Anything topped with mashed potatoes sounds like a fun meal to me! This shepherd's pie was born out of an abundance of Christmas leftovers. I had mashed potatoes, cooked lentils, and a variety of roasted vegetables. I put them all together and the inspiration for this vegan lentil shepherd's pie was born!
Holds together when sliced
Pairs perfectly with warm savoury gravy
Hearty and comforting
Customizable
Make ahead and freezer friendly
How Long Does Lentil Shepherd's Pie Take
This vegan lentil shepherd's pie can be made in 1 hour if you are using previously cooked lentils. You can multitask a bit and cook the mashed potatoes while you cook the base of the pie, put it all together, and bake it.
If you are cooking your lentils from scratch, the good news is... they will cook in about the same time as it takes for you to make the mashed potatoes. But an extra 20 - 25 minutes or so will likely be added to the recipe time.
I usually take advantage of the make ahead potential with these two elements:
- Cook your lentils in advance. Store them in the fridge for up to 2 days, use frozen lentils, or use canned cooked lentils if you prefer.
- And, make the mashed potatoes the day before. I tend to reheat them and add a bit more milk to fluff them up again before topping the pie with them. But, making the mashed potatoes ahead allows you to just focus on cooking the base of the pie, quickly compiling it, and heating it through in the oven for 25 - 30 minutes.
This recipe is also incredibly convenient for entertaining or taking with you to a gathering because:
- You can follow the recipe up until you heat the pie in the oven. All the elements will be cooked, the pie will be compiled, and you can store it in your fridge until you are ready to heat it up and serve. So convenient for holidays and no fuss dinner parties!
- Alternatively, you can follow the recipe up until the pie goes in the oven and with all the elements cooked, freeze your shepherd's pie for longer storage. Also, convenient for getting that holiday cooking done early! Or, great for portioning meals for your weekly meal prep.
How To Bake From Frozen
You can cut down on the reheating time!
Defrost the pie in the fridge overnight, everything is already cooked so it's perfectly safe. Then, heat the pie through in the oven when you're ready. Reminder, make sure your serving dish has come to room temperature before putting it in the oven!
Alternatively, adjust the oven temperature and lengthen the baking time to reheat the pie from frozen.
- Allow your serving dish to come to room temperature. Then heat the pie at 350 degrees F for 60 to 90 minutes. Since the pie is frozen, it will take longer to heat through. (Covering the dish with foil or a baking sheet will help trap the steam in and heat up the pie a little faster).
Ingredients
Feel free to customize this vegan lentils shepherd's pie and toss in your favourite vegetables but I tend to use:
- Green or brown lentils
- Mushrooms
- Carrots
- Celery
- Onion, Garlic
- And of course... russet or yellow potatoes for the mashed topping!
What seasonings are needed? I add in:
- Tomato paste
- Tamari (or soy sauce)
- Vegan worcestershire sauce (or more tamari)
- Fresh (or frozen) thyme or any other fresh or dried herbs you love!
- And finally, almond flour to bind it all together and add a nice nutty flavour
For a nut free option: you can omit the almond flour. I like that it helps to bind all the ingredients together but the pie will still be tasty without it. Alternatively, you can try substituting the almond flour with some oat flour and/or breadcrumbs! A little bit of a starch dissolved in some broth would add some binding power too.
What If I Want A Saucy Shepherd's Pie
I personally prefer a sturdy shepherd's pie that I can easily slice and serve nice solid portions. Making my Quick & Savoury Vegan Gravy is a great way to get that warm and gooey element without having a really soft base to your pie.
But, if you prefer a saucy pie:
- Consider adding some vegetable broth to the base of the pie to keep it nice and moist.
- Or... make my savoury gravy and mix some gravy with the base ingredients before compiling the pie. You will be adding all the great flavour of the gravy to the base of the pie, keeping it more moist, and you'll have leftovers to add some extra on top!
Recipe Cost For Lentil Shepherd's Pie
This vegan lentil shepherd's pie serves 6 and costs us just over CAD $11. That's about $1.85/serving!
