Sweet Potato Shepherd's Pie Recipe

This Sweet Potato Shepherd’s Pie is a healthy 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!

Course Main Course

Cuisine American, British, Irish dish

Keyword Shepherd’s Pie, Sweet Potato Shepherd’s Pie, Sweet Potato Shepherd’s Pie recipe

Prep Time 15

Cook Time 40

Total Time 55

Servings people

Calories 312kcal

Author Olivia Ribas

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

US Customary - Metric

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