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This vegetarian Shepherd’s Pie has all of the flavor you’d expect in the traditional version but with all of the hearty goodness of lentils!
Tender lentils are simmered in a rich savory broth, topped with creamy mashed potatoes and baked to golden perfection! Serve this easy meal as a meatless favorite any time of year.
Ingredients in Lentil Shepherd’s Pie
A true shepherd’s pie recipe is made with lamb.
If you use ground beef it actually becomes a cottage pie… and in this case, we’re using lentils to replace the meat.
LENTILS Lentils are a yummy, healthy, and inexpensive substitution for meat in almost any ground beef dish! 1 cup of dried lentils can replace 1 pound of ground beef in most recipes.
VEGETABLES If I have them on hand, I use fresh veggies in this recipe. If you don’t have fresh veggies available, use frozen mixed vegetables and add them in along with the peas.
SAUCE The sauce for this recipe starts with a bit of flour and the remaining broth from the lentils. Depending on the type of lentils, you may need to add more or less broth. Start with 3 cups and once you add in the veggies and lentils as it begins to simmer, the sauce will thicken. Add more broth as needed (I add about 4 cups).
If you add too much broth, just let it simmer until thickened. Keep in mind the sauce will thicken further as the dish bakes and as it cools.
MASHED POTATOES Creamy homemade mashed potatoes are the perfect topping for this recipe, simply spread them on or pipe them for a pretty topping. I don’t add cheese to this recipe but you certainly can.
If you’d prefer, use mashed cauliflower in place of mashed potatoes.
Short on Time?
- Swap lentils for canned lentils (drained and rinsed) and skip the boiling step (adding broth for the sauce where needed).
- Skip the homemade sauce and opt for a can of tomato soup, it makes a surprisingly delicious sauce. Simply omit the sauce ingredients in the recipe and add a can of condensed tomato soup directly into the mixture.
- Trade fresh veggies for frozen veggies to skip the washing and chopping.
- Trade homemade mashed potatoes for leftover mashed potatoes or store-bought (or garlic mashed for a flavor boost)!
How to Make Vegetarian Shepherd’s Pie
This dish is easy to make (although it does take some time). A quick overview of the steps…
- Simmer lentils in broth.
- While lentils are simmering, chop and soften veggies (or skip this step and use frozen veggies).
- Combine lentils with veggies and sauce ingredients. Simmer until thickened.
- Place in a deep dish pie plate and top with mashed potatoes.
Bake until golden and bubbly! So easy and so yummy!
Is Lentil Shepherd’s Pie Vegetarian?
It can be!
To make this a vegetarian dish, be sure to use vegetable broth and substitute regular Worcestershire sauce for a vegetarian Worcestershire sauce.
More Meatless Mains
- Homemade Lentil Soup
- Roasted Vegetable Lasagna
- Baked Mac and Cheese
- CrockPot Potato Soup
- Creamy Peanut Thai Noodles
- Vegetarian Chili
- Lentil Sloppy Joes
Easy Lentil Shepherd's Pie (vegetarian)
Ingredients
- 1 cup brown lentils or green lentils
- 3-4 cups vegetable broth or beef broth if not making vegetarian
- 2 teaspoons olive oil
- ½ cup chopped onion
- 1 cup chopped mushrooms about 4 oz
- 1 carrot chopped
- 1 rib celery chopped
- ½ cup frozen peas thawed
- ½ tablespoon all-purpose flour
- 3 tablespoons red wine
- 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce use vegetarian Worcestershire sauce if desired
- 3 tablespoons tomato paste
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
- salt and black pepper to taste
- 2 ½ cups prepared mashed potatoes
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400°F.
- Combine lentils and 3 cups broth in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and cover. Cook 20-25 minutes or until lentils are tender.
- Meanwhile, cook onion, mushrooms, carrot, and celery in olive oil over medium heat until onion and carrot are softened. Stir in flour and cook 1 minute more.
