Quick Beef Shephard's Pie
gluten free | dairy free | quick weeknight
If you could make Quick Beef Shepherd’s Pie in under 25 minutes… would you? Because you absolutely can. It’s warm, comforting, and simple enough for even the busiest weeknights. Better yet, it’s naturally gluten-free.
This dish is also incredibly budget-friendly. Grass-fed ground beef is usually around $10 per pound, and the vegetables—carrots, celery, mushrooms, shallots, frozen peas, and parsley—come in under $15. Add potatoes or mashed sweet potatoes for about $5 more. This meal feeds four hungry people for roughly $7.50 per plate. Total win.
90% and 80%
For the best flavor, I like using two kinds of ground beef. Mixing 90% and 80% gives you the perfect balance of richness and tenderness. You can also add a pound of ground pork if you want even more depth and fattiness. However, keeping it all beef makes this gluten free shepherd’s pie simple, classic, and fast.
As the beef cooks, it absorbs spices, herbs, and all those veggies. The flavor builds quickly, making this recipe ideal for nights when you want comfort without waiting an hour for dinner. Just spoon it into a dish and top with hot mashed potatoes or sweet potatoes. Serve extra on the side because you’ll want every spoonful.
This easy beef dinner is one of those meals that feels nourishing, cozy, and satisfying every time.
Let's make some whipped potatoes
Don’t you dare, mash your potatoes right after you drain them!
While in Culinary School, I learned several things. Some tricks so basic that make a huge impact on the consistency, texture and look of ingredients.
One that really is simple is a trick for mashed potatoes. No one likes runny potatoes, filled with water and soupy. I perfer them to be light and fluffy. The only way to acheive this consistency and texture is to let the potatoes dry. Yes, let them dry out. Also cut them in the same way, plus a few more tips.
Pro Tips:
1. Lay your peeled potato on a cutting board. Depending on the size of your potato, there may be 2-4 cuts. The tip is to cut the pieces EQUALLY. Don’t dice up the potatoes – what happens is the smaller the pieces the more water gets absorbed into the potato – causing runny mashed potatoes. Cut them into 2 inch rounds.
2. Place the cut potatoes into cold water right after you cut them. So prepare your pot before you start peeling and cutting.
3. Boil them. Use a small knife to spear into the center of a few of the potatoes. While the knife is in the center of one potato, lift it out of the water. If it falls off quickly, they are finished cooking. If it doesn’t fall right now, continue to boil them until it falls easliy off of the knife.
4. and finally, drain the potatoes and let sit and steam in your strainer for at least 10 minutes. I know, it seems like forever, but TRUST me.
Following the remaining steps, below in the recipe details. So good.
More ground beef recipes to love.
Quick Beef Shephard’s Pie
- Total Time: 0 hours
- Yield: 4-6 1x
- Diet: Gluten Free
Ingredients
- 1 teaspoon olive oil
- 2 lbs. ground beef (I prefer grass fed and 90%)
- 1 teaspoon each salt and black pepper
- 2 medium to large shallots, minced or small diced
- 2 celery stalks, small diced
- 3-4 medium carrots, small diced
- 1 12 oz. package mushrooms, roughly chopped
- 4-6 garlic cloves, minced
- 2 teaspoons dried thyme
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 heaping tablespoon tomato paste
- 1 tablespoon tapioca powder
- 1/3 cup worchestershire sauce
- 1 cup canned roasted tomatoes
- 1 cup beef bone broth
- 1/2 cup coconut cream or milk
- 1 cup frozen peas
- parsley, roughly chopped for garnish
Instructions
- Heat a large cast iron or enamel pan over medium high heat. Drizzle in the olive oil to coat the pan.
- Add in the ground beef, salt and pepper. Use a wooden spoon is chop into smaller pieces. Let it cook for 3-4 minutes before stirring and breaking up the pieces. Cook until most of the meat is fully cooked and non longer pink.
- Turn the heat to medium low. Add in the shallots, celery, carrots and mushrooms. Stir to combine and cook for 4 minutes.
- Add in the garlic, dried thyme, onion powder and tomato paste. Stir again to combine and cook for 4 minutes – stirring occasionally.
- Add in the tapioca powder and stir to fully combine so that you don’t see any of it anymore.
- Turn the heat to low. Stir in the worchestershire sauce, roasted tomatoes, bone broth and coconut cream. Bring to a simmer and let cook on low for 8 minutes. Stir occasionally.
- Pour in the peas and let cook for 1 minutes. Turn the heat off and garnish with fresh parsley.
Notes
If you don’t have or don’t want to us tapioca powder, use gluten free flour or all purpose flour. I like using tapioca – by the way, it has no flavor and it keeps it paleo friendly.
- Prep Time: 1-
- Cook Time: 25
- Category: beef
- Method: stove-top
- Cuisine: dinner
Did you make this recipe? Take a picture and tag me @whitesparrowfoodco or #whitesparrowfoodco I’d love to hear what you thought of the recipe!
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