The lentils and mushrooms in this recipe cost us about $3.20. If we were to make this recipe with 1 to 1 ½ pounds of ground beef, the beef would cost us at least $5.
Lentils are so wonderful to cook with because they are quite inexpensive, they are a great source of protein, and they are so versatile.
Let me know in the comments if you make this vegan lentil shepherd's pie and if you change up the veggies!
If you like this recipe you might love my popular Red Lentil "Ragu" and my Mushroom Beet Wellington which also uses almond flour to bind a delicious filling wrapped in puff pastry!
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Vegan Lentil Shepherd's Pie - Sturdy & Scrumptious
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: 6 servings 1x
- Diet: Vegan
Description
This vegan lentil shepherd's pie holds its shape and pairs perfectly with a savoury vegan gravy. Easy and packed with protein and veggies!
Ingredients
For The Mashed Potatoes:
- 2.5 pounds yellow potatoes, or russet (usually 5-6 larger potatoes)*
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 tbsp vegan butter
- ½ -1 cup soy milk
Everything Else:
- ½ tbsp oil or water/broth
- 1 medium onion, small diced
- Salt & pepper to taste
- 6 cloves garlic, minced
- 275g mushrooms, small diced*
- 1 ½ cup carrot, small diced (220g, 2 ½ to 3 large carrots)*
- 3 ribs celery, small diced*
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- 2 tbsp tamari (or soy sauce)
- 1 tbsp vegan worcestershire sauce (or more tamari)
- 2 tsp fresh thyme (can use frozen!)
- ⅓ cup almond flour (see notes for a nut free option)
- 3 cups green lentils, cooked (or brown lentils)
*Ingredients you need that are not part of our pantry and freezer tips.
Instructions
- If your lentils are not pre-cooked, add 1 ½ cup lentils to 4 cups water. Bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer, cover the pot, and simmer for 20 minutes or until tender. Drain any excess water and salt as desired.
- For the mashed potatoes; peel and chop the potatoes into larger chunks (if chopped too small the potatoes will take on too much water and taste watered down). Cover the potatoes with water, sprinkle in 1 teaspoon salt, bring to boil. Reduce the heat slightly, partially cover the pot with the lid, and cook for 10-15 minutes until the potatoes are fork tender. Drain the water, add butter, and as much milk as needed to mash the potatoes and make them as creamy as desired.
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
- Heat oil (or water/broth) over medium heat and saute the onion for 2-3 minutes until softened and fragrant. You can season with a bit of salt and pepper as you add in additional ingredients. Add the minced garlic and saute for 30 seconds to 1 minute.
- Add the chopped mushrooms. Saute for another 5-8 minutes until the mushrooms have softened and let out water.
- Add the finely chopped carrots, celery, and the tomato paste. *It’s helpful to chop the carrots and celery as small as you can so that they soften as much as possible and aren’t too crunchy in the finished pie. Cook for 5 minutes with the lid of your pan on, if possible, to help the veggies steam. In the meantime, roughly mash the lentils.
- Add the mashed lentils, tamari, worcestershire sauce, and thyme leaves. Cook for another 2 minutes until all the flavours are combined.
- Stir in the almond flour and remove from the heat.
- Spoon the mixture into an oven safe 13x9” casserole dish. Pack the mixture down slightly and cover with mashed potatoes. *If you have made your mashed potatoes in advance you can warm them up and add a bit more milk to make them fluffy again before topping the base of the shepherd’s pie. This way all the ingredients will be evenly heated through.
- Heat in the oven for 15 minutes (you can cover the casserole dish with foil or a baking sheet to encourage the vegetables to soften more). Then increase the heat to 425 degrees F and brown the top of the mashed potatoes (uncovered) for an additional 10-15 minutes. *If desired, some melted butter brushed on the top of the mashed potatoes can encourage browning.
