Quick Shepherd’s Pie Recipe

How To Make Shepherds Pie Easy

I figured the best way to make an easy weeknight version of shepherds pie would be to cut down on the majority of the prep work.

You dont have to do much work before adding the Gravy & 6 Salisbury Steaks to any dish. In fact, most of the time spent to make Quick and Easy Shepherds Pie is hands-off while everything cooks.

Start by cooking the On-Cor Gravy & 6 Salisbury Steaks in the microwave according to package directions. While the Gravy & 6 Salisbury Steaks cook, grab some frozen peas and carrots and your favorite mashed potatoes.

Just like with Easy Thanksgiving Dinner Casserole, let me just say that there will be zero judgement here if you use store-bought mashed potatoes. Or if you pick up a container from the hot bar in your grocery store.

This meal is supposed to be quick and easy, after all. No shame in using the resources available to you when youre on a time crunch!

Once the Gravy & 6 Salisbury Steaks are cooked, remove the salisbury steaks from the gravy and dice them up into bite-size pieces. Then layer mashed potatoes, the chopped salisbury steaks and a spoonful of gravy, some peas and carrots and another layer of potatoes in individual ramekins.

Bake the Quick and Easy Shepherds Pies until the potatoes begin to lightly brown and serve them up to your hungry family.

• 1 package On-Cor Gravy & 6 Salisbury Steaks
• 1 cup frozen peas & carrots, thawed
• 4 cups mashed potatoes

Read The Labels On Your Worcestershire Sauce

Diving into the meat filling, youll see that Worcestershire is a key ingredient. This is a vinegar based sauce made from fermented onions and garlic, along with molasses, tamarind, anchovies, spices and more. Yep, you can say this sauce has an intense depth of flavor, making it perfect to add to meats.

But if youre gluten-free, youll need to be mindful of the brands you buy. Worcestershire often includes a wheat-based soy sauce to get that deep dark brown color. So, I recommend purchasing one of the below brands that are gluten-free .

• New Primal Cooking Sauce

Tips From The Betty Crocker Kitchens

• tip 1 Traditionally, shepherds pie is made with lamb . However, as the dish gained wider popularity outside of its native English homeland , beef became a common substitute, especially in America where its more widely available than ground lamb.
• tip 2 Refrigerated mashed potatoes cut a ton of prep time off of this recipe and are good to keep on hand. Try any flavored, refrigerated mashed potatoes to top this main-dish pie.
• tip 3 Looking for a few more ways to turn a pound of ground beef into dinner? Check out the rest of Bettys kitchen-tested ground beef recipes.

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Easy Shepherds Pie Recipe

I love a traditional shepherds pie, but if were being honest, its kind of a hassle to make on a weeknight.

Chopping the vegetables, browning the meat, making the gravy, mashing the potatoes, assembling and bakingits a lot of steps. Especially on a Tuesday when I am shuttling Elle around to her activities and dealing painters and flooring guys.

Whose genius idea was it to do both renovation projects at the same time?

When I saw On-Cors Gravy & 6 Salisbury Steaks entrée in my latest perusal of Walmarts freezer section, I started to wonder if I could use it as a base for a Quick and Easy Shepherds Pie.

On-Cor has already done all of the prep work on their frozen entrées, so I know theyre a great option when I need to throw together a delicious weeknight dinner for my family but dont have a lot of time on my hands.

Enter Quick and Easy Shepherds Pie. Its side dish and entrée all in one with layers of mashed potatoes, On-Cor Gravy & Salisbury Steak, peas and carrots all in one dish. Serve with No-Bake Cookies for an entire meal made in under an hour.

