Sweet Potato Shepherd's Pie is a delicious twist on the classic dish, featuring a savory filling of ground meat, vegetables, and herbs, topped with a layer of creamy mashed sweet potatoes. It's the perfect comfort food but leveled up a bit!
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Why I Love This Recipe
Shepherd's pie is delicious, but having sweet potatoes replace regular white potatoes is a nice change of pace! It adds a subtle sweetness that tastes delicious.
Ingredients
- Sweet Potatoes
- Milk
- Butter
- Ground Beef
- Onion
- Garlic
- Shredded Carrots
- Cassava Flour
- Beef Broth
- Salt
- Pepper
Substitutions
- If you'd like to make this a lighter version, swap the beef for ground turkey or chicken.
- If you're making the above swap, then also swap the beef broth for chicken broth.
- If you'd like to keep this recipe gluten free but don't mind grains, you can use all-purpose gluten free flour instead of the cassava flour.
- Try out various vegetables in place of the carrots.
How To Make Shepherd's Pie with Sweet Potatoes
To make Sweet Potato Shepherds Pie, start by preparing the mashed sweet potatoes.
Chop the sweet potatoes into cubes and boil them until fork tender, then drain the pot.
Add the milk and butter to the potatoes and mash them. Make sure the 3 ingredients are mixed thoroughly, then set aside.
Now for the meat and veggie layer! Add the butter to a large skillet or Dutch oven. Add in the garlic, onions, carrots, and mushrooms. Cook for about 3-5 minutes, until softened.
Add the beef to the veggies and cook thoroughly for a total of about 12 minutes. Break it up as it cooks.
When the meat is cooked through, sprinkle in the flour as you stir to mix it in and coat the beef.
Slowly, pour in the beef broth, mixing the entire time. The mixture will thicken.
Add in the spices and stir to fully incorporate, then turn off the heat.
When complete, spread the beef mixture into a casserole dish. Top it off with the sweet potatoes.
Bake in the oven at 350F degrees until everything is heated through. Enjoy!
Special Diets
As with all recipes on my website, this recipe is gluten free and soy free!
If it matters to you, this recipe is also Paleo friendly! I do realize the dairy may not fit some people's definition of paleo, but I always recommend raw milk and a grass fed butter.
If you'd like to make it dairy free with the swaps above, that will make it Whole30 compatible as well!
Storage and Reheating
Store any leftovers in an air tight container in the fridge for up to 3 days.
To reheat, my favorite method is to place the leftovers on an oven safe dish and reheat them at 350F degrees until the desired temperature is reached.
You can use the microwave too! I just don't prefer it.
Freezing
This meal is freezer friendly! Follow all of the instructions up to the baking part.
Instead, let it cool completely then seal or wrap it and place it in the freezer.
When you'd like to eat it, be sure to thaw it in the fridge about 24 hours ahead of when you need it. Then bake it at 350 until it reaches an even, hot temperature.
What to Serve With Sweet Potato Shepherd's Pie
It pairs deliciously with the following foods:
- Crusty sourdough bread with grass fed butter
- Caesar Salad
- Raspberry Kale Salad
- Sautéed Zucchini and Summer Squash
Why Sweet Potatoes are Good for You
Sweet potatoes are very healthy for you! You can read more about it here, but sweet potatoes are incredibly high in Vitamin K!
They're also full of fiber and good for eye health!
Top Tip
Don't skip the veggies! In fact, every time you make this you can experiment with various ones! The mushrooms and onions especially add depth and flavor to this dish.
Bake shepherd's pie in the oven at 350 degrees Fahrenheit!
Yes you can absolutely reheat shepherd's pie! See above for directions.
Yes you can freeze shepherd's pie! See above for directions.
Shepherd's pie is traditionally made with a layer of lamb, veggies, and mashed potatoes. However, today many people use ground beef instead of lamb.
Yes you can use sweet potatoes for shepherd's pie! Follow this exact recipe.
To prepare the mashed sweet potatoes, this recipe calls to boil them.
Yes you can! Follow this recipe to make meat pie with sweet potatoes.
Sweet potatoes are generally considered healthy! They're allowed in paleo and Whole30 diets as well. See above why they're so good for you!
Yes, this recipe is gluten free! It consists of meat and vegetables, and the flour it calls for is gluten and grain free.
If your shepherd's pie is soggy, you may have put too much butter and milk in the mashed sweet potatoes. It could also be that you put too much broth in the meat mixture.
Sweet Potato Shepherd's Pie
Equipment
- 1 chef's knife
- 1 Cutting Board
- 1 Large Saucepan for boiling sweet potatoes
- 1 Large Skillet or Dutch Oven to cook the meat mixture
- 1 potato masher
- 1 wooden spoon
- measuring cups
- Measuring spoons
Ingredients
Mashed Topping
- 2 lbs. sweet potatoes
- ¼-1/2 cup milk start with a ¼ and increase if needed
- ¼ cup butter increase if needed.
- ½ tsp. salt
Meat Mixture
- 4 tbsp. butter
- 1 medium onion
- 5 cloves garlic
- 1 cup shredded carrots
- 8 oz. mushrooms
- 1 lb. ground beef
- ¼ cup flour
- 1 cup broth
- 1-½ tsp. salt
- ½ tsp. pepper
- ¾ tsp. smoked paprika can use regular paprika
- 1-½ tsp. parsley
- 1-½ tsp. oregano
Instructions
- Chop the sweet potatoes into equal cubes and boil them in a large saucepan. When they're fork tender, drain the pan.
- Add the milk and butter to the pan. Mash the potatoes and mix in the milk and butter. If the mash is too thick and not to your liking, increase the milk and butter and mix. Set aside.
- For the meat mixture, heat a large skillet or dutch oven over medium heat and melt the butter.
- Add in the onion, garlic, carrots, and mushrooms. Sauté for about 3 minutes or until everything starts to soften.
- Add in the ground beef. Break it up as you cook it, approximately 10 minutes.
- When the beef is cooked through, stir in the flour completely. Slowly pour in the broth, mixing as you pour. The mixture should thicken. Add the spice and mix, then remove from the heat.
- Add the meat mixture to a casserole dish, spread evenly on the bottom. Top with the sweet potato mash.
- Bake in a oven pre-heated to 350F degrees for up to 15 minutes, or until everything is evenly heated through. Enjoy!
Did you make this sweet potato shepherd's pie? Let me know in the comment's below how it came out, and what you served it with!
Feel free to tag me @thecleanhappylife on Instagram with the finished result!
Belinda says
I made this for my family tonight, it came out great, everybody loved it!