Shepherd’s Pie is the sort of food that brings a smile to everyone’s face! Lamb in a rich gravy sauce with a scattering of peas, a creamy potato topping, and that awesome golden cheese crust, make this once and you’ll make it over and over again! (PS Use beef instead of lamb for Cottage Pie).
Shepherd’s Pie
When I shared my Cottage Pie on Facebook, there was almost an all out cyber-war about whether it was in fact Cottage Pie or Shepherd’s Pie. 😂
So let me just answer the burning question first, to get that out of the way:
What’s the difference between Shepherd’s Pie and Cottage Pie??
Cottage Pie is made with beef and Shepherd’s Pie is made with lamb.
Shepherds herd sheep. Not cows. That’s how I remember it!!
Other than beef vs lamb, they are essentially exactly the same recipe.
So a Shepherd’s Pie made with beef is Cottage Pie, and Cottage Pie made with lamb is Shepherd’s Pie!
What is Shepard’s Pie
If you’re new to Shepherd’s Pie (also spelled Shepard’s Pie), let me be the first to welcome you to your new favourite comfort food. Essentially, it’s lamb and veggies smothered in a gravy – and who doesn’t love an excuse for tons and tons of gravy?
All those times you were limited to just a small drizzle on a few slices of roast lamb because there wasn’t enough to go around… Bah! This is how you get your gravy fix!!
How to make Shepherd’s Pie
A really good Shepherd’s Pie should always start with a soffrito – that is, onion, garlic, carrots and celery sautéed on a lowish heat until sweet. It’s the secret to a great flavour base that’s a technique used widely by many cuisines, such as Italian cooking (for example, this Italian Shredded Beef Ragu).
After this, we cook the ground / mince meat – traditionally lamb but equally delicious made with beef – before adding flour (which thickens the sauce) and gravy flavourings (beef broth, tomato paste, beef bouillon cube, Worcestershire sauce and red wine which is optional).
Simmer until the sauce is thickened, spread in a baking dish then top with creamy mashed potato (the creamier = easier to spread). To make the top beautifully golden and extra crispy, I like to drizzle with a bit of butter and parmesan. You’ll see how amazing it looks when it comes out of the oven in the recipe video!
What to serve with Shepherd’s Pie
When it comes to choosing sides for your Shepherd’s pie, try Glazed Roasted Carrots or perhaps Sautéed Garlic Spinach. The only other thing you need is a glass of red and a crackling fire…
Tips for making Shepherd’s Pie
There are a few stages to making Shepherd’s Pie, but it’s a straightforward recipe. There’s just two little things that you don’t see in most recipes, little things that bugged me:
Cool the filling before topping with potato: It thickens and makes it easier to spread the potato across the top and it stops the potato weeping into the filling;
Creamier mashed potato = easier to spread and just an all round better eating experience. I just don’t like dry, very firm mash. When I break through the mash, I want it to be borderline collapsing, rather than being able to cut cleanly through it like cake.
I stress again – these are little things that bug me, so feel free to by-pass them! – Nagi x
PS One last time – Cottage Pie is made with beef. Shepherd’s Pie is made with lamb! 😂 (Shepherd’s herd SHEEP!)
Watch how to make it
Sometimes it helps to have a visual, so watch me make this Shepherd’s Pie recipe!
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Shepherd’s Pie
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 tbsp olive oil
- 2 garlic cloves , minced
- 1 onion , finely chopped
- 1 carrot , finely chopped
- 1 rib celery , finely chopped
- 3/4 tsp each dried thyme and rosemary (or 2 sprigs fresh thyme + 1 sprig rosemary)
- 750g (1.5 lb) ground lamb (mince) OR beef
- 1/4 cup flour , plain/all purpose
- 1/4 cup tomato paste
- 2 cups beef stock / broth
- 1/2 cup red wine (or water)
- 1 beef bouillon cube , crumbled (OXO brand crumbles easily)
- 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- 2 bay leaves , dried or fresh
- 3/4 tsp cooking salt / kosher salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 1 cup frozen peas
Mashed Potato
- 1.2kg (2.2 lb) potatoes, peeled and cut into 2.5cm / 1″ cubes
- 2/3 cup milk (whole or low fat)
- 2 tbsp (30g) unsalted butter
Cheesy crust
- 2 – 3 tbsp grated parmesan , optional
- 2 tbsp (30g) unsalted butter , melted
- Fresh thyme leaves, optional garnish
Instructions
- Sauté – Heat oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add onion and garlic, cook for 1 minute. Then add carrots, celery, thyme and rosemary. Cook for 3 minutes or until softened and sweet.
