This is the perfect dinner for St. Patrick’s Day or any night you want delicious comfort. Classic Shepherd’s Pie!
Ask an American and it’s 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. 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 good stuff. Meat and veggies in a rich gravy under a good thick layer of mashed potatoes. Heck, don’t call it anything. Just dig in.
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Classic Shepherd’s Pie with Beef
This is the perfect dinner for St. Patrick’s Day or any night you want delicious comfort. Classic Shepherd’s Pie!
- Prep Time: 25 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Total Time: 50 minutes
- Yield: 6 servings 1x
- Category: Entrée
- Method: Baked
- Cuisine: Irish
Ingredients
FOR THE FILLING
- 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 tsp. salt
- 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
FOR THE MASHED POTATO TOPPING
- 2 1/2 lbs. Russet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2-3/4 inch dice
- 1 Tbsp. salt
- 2 Tbsp. butter
- 1/4 cup milk, heated
- 1 egg yolk
Instructions
FOR 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, salt and 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.
FOR THE MASHED POTATO TOPPING
- Place cut potatoes in pot filled with cold water. Add 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.
- Strain 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. Once mashed stir in heated milk. Quickly stir potatoes and add egg yolk, moving quickly to prevent cooking. Taste and season with salt.
ASSEMBLY
- Preheat oven to 425°F.
- In 11 x 7 pan 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.
This post originally appeared in March, 2016 and was revised and republished in March, 2018.
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.