Easy Shepherd’s Pie Recipe

• 1lb.lean ground beef
• 1 10.75-ozcan tomato soup
• 1 14.5-ozcan green beansdrained
• 1-2cupsmashed potatoesleftover or cooked instant potatoes

• Preheat oven to 350ºF.
• In a large skillet, brown ground beef. Drain if needed.
• Pour tomato soup and drained green beans into the ground beef and stir. Do not add extra water.
• Spray a 2 quart casserole dish with cooking spray. Pour ground beef mixture into bottom of casserole dish.
• Top with mashed potatoes. Sprinkle cheese over the top and cover with a piece of tin foil sprayed with cooking spray .
• Bake in preheated oven until heated through and cheese is melted, about 25 minutes. Serve and enjoy!

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Key Steps For Easy Shepherds Pie

• Buy some shortcuts. I actually find chopping to be quite therapeutic, but when it comes to shepherds pie, peeling and chopping carrots is the last thing I want to spend my time on. Instead, opt for a bag of mixed vegetables from the freezer.
• Focus your efforts on the potatoes. You can totally make shepherds pie with store-bought mashed potatoes and you should if youre in an especially big hurry. But in the time it takes to make the beef filling, you can chop four large russets and cook them until tender. The resulting mashed potatoes will have more flavor and a better texture than store-bought.
• Add a yolk to the potatoes for texture and structure. Another benefit to making the mashed potatoes from scratch: you can stir in an egg yolk. Just one yolk makes the mash ultra-creamy, and also helps the potatoes form a crispy crust in the oven.
• Brown the beef in the same skillet youll serve from. This is key to the ease of this recipe. Use a large oven-safe skillet to brown the beef for the pie cast iron is best, if youve got it. Once the beef is brown, youll add your frozen vegetables and a few other ingredients to make a quick gravy, which is the base of the pie.

Prep This Ahead Of Time

If you plan to make this ahead of time, I suggest keeping the mashed potatoes and filing separate at first. Store them away in the fridge in sealed containers. When youre ready to bake, let the potatoes and filling sit at room temperature to soften before assembling. Then, pop it right into the oven for baking.

When it comes time to freeze leftovers, just place them in freezer safe containers for up to 3 months. This could be a great option if you also plan to meal prep this on a Sunday night. Just bake it, divide it into 6 sections, and freeze it!

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Everything You Love About Shepherds Pie But Way Easier

Shepherds pie and its brethren really got their start as a way to use up stewed or roasted meat and leftover vegetables, but it has since come to represent a comforting Sunday night dinner. Its a shame, really, that we dont eat Shepherds pie more regularly, because a chilly Tuesday night is actually when we need this cozy dish the most.

Here, weve figured out how to simplify the recipe without sacrificing the deliciousness of everyones favorite part: the potatoes.

Shepherds Pie Versus Cottage Pie

The Best Quick & Easy Shepherds Pie Recipe Made With Ground Beef

If youre looking for cheap and easy dinner recipes for the family, this ground beef and potato casserole recipe is always a hit! Even your picky eaters will love this simple meal. Its also loaded with veggies, so consider it healthy enough to serve often.

The idea behind a classic shepherds pie is simply to mix ground beef or lamb with a good hearty tomato based sauce and mixed vegetables, top with mashed potatoes in a casserole dish , and then bake until the potatoes and cheese are well browned.

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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.

Shepherd’s Pie Vs Cottage Pie

So What exactly is the difference between shepherd’s pie and cottage pie?

Traditionally shepherd pie is made with lamb mince, whereas cottage pie is made with beef mince. I tend to make and serve both with the same sides and I tend to make both in a similar way.

I have a great recipe for Cottage Pie too.

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What Do We Need

I’m making a BIG BATCH of shepherd’s pie for this recipe – it will serve 8-10 people no problem.I like to do this because we eat half and then I freeze the other half .

You can make a smaller batch to serve 4-5 people by halving all of the ingredients, or a mini shepherd’s pie to serve 2 people by quartering all of the ingredients.It will take the same time in the oven, it will just take a little less time to fry up the veg and lamb if you’re making a smaller batch.

Baking And Serving Shepherds Pie

Once the filling is mixed up and the potatoes are mashed, youll just need to top the beef with the potatoes and bake until theyre browned and the filling is bubbling, about 30 minutes. Be sure to let the finished Shepherds pie cool for about 10 minutes before serving, which lets the gravy thicken a little more so its easier to scoop.

