Curried Shepherd’s Pie With Sweet Potato Mash {Gluten-Free, Grain-Free, Paleo}
When my husband goes away on business trips, I have my routines. The first night I will cook myself something nice and then dive into either a TV series that he’d never go for (i.e. Hello, Gossip Girl on Netflix!), or make a misguided decision and watch a documentary that either freaks me out or makes me weep. Like, full on ugly cry weep with snot and chest heaves. This time it was this Showtime series called Time of Death. I think I dehydrated myself with the amount of tears shed. It hit me in all the feels. Lucky for me, before I started watching this series I had pre-planned with some comfort food. The weather was seriously stormy, so turning on my oven felt like the right thing to do. What happened next was this curried shepherd’s pie. Oh, and then like three hours of death-themed docu-series viewing and blubbering. I can’t be trusted to be alone with myself. On the plus side, I managed to have this comfort food ready in the wings. The last thing you need is to cry all the tears, get dehydrated and headache-y and then NOT have any food to put in your face. Never underestimate the drama of a girl who is both emotionally exhausted and hungry. Just ask my husband.
This dish is one of my new favorites. The curry and other warming spices are perfect for winter. The coconut milk and sweet potatoes marry together for a sweet and savory contrast with the beef and veggies. I love nothing more than things that are both sweet and savory. Like… bacon chocolate chip cookies!Fun fact: I am roasting sweet potatoes right now in order to make this again tonight. I can’t seem to get enough. Since my husband is my resident taste tester, and he wasn’t home when I made this pie the first time, I heated up a bowl of the stuff for my fellow food lover and very pregnant friend Eliza. It passed the pregnant-lady taste test with a big rainbow of flying colors. So much so that she demanded the recipe and made it for her family that very evening. I love when that happens. I always feel like my recipes have more cred if they are given thumbs up by my close friends. Thumbs up by friends that are like 4059834095 years pregnant only makes it better.
If you are sensitive to peas, simply sub in some other veggies. I think both chopped up broccoli or zucchini would go great in the recipe. Make it your own! Make it for your loved ones. Make it for yourself to shovel into your face in between sobs induced by risky television choices. Side note: It’s really hard to eat and cry at the same time. Just so you know. I did the research. 😉
I hope you enjoy this steaming pot of comfort food as much as I did. But, more…with like 90% less tears.
Curried Shepherd’s Pie With Sweet Potato Mash {Gluten-Free, Grain-Free, Paleo}
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Ingredients
Potatoes
- 5 sweet potatoes
- 1 tbs coconut oil (you could also used butter or ghee)
- pinch of cinnamon
- pinch of salt
Pie Filling
- 1 tbs coconut oil
- 1 large onion, chopped
- 3 cloves of garlic, minced
- 1 lb of grass-fed ground beef
- 1 tbs curry powder
- 1 tsp turmeric
- 1 tsp ground ginger
- salt, pepper, granulated garlic (to taste)
- 2 stalks of celery, chopped
- 2 large carrots, chopped
- 1/2 cup beef broth
- 1/2 cup pumpkin puree
- 1/2 cup full fat coconut milk
- 2 cups peas (fresh or frozen)
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.
- Cover a baking sheet with aluminum foil. Wash your sweet potatoes and put them onto the baking sheet. Using a knife, score each sweet potato with an x. Roast the potatoes in the oven for 60 minutes, or until the inside of the potato is easily mash-able.
- While the potatoes are roasting, begin your pie filling. Heat up a Tbs of coconut oil in a heavy bottomed dutch oven. If you don't have a dutch over, that's fine. You can cook your filling in whatever pan you desire, and build your pie in a baking dish later. I tend to favor the dutch oven since there is less clean-up and we can simply use this one pot for everything.
- Once your coconut oil is heated, add in your chopped onions and your minced garlic. Allow the onions to cook down and become translucent. Once your onions and garlic have cooked down a bit, add your ground beef and the seasonings to the pan.Brown your ground beef on all sides. Breaking it up and cooking it well.
