the fridge to the oven, you will need to increase the cooking time. I’d say do it at 350F for 40 minutes to heat it through well. If the potatoes start to brown too soon. cover loosely with foil. Yes, you can freeze these. Then you could defrost in the fridge overnight or, I bet you could even bake it from frozen. I’m just not sure of the amount of time that would be needed. You could defrost it in the microwave on the defrost setting as well. So glad you liked the recipe!
Can I prepare this Shepherds Pie put it all together and bake it tomorrow
Yes, you can absolutely do assemble it ahead of time and then bake it.