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:
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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
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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:
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Preheat your oven to 375 degrees
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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
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So delicious, we have our nearly 2 year old son on an elimination diet from eggs, milk, wheat, soy, peanuts, cod and citrus for his eczema and this recipe was not only perfect for his requirements but it was also delicious – he ate the whole thing! I grated the carrots and addded chopped spinach instead of Brussel sprouts
There’s bone broth listed in ingredients but not used in the instructions…what is it for and when do you use it?
How can this be Paleo with Russet Potatoes?
My kids have been all about pot pie lately. I like this better with the potatoes instead of crust. Also love the addition of brussel sprouts. Life is crazy so I tend to resort to mixed frozen veggies but I will be adding brussel sprouts to the mix.
We loved this recipe! Here’s some of the modifications I made which were deliciously successful in case anyone else needs them:
-Used a 9×13″ glass casserole dish
-Used 50% beef, 50% venison
-Added 2 TBSP of dijon mustard to the meat mixture
-Added about 2 cups of beef broth instead of 3/4 cup.
-Used Almond Milk instead of coconut milk for the potatoes
I agree with other reviewers that this took 2 hours to make end to end. A 9×13″ casserole dish made a total of 6 decent size dinner servings (it lasted us 3 nights).
At first I was nervous about the brussel sprouts, but we chopped them up and by the time they were sauteed and mixed in, we couldn’t even tell there were brussels in the dish! It was delicious.
The dijon mustard really does add that extra “oomph” and I would highly recommend this. It doesn’t taste like mustard, just adds a delicious umami flavor.
I originally added the 3/4 cup of beef broth, but it didn’t look very “sauce” like as the recipe instructions alluded to. Knowing that it would be going into the oven and that other reviewers said theirs came out a little dry, I kept added a little more broth into the beef mixture while on the stove until it looked wet/moist, but not drowning. It ended up being about 2 cups total. Ours came our amazing, not dry at all. Exactly what Shepherd’s pie should be.
Almond Milk in the potatoes worked great. There wasn’t any extra flavor, it just helped with creaminess.
Comments left above, but forgot to rate! 5 stars with the modifications we made.
This is the third time I’ve made this recipe. My husband and I love it! I did make a few substitutions. Cauliflower rice to blend up like potatoes, ketchup because we didn’t have tomatoes paste, and half butter half ghee. I also used celery instead of brussel sprouts, but a little less than the recipe called for. I added extra carrots. This recipe is flexible and really hearty. I am wondering if I can make it ahead, freeze it and then bake it to serve? Will the potatoes or cauliflower get watery?
Has anyone tried to make this with a pie dough base? I found a really great multi use gluten free pie dough recipe and would love to try it but Im nervous!
Best shephards pie ive ever had. Gilling was very rich.
Ghee is not dairy free for someone with a dairy allergy. This recipe could be easily modified to become dairy free but as written is not. Please be careful with labeling. Still looks yummy though!