- Once your ground beef is browned, add in the chopped celery and carrots. Allow it all to cook together for a few minutes. Stir it around while it simmers.
- Add in the broth, pumpkin puree and coconut milk. Stir. Allow the whole thing to simmer until the liquid reduces itself by approximately 1/3. We want there to be some liquid in the pie, but we don't want it to be soupy.
- After the liquid has cooked down, add the peas and allow to simmer for a couple more minutes.
- Once your potatoes are done, remove them from the oven and allow them to cool to the touch. Remove the peel from the potatoes and add the orange meat of the potatoes into a mixing bowl. Once you have all of your potatoes in that bowl, add a Tbs of coconut oil a pinch of cinnamon and a pinch of salt. Using an immersion blender, blend the potatoes together until they are completely smooth.
- To build your shepherds pie, layer the potatoes over the meat filling in a oven proof pan. I kept mine in the dutch oven, but this would be the time to build your pie in a baking dish if you are using a normal pot. Layer the sweet potato mash over the meat and spread it out evenly with a silicone spatula.
- Bake for 35-45 minutes in the oven. The filling will get bubbly and the potatoes will become firm and even a little bit crispy on top.
- Remove from oven and serve! Enjoy!
by Gina Marie
PAID ENDORsem*nT DISCLOSURE: In order for me to support my blogging activities, I may receive monetary compensation or other types of remuneration for my endorsem*nt, recommendation, testimonial and/or link to any products or services from this blog.
62 Comments
Mani @ A New Life Wandering March 1, 2015 at 3:24 pm - Reply
Wow, this dish really sounds amazing. I wonder if you could offer suggestions to substitute the pumpkin puree.
Gina Marie March 3, 2015 at 1:48 pm - Reply
Hey Mani! If you aren’t down with pumpkin, you could try a tomato sauce.
Emily April 16, 2016 at 10:23 am - Reply
I used the same recipe without the purée and it was amazing !!!!
Saskia June 20, 2015 at 6:00 am - Reply
I’m so making this, how many does it serve?
Gina Marie June 22, 2015 at 12:03 pm - Reply
It depend how hungry y’all are. I would say it safely serves a family of four.
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Lori January 6, 2016 at 8:50 am - Reply
This looks SO GOOD and I have most of what I would need to make it on hand. One question though: the ingredients call for “5 sweet potatoes”. How big are your sweet potatoes? At my grocery store they are all pretty huge so 5 of them would be enough roasted/mashed sweet potatoes to serve 20-25 people. I’ve never mashed sweet potatoes before so I’m not as confident I could wing it. Weight or a size comparison would be helpful.
Gina Marie January 6, 2016 at 9:01 am - Reply
Hey Lori! Whoa, sounds like you’ve got yourself some serious taters. Mine were medium to average sized. If yours are gigantic, maybe cut the measurement in half and go for 2.5? 🙂
Lori January 6, 2016 at 10:33 am - Reply
I think the “small” sweet potatoes I bought last time were a pound each. I’ve only ever seen them that size or larger in stores here! 2+ sounds about right for the quantity of other ingredients I think. I’ll try it and make adjustments. Now i’m getting hungry for this shepherd’s pie!!
Thanks!
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Lori January 10, 2016 at 1:29 pm - Reply
I just made this recipe this afternoon and it is SO GOOD. I subbed in ground chicken because that’s what I had on hand and only used 2 sweet potatoes because the “small” ones I found were 1 1/2 pounds each hahaha.
Thanks for sharing this recipe. It’s going on my regular meal rotation.
Gina Marie January 11, 2016 at 11:39 am - Reply
YAY! Glad it worked out. And, wowzers! Those sweet taters!
Sara January 11, 2016 at 6:05 am - Reply
I made this last night for dinner and it was a huge hit! My husband asked if I could make it again later this week. So yummy!
Gina Marie January 11, 2016 at 11:38 am - Reply
AWESOME!