- Add lentils (and their broth), red wine, Worcestershire sauce, and tomato paste. Stir in peas and simmer uncovered 10 minutes adding more broth as needed to create a sauce. Stir in parsley and season with salt & pepper to taste.
- Spoon lentil mixture into a deep-dish pie plate. Top with mashed potatoes and bake 20-25 minutes or until potatoes are browned.
Notes
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Casserole, Main Course
Cuisine American, Irish© SpendWithPennies.com. Content and photographs are copyright protected. Sharing of this recipe is both encouraged and appreciated. Copying and/or pasting full recipes to any social media is strictly prohibited. Please view my photo use policy here.
Absolutely delicious. Made like the recipe as you posted, making the sauce and cooking the lentils.
Granddaughter is now vegetarian so been trying to find recipes for her that she will enjoy. She is only 13.
I hope she loves it!
This turned out quite soupy, even though I added some cornstarch to try to thicken it. It mostly tasted like the wine and Worchestershire; I added a little garlic to round out the flavor. The family tried it and agreed it was too soupy and the texture was just mushy. The taste was pretty good when eaten with the mashed potatoes (which would not sit on top very well–they started sinking into the mixture.) I really wanted to like this and find a good lentil main dish, but I’m afraid I would not recommend it.
If it was soupy and the flavor of wine and Worcestershire sauce were too strong, the mixture needed to simmer longer. Once simmered long enough it will thicken and the flavors will balance out. I hope that helps!
Do leftovers freeze well? Thanks, great recipe.
Joanna, it should work well in the freezer. Just bring out to defrost overnight and reheat in the oven or reheat individual slices in the microwave.
The meals look really lovely
Can I freeze leftovers?
It should work well in the freezer, Callie. Just bring out to defrost overnight and reheat in the oven or reheat individual slices in the microwave.
The most comforting meal ever.. so good! Really simple to put together and everyone feels like they’re sitting down to a special meal.
Delicious supper!
I’ve made this twice and it’s been excellent each time. No modifications. No notes. Just yummy.
Loved it
Hello I will love to make the Meatless Shepherd’s pie but I have some questions please .Can I use boiled potatoes? If I can ,how many? And can cheese be added to the potatoes?
Thank You
Sherry
Hi Sherry, you will need 2 ½ cups of mashed potatoes for the topping. You can use prepared mashed potatoes or boil potatoes if you prefer.
This sounds so good for a new years day dinner (since lentils are considered good luck). I usually won’t cook unless I do everything from scratch and then I find myself not cooking So I am being flexible with myself now and I love how you offer a quicker version. Can you confirm how many cans of lentils to add to the recipe? Since you skip the broth boil with the dried lentils, how much broth do you add afterwards? And for frozen veggies, I would use 1.5 cups? Do I still follow the cooking instructions for sauteing with onion and celery and adding the flour? Finally, do I use just one regular can of condensed tomato soup? Thanks so much!!!!
Hi Carlene, I would add 2-3 cups of canned lentils in place of the dry lentils. Then you will add broth for the sauce where needed in step 4. Yes we add 1 ½ cups of frozen veggies in place of the fresh veggies. For the flavor, I would still saute the onions and celery, adding the flour. We just use one can of tomato soup but you can add additional for an extra saucy dish. I hope that helps!
I have tried several vegan shepherd’s pies, this one is excellent. I did not have wine in the house, so I used pure cranberry juice. It was amazing. Saving this recipe to do again. Thank you.
Delicious! I added some yeast extract for a bit of umami and it was so good! I really love lentils, very tasty
What can you use instead of wine?
Additional broth.
I used pure cranberry juice. it was delicious.
This is such a great recipe. I’ve made it many times. Can it be made a day in advance?
Absolutely, you’ll need to increase the cooking time.
I made this recipe for my vegetarian daughter. She doesn’t like mushrooms so I added some mixed frozen veggies. Delicious! Will definitely keep this recipe on my ‘make again’ list. I plan to make this next week for my son who loves mushrooms.