by CatalinaShepherd’s Pie is a traditional Irish dish made with ground lamb cooked with peas and carrots and topped with a mashed potato crust. Easy and tasty, all year round!
Shepherd’s Pie is a delicious combo of ground lamb that has been cooked with carrots, sweet green peas and corn. The lamb mixture is then topped with a crust of creamy mashed potatoes. You will love how easy and convenient this dish is. It can be made a day in advance, which makes dinner prep easier. This recipe is so easy that you have to try it. If you are not a fan of lamb, you can substitute it with beef, and it will still taste delicious.
What is Shepherd’s Pie?
Shepherd’s pie is a delicious casserole traditionally made with ground lamb. Many people make this recipe with ground beef however, if you use ground beef it’s actually called Cottage Pie! Either way, it’s a delicious crustless meat pie topped with mashed potato. The recipe can vary widely, but it is usually made with minced meat, cooked with onions, peas, celery, corn or carrots in a gravy.
Do you put cheese on top of Shepherd’s Pie?
Traditionally, a Shepherd’s Pie is not topped with cheese, but if you are an avid cheese lover, you can add a sprinkle of cheddar cheese on top of the mashed potatoes, and it will taste even better.
Tips on how to cook the Shepherd’s Pie:
- You can use a mix of vegetables: I used sweet corn and sweet green peas, as well carrots.
- You can use homemade mashed potatoes or if you are in a hurry, you can use store-bought mashed potatoes. I used this recipe for mashed potatoes.
- The cheese on top is optional, but totally delicious.
- You can prep and assemble the pie one day in advance and store it in the fridge. Let it come to room temperature 30 minutes before baking it.
- To prevent the mashed potatoes from sinking, after you add the meat mixture, let it cool and then chill it in the fridge for 20 minutes. This will help keep the layers separated.
- If your baking dish is very full, I recommend adding a baking sheet covered with parchment paper (or aluminum foil) under it in the oven to avoid any juices spilling in your oven.
Why is it called Shepherd’s Pie?
Originally a meat pie made with minced (or ground) meat and mashed potatoes was known as a Cottage Pie (and it was even sometimes made with pastry many years ago). It is very popular in Ireland, Scotland and England as well! In the late 1800’s the pie was named Shepherd’s Pie if made with lamb (since the shepherd looked after the sheep) and if made with beef it was called Cottage Pie.
Regardless of the name, this recipe is a classic Shepherd’s Pie recipe loaded with flavor and the perfect make ahead meal to serve all year long!
Easy Shepherd's Pie Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground lamb or beef
- 1 medium onion diced
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 10 oz frozen peas and carrots defrosted
- 10.5 oz can corn drained
- 10 oz can tomato soup or mushroom soup
- 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon basil
- 1/8 teaspoon black pepper
- 3 cups prepared mashed potatoes
- 1 cup cheddar cheese shredded
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Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400°F.
- Cook lamb or beef, onion and garlic over medium heat until no pink remains. Drain any fat.
- Stir in soup, Worcestershire sauce, salt, basil and pepper. Spread into the bottom of a 2 qt casserole dish. Sprinkle with peas, carrots and corn.
- Spoon mashed potatoes overtop and top with cheese.
- Baked 25-30 minutes or until bubbly.
Recipe Notes
(Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.)
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I love Shephard’s pie and Cottage pie. Your recipe looks simple enough that I think even I can make it.
Could you clarify please about the soup? These cans of soup say to add 1 can water or milk. Should I do that and make the soup or just put the contents of the can in without adding the water or milk?
I was also wondering, in order to get 3 cups mashed potatoes, approximately how many potatoes and what size should I start with?
Thanks.
You will need to add just the condensed soup (without adding the extra water/milk). To get 3 cups of potatoes, you’ll need about 1.5lbs (about 4-5 medium potatoes).
Thanks for the reply. Good thing I checked with you because I was leaning towards adding the water/milk and now I know not to.
Enjoy Stephen, let us know how it goes for you!
I just made this today and it worked out very well. Thank you.
Glad you enjoyed it Stephen, thank you for coming back and letting us know!
This was absolutely delicious! Really was simple, and quick. I use different veggies because I didn’t have the ones in the recipe except for peas, and it came out great. I would probably even use 2 lb of ground beef next time to make it more meaty. Will be making again!
So happy to hear how much you enjoyed the Shepherd’s pie Meka!
Trying it out for the first time and making my homemade garlic mashed potatoes for it! I can’t wait! Never made/had shepherds pie before! Also, I’m baking it in an actual pie crust!
I hope you love it as much as we do Lisa!
I have never tried shepherds pie or cottage pie but this sounds good. Will test it out on the fam this week!
Enjoy Kay! Let us know how it goes!
Trying it out but added celery and oyster sauce (about 3 tbs) and ommitted the corn as it gives me indigestion even though I love the flavour. Very tasty.
So glad you loved it Janette!
My family loves shepherds pie!! Sometimes for variety I use taco seasoning and add corn and black beans! Delicious!!!
Yummy twist on a classic recipe, thank you for sharing!
Where is your recipe for the mashed potatoes?
I used this recipe for mashed potatoes.
We eat Shepherd’s Pie quite often. This recipe sounds better than the one we have been using. We’ll try it next time.
Very good. I am so happy with everything I have tried from this blog. Totally trust Holly and I really appreciate her explanations why something should be done a certain way (or certain kind of ingredients), as well as the alternative options she offers.
Cottage pie is one of my favorite dishes, period! Never been a super big fan of lamb, so I have not tried making a real Shepherd’s Pie.
Thank you so much Darina! Glad that you enjoy the blog and the recipes!
Wow! I have never tried Shepherd’s pie, it looks so good!! Thank you for the recipe, gotta try it.
A splash of red wine makes it extra tasty.
Yummy, thanks for sharing!!