Easy Shepherd’s Pie With Cheese

Cream Cheese Shepherds Pie

I wasnt introduced to Shepherds Pie until a couple years ago, but I love it! Its a classic comfort food. Its also great one dish meal that makes enough to feed an army.

Recently, Andrew mentioned that he wanted me to try making a Shepherds Pie. His grandma makes the best ever mashed potatoes with cream cheese, so we decided to try that for the mashed potatoes part.

The secret to getting amazing filling is using a jar of beef gravy! Ive made Shepherds Pie other ways before and it just didnt turn out as good. This filling combined with the cream cheese mashed potatoes makes this dish so good!

Andrew and I both agreed that this was the best Shepherds Pie we had ever had! Usually, whenever I make a new dish, we can think of at least a couple things to do next time to make it better. But with this dish, there is nothing I would change! Its definitely going on the regular rotation.

How This Pie Is Different From Traditional Shepherds Pie

The shepherds pie of my upbringing features a hefty portion of meat, with vegetables playing a supporting role, and a thick topping of buttery mashed potatoes. My updated version bumps up the ratio of vegetables to meat and calls for extra-lean ground beef, which is the leanest option in the butcher case.

For the mashed potatoes, the recipe swaps in olive oil for butter, which means more heart-healthy fats in every bite. The sum total of these swaps is a lighter dish with no shortcuts on flavor.

How To Make Shepherds Pie Recipe

I used olive oil and butter to fry the onion, the combination of these two fats make the onion, and the added vegetables taste awesome. The onion must be fried first until light brown, at this stage the onions texture is perfect to thicken the lamb sauce later.

Adding celery instead of garlic gave warmth to this shepherds pie recipe. The chopped carrots made the shepherds pie colorful and added a little sweetness which cut the bitterness that sometimes found in the tomato paste. Mushroom gave a meaty texture to the sauce, and therefore we dont need to add flour.

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Tips For The Best Shepherds Pie

• Use lean ground beef or lamb so that everything holds together and does not fall apart from the excess grease.
• Use russet potatoes for the lightest and fluffiest potato topping.
• Let the shepherds pie rest for 10 minutes before serving. This will allow the juices to absorb back into the meat and help everything stay together.
• Broil the last couple of minutes to brown the potato topping.

Preparing The Mashed Potato For The Shepherds Pie

Use any potatoes you like. Butter, milk, and the seasoning play the biggest role here. Do not boil the potato to a point where it turns into a soupy mashed potato. When you insert a knife in the potato, and it goes through with minor resistance. Drain the potato completely and add all the ingredients while the potatoes are still hot. Mashed the potatoes until it reaches a spreadable consistency.

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Shepherds Pie Is A Comforting Casserole Your Family Will Beg For Again And Again

This easy Shepherds Pie recipe is layered with ground beef, carrots, corn and green peppers smothered in a tomato spiked brown gravy all topped with crispy, cheesy hash browns. Its perfect comfort food for St. Patricks Day or an any day easy family favorite! Ive also included instructions on how to freeze ground beef Shepherds Pie and how to make ahead!

How Do You Know If The Beef You Purchase Is Grain

You actually wont. The only labels you will see is if the cattle has been grass-fed. The reason being is that most beef is from cattle that are grain-fed, so therefore wont have a specific label identifying them.

One of the things I learned on my recent farm tour with Iowa Corn was that all cattle, including grain-fed cattle, spend the majority of their lives eating grass. then 11% of their lives or 4-6 months in a feedyard. In addition to a specific corn mixture, they are also given a balanced diet which may consist of potato hulls, sugar beets, hay or forage.

All cattle may or may not be given FDA-approved antibiotics to treat, prevent or control disease and/or growth preventing hormones. Rest assured that ALL of the farmers Ive spoken with who raise cattle and pigs will NOT give their livestock any antibiotics unless it is absolutely necessary.

As with our children, we dont administer medication unless it is warranted. It wouldnt be in the best interest of the farmer to do so either.All farmers adhere to strict rules ensuring that no antibiotics are in an animals system before it is prepared for human consumption.Without question, they want to provide consumers with the best products possible while keeping their farms sustainable.

The beauties below are Red Angus cattle. Heard of them?I had no idea Red Angus even existed! I thought there were only black. I think Ive got to get out more. hahaTheres no difference in their meat, only their color.

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More Vegetarian Casseroles To Try

How To Make Shepherds Pie

• Sauté some chopped onions in olive oil.
• Add ground beef or ground lamb.

• Add dried parsley, dried thyme, dried rosemary, salt, and pepper.
• Stir and cook the meat mixture until the meat is browned.
• Add minced garlic and Worcestershire sauce.

• Cook the garlic for a minute.
• Add flour and tomato paste.

• Add beef broth, frozen mixed peas and carrots, and frozen corn kernels.
• Simmer the meat gravy until it is thick.

• Boil some peeled and chopped potatoes until they are soft.
• Drain the potatoes

• Add butter, half & half, parmesan cheese, garlic powder, salt, and pepper.
• Mash the potatoes until smooth.

• Pour the meat mixture into a casserole dish.
• Top it with the cheesy mashed potatoes.

• Bake until the meat is bubbling and the potatoes are golden.

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Shepherds Pie Recipe Without Cheese

munatycooking Recipe

Shepherds pie topping is often made with mashed potato mixed with cream and cheese. My version though has fewer calories than most of the recipes online. There is no cheese nor cream in my shepherds pie recipe, in fact, I also skipped the beef stock, but I promise you that the taste will still amaze you.

