Easy Shepherd’s Pie perfect comfort food.

Sometimes you just crave a nice warm meat and potatoes kind of meal…pure comfort food. Shepherd’s Pie totally fits the bill. It’s one of those dinners I crave, especially during the colder months. We’ve shared a lighter version of Shepherd’s Pie with mashed cauliflower rather than mashed potatoes, but it’s the mashed potatoes that ultimately make it a comfort food. I love making two smaller ones and freezing one for an easy freezer meal on a busy weeknight.

Ingredients:

* 3-4 large potatoes, peeled and quartered
* 8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter
* 1 medium onion, diced
* 2 medium carrots, peeled and diced
* 1-2 cans green beans, liquid drained
* 1 lb lean ground beef
* 1/2 cup beef broth
* 2 teaspoons tomato paste
* 1-2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
* Salt, pepper, other seasonings of choice

How to make Shepherd’s Pie:

1. Cook the potatoes: Add the peeled and quartered potatoes into a medium sized pot. Cover with water and add a teaspoon of salt. Bring the water to a boil, reduce to a simmer, and continue to cook until fork tender (about 20 minutes).
2 Cook the Veggies: In a large skillet melt 4 tablespoons of the butter at medium hight heat. Add the diced onions and carrots and cook until tender, about 6 to 10 minutes.
Add in the green beans to the meat vegetable mixture towards the end, just right before adding it all to the casserole dish.
3 Add the ground beef:
Into the skillet with the onions and carrots, add the ground beef and brown. Season with salt and pepper.
Now add the Worcestershire sauce, tomato paste and beef broth. Bring the broth to a simmer and reduce heat to low. Cook uncovered for 10 minutes, adding more beef broth if necessary to keep the meat from drying out.
4 Mash the cooked potatoes: When the potatoes are done cooking and they are fork tender, remove the water from the pot. Keep the pot on the burner and turn the heat to medium high. Toss the potatoes around in the dry pan to help remove any excess moisture. Turn the heat off. Add 4 tablespoons of butter. Mash the potatoes with a potato masher or a fork. Add a few tablespoons of milk if desired to help the consistency of the mashed potatoes. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
5 Layer all into a casserole dish: Preheat oven to 400°F. Into a 9×13 casserole dish layer in the vegetable and beef mixture.
Spread the mashed potatoes over the top of the ground beef layer. Top with grated cheese if desired, or add a decorative design to the mashed potatoes to finish it off.
6 Bake: Place into the 400°F oven and cook for about 30 minutes until bubbly and hot.

What is Shepherd’s Pie?

Also known as Cottage Pie, Shepherd’s Pie is basically a meat and veggie pie topped with mashed potatoes. There are a few variations to it and it can really be customized to your preference.
The name shepherd’s pie comes from the fact that originally this meat pie was made with lamb. For the most part it is now primarily made with beef (ground beef to be specific. Because shepherd’s look after sheep…that’s where the name Shepherd’s pie comes from.

Why is it called Shepherd’s Pie?

The name shepherd’s pie comes from the fact that originally this meat pie was made with lamb. For the most part it is now primarily made with beef (ground beef to be specific). Because shepherd’s look after sheep…that’s where the name “Shepherd’s pie” comes from.

Does Shepherd’s Pie have cheese on top?

Traditionally Shepherd’s pie does not have cheese on top. It’s really a preference thing if you want to top it with cheese. If you choose to not add cheese, you can make a design with the mashed potatoes using a fork. After baking you can choose to broil the top of the mashed potatoes. This adds a nice touch to finish off the Shepherd’s Pie. One thing to note is that glass casserole dishes have a history of cracking under the heat of an oven broiler, so if you plan to broil it to finish it off, it might be a good idea to not use glass, but a metal or disposable tin casserole dish.
The cheese on top is up to your preference.

Shepherd's Pie

Pure comfort meat and potatoes kind of meal.

Author Kami | NoBiggie.net

Ingredients

3-4 large potatoes peeled and quartered
8 tablespoons butter (1 stick)
1 medium onion diced
2 medium carrots peeled and diced
1-2 14.5oz. cans green beans liquid drained
1 lb. lean ground beef
1/2 cup beef broth
2 teaspoons tomato paste
1-2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

Cook the potatoes: Add the peeled and quartered potatoes into a medium sized pot. Cover with water and add a teaspoon of salt. Bring the water to a boil, reduce to a simmer, and continue to cook until fork tender (about 20 minutes).
Cook the Veggies: In a large skillet melt 4 tablespoons of the butter at medium hight heat. Add the diced onions and carrots and cook until tender, about 6 to 10 minutes.
Add in the green beans to the meat vegetable mixture towards the end, just right before adding it all to the casserole dish.
Add the ground beef: Into the skillet with the onions and carrots, add the ground beef and brown. Season with salt and pepper.
Now add the Worcestershire sauce, tomato paste and beef broth. Bring the broth to a simmer and reduce heat to low. Cook uncovered for 8-10 minutes, adding more beef broth if necessary to keep the meat from drying out.
Mash the cooked potatoes: When the potatoes are done cooking and they are fork tender, remove the water from the pot. Keep the pot on the burner and turn the heat to medium high. Toss the potatoes around in the dry pan to help remove any excess moisture. Turn the heat off. Add 4 tablespoons of butter. Mash the potatoes with a potato masher or a fork. Add a few tablespoons of milk if desired to help the consistency of the mashed potatoes. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Layer all into a casserole dish: Preheat oven to 400°F. Into a 9x13 casserole dish layer in the vegetable and beef mixture.
Spread the mashed potatoes over the top of the ground beef layer. Top with grated cheese if desired, or add a decorative design to the mashed potatoes to finish it off.
Bake: Place into the 400°F oven and cook for about 30 minutes until bubbly and hot.

Making This Recipe? Tag us on Instagram: @NoBiggie using the hashtag #NoBiggieRecipes, so we can see what you are making in the kitchen!

Storage:

Chill It: Shepherd’s Pie will keep in the fridge for 3-5 days. It makes great leftovers.
Freeze it: Shepherd’s pie freezes really well. One of the keys to mashed potatoes freezing well is to make sure that the potatoes have a good amount of fat from butter, milk or cream. With enough fat, mashed potatoes freeze great.

Variations:

There’s a lot of ways to customize this recipe to your preference. For the larger vegetables in it, carrots are a must, but you can really change up the rest of the vegetables how you’d like:

frozen corn
frozen peas
green beans (canned or fresh)
sliced mushrooms

More Meat and Potato Dinners We love:

$Shepherd\'s Pie$