Shepherd’s Pie: A rich gravy with ground beef and vegetables, topped with ultra creamy mashed potatoes. The ultimate comfort food!
Shepherd’s Pie Is…
- Comforting: It’s the ultimate feel-good food.
- Delicious: The beef and veggie mix is coated in a flavorful gravy.
- Creamy Potatoes: Potatoes cover the top adding the perfect texture and flavor.
- Customizable: You can change the veggies and meat to your preference.
- Perfect For Making Ahead: It can be prepared ahead of time.
Quick Tip
Shepherd’s Pie, typically uses ground lamb (or Cottage Pie with beef), is a seasoned meat, vegetables, and gravy casserole under a creamy mashed potato crust, baked until golden. In the states, it’s often made with beef due to availability.
Ingredients In Shepherd’s Pie
Base:
- Olive Oil: Used for sautéing the veggies.
- Mirepoix: Veggie base providing flavor and texture.
- Ground Chuck Round: The main base and protein of this pie.
- White Flour: Thickens the gravy.
- Frozen Peas or Corn: Adds sweetness and texture.
- Fire-Roasted Diced Tomatoes, Tomato Paste: Gives the gravy a richer flavor.
- Beef Stock, Beef Bouillon Cube, Worcestershire Sauce: Provides savory depth.
- 100% Grape Juice: Adds sweetness and complexity.
- Dried Thyme, Bay Leaves: Adds an herbal flavor.
Topping:
- Potatoes (Yukon Gold and Russet): Makes the irresistible creamy topping.
- Heavy Cream, Sour Cream, Unsalted Butter: Adds creaminess and richness to the potatoes.
- Fresh Parsley/Thyme: Optional garnish for freshness and presentation.
How To Make Shepherd’s Pie
- Sauté garlic, onion, carrots, and celery.
- Brown ground chuck and add flour.
- Combine with peas, tomatoes, stock, grape juice, seasonings, and simmer.
- Boil and mash potatoes with cream and butter.
- Layer meat mixture topped with mashed potatoes.
- Bake until golden and bubbly.
- Garnish with herbs if desired. Serve hot.
Storage
Storage And Make Ahead Tips
- Make Ahead: Prepare your shepherd’s pie all together and refrigerate before baking.
- Refrigerating: Store cooked pie covered for 3-5 days.
- Freezing: Freeze tightly covered for up to 2 months; bake frozen pie at 350°F for 1 hour before serving.
Serve Alongside:
Shepherd's Pie
A rich gravy with ground beef and vegetables topped with ultra creamy mashed potatoes. The ultimate comfort food: Shepherd's Pie!
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil, separated
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 2 cups mirepoix (mix of carrots, onion, & celery), finely chopped (1 small yellow onion, 1 celery rib, & 1 carrot to get 2 cups)
- 1.2 pounds ground chuck round
- 1/4 cup white flour
- 1/2 cup frozen sweet peas or corn
- 1 can (14.5 ounces) fire-roasted diced tomatoes, undrained
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1 and 3/4 cups beef stock (low sodium) (can use low sodium beef broth)
- 1/2 cup 100% grape juice (Note 1)
- 1 beef bouillon cube
- 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- 3 bay leaves, separated
Topping
- 2 and 1/2 pounds potatoes (I use equal mix of Yukon Gold and Russet; if just using one use Yukon Gold)
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 1/2 cup sour cream (can use fat free)
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter
- Fine sea salt and freshly cracked pepper
- Optional: fresh parsley or thyme, for topping
Instructions
- VEGGIES: Heat 1 and 1/2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large oven-safe skillet over medium-high heat. Add garlic and finely chopped onion, stirring frequently for about 1 minute. Then, add finely chopped carrots and celery, cooking for another 2-3 minutes until veggies are softened.
- BEEF: Heat skillet to high and add beef. Cook until browned, breaking it apart. If there's excess grease, drain it. Stir in flour and cook for a minute to remove raw flour taste. Reduce heat to medium-high and add the frozen peas or corn, diced tomatoes, tomato paste, beef stock, grape juice, beef bouillon cube, Worcestershire sauce, dried thyme, and bay leaves.
- COOK: Bring mixture to a simmer, then reduce heat to medium and let it rapidly simmer. Cook for 25-35 minutes at medium heat, stirring every 5 minutes until gravy thickens. Remove from heat, cover, and refrigerate until ready to bake. If making immediately, refrigerate until potatoes are ready. To maintain separate layers while baking, chill the mixture for at least 15-20 minutes. If you didn't prepare in an oven-safe skillet, transfer to a 2 quart oven-safe dish.
