This Sweet Potato Shepherd’s Pie is a lighter spin on a classic recipe. It features hearty ground beef, fresh veggies, and a savory tomato sauce, all topped with mashed sweet potatoes. It’s the ultimate comfort food that’s ready in no time!
For more sweet potato recipe inspiration, be sure to check out these Ground Turkey Sweet Potato Stuffed Peppers, Asparagus Sweet Potato Chicken Skillet, and Southern Stuffed Sweet Potatoes.
This sweet potato version of shepherd’s pie is just as delicious as the classic recipe and even more hearty!
Although I can’t wait for spring to arrive, I’ve been enjoying some of my favorite cold-weather foods lately, like this Ground Turkey Soup.
But nothing says comfort food like a warm, meat-and-veggie-loaded shepherd’s pie! This recipe only takes 15 minutes to prep, and it’s on the table in less than an hour. Plus, it’s a complete meal in one dish, so it’s perfect for weeknight dinners.
Ingredients to Make Sweet Potato Shepherd’s Pie
All ingredient amounts are listed in the recipe card at the bottom of this post.
Instructions
- Before you begin, preheat the oven to 375°F.
Prepare the sweet potatoes:
- Bring water to a boil in a large pot, then add the diced sweet potatoes. Cover and cook for about 10 minutes, or until the sweet potatoes are fork tender.
- When the potatoes are done, drain the excess water and return them to the pot. Mash the sweet potatoes with butter, garlic powder, onion powder, salt, and pepper, then set aside.
Prepare the filling:
- Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat.
- Add the onions, carrot, garlic, and mushrooms, and cook for 5 minutes.
- Next, add the ground beef and season it with thyme, rosemary, salt, and pepper. Use a wooden spoon to break apart the beef, and cook it for about 5 to 7 minutes, until it’s mostly cooked through.
- At this point, add the tomato sauce to the mixture, stir well and cook for about 2 more minutes. If necessary, add a splash of water to the filling and the ground beef if it’s too thick.
Assemble the shepherd’s pie:
- Once the filling is done, transfer it to a greased baking dish.
- Add the mashed sweet potatoes on top of the filling and spread it evenly using a rubber spatula.
- For added detail, drag a fork across the top of the sweet potatoes to create the classic shepherd’s pie appearance.
Bake and enjoy:
- Place the shepherd’s pie in your preheated oven and bake for about 30 minutes, or until the sweet potatoes are browned.
- Allow the shepherd’s pie to cool slightly, then garnish with fresh parsley and enjoy!
Roasted vegetables: For a veggie-packed dinner, I like to serve shepherd’s pie with simple roasted asparagus or crispy roasted green beans.
Side salad: A crisp, hearty salad pairs so well with this cozy shepherd’s pie. A couple of my favorites are this arugula salad, easy broccoli salad and chopped red cabbage kale salad with sliced apples.
Sweet Potato Shepherd’s Pie Recipe
Ingredients
For the filling:
- 2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 cup white onions chopped
- 1/2 cup carrot peeled and diced
- 1 tbsp garlic minced
- 1 cup mushroom cleaned and stemmed, sliced
- 1 lb extra-lean ground beef
- ½ tsp dried thyme
- ½ tsp dried rosemary
- Salt and fresh ground black pepper
- ½ cup homemade tomato sauce
- 1 tbsp fresh parsley chopped
For the mashed sweet potatoes:
- 6 cups sweet potato peeled and cubed
- 2 tbsp unsalted butter
- ¼ tsp garlic powder
- 1/4 tsp onion powder
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
For the sweet potatoes:
- In a large pot bring water to a boil. Add the sweet potatoes, then cover and cook for about 10 minutes, or until the potatoes are tender.
- When the potatoes are done, drain and return them to the large pot. Mash the potatoes with the butter, garlic powder, onion powder, salt and pepper. Set aside.
For the filling:
- Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat.
- Add the onions, carrot, garlic and mushroom and cook for 5 minutes. Then, add ground beef and break up using a spoon. Add thyme, rosemary, salt and pepper. Cook until the beef has mostly cooked, about 5 to 7 minutes.
- Add tomato sauce, and cook for about 2 minutes. If necessary, add a little bit of water to the filling and the ground beef if it's not cooked after 2 minutes.
- Then transfer the filling to a greased baking dish.
- Add the mashed sweet potatoes on top of the filling and spread it evenly using a rubber spatula. You can use a fork to drag across the top of the sweet potato, creating the classic shepherd's pie appearance.
- Bake until the sweet potatoes are browned. It will take about 30 minutes. Garnish with parsley and serve.
Notes
- Feel free to swap the ground beef for another ground meat such as ground turkey.
- You can replace mashed sweet potatoes for cauliflower mash.
- You can make this in a giant cast-iron skillet if you do not have a casserole baking dish.
- Let the shepherd’s pie rest for a few minutes before serving. This will allow the filling to cool slightly and thicken up a bit.
- For the best flavor and texture, follow my savory mashed sweet potatoes recipe for the topping.
- To store: Store leftover shepherd’s pie in the fridge tightly wrapped for up to 4 days.
- To reheat: You can reheat leftovers in the oven or microwave.
- To freeze: You can tightly wrap up the sweet potato shepherd’s pie and freeze for up to 2 months. As usual, make sure the dish is room temperature before freezing. If you plan on freezing the whole casserole, I recommend baking it in a foil pan as they’re much lighter to freeze.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Did You Make This?
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In the instructions there is no explanation for the parsley and you say to tomatoe pasted. In the ingredients you say tomato sauce. I made your turkey, sweet potatoe skillet and absolutely loved it. I was planning on making this this week. Can you please clarify this for me. Thanks so much.
It is tomato sauce, Stacey. I will adjust the recipe to clear further confusion. Thanks for pointing it out!
This is my first time visiting your site, and I’m so excited to try several recipes I’ve seen. I came for the egg casserole, but will add this to my menu for this week too. Thanks for sharing healthy recipes that aren’t complicated. And the photos are lovely!
Wow Leesa I love your comment. Thanks a lot for stopping by and if you try one of my recipes, please share with me on Instagram. I would love to see your creations 😉