Your family will love this easy recipe for Crock-Pot Shepherds Pie filled with ground lamb, carrots, peas and topped with lovely mashed potatoes.
Slow Cooker Shepherds Pie
This Shepherd Pie recipe comes directly from my Grandma Pat who is of Irish decent and was actually born on St. Patrick’s Day. I just adapted it to be cooked in the slow cooker.
Technically a Shepherd’s Pie is made with ground lamb meat while a Cottage Pie is made with ground beef. But to be honest with you I think it is pretty interchangeable.
Because my family buys a whole lamb that has been processed from a family friend who’s kids raise lambs for their 4H project we almost always have ground lamb in our freezer and this is one of our favorite recipes to use that lamb meat up.
But if lamb is not your thing or you cannot find it at your local grocery store feel free to use ground beef instead. The result will still be amazing!
And if you are a hunting family…ground venison works too!
Equipment Needed For Crock-Pot Shepherds Pie:
- 3.5 Quart Casserole Slow Cooker OR 4 Quart Or Larger Round Or Oval Slow Cooker
- Skillet
- Wooden Spoon
- Knife
- Cutting Board
- Can Opener
- Liquid Measuring Cup
- Measuring Spoons
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I Substitute Other Meats For The Ground Lamb?
Yes you can. Great substitutions for the ground lamb meat would be ground beef or ground venison or any other red meat.
What Other Vegetables Can I Use In This Shepherd Pie?
If there is a vegetable listed in the recipe that you either cannot find or don’t like you can either omit the vegetable or substitute it with another vegetable. The most common vegetables used in shepherd or cottage pie are:
- Carrots
- Peas
- Celery
- Onions
- Corn
- Green Beans
- Mushrooms
Use any combination of the above.
Can I Add Cheese To This Slow Cooker Shepherd Pie?
Absolutely, Shepherd Pie is a great recipe for using up little bits of cheese that you might have in your refrigerator. You can either add shredded cheese (cheddar works great here) on top of the meat and veggie layer, stirred into the mashed potatoes or right on top of the mashed potatoes. A cup or two should do it.
Special Diets
More Great Irish Inspired Slow Cooker Recipes!
- Crock-Pot Corned Beef and Cabbage Dinner
- Slow Cooker Irish Cream Coffee
- Crock-Pot Irish Soda Bread
- Slow Cooker Easy Corned Beef and Cabbage
- Crock-Pot Irish Lamb Stew
Crock-Pot Shepherds Pie Recipe
Ingredients
- 3 Cups Leftover Prepared Mashed Potatoes (Or Use Prepared Instant Mashed Potatoes)
- 2 Pounds Ground Lamb Meat
- 1 Large Yellow Onion (Chopped)
- 2 Cloves Garlic (Minced)
- ¼ Cup Canned Tomato Paste
- 2 Medium Carrots (Peeled And Chopped)
- ½ Cup Frozen Peas
- ½ Cup Frozen Corn Kernels
- 2 Ribs Celery (Diced)
- 1 Cup Low-Sodium Beef Stock
- ¼ Cup Dry White Wine (Or Beef Stock If You Don’t Cook With Alcohol )
- 2 Teaspoons Worcestershire Sauce
- ½ Teaspoon Dried Thyme
- Salt And Pepper (To Taste)
Instructions
- Warm leftover mashed potatoes in the microwave or on the stove top, adding a splash of milk if needed to make them spreadable. If using instant potatoes, prepare them according to the directions on the package and season with salt and pepper to taste. Set aside.
- In a large skillet on medium-high heat on the stove-top, cook the ground lamb along with the onion and garlic until the meat is no longer pink. Drain off any excess fat.
- Add the tomato paste to the lamb mixture in the pan and cook 2 to 3 minutes.
- Add the carrots, peas, celery, beef stock, wine (or additional beef stock if using), Worcestershire sauce, and dried thyme. Bring to a boil.
- Reduce heat to low and simmer the mixture in the skillet, uncovered, until most of the liquid is evaporated. Taste the mixture and season with salt and pepper to taste.
- Transfer the lamb mixture to a slow cooker that has been sprayed with non-stick cooking spray.
- Spread the mashed potatoes over the top of the lamb mixture.
- Cover the slow cooker. Cook on LOW for 5 to 6 hours, or until you can see the lamb mixture bubbling around the edges of the mashed potato topping.
- Serve immediately straight from the slow cooker.
Notes
Nutrition
I have never made shepherds pie in the crockpot. I am loving everything about this recipe.
I hope you love it! We enjoyed it!
Hi, when you say mashed potatoes does this mean airway prepared mashed potatoes?
Yes, already prepared mashed potatoes
Can I use mashed cauliflower instead of mashed potatoes?
Sure!
What size crockpot should I use and how many does one recipe feed?
Hey Diana, we have edited the recipe to better answer your questions regarding this recipe for shepherd’s pie made in the slow cooker. This recipe serves 6 and should be cooked in a 5 to 6 quart crock-pot. I hope that helps and I am sorry that information was not included in the original recipe.
for the mashed potatoes do you prepare them with milk and butter or just mash them?
I would make the mashed potatoes how you serve your family. If you are making them from flakes, do them as the package suggests. If you are making them from scratch, do them how you typically do them. Odds are some kind of milk, butter, cream, ect will be helpful for from scratch potatoes to soften them up.
someone else asked about cauliflower instead of mashed potatoes. That should work as well, just that’s a whole lot of cauliflower!
What other kind of meat could I use, my son is allergic to beef?
You can absolutely use ground turkey, ground chicken, frankly leftover chicken or leftover turkey would work as well. Even pork sausage would work! HTH
Kinda bland. Not a fan of cream of celery.
I use cream of chicken and cream of mushroom
Is it 6 cups flakes of mashed potatoes or 6 cups already prepared?
Prepared
I have some in the crock pot for tonight for dinner, I am using Venison 😀 YUMMY! I can’t wait to try it.
Sounds fantastic Erin! Be sure to let us know how it tasted using venison!
would like to know nutritional counts
Hi Joan, I have gone ahead and added the nutritional information for this recipe for you.
Do you prepare the cream of celery per the direction on the can adding one can of water or is it just the can of cream of celery with no water added?
It is just the can of cream of celery soup without the water.
In step 4 it states to add carrots, peas etc but then again in step 5 it states to add peas and stir. When do you add the peas with the carrots etc or wait until most of the liquid has evaporated as stated in step 5?
Hi Cher, thanks for commenting and letting me know there was a mistake with the recipe. I have edited the recipe to correct the recipe. The peas should be added at the same time as the carrots, celery, etc.
Sorry for the cofusion.
I have read the comments and some people have mentioned cream of celery as one of the ingredients, but I cannot find it listed on the page. I would like to make this but not sure of what recipe is used here.
Hi Barbara, I am sorry for the confusion. This recipe has been edited and replaced with new and improved recipe that does not include the use of cream of celery soup. The old recipe was added way back in 2011 and wasn’t a very authentic recipe. So we decided to create a new recipe for Shepherds pie. This one, as written is much better than the old recipe and closer to an authentic shepherds pie.
didn’t have tomato past, used rotel tomatos with chilies, used bone broth and left out the celery cause didn’t have any. used hafl beef and half venison, was delish. thanks for the recipe.
Glad you enjoyed Carl, even with all those substitutons!