- Cook lamb – Turn heat up to high. Add lamb and cook, breaking it up as you go, until browned.
- Make sauce – Add flour and mix in. Add tomato paste, broth, red wine, bouillon cube, Worcestershire sauce and bay leaves. Stir well.
- Simmer and thicken – Bring to simmer, then turn down heat so it is simmering rapidly – I have it on medium. Cook for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally, until it reduces down to a thick gravy consistency (Note 1) (see video).
- Cool – Add salt and pepper, taste, then add more if you like. Transfer Filling to 1.5 litre / 1.5 quart pie baking dish. Stir through peas. Cover, then refrigerate to cool for 1 – 2 hours or overnight (optional, Note 2)
Assemble:
- Preheat oven to 180°C/350°F (both fan and standard).
- Boil potatoes – Place the potatoes in a large pot. Add water so it’s 10cm / 4” above potatoes. Bring to a boil then cook for 15 minutes or until soft. Drain then return potatoes into the pot on the turned off stove. Allow to steam dry for 30 seconds or so (Note 3).
- Mash – Add butter and mash until melted, then add milk, salt and pepper. Mash until it's soft and smooth (ie spreadable, but not sloppy), adjusting with a touch more milk if required.
- Spread mash onto pie, use a fork to draw squiggles over the surface. Sprinkle with parmesan, drizzle with butter.
- Bake for 30 – 40 minutes or until deep golden on top and bubbling on the edges. Stick a knife into the middle to ensure it is piping hot.
- Stand for 5 minutes before serving, garnished with fresh thyme leaves if desired.
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
More cosy pies!
Life of Dozer
Flashback to when Dozer destroyed his ACL (rear knee) back when I first shared this recipe in June 2018. He underwent surgery and was 2 weeks into a 4 month recovery period, and under strict instructions to remain confined to a small space.
It was very challenging for this highly active dog. But his patience was rewarded, he is back to his wild antics at the beach!
Nagi, I made this for my family tonight, it was a hit!
Thank you!!
That’s great to hear Joan! N x
This was AMAZING! I used lamb and it’s my go-to recipe. Thank you for sharing
I’m so glad you love it Sonia! N x
Lovely recipe as always, thank you. I often make your recipes but always forget to comment.
Thanks so much Ally!!! N x
Making it tonight. Using a 50/50 mix of beef and pork (because I usually mix it and freeze it for bolognese sauce)
This came out very nicely. I added sour cream to the mashed potatoes, it works. Thanks Nagi!
Sour cream makes anything great doesn’t it Alan?! N x
It sure does. I cheated and used frozen mashed potatoes. No one really noticed the difference. It cuts down on cooking time.
Delicious! Have been hunting for a tasty Shepherds Pie recipe for so long, finally found it and can’t wait to make it again, thank you!
I’m so glad you enjoyed it Kellie!
Love all your recipe so easy and tasty
Thanks so much Tina ❤️ N x
I made this yesterday and even my husband (who doesn’t like Shepherds pie) said it was so nice, I can make it again. Thank you Nagi for yet another tasty, easy recipe!
You’ve totally converted him Karen!! This is the best!
I made Cottage Pie, the market was out of lamb, and the result was so good. We look forward to leftovers. Second recipe try and second great result. Wish I had more time to cook. Thanks for the tips, they helped.
P.S. It has been a long time since I made mashed potatoes and the result was – um, rustic but still very tasty.