- Garnish by sprinkling fresh thyme on top and enjoy! I like that this shepherd's pie holds together when sliced so I serve it with my Quick & Savoury Gravy to add that warm, gooey feeling.
- Leftovers will keep well, covered, in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Optionally, you can freeze the compiled shepherd’s pie (at step 9). To bake the pie from frozen, allow the casserole dish to come to room temperature and bake at 350 degrees F for 60-90 minutes until heated through. Cover the top of the dish with foil or a baking sheet to protect the mashed potatoes from browning too much and trap the steam in. Alternatively, defrost the pie in the fridge overnight and this will decrease the reheating time!
Notes
Approximate Cost: CAD $11.03 ($1.84/serving). The lentils and mushrooms in this recipe cost me approximately $3.19 vs. at least $5 for ground beef.
I like that this shepherd’s pie holds its shape when cut. I prefer to make it sturdy and serve my Quick & Savoury Gravy on the side. If you prefer a looser shepherd’s pie feel free to add broth or gravy to the vegetable mixture so the base of the pie is softer and more moist.
For a nut free option, you can omit the almond flour altogether. I like that it helps to bind the ingredients and make a very sturdy base but it will still be tasty without it. Alternatively, you can use a bit of ground oats (oat flour) and/or breadcrumbs. A bit of starch dissolved in vegetable broth could help add some binding power as well. *Oats release a lot of starch when they cook so if you substitute with ground oats you may notice a bit of a gummy texture to the base of the pie.
Feel free to add in or substitute your favourite vegetables. Corn, peas, or even finely chopped leaks would work well in place of the celery!
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Category: Main Dishes
- Method: Baked
- Cuisine: British
Tim
The flour to hold it all together, genius!!!
Kathryn Alexandre
Thank you! It's such a great trick for anything with a "meaty texture" that you don't want to get too soggy. Vegan "meat" pies, "sausage" rolls etc!
Lauren
Delicious! A super flavourful and healthy meal without using many spices. We didn’t have almond flour/ a binder but our pieces still held their shape! Can’t wait for leftovers tonight:)
Kathryn Alexandre
Great to hear that you enjoyed it and that it held together well without the almond flour. Mashing the lentils a bit definitely helps in keeping it all together. Any ground nut/seeds/oats, breadcrumbs, or flour/starch will help to bind it but I'm glad to know that you didn't need it! Thank you for letting me know and enjoy the leftovers!
Gabe
Made this recipe with fresh celery and thyme from the garden. It was delicious. Rarely cook with lentils so thank you for introducing me to this delicious and healthy legume!
Kathryn Alexandre
I'm so glad you had things from your garden you were able to incorporate. Thank you so much for trying it and I'm glad this was a good introduction to lentils for you! Lentils are so versatile and easy to cook that I hope you continue to find recipes that you'll enjoy.
Lena Witzel
Love this dish! It has so much more flavour than the traditional meat Sheppard's pie.
Hubby loved it too, so it's definitely a do-over!
Kathryn Alexandre
This is so great to hear! I'm glad it's a do-over and you both loved it! Thank you so much for taking the time to leave such a lovely star review! (Enjoy any leftovers you might have 😜)
Kirsten
I made the Shepherd's Pie tonight for a dinner party for four. I wanted a pie that would present well when served. As promised, this pie firmed up nicely and served beautifully. More importantly, it was delicious and equally enjoyed by our carnivore friends. A definite keeper!
Kathryn Alexandre
I'm so glad everyone liked it and it served up nicely for you! Thank you so much for letting me know and for your lovely star rating. I'm so glad to hear it's a keeper!
Shay
My new partner is allergic to mushrooms, and I am still learning what substitutes well for various dishes. Do you have any suggestions, or should I just omit them?
Kathryn Alexandre
Hi Shay you could certainly omit them but you might find that the filling has a little less bulk so you could either increase the amount of carrot and celery in the recipe or add something else you two like. Corn kernels or peas would work well in a shepherd's pie but you could also add in grated tofu for some more protein. Let me know what you end up trying!