This Paleo Shepherd’s Pie is classic, cozy comfort food for cold winter days! It’s Whole30 compliant, dairy free and kid approved. A flavorful, hearty ground beef mixture is topped with creamy dairy-free mashed potatoes, and baked until golden brown and bubbling.
Is there anything better on a cold winter night than a cozy, comforting and CRAZY delicious shepherd’s pie?! Yes – a cozy, comforting, crazy delicious paleo and Whole30 shepherd’s pie.
Trust me, things are about to get better, even if you thought you were doing just fine without this recipe in your life.
Dramatic? I know – but I’m just really excited to share this highly- anticipated recipe with all of you.
Admittedly, some of my excitement is relief, since I basically tortured myself making decisions about this recipe. What veggies to use? What should I cook it in?
White potatoes for the topping? Sweet potatoes? Or toss the potatoes and go with a lower carb topping?
It gets pretty intense sometimes with recipe creation over here. It really just ME, having a brainstorming meeting with ME, shooting down all of my own ideas as they pop up. Super fun, I assure you. But, really, sometimes I’m not sure how anything ever gets done.
Spoiler alert – I went with chopped carrots, and brussels sprouts, a cast iron skillet, and white potatoes – YES – white potatoes. In all their starchy-delicious glory.
Are White Potatoes Paleo?
Even though white potatoes have been Whole30 compliant for quite a long time now, I still get questions about whether or not they’re paleo, and my answer to that, is, yes, they are to me. They might not be okay for everyone though – and that’s okay!
There seems to be much confusion about potatoes (I recently had someone ask me why I post potato recipes if they contain gluten. Face to forehead for that one, eek.).
Now, not everyone who begins eating paleo should eat potatoes – based on their own personal health circumstances, goals, preferences, etc.
And yes, that can be said for plenty of other foods that are both paleo and Whole30 compliant, of course – because we all have individual needs.
As for me, I have no problem eating white potatoes, and though I wouldn’t say I eat a ton of them (greens, roasted sweet potatoes and plantains are my staples) I like to include them in recipes where I feel they belong.
They made a dang good topping for my shepherd’s pie – even without the butter, milk, and cheese to help out (don’t worry, we have replacements!)
But, if you’re really not into them, you can sub in sweet potatoes, white sweet potatoes, or Japanese sweet potatoes for the topping.
As for the filling, it’s a heart mixture of grass fed ground beef, my personal favorite veggies (you can sub in your faves!) onions, garlic, a bit of tomato paste, broth, and fresh savory herbs.
It’s an incredibly easy recipe to put together, though it is time consuming due to making the mashed potatoes, and then baking everything together.
To cut down on time, you can prep many of the ingredients ahead (including cooking the potatoes!) and then simply cook the beef mixture and spread the potatoes on top right before baking.
I know you’ll love this one guys! Are you ready to get started? Let’s cook!
Paleo Shepherd’s Pie {Whole30, Dairy Free}
Paleo Shepherd's Pie {Whole30, Dairy Free}
Ingredients
Beef Mixture:
- 1 tbsp ghee for cooking
- 1 1/2 lbs grass fed ground beef
- Sea salt and pepper (for seasoning beef
- 1 cup carrots diced
- 1 1/2 cup Brussels sprouts chopped
- 1 medium onion chopped
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- sprinkle of sea salt for veggies
- 3/4 cup beef or chicken bone broth
- 2 1/2 tbsp tomato paste
- 1 tsp fresh minced thyme
- 1 tsp fresh minced rosemary
Mashed Potatoes:
- 4-6 russet potatoes or 2 1/2 lbs peeled and cut into 2” pieces
- 2/3 cup full fat coconut milk blended prior to adding
- 3 Tbsp organic ghee
- 3 Tbsp nutritional yeast
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Chopped fresh parsley for garnish
Instructions
Prepare the potatoes:
-
Heat a 3 quart pot with water, sprinkle with salt and bring to a boil. Add 2” potato pieces to the boiling water, and cook until very soft
-
Drain the potatoes and return to the pot. Set heat to low and add the ghee and coconut milk. Mash with a potato masher over very low heat, once smooth, turn heat off and add nutritional yeast, salt and pepper. If you want your potatoes really creamy, you can use an immersion blender at this point (I just put mine right in the pot.)
