After making (and devouring) my Slow Cooker Mashed Potatoes last week, I was really craving some shepherd’s pie. But, because of the strict budget I’m working with, I decided to make a vegetarian shepherd’s Pie. This warm and comforting dish is still full of deep and rich flavor, even without the meat, and I love all the color and texture that the vegetable medley brings to the plate.
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What’s In Vegetarian Shepherd’s Pie?
To make up for the meat I made sure to use plenty of vegetables, including mushrooms, which give a nice “meaty” umami flavor. I also added in a cup of cooked lentils for bulk and extra protein. Lentils are great because they cook super fast, have a small shape, and a mild flavor that helps them blend really well into recipes. I often use them half and half with meat to stretch my dollar, but that same technique also works well with vegetables. If you’re not a fan of lentils, no worries. You can just leave them out and you’ll still have a delicious and hearty straight vegetable filling for your vegetarian shepherd’s pie.
What Kind of Mashed Potatoes Should I Use?
I made a second slightly smaller batch of my Slow Cooker Mashed Potatoes to top the pie, but you can use any type of leftover mashed potatoes you have (make sure to use vegetable broth in your mashed potatoes to keep this recipe vegetarian). Another great option is to use my Olive Oil Mashed Potatoes, which are dairy-free, and will make this whole Shepherd’s Pie vegan!
You can make your mashed potatoes fresh, or use leftovers. Just be sure to warm them up before trying to spread them onto the pie because cold mashed potatoes don’t exactly “spread.” LOL
Vegetarian Shepherd’s Pie
Servings 6Ingredients
- 1 cup cooked lentils (optional)* ($0.21)
- 2 cloves garlic ($0.16)
- 1 yellow onion ($0.31)
- 1 Tbsp olive oil ($0.16)
- 3 carrots ($0.37)
- 2 ribs celery ($0.38)
- 8 oz. button mushrooms ($1.99)
- 3/4 tsp salt ($0.03)
- 1 tsp dried thyme ($0.10)
- 1/2 tsp smoked paprika ($0.05)
- Freshly cracked pepper ($0.05)
- 1 Tbsp tomato paste ($0.11)
- 1 Tbsp flour ($0.01)
- 1 cup vegetable broth ($0.13)
- 1 cup frozen peas ($0.45)
- 4 cups mashed potatoes ($1.36)
Instructions
- Mince the garlic and dice the onion. Sauté the onion and garlic with olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat until the onions are soft and transparent (3-5 minutes).
- While the onions and garlic are cooking, peel and dice the carrots, dice the celery, and slice the mushrooms. Once the onions are soft, add the carrots and celery to the skillet and continue to sauté until the celery begins to soften slightly (5 minutes).
- Finally, add the mushrooms, salt, thyme, smoked paprika, and freshly cracked pepper to the skillet. Continue to sauté until the mushrooms have fully softened (3-5 minutes). Add the tomato paste and flour to the skillet. Stir and cook the vegetables with the flour and tomato paste until the vegetables are coated and the pasty mixture begins to coat the bottom of the skillet (about 2 minutes).
- Add the vegetable broth to the skillet, stirring to dissolve the flour and tomato paste from the bottom of the skillet. Allow the broth to come up to a simmer, at which point it will become slightly thicker. Stir in the cooked lentils and frozen peas, and allow to mixture to heat through.
- Preheat the oven to 400ºF. Pour the vegetable mixture into a casserole dish, or use your skillet if it is oven safe. Spread the mashed potatoes out over the surface of the vegetables and gravy. Use your spoon to make a decorative pattern in the mashed potatoes, if desired.
- Bake the shepherd’s pie in the fully preheated oven for 15 minutes, or until everything is heated through. To achieve a browned surface on the mashed potatoes (optional), turn on the oven’s broiler (and place the pie under it, if not already), and watch closely until the top has browned to your liking.
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Notes
Nutrition
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How to Make Vegetarian Shepherd’s Pie – Step by Step Photos
Using lentils in your Vegetarian Shepherd’s Pie is entirely optional, but I find that it provides more bulk, texture, and protein. You’ll want one cup of cooked lentils for this recipe, which is about 1/3 dry. Cooking lentils is simple, just boil a pot of water, add the lentils, then continue boiling until they’re tender (brown lentils take about 20 minutes). After cooking, drain in a colander. Note: without the lentils you’ll get about four servings out of this recipe.
For the vegetable mix I used 2 stalks celery, 3 carrots, 8oz. button mushrooms, 1 cup frozen peas, 1 yellow onion, and two cloves garlic. Both my celery and peas were on their last leg, but this is a great recipe to use up older vegetables in because they get cooked down and slathered with tasty gravy. :)
Begin by mincing the garlic and dicing the onion. Sauté the onion and garlic with 1 Tbsp olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat until the onions are soft.
While the onions and garlic are cooking, peel and dice the carrots, and dice the celery. Add them to the skillet and continue to sauté for a few more minutes, or until the celery begins to soften just a tad.
While the celery and carrots are cooking, slice the mushrooms. Add the mushrooms to the skillet along with 3/4 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp smoked paprika, 1 tsp thyme, and some freshly cracked pepper. Sauté the mushrooms and seasonings until the mushrooms are soft. My mushrooms came pre-sliced and they were in HUGE pieces, so I broke them up into smaller pieces with my spatula as they cooked.
When the mushrooms are soft, add 1 Tbsp flour and 1 Tbsp tomato paste. Stir the flour and tomato paste into the vegetables until everything is coated in a paste-like mixture. Continue to stir and cook until the paste begins to coat the bottom of the skillet.
