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!
If you love shepherd's pie, try my cheesy gluten free shepherd's pie or my low carb shepherd's pie!
For more sweet potato based recipes, try these Buffalo Chicken Stuffed Sweet Potatoes or these Ground Beef Taco Bowls!
🔍 Quick Look: Sweet Potato Shepherd's Pie
- ⏱️ Prep Time: 25 minutes
- 🍳 Cook Time: 20 minutes
- 🕒 Total Time: 65 minutes
- 👥 Servings: 4
- 📊 Calories: ~781
- 🔥 Cook Method: Stove-top based
- 👩🍳 Main Ingredients: Sweet potatoes and ground beef.
- ⭐ Difficulty: Medium difficulty
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Why You'll Love this Cozy Recipe
- It's perfect for a cold winter's night and so cozy!
- It has all clean ingredients and is gluten free! It's easily made dairy free with 2 swaps you'll find below.
Ingredients Needed
- Sweet Potatoes-The star of the show here! You can also try purple sweet potatoes as well!
- Ground Beef-I typically make this with an 80/20 ground beef, but you can absolutely use 90/10 for a leaner dinner! For more ground beef dinner recipes, try these Sofrito Meatballs, Puerto Rican Picadillo, or this Meatzza recipe!
- Cassava Flour-This flour is not only gluten free but also grain free! Use it to make gluten free bang bang shrimp!
- Beef Broth-this helps to give flavor and also nutrition! I love using my slow cooker bone broth!
See the recipe card below for quantities!
Substitutions and Variations
- Easily make this dairy free! I've tried this with unsweetened almond milk and palm oil or a dairy free spread in place of the butter and milk and it's just as delicious.
- If you'd like to make this a lighter version, swap the beef for ground turkey or chicken.
- 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. I've made this recipe with both flours and there's not a major difference in the taste or texture at all.
- Try out various vegetables in place of the carrots-try sugar snap peas, zucchini, or bell pepper strips!
How To Make Sweet Potato Shepherd's Pie
- Step 1: Chop and boil the sweet potatoes until fork tender. Drain then mash the with the milk and butter and set aside.
- Step 2: 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, then add the beef to the veggies and cook thoroughly for a total of about 12 minutes. Break it up as it cooks.
- Step 3: When the meat is cooked through, sprinkle in the flour as you stir to mix it in and coat the beef. Then slowly, pour in the beef broth, mixing the entire time. The mixture will thicken.
- Step 4: Add in the spices and mix thoroughly.
- Step 5: 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!
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 prefer the oven method.
FAQ's for Sweet Potato Shepherd's Pie
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.
Cover it with foil and reheat in the oven at 350°F for about 20 minutes. If reheating a single portion, the microwave works fine - just add a small splash of broth or water before heating to keep it moist.
Suggested Serving Options for this Cozy Recipe
If you tried this Sweet Potato Shepherd's Pie recipe or any other recipe on my blog, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how it went in the comments below!
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!
Notes
- Add more veggies-Mushrooms, zucchini, spinach, kale, or bell peppers all work well stirred into the filling. It's a great way to sneak in extra nutrients.
- Make it ahead-Assemble the dish up to 24 hours in advance and refrigerate unbaked. Just add more time baking it if going straight from the fridge.
Belinda says
I made this for my family tonight, it came out great, everybody loved it!