Sweet Potato Shepherd's Pie

Sweet Potato Shepherd’s Pie is a delicious dish made with a mixture of ground beef and lamb, onions, mushrooms, peas, and an herby, gravy-like broth, all topped with creamy mashed sweet potatoes. This shepherd's pie with sweet potato topping the perfect comfort meal, and is super easy to make!

First, What Is Shepherd’s Pie (aka Shephard’s Pie)

Traditional shepherd's pie is made with a mixture of lamb and veggies. It's covered in a flavorful gravy sauce and uses white potatoes as its creamy topping. It’s sometimes confused with another dish called cottage pie, which uses all beef. Shepherd’s pie and cottage pie are essentially the same, except for the meat that is used. 

This Shepherd’s Pie recipe uses a mixture of lamb and beef, and subs out the white potatoes for sweet potatoes for a delicious take on a timeless classic. It's a great make-ahead meal, is freezer friendly, and is definitely a crowd-pleaser (at least in my family!)

Why You’ll Love This Sweet Potato Shepherd’s Pie

• This is an easy shepherd’s pie recipe. Making this dish is not difficult and only requires sauteeing some meat and veggies together, adding a few ingredients to make the gravy, and spreading the mashed sweet potatoes over the top to bake. Overall it takes about an hour and 10 minutes. 
• Everything cooks in one skillet! Except for boiling the sweet potatoes, you can make this entire dish in one skillet, making cleaning up a breeze.
• Great make-ahead dish. Don’t have an hour and 10 minutes to spare? No problem! This dish is a fabulous make-ahead option. You can assemble everything, cover it, place it in the refrigerator, and then just heat it in the oven when you’re ready to eat it! 
• So healthy. This shepherd's pie has tons of veggies in it which I love. Not only that, but using sweet potatoes instead of white potatoes ups the health factor here a lot: sweet potatoes are full of fiber and antioxidants and are a great source of vitamin C and vitamin A. That, plus the protein-packed meat makes this shepherd's pie dish not just filling but fairly healthy too. 
• Freezer-friendly. This dish freezes really well. Again, you can assemble everything, then freeze it, or you can bake it and freeze leftovers for another time. It will keep for about 2 months in the freezer.
• Perfect for a cold winter night. This Sweet Potato Shepherd’s Pie is comfort food at its finest. And, it goes great with a big glass of red wine
• A family favorite and a crowd-pleaser. My family loves this delicious Shepherd’s Pie recipe. (And I love that I’m sneaking in some extra veggies into their diets!). And, this dish is casual enough for a small get-together but fancy enough for a dinner party.
• It’s super customizable. Shepherds pie is a totally customizable dish and you can adjust the recipe to what you have on hand in your fridge. Only have beef and no lamb? No problem, just use beef. Want to mix up the veggies, or use all veggies and no meat? It’s completely fine. Only have white potatoes? That works great too! 
• Diet-friendly. You can easily adapt this dish depending on what type of diet you’re on.  (whole 30/paleo/keto/gluten-free/vegetarian)

Key Ingredients

• Lamb+ground beef. This sweet potato shepherd’s pie uses a combination of lamb and ground beef for extra flavor. Lamb is typically a fatty meat so I used a fairly lean ground beef (90%/10%)  to balance out the fat. If you can’t find lamb or don’t want to use it, you can use all ground beef in this recipe with great results. Just make sure that if you go the all-beef route you use ground beef with a slightly higher fat content. And, if you’re looking to omit the meat altogether, you can sub in lentils, or extra mushrooms to make this a vegetarian shepherd’s pie. (Just make sure you also omit the Worcestershire sauce too if you want to make it vegetarian!)

• Veggies. Traditional Shepherds Pie uses onion, carrots, and celery to make a sofrito, an Italian term that means “slightly fried” and a mix that is often used to add depth of flavor to a dish. I omitted the celery here but added in hearty mushrooms to add a deep earthy flavor, and also frozen peas for a pop of color. 

• Fresh Herbs. Rosemary, thyme, and parsley help make this aromatic dish divine. 

• Broth. The broth helps make the gravy. I used beef broth here but mushroom broth would be a good sub if you’re trying to make this vegetarian. 

• Sweet Potatoes! The sweet and creamy mashed sweet potato topping completes the dish!

How To Make Sweet Potato Shepherd’s Pie

The most time-consuming thing about making this shepherd’s pie is preparing (chopping!) the veggies. But once that’s done things come together pretty easily.  (You can also always prep the veggies in advance to save time on a busy weeknight.)

Start by making your sweet potato mash. 

1. Peel the sweet potatoes and chop them into large, evenly-sized cubes. Then, toss them in some salt water and boil them for about 20 minutes until they are very soft and a knife can easily cut through them. Drain the potatoes and return them to the pot.
2. Allow the boiled sweet potatoes to cool for a couple of minutes before adding your butter and whole milk. Allowing some of the steam to evaporate off the sweet potatoes will help to make them less watery. 
3. Add the butter and milk, and mash the potatoes until everything is well blended and the potatoes are creamy and smooth. (Note: a smoother sweet potato mash will make for easier spreading when the time comes to assemble the pie.)

