Shepherd’s Pie with Instant Mashed Potatoes

Ok so I am all about simple dinner ideas, that is where this Shepherd’s pie with instant potatoes recipe came about. Yes you can make it entirely homemade but that is just not me. I mainly made it with leftover mashed potatoes which lead me to this other alternative method. Let me show you how.

I did make our Shepherd’s pie with ground beef from scratch once, from then on it was with leftovers after the holidays. Semi homemade was much more my style. I didn’t want to wait until after Easter, Thanksgiving or Christmas though so what would work between those holidays? Bagged taters of course.

There are several brands out there you can buy at the grocery store. I buy mine in bulk online so I always have a few on hand, you can see what they look like here. There is plain, a butter variety and I like the garlic style a lot too. You can leave as is or fold in some shredded cheddar cheese for OH MY…..

Can you make this with a batch of freshly made mashed taters? Of course. If you were going to go thru all that though, just follow our Instant Pot Shepherd’s pie instructions start to finish. This is when you don’t want to mash at all. Using packaged taters means you just need milk or water to make.

Ingredient Notes

Your protein can be anything but ground beef is most common. It could alternatively be lamb, ground venison or spicy sausage if you wanted some heat in the mix too. In any of these cases you need to precook it first with some olive oil, and I would drain the grease if there is a lot or it will make your insides watery.

Shepherds Pie with Ground Turkey would be the healthiest of all but a bit more fat = more flavor if you ask me. I like half spicy ground sausage from Jimmy Dean personally for a bit of heat.

A mix of small pieces of frozen vegetables with carrots, peas and green beans in the bag works really well because they cook all at the same rate. If you do use fresh produce just note that it may get softer than the other, not counting carrots which remain decently firm no matter what form they start in.

To make the gravy inside you can either use some tomato paste or tomato soup works too. This will make the insides thicker and with a richer flavor than without it. this will be thinned with beef broth and a splash of worcestershire sauce to give it a wow flavor.

Adding cheese is of course optional, for the top of your instant potatoes, or folding a bit inside for the filling but a must for our family.

What do you need to make instant mashed potatoes?

Idahoan instant mashed potatoes should be made according to the directions on the back. You typically only need water to make these allowing it to steam with a towel set on the top for about 5 minutes. Then they are ready to use!

If you wanted to thicken the meat mixture you could whisk 2 tbs cornstarch and your broth together and add that. I use a lot of the same ingredients to make shepherds pie Crockpot style too. Love low and slow? Try that one too!

How Long to Cook Shepherds Pie with Idahoan Mashed Potatoes

We simmered all the ingredients in a cast iron pan on the stove for about 10 minutes. It takes about 1 minute to heat the water for the instant mashed potatoes and I do like to broil the top to make lightly brown too. In total I would say that 20 minutes total start to finish is all you need!!

Tips for Success

You could add any sort of vegetables you want. Only one I would suggest that you didn’t use would be broccoli as it cooks much faster than others and will get too soft. I like using diced frozen mixed vegetables because they’re the same size and already prepped.

As for the topping there are tons of ways to mash your own taters, this is just the easiest way of all. You could opt to add a thick layer of cauliflower mash for lower carbs too if you would rather.

You will want to set in on the middle rack to brown the top. If you wanted to add shredded cheese to the top just keep an eye on it so it melts but doesn’t get too brown and begin to burn.

How to save leftovers

It actually reheats quite nicely if you store it properly. First wait until it is cool and then transfer it into a sealed container. It can save in the fridge for 3-4 days but ideally I would enjoy it again within 24 hours.

To save any of your leftover shepherd’s pie recipe just transfer into a sealable container. It doesn’t really matter if the top and bottom get a bit mixed up. Then seal the lid and store in the fridge.

How to reheat leftovers

Transfer it into a microwave safe dish and heat 30 seconds at a time. Stirring occasionally throughout the time so it gets hot all the way thru to the center it makes a great lunch for you the next day too. Add some shredded cheese on the last stint so it melts and that is incredible.