Jen January 11, 2016 at 7:45 am - Reply
Dude this recipe is ridiculous. Easy to make and unbelievably delicious and flavorful. I left out the pumpkin because no way was I selling that to hubby and it was still awesome. Thanks for making my whole 30 so much easier!
Gina Marie January 11, 2016 at 11:38 am - Reply
Yay! I’m so glad you loved it.
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Wes January 27, 2016 at 7:42 pm - Reply
Amazingly delicious, love it. I have to say though… you mean yams, not sweet potatoes, right? Sweet potatoes are yellow, yams are orange.
Linda February 13, 2017 at 11:54 am - Reply
I’m wondering about this too. Do I buy yams or sweet potatoes?
Adrienne January 30, 2016 at 9:11 am - Reply
Does this freeze well? Thanks!
Mary February 14, 2016 at 1:39 am - Reply
I made this tonight – it was absolutely delicious
Blair March 14, 2016 at 4:27 pm - Reply
Hi there! This looks delicious, however I’m not a huge fan of curry. Would this still be good without it? Or is there something I could replace it with?
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Andrea April 5, 2016 at 8:01 pm - Reply
Made this tonight and it was fantastic. I will definitely be making this again!!! Thanks!!!
Gina Marie April 7, 2016 at 12:55 pm - Reply
I’m so glad you liked it!Yay!
Erika April 26, 2016 at 10:02 pm - Reply
Has anyone tried to freeze this recipe? I’ve made this before and loved it, so I wanted to bring it to friends with their new baby. Not sure how well it would do with freezing and baking later though.
Mark April 27, 2016 at 6:08 pm - Reply
I just made this tonight and it was great. Perhaps one of the few times beef and curry are together, but it works. The amount of sweet potatoes I used weighed 3 lbs. I used 1t salt and 1/4t pepper. Very good, thank you very much.
Mark April 27, 2016 at 6:11 pm - Reply
The above post went weird with the picture. It cut out the number three (3) as in “three pounds” of sweet potatoes.
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ashley July 5, 2016 at 1:43 pm - Reply
can i use almond milk instead of coconut milk? i cannot have coconut!
Gina Marie August 4, 2016 at 11:39 am - Reply
Hi Ashley! You could try it, but I’m a little worried that it might turn out watery. I would suggest replacing the coconut milk with bone broth instead. Let me know if you try it with almond milk and how it turns out!
Sherry September 4, 2016 at 2:38 pm - Reply
My son found this recipe and asked me to make it. I think he’s getting tired of my usual Whole 30 rotation. I omitted the peas since they are not Whole 30 compliant and added fresh green beans which I cut into small pieces.I just made this and it’s cooking! It looks and smells amazing! Sorry if this is a stupid question but I’m assuming that you bake this uncovered???
Gina Marie September 6, 2016 at 1:57 pm - Reply
Yup! Bake it uncovered. It’s going to give the potatoes a bit of a nice crust. 🙂
Jill September 22, 2016 at 6:09 pm - Reply
This is superb. I added mushrooms only because I had to use them up but otherwise didn’t change a thing, nor would I. Thank you
Whitney October 6, 2016 at 5:53 am - Reply
Do you have any ideas for making this vegetarian (without the ground beef) and still Whole30 friendly?
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Lacy November 28, 2016 at 9:40 pm - Reply
I rarely leave comments on recipes but yowza!! This is one of the tastiest things I’ve ever made. My boyfriend was obsessed with it as well and almost at the whole casserole dish. Thank you for helping me look like a class act in front of my boyfriend.
Mike December 17, 2016 at 9:17 am - Reply
Hi I am new to this site. Is this a whole 30 diet acceptable recipe? Want to make it as a gift
Thank you
Debbie January 4, 2017 at 10:19 am - Reply
What temperature do you bake the final casserole, I’m thinking 350?
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Babs January 6, 2017 at 1:38 pm - Reply
This was fantastic. We’ve recommended this to several friends. Made it just as you wrote it. Thanks!