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What Makes This Recipe So Easy

This really is an easy homemade shepherds pie. It uses mostly premade ingredients that you can get at your local grocery store, and you may already even have on hand. Youll save a lot of time by not having to make your potatoes from scratch. Instant or prepared mashed potatoes are perfect for this recipe. Of course, if you have an Instant Pot, you can follow my easy mashed potatoes recipe if you have the time.

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While I do use some premade ingredients, this is still a reasonably healthy shepherds pie recipe. I do my best to buy prepared foods with as few additives as possible. My local supermarket, HEB, carries a brand of prepared mashed potatoes that is just potatoes, milk, butter, salt, and pepper. Many other brands come packed full of additives. So youll definitely want to look at the ingredients list before purchasing.

My Family Loves This Easy Shepherds Pie Recipe You Only Need Five Ingredients To Make This Delicious Comfort Food Casserole And It Cooks In Under 30 Minutes

Sometimes life gets cray cray and you need a quick dinner recipe, am I right?! This Easy Shepherds Pie Recipe has got your back!

It has only FIVE simple ingredients and is constantly requested by my family of hungry boys. Whenever I make this, my kids literally scream YAY out loud!!

Full disclosure: I usually eat pretty healthy. I mean, this website is called Yummy Healthy Easy for a reason, right? But sometimes you need a good ol comfort food dinner on a cold evening to warm you up.

This Easy Shepherds Pie recipe is one of my absolute favorite go-to comfort food dinners. Ive been making this for years and for some reason, I never thought to share it with you!

When I made it last week, I was like why have I not taken photos of this and put it on the website?! So, here you go!

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Prep Ahead And Tips For Shepherds Pie

You will love how easy and convenient this dish is. It can be made a day in advance, which makes dinner prep easier.

• Layering After prepping the meat mixture, let it cool and then chill it in the fridge for 20 minutes. This will help keep the mashed potato layer separated.
• Prep Ahead Prep and assemble up to one day in advance and refrigerate. Let it come to room temperature 30 minutes before baking it.
• Quick Clean Up If your baking dish is very full, place it on a parchment lined baking sheet to avoid any juices spilling in your oven.
• To Freeze Before Baking
• Cool completely. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and then in foil. Freeze.
• Thaw overnight in the fridge. Bake for 45 minutes covered and 15 minutes uncovered

Can I Prepare Shepherds Pie In Advance

Yes, this is a great make ahead dish! You cook it, assemble and leave it ready to bake, or freeze it to make another night.

To Make Ahead: This is a great dish to prep and make ahead a few days in advance. Assemble and cover with foil. Refrigerate up to 2 days ahead, then bake in a preheated oven 400F about 30 minutes, or until heated through.

Leftovers: Store cooled leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. To freeze, transfer to a freezer safe containers for up to 1 month.

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Shepherds Pie And Cottage Pie

Once upon a time Irish and Northern English peasants developed the dish after potatoes were introduced to the UK in the 16th century. Back then the pie was a hearty dish meant to feed a starving working class, which meant that beggars couldnt be choosers when it came to ingredients, and the choice of meat and vegetables to be added depended mostly on what was affordable and available. Through time the recipe grew in popularity and was further developed in kitchen chronicles and recipe books. The staples of a shepherds pie are that it consists of ground meat cooked in a gravy with onions, with the addition of carrots, peas, and sometimes celery, covered or encased in a mashed potato crust .

Today food historians and others debate the real origins of the dishbut no matter what, its a global comfort food loved by many, and still an ingenious and inexpensive, pantry-friendly dish. Some sources say shepherds pie is made with lamb, and cottage pie with beef. But others claim that the variations of name are related to socioeconomic changes and developments in Northern England and Ireland. Cottage pie seems to be the name associated with peasants and it literally was meant to be a way to use leftovers from a Sunday roast and have something filling and lasting for the next days .