Shepherd’s Pie is a traditional English dish. In Britain it is generally made with lamb or mutton; in this recipe I have made a simple ground beef shepherd’s pie and added bacon for extra flavor.
Shepard’s pie is often referred to as “cottage pie,” by the English; it is a casserole made of cooked meat and vegetables that is then topped with mashed potatoes and baked. I have made this dish into a Paleo casserole by using Mashed Cauliflower for the topping. This reduces the glycemic index of the dish and increases the nutritional content, since cauliflower is a super food.
I based my recipe for ground beef Shepherd’s Pie, on this Shepherd’s Pie recipe from functionalfoodie.com. As you can see, I made some adjustments. First, I eliminated the tomato sauce, as research from Dr. Loren Cordain points to the possibility that tomatoes contain immune disrupting lectins (I have therefore eliminated them from my diet as I have MS). I also did not use coconut milk in the mashed cauliflower topping, and skipped the Worcester sauce (since I’m too lazy to read ingredients and prefer to use the simple spices in my spice rack).
I hope you enjoy this gluten free comfort food as much as I have!
Paleo Shepherd’s Pie
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 large onion, diced
- 1 pound turkey or pork bacon, cut into ½-inch slices
- 2 cups diced carrots
- 2 cups diced celery
- 1 pound organic grass fed ground beef
- ½ teaspoon celtic sea salt
- 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
- ½ teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1 cup Chicken Stock or Kettle & Fire Bone Broth
- 2 large heads cauliflower, trimmed, chopped and steamed until very soft
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
Instructions
- Heat olive oil in a very large frying pan
- Sauté onion for 15 minutes until soft
- Add bacon pieces to pan and sauté until cooked, about 10 minutes
- Add carrots and celery to pan and sauté in bacon fat for 10 minutes until soft
- Add ground beef to pan and sauté until brown, just a few minutes
- Season with salt, pepper and smoked paprika
- Add chicken broth and cook down broth until 60% evaporated
- Place cauliflower in food processor and puree with olive oil until smooth
- Pour ground beef mixture into a 9 x 13 inch baking dish
- Pour mashed cauliflower over beef mixture
- Bake at 350°F for 30 minutes
- Serve
I found that in my fridge this Shepard’s Pie kept for close to a week. I ate it for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
What is your favorite gluten free comfort food?
Megan M says
Made this last night. I also threw in some chopped-up nappa cabbage to use it up. Maybe my cauliflower were just extra large, but two heads seemed a bit much. The shepherd’s pie was half meat mixture, half cabbage mixture. I would have preferred about 1/3 cabbage mixture, 2/3 meat mixture, so next time I’ll try just using one head. But other than that, it was totally delicious. Thanks so much!
Holly LeRoque says
Sounds delisous. Thanks.
Michelle says
I’m going to try adding leeks since they are my favorite veggie. I think I might use ground turkey instead Iof ground beef! I’m excited to have this comforting casserole in my fridge! Thanks!
Lisa-Marie Mathew says
I just made it and it smells amazing. One thing I noticed is their was a lot of liquid in the beef mixture. Was I supposed to drain the oils before adding the chicken broth? Love your site :)
Lauren says
This takes an awful lot of prep work (i.e. chopping), but goodness it is delicious! I have made it for many dinner guests and they all loved it. Doesn’t feel like anything is missing from the traditional version.
Britt says
This was SO tasty! I love it! Thank you!
Nicole says
Made this recently. What a great idea! Next time, I will make the following changes:
1) Reduce bacon. There was a LOT of bacon in here. I’ll probably cut back to half next time, or less. Also, you have to cook the bacon first (not the onion); otherwise you will have a pound’s worth of bacon fat in your final product.
2) Add a tourtiere-like spice mix to the ground beef mixture, like cinnamon, thyme, and clove.
3) I am not dairy-free so I added some melted butter to the cauliflower mixture to make it more creamy.
Gail B says
O…. M…. G!!!! This was amazing! Thank you soooo much! It’s so hard to find recipes for the autoimmune part of paleo. This was such a hit for the fam! I was nervous about the topping but it was really good! Our family loves heat so they just put a little hot sauce on the top of it. I might be making this at least once a week!
patricia collins says
omg.. this is soooooo good i thought the pepper was too much but went with it glad i did! definitely a repeat for me
Carla Alo says
I’m excited to try this! I’m so glad I found your site!