I’ve just finished making this ready to cook later and my kitchen smells amazing! I sneaked a taste of the filling and added a touch of onion granules and it is perfect!
I’ve made circa 10 recipes from your site and they are always 10/10, thank you so so much!
Hi, I cant seem to work out the calories for this? Are the khs written there wrong?
I’m so happy you enjoyed it Larry!
Hi I am going to try this recipe on Friday/Saturday. But I have a question.
You meantioned ‘Once cool, then either refrigerate or freeze’ (under the Making ahead instructions).
One of the steps was to transfer filling and refrigerate for an hour or 2 or overnight. So before covering to refrigerate, do I need to cool it off first? I will be doing the filling on Friday. The baking will be done on Saturday itself.
Thank you.
Cheers,
Clara
Hi Clara, yes I always let my food cool slightly first before putting in the fridge – you actually risk food spoilage if you place it in the fridge hot as the temperature of the fridge will increase with a hot item in there.
Thanks Nagi. Noted on the above.
Loving a lot of your recipes, thank you.
You’re so welcome Annette!
Hi there, I was always told that shepherds pie was mashed potatoes similar to the sheeps fluffy wool and cottage pie with the slices of potato is similar to the shingles of a cottage. Go figure. By the way love your recipes, have started an album just for your recipes.
I love this analogy Fee!
Love to read all your easy non complicated recipes.
Dozer is just lovely.
Thanks so much Margaret!
Hi Nagi,
Thank you!
For decades I have been saying this to people and mostly getting a vacant expression in reply, it was always logical to me but that may be because I trained as a chef/lecturer and manager lol.
Thank you also for the photos of the adorable Dozer, labradors are a favourite of mine, he’s gorgeous.
As far as flavour goes this recipe is more than 5/5 stars but there’s a few things I found a bit inaccurate: 1) to make this recipe gluten free you’d also have to find gluten free Worcester. The common L&P brand has malt vinegar which isn’t gluten free. 2) Unless you’re Houdini, prep time is far more than 10 mins. 3) copied the consistency shown in the video (and actually simmered for an additional 10 mins) but it was still too soupy, tasted fine but once you took the first scoop out all the meat out from under the potatoes 3) cooked for 50 mins and my crust still wasn’t as brown as shown (yes I used butter and parm as recommended). But with those few tweaks, it’s amazing!
Natasha,
A recipe is a guide not something set in stone, it is the building blocks of a completed dish from which you can increase, decrease, remove, introduce; also timings are subjective, 20 years ago, before disability, I could prepare (peel, chop, slice, mash etc…) three or more times faster than I can these days, my speed might have been much faster than most, accuracy finer too.
Also, ovens can vary quite an extent, unless they are callibrated regularly there is not going to be accurate, my current cooker is overly hot, so I adjust the temperature manually, it also has a hot spot at the back, right hand corner.
Nagi has written the recipes using her equipment, skill set et so they are unlikely to be the same as yours.
Hope this explains 😀
This recipe looks delicious and I can’t wait to try it! Is there a certain type of wine you would reccomend using with the beef? Thanks!
Hi Celeste, I usually get wine from the discount bins at my local store – N x
This had the nicest flavour of any Shepherd’s pie I’ve ever made! And I’ve made many many shepherds pies! I added zucchini, cauliflower to the beef mince with chicken stock and white wine (used what I had at home). Simmered for a couple of hours. My teenager had 2 helpings! Thanks for such an awesome site, I’m working through the recipes!
Sounds delicious Megan – a great way to add extra veg!!
What size dish should I use to bake it in?
Very, very, delicious!
A new familie favourite, which I make over and over Again.
Thank you!
Awesome Sandra!
Sorry 1 more question: Would you not precook the Beef separately to enable draining some of the fat before mixing the onion, garlic, carrots,celery,thyme and rosemary?
Hi Chris, I don’t bother, our beef is fairly lean here – but you could use lean beef if you’re conscious of the fat in it 🙂