This easy recipe for twice baked shepherd’s pie potatoes stuffs a potato with shepherd’s pie fixings and tops it with mashed potato!
Jump to:
- Why we love this recipe ❤️
- What is Shepherd’s Pie? 🥧
- Ingredients you need 🥔
- Ingredient notes and substitutions 📝
- How to make this recipe 👩🏻🍳
- Recipe FAQs 🧐
- Equipment we used for this recipe 🥣
- What to serve with this recipe 🍽️
- Other Shepherd’s Pie recipes we love! 💕
- We want to know what you think! 🤔
- Baked Shepherd’s Pie Potatoes
Why we love this recipe ❤️
I think the title of this recipe, baked shepherd’s pie potatoes, is pretty self-explanatory, but that isn’t going to stop me from both going on and on about the deliciousness of it, or wondering WHY given all the other ways I have made twice baked potatoes, it took me so long to stuff them with shepherd’s pie filling.
Because after all, traditional shepherd’s pie is a meat and vegetable filling topped with mashed potatoes. Usually cooked in a casserole or a skillet…but here is the beauty part.
We are tossing that casserole aside in favor of stuffing the potato skin full of the filling instead. That very same potato that we scooped out the insides out of to make mashed potatoes. Which we are going top our potatoes with.
Can you handle how perfect and efficient all of this is???
What is Shepherd’s Pie? 🥧
Shepherd’s pie is a traditional casserole made with cooked chopped meat (traditionally lamb), chopped vegetables and flavorful gravy, all topped with mashed potatoes and baked until the potatoes are just starting to turn golden brown.
When this recipe is made with beef instead of lamb it is traditionally called cottage pie, but one way or the other, it is a delicious and filling comfort food. And in this case, we are using the whole potato!
Ingredients you need 🥔
Ingredient notes and substitutions 📝
- Potatoes: You want to go for Russet or Idaho potatoes to get the sturdier potato skin we need to stuff these potatoes full of shepherd’s pie goodness.
- Ground Beef: We like the 80/20 fat mix for the best flavor, but you can use a leaner version if you like. Or ground lamb!
See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities and nutritional information.
How to make this recipe 👩🏻🍳
STEP 1: Preheat oven to 425° and line a baking pan with foil or parchment paper.
STEP 2: Pierce each potato a few times with a fork and microwave until tender, about 8 minutes. When they are cool enough to handle, cut an oval in the top of each potato and scoop out the insides, going as close as possible to the skin without breaking it.
STEP 3: Mash the potato insides with milk and butter, and season to taste with salt and pepper.
STEP 4: Heat a large skillet over high heat. Cook beef until no longer pink, about 5 minutes. Scoop out beef and set aside.
STEP 5: Reduce heat to medium; add onion and carrots. Cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in tomato paste. Add flour; cook, stirring, 2 minutes. Add Worcestershire sauce, 1/2 cup water, and beef. Season with a pinch each of salt and pepper. Simmer until thickened, stirring occasionally, about 5 minutes.
STEP 6: Place the potatoes on a foil-lined baking pan. Now pack as much shepherd’s pie filling as you can into each potato skin.
It’s okay if it is heaped up higher than the edge of the skin, because the mashed potatoes we are about to spread on top will keep everything in its place. Yep, spread those mashies on top of each potato. Don’t leave any left behind.
STEP 7: Bake until tops are just starting to brown, around 20 minutes. Serve!
Recipe FAQs 🧐
Nope on the Yukon Golds, but potentially yes on the other kinds. You need a potato with a sturdy skin (like Idahos, Russets or even sweet potatoes) to hold in the filling. Yukon Golds are perfect for regular mashies like these brown butter mashed potatoes, but for twice baked your best bet is the sturdier guys.
You can! The trick will be finding it…ask at your meat counter or your local butcher. Or, if you have leftover leg of lamb, mince it up and stir it in when you add the Worcestershire sauce.
It can, all the way up to the final baking. Make them all the way to topping them with the mashed potatoes, then store them covered in the fridge. When you are getting close to suppertime, bring your stuffed potatoes to room temperature and bake them for 20 minutes in a 425 oven.
Pop your question in the Comments section under the recipe card and I will answer pronto!
Equipment we used for this recipe 🥣
These are some of my favorite kitchen tools! These are Amazon affiliate links, which means I get a little something if you buy through my links at no extra cost to you. (Which helps pay for all that bacon I keep buying! 😄) And I only share things I use and love. I’m so grateful for your support!
- Measuring Cup: We love these angled cups that show the measurements on both the inside and outside of the cup.
- Cutting Board: These sturdy, dishwasher-safe cutting boards come in all different sizes.
- Rimmed Baking Pan: These rimmed baking pans are great for everything from roasting veggies to baking our favorite rum raisin oatmeal cookies.
- Food Processor: This all-star kitchen appliance is one of the very few that gets to live on our countertop 24/7.
- Large Skillet: We have a few of these in our cupboard but this is one of our faves.
- Measuring Spoons: These handy magnetic spoons are not on a ring, so you can just pick the one you need.
- Potato Masher: We go back and forth between this masher and our potato ricer, but both will do the trick! The masher is better if you haven’t peeled the potatoes.
- Vegetable Peeler: This is our go-to peeler for potatoes, sweet and otherwise.
What to serve with this recipe 🍽️
We like to add either a green bean salad or some butternut squash on the side of our scrumptious potatoes to really get our vegetables on! And we wouldn’t say no to some butter biscuits of course. For dessert? Let’s have some homemade rice pudding.
Other Shepherd’s Pie recipes we love! 💕
We want to know what you think! 🤔
If you try this recipe, we would love to hear how it came out for you! I’d be super grateful if you could leave a star rating (you pick how many stars! 🌟 ) and your thoughts in the Comments section below the recipe card.
Baked Shepherd’s Pie Potatoes
This easy recipe for baked shepherd’s pie potatoes stuffs a potato with shepherd’s pie fixings and tops it with mashed potato!
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 35 minutes
- Total Time: 50 minutes
- Yield: 2 servings 1x
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Stovetop, Oven, and Microwave
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
- 2 russet or Idaho potatoes, scrubbed
- 1/2 pound ground beef
- 1 small onion, finely chopped
- 2 carrots, coarsely chopped
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 2 tablespoons flour
- 1 to 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
- 1/4 cup milk
- 2 tablespoons butter
- salt and pepper
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425°.
- Pierce each potato a few times with a fork and microwave until tender, about 8 minutes. When they are cool enough to handle, cut an oval in the top of each potato and scoop out the insides, going as close as possible to the skin without breaking it.
- Mash the potato insides with milk and butter, and season to taste with salt and pepper.
- Heat a large skillet over medium high heat. Cook beef until no longer pink, about 5 minutes. Scoop out beef and set aside.
- Add the onion and carrots. Cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in tomato paste. Add flour and stir for 2 minutes.
- Add Worcestershire sauce, 1/2 cup water, and beef. Season with a pinch each of salt and pepper. Simmer until thickened, stirring occasionally, about 5 minutes.
- Place the potatoes on a foil-lined baking pan. Stuff the skins with the beef mixture, packing it in tight to use all of it. Top with mashed potato mixture.
- Bake until tops are just starting to brown, around 20 minutes. Serve!
Notes
- Potatoes: You want to go for Russet or Idaho potatoes to get the sturdier potato skin we need to stuff these potatoes full of shepherd’s pie goodness.
- Ground Beef: We like the 80/20 fat mix for the best flavor, but you can use a leaner version if you like. Or ground lamb!
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