Shepherd’s Pie Recipe

A glass baking dish filled with baked shepherd's pie, showing a layer of golden-brown mashed potatoes on top with visible ground meat and vegetables underneath. A piece has been cut out and sits on a white plate in the background.
4 from 266 votes

Shepherd’s Pie – the perfect comfort food ever! layer of ground lamb with vegetables cover with mashed potato layer. This dish is so rich and comforting! Perfect dish for cold winter days.

A glass baking dish filled with baked shepherd's pie, showing a layer of golden-brown mashed potatoes on top with visible ground meat and vegetables underneath. A piece has been cut out and sits on a white plate in the background.

Shepherd's Pie Recipe

Shepherd's Pie - the perfect comfort food ever! layer of ground lamb with vegetables cover with mashed potato layer. This dish is so rich and comforting! Perfect dish for cold winter days.
4 from 266 votes
Prep Time 1 hour
WORK TIME 20 minutes
DIFFICULTY Easy
Cuisine British
Servings 8 yields

Ingredients
 

For the meat mixture:

  • 2 pounds 1kg ground lamb
  • 1 large onion chopped
  • 3 garlic cloves crushed
  • 3 tbsp olive oil
  • 4 tbsp 30 flour
  • ½ tsp salt
  • ½ black pepper
  • 1 tsp rosemary
  • 1 tsp thyme
  • 1 tbsp tomato paste
  • 2 cups beef broth
  • 7 oz 200g carrots
  • 7 oz 200g peas (fresh or frozen)

For the puree:

  • 3.5 pounds 1.5kg potatoes
  • 1 tbsp butter
  • ½ cup 120ml milk
  • ¼ cup 25g cheddar cheese
  • ½ tsp salt
  • ½ black pepper
  • egg yolk

Instructions
 

  • DIRECTIONS
    1. Peel the potatoes and cut into 4. Place in a medium pot and cover with cold water. Set over high heat, add a teaspoon of salt, cover and bring to a boil. cook until tender.
    2. While the potatoes are cooking, heat olive oil in a pan over medium heat. Add the onion and sauté 2-3 minutes, add crushed garlic and chopped carrots, sauté until the carrots are tender, about 5-7 minutes.
    3. Add the ground lamb, Cook until no longer pink, about 5 minutes. Season with salt, pepper, chopped rosemary and thyme. Add tomato paste, flour and stir.
    4. Add beef broth and frozen peas. Bring to a simmer, reduce heat to low and cook, stirring occasionally, until sauce thickens.
    5. When the potatoes are done cooking transfer them to a bowl. Add butter, milk, egg yolk, salt and pepper. mash the potatoes until smooth.
    6. Preheat oven to 400F (200C).
    7. Layer the meat mixture in a 13"X8.5" (33X22cm) ovenproof dish. Spread the puree over the meat mixture.
    8. Bake 20-25 minutes. or until mashed potato is golden brown.
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Video

YouTube video
Nutrition information is automatically generated and thus we can not guarantee it is 100% accurate.

20 Comments

  1. My girlfriend and I made this yesterday. It turned out very well, but we substituted beef for the lamb and definitely didn’t get lean enough meat, so we ended up having to put it in bowls. Despite this, the flavor was really on point, and I think the addition of rosemary and thyme really help to bring the other flavors together. Awesome recipe!

    March 7, 2019
  2. Brontr zadow says:

    This recipe is devious and easy to make its a meal on its own, the leftovers are easily reheated very happy

    March 9, 2019
    1. Joseph Walsh says:

      I assume you meant to type delicious rather than devious” ???”

      March 25, 2020
  3. I agree – this is fabulous! We also used ground beef in lieu of the lamb and it was so good. I’m planning on making it again. Thank you.

    March 23, 2019
  4. anonymous says:

    This is a wonderful version. I made it tonight and it was by far the best shepherds pie I have ever made

    March 26, 2019
    1. Amanda Cox says:

      I completely agree and second that!!! ♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️👍

      April 15, 2020
  5. OMGGG I didn’t have flour but corn starch works the same in a pinch. The cheddar does really make a difference in the potato puree. Also recommend using russet potato so when baked it smells like fried potato! Thank you for this recipe

    April 7, 2019
  6. [email protected] says:

    Instead of using 2 cups of beef broth I did 1 and 1 cup of dry red wine. Instead of adding both herbs together, the thyme to the sauce and the rosemary to the mash. Instead of cooking the onion first, i cooked the dice carrots first becausre is a root veg…
    2 c onion
    2 c carrots
    2 peas

    January 3, 2020
  7. It was very useful to my son but presenting it was hard.

    January 26, 2020
  8. Good recipe. I’ve made a lot of shepherd’s pie – or cottage pie, in my case, as I use ground beef or turkey – and this is a good foundational recipe to start from, then you can customize and make it your own.
    I didn’t see where to add the cheese so I grated on top after cooking halfway and it browned up beautifully. Big hit. Thank you!

    January 30, 2020
  9. I made this recipe with lean ground beef. It came out fantastic. We ate too much of it because it was so good. Highly recommend.

    March 28, 2020
  10. Made this yesterday with lean ground beef mince & it was delicious-others enjoyed it too. Thank you ! 🌺

    April 1, 2020
  11. The work time was about an hour (instead of 20 minutes?) but it’s a fantastic recipe! Mixed some extra cheddar cheese and green onions with the purée.

    April 3, 2020
  12. Just made this today and love it. used the recipe exactly. wish I could post pics.

    May 3, 2020
    1. The Cooking Foodie says:

      Glad you liked it Stephen!
      You always can share with me the photos on Instagram by posting the pics and tagging me 🙂

      May 3, 2020
      1. Do u offer dairy free, pork free and shellfish free recipes?? Thank you.

        January 2, 2022
  13. Hello, What is the purpose of the egg yolk in the potatoes? Would it be ok to leave it out?

    October 27, 2020
  14. the recipe sounds interesting
    go to the section that said print recipe only to get 6 pages of advertisement and one whole page of the pie ad a second page with the recipe
    will scratch this site from my go too

    October 31, 2020
  15. Christine says:

    Really great recipe! Flavour profile is excellent. I did make minor adjustments based on what I had in my fridge – For purée, I used coffee cream (10% cream) Instead of milk, Doubled the butter, cheese, salt and pepper. For meat filling adjustments: used minced beef or minced pork instead (made this recipe 3 different times In two weeks), reduced amount of stock – 1 c. chicken boullion stock instead of 2 c. beef stock, in place of fresh rosemary and thyme, used 1 teaspoon of dried poultry sea

    November 2, 2020
  16. Wow this meal extramally useful for my health i really interest to ingridient of this meal actually i will cook it i think this food can began healthy life for me in this meal there are very useful vegetables for good living for instense cheese flour and egg in my opinion this meal will be popular above people shape of it very beatiful big hit for us thanks for wonderful restsept

    October 9, 2022
4 from 266 votes (266 ratings without comment)

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