- POTATOES: Preheat the oven to 350°F. Peel and cube potatoes into golf-ball sized pieces. Rinse them under cold water in a strainer until the water runs clear. Transfer to a large pot, cover with cold water, add 1 tablespoon of fine sea salt and 1 bay leaf, then bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook until the potatoes are fork-tender, about 15-20 minutes. Drain potatoes in a strainer, ensuring all excess moisture is removed. Let them dry for about 3 minutes and discard the bay leaf.
- POTATOES CONT.: As potatoes dry in strainer, melt heavy cream, sour cream, and butter in the pot on low heat, stirring to combine. While the potatoes are still hot, put them through a ricer and add right on top of butter/sour cream mixture. Stir until smooth with a wooden spoon. Season to taste with salt and pepper (about 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper). Cover and refrigerate until ready to assemble the pie, or use immediately to top the pie evenly.
- ASSEMBLY: Use a fork to add marks into the surface of potatoes. Drizzle with remaining 1/2 tablespoon olive oil.
- BAKE: Bake in the preheated oven for 25-30 minutes, or until potatoes are golden brown and edges are bubbling. For crispy tops, broil on high for 1-2 minutes. Remove from heat and garnish with fresh thyme or parsley as desired. Serve hot.
Video
Recipe Notes
Note 1: Traditional Shepherd's Pie typically includes red wine in the gravy. To do so, substitute 1/2 cup of medium-bodied red wine (like pinot noir) for an equal amount of vegetable broth.
Nutrition
Calories: 445kcal
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Making this currently. Subbed a local hard cider for the grape juice, added a bit more seasoning, and a dash of balsamic vinegar (while browning the meat). My supermarket actually had lamb this week, so I’m using that instead of beef. Currently at the simmering stage and my house smells amazing. Dinner is gonna be late tonight (prep too a lot longer than I thought for whatever reason) but it’s definitely going to be worth the wait.
So busy cooking I forgot to leave 5 stars!!
This is the best part about Shepherd’s pie, you can personalize it so easily and it’s still delicious! I’m sooo glad you enjoyed! Thanks Miciah!:)
INSANELY good! Best I’ve ever had and I’ve had a lot of shepherd’s pie in my day 🙂
Yummy
Made this tonight-excellent! Any ideas of how to transition this to a make ahead freezer meal?
OMG. This is SO DELICIOUS. I have made shepherd’s pie before and it was bland and blah. This recipe is … wow. I actually made cauliflower mash with two heads, and all frozen veggies. I also used Pinot Noir instead of grape juice ?
That sounds amazing with a cauliflower mash! I’m so glad you enjoyed!! Thanks so much Heidi! 🙂
About to make this, I am using both ground beef and ground lamb is that okay and using grape juice?
Sounds great! 🙂 Enjoy!
This recipe is really a delicious comfort food. I usually use a shepherd’s pie seasoning mix. This was my first try making it from scratch. This is so much better. The only change that I made was using red wine instead of grape juice. I did simmer it for 35 minutes to thicken and stirred frequently to keep from sticking. I made the meat mixture one day. Then put it together with the mashed potatoes the next day. Another great recipe. Thanks Chelsea!
Wow! So good! I made this for my family and we all loved it. Kids went back for seconds and requested that I make it again soon. ? I was also pleasantly surprised at the delicious new flavors that resulted from pantry staples. And while it took longer to make than my standard weeknight supper, it was easy. Thanks for a great recipe!
Yay!! I’m so glad you guys all enjoyed! Thanks so much for sharing Kelly! 🙂
I made this recipe using Burgundy instead of grape juice. WOW. Replaced the mashed potatoes with premade mashed potatoes from the grocery (I know, I know…). And it still worked beautifully. Topped with grated cheese. My husband went back for seconds, which is rare.
Yayyy!! I’m so happy to hear this! 🙂 Thanks Anne!
I made this recipe last week and my family loved it. I omitted the grape juice and added a little more broth. The prep and cooking time is not even close. Between chopping vegetables, making the meat base, cooling the base, preparing the mashed potatoes, assembly, and cooking, this took me over 2 hours to prepare. Great recipe, but give yourself more time than the instructions state.