Shepherd's pie comes in many shapes and forms. It's one of those easy recipes that you can't really mess up. You can make it as healthy or as sinful as you want. You can also experiment using different kinds of chopped veggies. Do you have a kitchen full of random ingredients and no idea what to feed your family that night? Chances are you can whip up some variety of a Shepherd's pie. This is a great recipe for beginners who want to slam together a tasty one-dish meal. This was a part of our St. Patrick's Day dinner, but this dish isn't only for Irish holidays. It's a hearty dinner that is good any day, any time!
Link to original recipe: right here!
30-Minute Shepherd's Pie
Ingredients
- 2 pounds potatoes, peeled and quartered
- 2 tablespoons sour cream
- 1 large egg yolk
- ½ cup chicken broth (cream can be used for a richer version)
- Salt & pepper, to taste
- 1 ¾ pounds extra-lean ground beef
- 1 carrot, peeled and chopped
- 1 onion, chopped
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1 cup beef broth
- 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
- ½ cup frozen peas
- 1 teaspoon ground paprika
- 2 tablespoons chopped parsley
Instructions
- Boil potatoes in water with salt until tender, 12-15 minutes. Drain.
- In mixer bowl, combine sour cream, egg yolk, salt, pepper, and chicken broth (or cream) with potatoes. Mash until smooth.
- While potatoes boil, brown and crumble ground beef in a skillet coated with cooking spray. Season with salt and pepper. Season meat with salt and pepper. Drain excess fat from pan.
- Add chopped carrot and onion to the beef. Cook veggies with meat 5 minutes, stirring frequently.
- In another small skillet over medium heat melt butter and add flour until a roux is formed. Whisk in beef broth and Worcestershire sauce. Thicken gravy for 3-5 minutes.
- Add gravy to meat and vegetable mixture. Stir in peas.
- Preheat broiler to high. Fill a casserole dish with meat mixture and cover with potatoes.
- Top potatoes with paprika and broil until potatoes are brown.
- Remove dish from oven, sprinkle with parsley, and serve.
Healthy alternatives:
Use ground turkey instead of beef, light sour cream, and chicken broth instead of cream! Different veggies can be used in the meat mixture, such as green beans or corn.
Richer alternatives:
Use extra virgin olive oil instead of cooking spray for browning the meat, lamb instead of beef, heavy cream in the potatoes, stir in some cheese to the potato mixture, or sprinkle it over the top at the end!
Things that irritate me about some recipes - not saying how many servings. Not telling me what size dish. This just says to fill a casserole dish. I must have at least 4 different sized casserole dishes! Which one am I supposed to use? I want to try this, so I'm going to wing it. I just wanted to point out that you should be more specific.
Thank you for your feedback. With casseroles I do not always specify the number of servings because a serving size can vary greatly depending on how an individual chooses to portion the dish. For this recipe, 6-8 servings is a good estimate.
As for casserole size, this will work in a standard 9x13 pan, though you can use a smaller, deeper dish as well (this will make the meat and potatoes layer thicker, of course). Because the oven/broiling portion is only to brown the potatoes, time in the oven won't be affected by the dish size that you choose. Hope you enjoy the recipe, regardless. 🙂
My husband grew up on Shepherds/Cottage Pie but I have always been hesitant to make it. All the recipes called for putting the potatoes through a sieve, mashing, then piping the potatoes as only a border and either using a BLOW TORCH to evenly turn the potatoes golden brown or leaving them as plain. Me + BLOW TORCH = NOT gonna happen. LOL. Leaving them as simply plain mashed potatoes did not appeal to me as they don't appear very appetizing on the finished product. However, this recipe I can see trying. My husband will be very happy I came across your blog.
Just for the record, a meat pie made with beef is known as cottage pie. Shepherds herd sheep, not cattle. That said, you can use whatever meat you like, including poultry and maybe even fish. It will taste just as good.
Placing the glass under the broiler can explode and destroy your entire neighborhood and you will be dead as will be all your neighbors. NOT!!!
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It's hilarious that the ones who seem to be picking on this recipe and it's ingredients cannot properly spell Shepherds Pie. Never had an issue with placing my glass casserole under broiler to brown top of a dish either; but I usually make peaks in the potato top, spray it with olive oil and bake it.
SORRY PEOPLE,,,SHEPHARDS PIE --IS MADE WITH LAMB OR MUTTON not beef
Yes, this is actually a Cottage Pie. The two are used interchangeably in the States.
Since when did Shepherds look after cows?
and in the UK as well cottage pie made with beef Shepherds pie made with lamb. Sour cream was unheard of in the East End where I'm from so cream if we had it was used instead which is fine for me
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You should not place a glass dish under the broiler as stated on every glass casserole dish that I have, but a solid recipe other than that.
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I use my glass dish two times per week under a broiler and never had an issue. Is there a health reason why you are saying not to?
When I plan to make Sheppards Pie, I always cook extra potatoes on days I make mashed potatoes and then refrigerate to use in making my pie.Saves time. Be sure to fry seasoned grd beef w/chopped onion until crisp, and dark brown before adding broth to cover, then add Cream of Mushroom soup after 15 minutes for flavors to mingle. It makes a much tastier gravy.
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Good info. Lucky mee I discovered your blog by accident (stumbleupon).
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Thanks for sharing this delicious recipe! My family thoroughly enjoyed it! 🙂
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