When the flour and tomato paste coat the bottom of the skillet (be careful to not let it burn), add 1 cup vegetable broth. Stir the broth and vegetables to dissolve the paste off the bottom of the skillet. Allow the mixture to heat through and come to a simmer, at which point the broth will thicken slightly.
Finally, add the frozen peas and cooked lentils (if using), and allow the mixture to heat through. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Pour the vegetable mixture into a casserole dish, or just use your skillet if it is oven safe (this is a deep skillet).
Cover the vegetable and gravy mixture with about 4 cups of mashed potatoes. Spread the mashed potatoes to evenly cover the surface (mashed potatoes spread easier if they are warm). Use the side and back of a spoon to create a decorative pattern in the mashed potatoes, if desired.
Bake the vegetarian shepherd’s pie for about 15 minutes in the preheated oven, or until it’s heated through. To get the nice browned top, turn on the boiler and watch the pie closely until it’s browned on top (if your broiler is under your oven, you’ll have to transfer the pie to the bottom drawer).
Ohhhhh that gravy, though! 😍
I made this recipe tonight and I love it. I used frozen mixed veggies instead of just peas, and omitted the fresh mushrooms and carrots. Came out awesome, and I’m currently about to dive in for seconds.
I would probably add shredded cheese on top. We like out meat but try to eat meatless meals ,too.
Unfortunately, this was one of the worst meals I’ve ever tasted in my life. I’m Not a great cook so I followed the instructions to the letter. I even made the slow cooker mashed potatoes (which came out wonderfully!) so I’ll be leaving a great review for those!). I was so disappointed especially because there is a lot of prep work involved. The thyme was simply overwhelming. I have a very high tolerance for subpar cuisine but couldn’t bring myself to eat this. (My husband spit it out!). Luckily, I had a back up plan. I do however live this site and look forwards to trying more recipes. Thank you for all the great ideas!
I just made this recipe for the second time. Loved it the first time! Both times I used chicken broth rather than vegetable broth, because I prefer the flavor. Tonight I was feeling a little rushed, so I used canned lentils and pre-made potatoes. Still worked great!
Third time making this recipe! The first time, I left out the smoked paprika because I didn’t have any. Still turned out nice and earthy. The second time, I left out the paprika again because I liked the earthy flavor. But this time around, I added the smoked paprika, and to add an extra kick, topped it with mashed sweet potatoes that had some smoked paprika in them, as well. Delicious! If you guys like the smokiness of the original recipe, you should really try it with smoked paprika in the mashed potatoes. And sweet potatoes give the dish a pleasant orange color. Great for an autumn dish with guests over.
Overall, I love this recipe! I’ve seen vegetarian versions without lentils, or without mushrooms, but I think that the pie really needs both. This recipe is worth the effort and dishes.
I love Budget Bytes, but I was not a huge fan of this recipe.
For one thing, I just didn’t think it was that good. I don’t normally like bland foods that much, but shepherd’s pie is delicious and comforting. This was pretty tasteless and I already added more smoked paprika and thyme than recommended. So I added some salt, and it just tasted salty. When I’ve made shepherd’s pie before, I don’t think I put any seasonings at all, but somehow it tasted better. For me, it also doesn’t work so well without the meat, and I am not a “meat in every meal” kind of person. I eat meatless often, but this just had a totally different taste and smell and lost a lot of the appeal for me. Also, the tomato paste. It gave it a weird and oddly acidic flavor that doesn’t seem to go with the rest of the meal.
Further, I know that everything is technically optional and that people adapt recipes, but I think that advertising it as lentils or no lentils was not the best idea. I think there would be even less flavor and substance without them, and personally, I’d just as well throw some veggies on a bowl of mashed potatoes. :) Not to mention that I already added a can of corn and some extras of the other veggies, and it STILL didn’t make as much filling as I expected.
Now, I cook a lot and I make everything from scratch. But logistically, this was quite a lot of work. First, I cooked the lentils. Then I did all the veggie stuff. Then I made the mashed potatoes from scratch. I know my way around a kitchen, but I have the impression this website is often for people who are less experienced. I don’t think it was extremely clear that the mashed potatoes and lentils already needed to be made and I imagine some people were in for more work than they expected. And doing all of this the same evening made a lot of work – again, for a not-that-great end product.
Been eating all your vegetarian comfort foods lately lol. I discovered that you can cook lentils in a rice cooker (same setting and water ratio as white rice), so I did that. I ended up doing the mashed potatoes on the stove top instead. Absolutely delicious!!!
The smoked flavour paprika was devine 👌🏼 I loved it. For sure I will make it again.
3rd x a charm
Delicious!!! This is my first time making shepherd’s pie, and I’m glad it turned out delicious!
• I used 2c broth & 2 TB tomato paste + fresh thyme
Sooo good! I am eating this right now. My husband can’t have tomato anything or he will have heartburn all night and I don’t have time to be up hearing him whine about heartburn. Anyhoo, I subbed in brown gravy for the tomato and he inhaled it. Thank you so much!
made this for my meal prep. tastes amazing
Excellent and easy. Added horseradish 2 teaspoons to mashed potatoes. Had to adjust the seasonings added herbes de Provence 1 teaspoon. Next time I would use more mushrooms.
I am currently eating this right this minute and had to leave a comment about how amazing this recipe is!!! It turned out sooooo good!! I’ve never had shepherds pie before but this is easily one of the best things I’ve ever made and my new favorite dish! Hearty, vegan, and so good!! 🤤 Thank you so much for sharing this recipe!!
Just made this tonight. My husband says it is the best shepherd’s pie he’s ever eaten!! He had seconds, and alsmost went for thirds.
Thank you 😁