Reka Forgach January 15, 2017 at 11:10 am - Reply
made this pie and I’m absolutely in love — chose to roast and puree everything from scratch, fyi it can get a bit time consuming!!! great weekend meal when cooking is part of the comfort!
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Summer February 18, 2017 at 3:10 pm - Reply
Tastes Great! I think the ratio is a bit off on sweet potatoes though. I would say half the sweet potatoes to 2-3 medium ones. Or double the beef and sauce. Was just way too much sweet potato otherwise. Made it with the pumpkin but think it would taste good without it as well. Thanks for the recipe!
Casey March 2, 2017 at 3:29 pm - Reply
I am not a fan of ground beef do you think stew meat or ground lamb would work???
Christy March 4, 2017 at 5:18 pm - Reply
I saw whole 30 and assumed all the I ingredients were compliant. I totally spaced on the peas. Uggg. And I’ve made this twice. It freezes great. a little goes a long way. I’m definitely using less sweet potatoes next time though.
Jenn March 8, 2017 at 5:45 am - Reply
Looks great! Just an FYI…peas are not compliant on Whole30, so for those doing Whole30…omit the peas.
Taylor March 8, 2017 at 10:54 am - Reply
What temperature should the final pie be baked at?
Liz July 14, 2017 at 10:17 pm - Reply
What type of Curry is used? I have Madras in my spice cabinet, would that work well?
Gina Marie August 2, 2017 at 1:28 pm - Reply
I just use basic yellow curry powder. Nothing fancy. I’m sure whatever you have in your pantry will work great! It’s just going to give it a little kick.
Jane L Mack July 27, 2017 at 3:25 pm - Reply
I made this for dinner tonight. My family hates curry. I made it anyway because I got constant requests to make a shepherd pie with sweet potato. I wish I could show you the empty pan. It was delicious. Thank you!
Carolb123 September 19, 2017 at 9:36 am - Reply
Hey Gina!
Just came upon your site yesterday and this recipe and I just had to try it! Made it with ground turkey and chicken broth and didn’t add onion but everything else the same. Love it! Brought it to work today and shared with 2 ladies here who both asked for the recipe! Yum! Thank you for adding a new flavor dish to my healthy cooking!Carly October 19, 2017 at 10:31 am - Reply
This is amazing!!! My fiancée and I love it! One question though, she is doing weight watchers and we’re trying to figure out how many points a serving would be, do you have any nutritional information? Such as calories, fats, saturated fats, protein, carbs, sugar, fiber? Then we could calculate it ?
Gina Marie October 19, 2017 at 12:32 pm - Reply
Hi Carly! I’m so glad you love this recipe. I don’t have that info, but you can use something like this http://www.myfitnesspal.com/recipe/calculator, plug in the ingredients and the amount of servings and it will give you an idea! Hope that helps! xo
Sarah October 29, 2017 at 8:00 am - Reply
Love, love, love this recipe. Have made it countless times since last year and never grow tired of it. Since I didn’t feel too good about having so much beef, I’ve started making it with ground turkey and it still tastes amazing. Thank you for this wonderful recipe!
Melinda January 4, 2018 at 2:22 pm - Reply
This was absolutely fantastic. Thank you for the amazing recipe. I made it tonight during a snowstorm and I plan on definitely making it again. I did increase the amount of curry and had to substitute out the beef stock for a little water and an extra pinch of salt. Those were my only adaptations and it was amaazzinngg.
Maria January 5, 2018 at 12:08 pm - Reply
I made this a couple months ago when I was doing my first round of Whole30 and both my husband and I LOVED it!!! I can’t wait to make it again next week, perfect for this cold NYC winter!!! Thanks so much for the recipe!!!!
Mary Singh July 4, 2021 at 11:45 am - Reply
I love this recipe and have made this a few times now! So tasty!
Liz August 22, 2023 at 8:31 pm - Reply
I found this recipe years ago and it is a staple in our household. Seriously, one of the best recipes I have ever tried. Absolutely delicious!