Making shepherds pie is easy, and it consists of two delicious parts, thick lamb or beef stew topped with creamy mashed potato. I didnt use flour to thicken the lamb sauce but increased the amount of onion and added mushrooms which made the sauce thick and flavorful.

What Is The Difference Between Cottage Pie And Shepherd’s Pie

Traditional Shepherd’s Pie is made with ground lamb. Most of us make Cottage Pie because, instead of lamb, we use ground beef in our recipe. I think most of us would prefer using ground beef, anyways. So technically, this dish should be called a cheesy COTTAGE pie because of the use of ground beef rather than ground lamb. If we are going by traditional English terms. However, here in the US we mostly use the term shepherd’s pie to refer to most anything with ground meat and a mashed topping.

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How Do You Make This Shepherds Pie Casserole Recipe

One of the things that surprised me most on the farm tour with Iowa Corn was how many uses there are for corn. From feeding animals including cattle and pigs to ethanol, foods and much more, corn is a very versatile crop! I seriously had no idea. Its in so many of the items we use on a day-to-day basis.

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How To Freeze Healthy Shepherds Pie

Once the shepherds pie is baked, cool completely and cover loosely with plastic wrap. Place it in the freezer until fairly firm, about two hours. Then, cover tightly with plastic wrap, followed by aluminum foil. Mark the date on the outside and store in the freezer for up to two months.

When ready to serve, remove the foil and plastic wrap. Use the foil you just removed to loosely cover the pie. Make sure that your casserole dish can go straight from freezer to oven if not, set the casserole in the oven while the oven preheats so that the dish warms slowly.

Bake the casserole for an hour, or until the pie is hot all the way through. Remove the foil for the last 15 minutes to allow the top to brown.

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The Best Easy Shepherds Pie Recipe

April 6, 2020 by JessiFiled Under: Family Friendly Food and Recipes

Shepherds pie has been a comfort meal of mine since I was a kid! With layers of ground beef, corn, mashed potatoes, and cheese, this super simple casserole just makes me happy and takes me back to my childhood.

So yes, I know the correct term for this dish is Cottage Pie. Traditionally, when made with ground beef it is Cottage Pie and when made with mutton it is Shepherds Pie. I grew up calling it Shepherds Pie though, and despite inconsistencies, the naming shall remain the same to me.

This is my number one comfort food dish. When I just need a taste of my childhood innocence, I find myself in the kitchen whipping up a delectably delicious Shepherds Pie.

Can I Make This Homemade Shepherds Pie Ahead Of Time

Making a classic shepherds pie is not hard. But, it can be a bit time consuming. So you can make the meat filling or potatoes a head of time. Then, add them to a baking dish when your are ready to make the casserole. I find it is best to finish it within a couple of days of making the other ingredients. When you are ready to eat it. Remove it from the refrigerator and let it warm up at room temperature for about 20 minutes. Then, uncover it and bake at 400 degrees for 25-30 minutes.

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How Do You Make Shepherds Pie With Cheese

If youve got some faint memory of cheese being involved, youre right. But the cheese does NOT go in the stew. The cheese in shepherds pie goes into the mashed potatoes, or if you want it more Americanized, on top of the mashed potatoes as a final layer.

I love buttery gruyere cheese, which I stir into the mashed potatoes, where it melts in and makes them extra rich and creamy.

Shepherds Pie Vs Cottage Pie

When Shepherds Pie first originated, it was made with lamb. It has since evolved, especially in America, to include a variety of red meats . Per Wikipedia:

Shepherds pie, cottage pie, or hachis Parmentier is a ground meat pie with a crust or topping of mashed potato of English origin. The recipe has many variations, but the defining ingredients are ground red meat cooked in a gravy or sauce with onions, and topped with a layer of mashed potato before it is baked

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Whats The Difference Between Cottage Pie And Shepherds Pie

The two dishes are close cousins, so they get confused a lot, but theres a key difference: the meat. Theyre both stew dishes topped with mashed potatoes, but cottage pie is an English dish, and uses beef. Shepherds pie is has Irish origins, and is made with lamb.

The same recipes will work with either meat, so its really a matter of what you prefer. But you get extra points if you use the right name with the right dish. If you want to use beef for this recipe, go for it. It will be delicious.

How To Make This Easy Shepherds Pie Recipe

• Preheat Preheat oven to 400 Degrees and coat a 13×9 baking dish with cooking spray. Then set aside.
• Saute First, you will need to saute the yellow onion in the olive oil until they become golden brown. Then add the ground beef and break it apart.
• Cook Beef Next, add parsley, rosemary, thyme, salt, and pepper. Cook for 6-8 minutes Stirring occasionally until meat is completely brown.
• Saute Garlic Then, add the garlic and let it cook for about 1 minute or until it is golden brown. Next, add the Worcestershire sauce and stir until fully incorporated.
• Thickener Add flour and ketchup to the ground beef mixture. Mix until the flour make a nice creamy roux.
• Add Veggies The final step of the ground beef filling is to add the beef broth, frozen peas, carrots and corn kernels. Cook until the beef broth comes to a boil. Then, reduce heat and let simmer for 4-5 minutes. Stir occasionally.
• Add To Baking Dish Last, spread out the ground beef filling in a 13 x 9 baking dish. Make sure to spread it evenly and set aside.

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