Prepare beef mixture and assemble/bake pie:
-
Preheat your oven to 375 degrees
-
In a deep oven proof skillet* (mine was 10”, add beef to skillet and sprinkle with sea salt. Brown beef over med/hi heat breaking up lumps with spoon. remove from skillet to a plate with slotted spoon and set aside.
-
Adjust heat to medium and add Brussels sprouts and carrots to skillet, stir to coat and cook about 2 minutes, then add onions and cook until softened. Add garlic and sprinkle veggies with a bit of sea salt, stir, then cover the skillet briefly to soften carrots until fork tender, if necessary.
-
Add the remaining ingredients for the beef mixture to the skillet, stir to combine, then return beef to skillet and stir to coat, simmer for 2 minutes or so to thicken the sauce and blend flavors.
-
Spread all the mashed potatoes over the beef mixture and use a spoon or spatula to smooth the top. Sprinkle with parsley, then place skillet on a large baking sheet (to catch any bubbling sauce) and bake in the preheated oven for about 20 minutes, until sauce is bubbling and top begins to turn light brown.
-
Remove from oven, allow to sit about 10 minutes before serving hot. Enjoy!
Recipe Notes
*If you don't have an oven proof skillet, you can use a casserole dish instead to bake your shepherd's pie - cook beef mixture in a skillet and then transfer mixture to casserole dish once done cooking; spread mashed potatoes over the top and bake as instructed.
Nutrition
What I Used To Make My Whole30 Paleo Shepherd’s Pie:
Want More Whole30 Dinner Recipes? Try One of These!
Slow Cooker Meatballs and Marinara Sauce
Slow Cooker White Chicken Chili with White Sweet Potatoes
Easy Chili Stuffed Sweet Potatoes
Classic Meatloaf with Whole30 Ketchup
Walnut Crusted Turkey Cutlets with “Honey” Mustard
Note: This post contains affiliate links. This means that if you click on a link and make a purchase, I will receive a small commission at no cost to you. Thank you for supporting Paleo Running Momma!
This is SO good!!! I used unsweetened almond milk instead of coconut milk, and it worked perfectly. This will definitely be added to the rotation. My husband loved it and he’s not even doing Whole30.
Definitely want to try this…sounds delish! I’m allergic to tomato products and wondering if okay to leave out the tomato paste or substitute something else. Would love your thoughts, Michele. Many thanks…
Yes you can sub with sweet potato puree and I think it would be great, maybe adjust seasonings a bit if you need to 🙂
Thank You…will try soon and let you know if it worked…Judy
I made the Shepherd’s Pie tonight and it was very good. However, the time estimated to prep this meal is way off. I don’t know how many people realistically have some of these items prepped ahead of time. It would be helpful to have the complete prep time included. It took me closer to an hour to prep. It also took about 40 min. of actual cooking time to get it slightly browned on top.
I deleted 7 other Shepherd Pie recipes out of my paprika app and kept this one. So flavorful!
This recipe is amazing! Both my boyfriend and I love it. I will say, however, it did take a bit longer to make than the recipe suggests. I found it worth it though as I’m getting a week’s worth of lunches out of this meal! Thank you for another winner 🙂
This was a huge hug in my house! My 5 year old ate two bowls of it and repeatedly told me how good it was. He’s not a Brussels Sprouts fan, but he has no idea they were in here. My hubby and I very much enjoyed it too.
Oh that’s amazing! Love when the little ones go for it!
Excellent! Followed the recipe pretty closely but used more tomato paste as my husband needs a lot of umami flavor in his meals. Subbed broccoli and cauliflower for the Brussels sprouts. Whole family was very happy with this, and none of them are even on Whole30 with me. Like some others have mentioned, it took me longer to make it happen than the estimated time in the recipe, but it was well worth it for the outstanding result. Thanks!
I loved this! I forgot the yeast (even though I bought it specifically for this recipe). This will be in the weekly rotation. I’m not Whole30 or Paleo but thought I’d try it with regular milk and butter and next time I’ll venture to coconut milk. My 2 toddlers and picky husband loved it as well.
That’s great to hear! Funny about the yeast 🙂
I love this recipe. It’s great and lasts me a whole week for dinner.
On the nutritional side, I’m wondering what’s the serving size for one person. I know it says serving size is 8. Calories is 407, is that for the whole meal or is it 407 calories per one serving size.
Per serving! Glad you enjoyed it 🙂
Can I substitute sweet potatoes vs russets?
Yes that would work out fine 🙂
Made this tonight and LOVED it!! Thank you for the wonderful recipe.