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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This was SO. SO. SO. good. The entire family loved it!
I have been craving Shepherd’s pie for so long and this was soooo delicious! I can’t eat dairy and never thought to use coconut milk for the mashed potatoes. Total gamechanger. This was easy to make even with all the steps. Thank you for this great recipe!
You do realize ghee isn’t dairy free, right?
After bookmarking this for awhile, I made this last night. It was delicious! I don’t even care for mashed potatoes (but was still going to make this for my husband), and I was obsessed with the potatoes! This was so good – with all the veggies it tasted healthy but still hearty and comforting. Will definitely be making this over and over.
This is NOT Dairy free if you are using ghee.
This is by far my favorite shepherds pie recipe… I usually always add some sort of smoky chocolatey seasoning as well adds the most amazing flavor …. But last night I made a vegan version with blue oyster mushrooms king trumpet mushrooms chestnut mushrooms and shiitake mushrooms as well as some ground up walnuts.. oooh my god.. it tastes like it’s not even vegan!! Just figured I’d share if you wanted to add a vegan shepherds pie recipe 😉 😉
Tried it out. I’m not big on mushrooms but it definitely set of the flavor!
Thanks for sharing!
My 10-year old and I made this last night, it was so good!!! I subbed Broccoli for Brussel Sprouts (my kids have a thing about Brussel Sprouts), and as one of your readers mentioned, I used ground lamb instead of the mentioned beef. I also subbed a bit of Greek Seasoning instead of the Rosemary, because I didn’t have Rosemary and Greek Seasoning is super yummy on ground lamb. Fabulous recipe and really fun to make. My kiddo loved the process, and his helping at dinner was quite large! Thank you for sharing.
What could I use instead of tomato paste? I can’t have tomatoes. Thanks!
Amazing!!!!!! This will definitely be in the rotation.
This recipe is amazing!!! I’ve made it many times and it’s always delicious. When I make this recipe for people who don’t need dairy free I use butter in the potato topping instead of coconut milk. Wish I could give it more stars!