This Vegetarian Shepherd’s Pie recipe is comfort food at its finest! Traditional Shepherd’s Pie (also known as Cottage Pie) uses a medley of lamb or beef and vegetables topped with crusty brown mashed potatoes. My twist on the traditional recipe substitutes additional vegetables in place of meat. It’s an easy conversion but the result is a savory, filling, and scrumptious dinner that will satisfy you even on the coldest of nights.
Making Vegetarian Shepherd’s Pie in a Tiny Kitchen
This delicious recipe is quite the dish maker, but it’s easy to prepare and assemble so that makes up for it. You’re going to need both a stove-top and an oven to make this meal. Dishes will include a medium pot, a medium saucepan, a casserole dish, cutting board, knife, large spoon, potato masher, and silverware and dishes to eat it with.
I don’t recommend this recipe if you are boondocking due to the amount of water used as well as the amount of power/fuel consumed when cooking it. You can, however, make it in advance and then reheat it when you want it. It stays perfect in the refrigerator for up to 2 days and reheats nicely in an oven (preferred) or microwave.
To make life a little easier, you can easily double or triple the amount of vegetable filling and portion it out to be frozen. When you want to make this meal again, all you will need to do is thaw the filling and make a fresh batch of mashed potatoes! I have not personally frozen the entire prepared Shepherd’s Pie, but if you want to experiment, I would love to hear the results.
Make it Vegan!
Want to go all in and make this Shepherd’s Pie vegan? Just swap out dairy-based butter for your favorite vegan butter substitute and you’re good to go! The only place dairy products are being used in the mashed potato topping and they don’t care if you’re using dairy or a dairy-substitute.
That’s it!
Go make this delicious Vegetarian Shepherd’s Pie recipe and let me know what you think. Don’t forget to come back and give me your rating. If you have any questions or find other substitutions that are yummy, feel free add those in your comments! As always, if you like this recipe, please share it on social media so other people know about it too. Let’s eat!
Ingredients
- 2 lbs potatoes (peeled and cubed)
- 2 tsp salt
- 1/3 cup butter (dairy or vegan)
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1/2 medium onion (diced)
- 2 carrots (peeled and diced)
- 1 stalk celery (diced)
- 2 cloves garlic (minced)
- 8 oz mushrooms (cubed)
- 1 cup peas (frozen)
- 1 cup green beans (frozen)
- 1/2 tsp rosemary
- 1/4 tsp sage
- 1/8 tsp thyme
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/8 tsp black pepper
- 2 1/2 tbsp flour
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- 1 tbsp vegetable bouillon
- 1 1/2 cups water (or vegetable broth and omit bouillon)
- paprika (to sprinkle on top)
Instructions
Prepare Ingredients
- Wash all vegetables. Remove the skins from both the potatoes and the carrots. Cube the potatoes. Dice the onions, carrots, and celery. Mince the garlic. Cut the mushrooms into bite-sized chunks.
Mashed Potato Topping
- Add the cubed potatoes to a medium pot and cover with water (plus about 1/2 inch). Add 2 tsp of salt then set over medium heat. Bring to a boil and cook until potatoes are soft and easily broken with a fork (about 10 minutes.)
- Drain the water from the potatoes and add 1/3 cup of butter. Mash with a potato masher or fork until smooth. Set aside.
Vegetable Filling
- Heat 1 tbsp of olive oil in a medium saucepan. Add the diced onions, carrots, and celery to the pan. Sauté until the carrots are tender. About 10 to 15 minutes.
- Add the mushrooms, minced garlic, rosemary, thyme, sage, black pepper, and salt. Cook another 10 minutes until the mushrooms have released their liquid and started to shrink.
- Add 2 1/2 tbsp of flour to the vegetable mix and stir until the flour lightly coats all of the vegetables.
- Add the tomato paste, vegetable bouillon, and water. Mix until the liquid is smooth and all of the flour has been worked in. Cook for 5 more minutes until the gravy thickens. Stir in the frozen peas and green beans. Remove from heat.
Make the Shepherd's Pie
- Heat your oven to 400℉.
- In a medium-sized casserole dish, add the vegetable mix with all of the gravy. Gently spoon the mashed potatoes on top of the vegetables. Lightly sprinkle paprika on top of the potatoes.
- Bake for 30 minutes or until the potatoes have lightly browned and formed a crust. If necessary, broil for the last few minutes to help brown the surface of the mashed potatoes.
- Remove from oven and let sit for 5 minutes to cool.
- Serve and enjoy!