Make the meat and veggie filling.

1. While your sweet potatoes are boiling, brown the lamb and beef, skimming all but ⅛ cup of the fat off the top when it’s done. Remove the meat from the skillet, add some butter, then sautee the chopped onions until they are soft and translucent. Add in the chopped carrots and mushrooms and cook for a few more minutes, until the carrots are tender. (You’ll wait to add the peas until the end to ensure they don’t get mushy.)
2. Next, season the veggie mix with the fresh thyme and rosemary and cook for a couple more minutes. Add the beef and lamb mixture back to the pan, then mix in the Worcestershire sauce and tomato paste.
3. Sprinkle the flour over the top of the mixture and cook for about a minute before adding your beef broth. (The flour is what helps thicken the “gravy”.)  
4. Cook the filling for about 10 minutes until the liquid has reduced and the mixture has thickened to a nice consistency. Then, add the parsley and frozen peas and remove the skillet from heat. Let the mixture sit for 5-10 minutes to allow it to continue to thicken. This will make it easier to spread the sweet potato mixture over the top.

Assemble your pie!

1. Once your veggie, beef and lamb mixture has cooled slightly, add spoonfuls of the mashed sweet potatoes to the top of the mixture.
2. Next, carefully spread the sweet potatoes across the top of the lamb and beef filling until the entire surface is covered. (Note - make sure your sweet potatoes are still warm when spreading them. Cold sweet potatoes are difficult to spread!)  

Bake it!

1. Transfer the entire skillet to the oven, and place a foil-lined sheet pan underneath it to catch any spills. Bake the sweet potato shepherd's pie for 20 minutes, then broil on high for 1-2 minutes. Your sweet potatoes should be slightly browned a the edges. (Watch this closely to ensure they don’t burn!)
2. Remove the skillet from the oven and allow the shepherd’s pie to cool for about 15-20 minutes before serving. The cooling time will help the pie continue to thicken and will ensure that you don’t have a runny mess when you cut into it.  Top the shepherd's pie with chopped parsley if desired and serve. 

Can I Prep This Ahead Of Time?

Yes! The easiest way to do this is to make the filling and sweet potatoes, assemble the pie, then just cover it and store it in the refrigerator until you're ready to bake it. When you’re ready to bake it, remove it from the fridge, uncover it, and bake for about 30 minutes in a 380-degree oven, or until the dish is completely warmed through.

Can I Freeze & Reheat This Sweet Potato Shepherd’s Pie?

Sure can! Prepare the meat and veggie mixture and the sweet potato mash.

Place the filling in a freezer-safe container, and spread the sweet potato mash over the top.

Allow it to cool, cover it tightly, and freeze. It should keep for about 2 months in the freezer. 

When you’re ready to use it, you can either thaw it overnight in the refrigerator and then reheat it in a 380-degree oven for about 30 minutes. Or, if you want to cook it from frozen, cover it with foil and reheat it at 380 for 40 minutes. Then remove the foil and continue cooking for an additional 20 minutes.

Variations And Substitutions For This Shepherd's Pie Recipe

One of the best things about shepherd's pie is how versatile it is. Here are a few ways you might customize this delicious meal.

• Make it Whole 30-friendly. This meal is pretty close to being Whole 30 already so you only need a couple of tweaks here. Just omit the milk from the sweet potatoes, and substitute ghee or olive oil for the butter.
• Use white potatoes instead. I love the extra flavor sweet potatoes add here but white potatoes are the traditional route for this dish and if that's what you have, go for it. It will be equally delicious.
• Try turkey! Sub the lamb and beef for turkey to make this shepherd's pie a bit leaner.
• Make it vegetarian. You can easily make this a vegetarian shepherd's pie by using cooked lentils instead of meat. (In fact, we love vegetarian shepherd's pie with lentils and have it on the regular.)
• Make it vegan. Omit the milk and the Worcestershire sauce, sub out the butter for ghee or olive oil, and use cooked lentils and you have yourself a vegan shepherd's pie.

What To Serve With Sweet Potato Shepherd’s Pie

This shepherd’s pie is a hearty dish, but light side salads and crusty bread complement it nicely (and serve as a great vessel for soaking up the leftover gravy in your bowl!) Here are some great additions to serve along with your shepherd’s pie:

• Caesar salad
• Simple garden salad
• Pita bread
• Easy yogurt flatbread
• Crusty baguette

If you try this Sweet Potato Shepherd’s Pie, please let me know what you think in the comments. And please tag me with a pic on Instagram @frontrangefed so I can see your masterpiece!

More Hearty Main Dishes!

• Weeknight Mushroom Ragout
• Quick & Easy Polenta Recipe
• Pumpkin Mac N Cheese
• Hoppin John
• Tuscan Pasta
• Easy Veggie Lasagna

Recipe