Vegetarian Shepherd’s Pie

This vegetarian shepherd’s pie is a hearty dish that’s perfect for family dinners or meal prepping. It’s packed with lentils, veggies, and delicious herbs, giving you a satisfying and nutritious plant-based meal. Plus, it’s easy to make and offers a variety of topping options for a crispy, golden finish.

I was a vegetarian for a good chunk of my life. This was a staple meal for me back then and still features regularly now, 20+ years on. It is a cost effective, easy to prepare vegetarian meal and one of my go-to meals when time and supplies are low. It’s comfort food at its best!

Health benefits

Loaded with fibre-rich lentils, a rainbow of veggies, and immune-boosting garlic and rosemary, this vegetarian shepherd’s pie is a nutritious powerhouse. The lentils provide plant-based protein, and the mix of veggies ensures you’re getting plenty of vitamins and minerals, all while being gut-friendly and easy to digest.

Ingredients

This vegetarian shepherd’s pie recipe uses common pantry staples like onion, garlic cloves, carrots, zucchini, celery, mushrooms, lentils, diced tomatoes and vegetable broth or stock. The rosemary, smoked paprika and Worcestershire sauce add a warm, earthy flavour that ties everything together, while the potato topping gives it that classic shepherd’s pie texture.

How to make Vegetarian Shepherd’s Pie

Sauté your onion and garlic, then add the veggies, lentils, tomatoes, and seasonings. Stir and let it all simmer until the flavours meld together, then thicken the mixture with a simple cornflour slurry. Pour the lentil mixture into a baking dish (or casserole dish), top with diced potatoes (or mashed potato if you prefer), and bake until the potatoes are fork tender and golden. Easy and delicious! If you own a Thermomix, we’ve also included Thermomix instructions for this recipe.

Serving suggestions and how to store

Serve this gluten-free vegetarian shepherd’s pie with a fresh, leafy green salad on the side for extra crunch and nutrients. Leftovers store well in the fridge in an airtight container, and it will also freeze beautifully for easy weeknight freezer meals down the line.

Vary this vegetarian shepherd’s pie to suit

You can switch up the topping with mashed potato topping or sweet potato or cauliflower mash for a twist, or make it dairy-free (vegan shepherd’s pie) by omitting the cheese. If you want a bit more protein, bacon pairs wonderfully with the lentils. You can even sneak in more veggies by grating them, which is a great trick for fussy eaters!

Take a look at the variations below for all the details as well as suggestions to alter the recipe to suit your specific dietary requirements.

Vegetarian Shepherd's Pie

Prep 20 minutes minutes

Cook 45 minutes minutes

Total 1 hour hour 5 minutes minutes

Serves: 4

A delicious, warming vegetarian dish, this Vegetarian Shepherd's Pie is one of my all time favourite meatless Monday meals. 

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Ingredients

• 1 onion/s (large) finely diced
• 2 clove/s garlic -finely diced
• 2 carrot/s -diced
• 1 zucchini/s -diced
• 2 stick/s celery -sliced
• 130 g mushrooms (approx. 1 cup) diced
• 2 cup/s cooked brown lentils (or 2 cans, drained and rinsed)
• 425 g diced tinned tomatoes
• 250 ml vegetable stock (1 cup)
• 1 tbsp fresh rosemary leaves -roughly chopped
• ½ tsp smoked paprika
• 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 2 tbsp hot water
• 1 tbsp cornflour
• 5-6 potato/s -peeled and diced into 1-2cm cubes
• 20 g parmesan cheese -grated (optional) (¼ cup)
• 30 g sunflower and/or pumpkin seeds  (optional)

Method

• Preheat your oven to 200°C/395°F.
• In a medium sized pot, sauté your onion and garlic in a little oil for a few minutes until opaque.
• Add the carrots, zucchini, celery, mushrooms, lentils, tomatoes, stock, rosemary, smoked paprika, Worcestershire sauce and seasoning.
• Bring to a simmer for 10-15 minutes.
• Meanwhile, mix the water and cornflour until combined and add to the pot to thicken for a few more minutes.
• Pour into an oven proof dish and top with the diced potato (and optional cheese and seeds).  Stud with any extra rosemary sprigs if you like.
• Bake for 20-30 minutes or until the potato is golden and cooked through.

Thermomix method

• Preheat your oven to 200℃.
• Chop your onions and garlic, 3 seconds, speed 5. Scrape down the sides and cook 5 minutes, temp 100, speed 1 in a little olive oil.
• Add the carrots, zucchini, celery, and process 10 seconds, speed 4.
• Now add the sliced mushrooms (I don't like to process them, but you can if you prefer), lentils, tomatoes, stock, rosemary, paprika and seasoning. Cook 10 minutes, temp 100, reverse speed 1.
• Add the cornflour/water mixture and cook 5 minutes, temp 100, reverse speed 1. Pour into an oven proof dish and top with the diced potato (and optional cheese and seeds). Stud with any extra rosemary sprigs if you like.
• Bake for 20-30 minutes or until the potato is golden and cooked through.
• Note - you can top with traditional mashed potato if you like. I'm a lazy, time-poor cook and always looking for shortcuts in the kitchen (and ways to reduce washing up)! This is one saves time and washing, but I don't think alters the taste too much - in fact, I love the crispy baked spuds on top.

Make-ahead

• Re-heat in a low oven until just hot.

Serve

• With a leafy green salad.

Store

• Store in an airtight container in the fridge.
• Can also be frozen.

Cook the Lentils

• To cook the lentils, soak in water and a tablespoon of natural yoghurt or apple cider vinegar to produce easily digestible legumes.  Soaked lentils can then be cooked by simmering for 15 minutes or until tender but not sloppy. Un-soaked lentils should be rinsed and cooked for 30-45 minutes. 1 cup of raw lentils yields approximately 2 cups cooked.

Variations

Different pie top

You can also top the pie with sweet potato, cauliflower pieces or cauliflower mash.

Dairy-free and vegan

Omit the cheese.

Onion-free

Replace the onion with a small bulb of fennel, finely diced.

Garlic-free

Replace the garlic with a teaspoon of cumin powder and a pinch of chilli flakes.

Gut repair

If you aren’t vegetarian and looking to include bone broth in your diet, substitute the vegetable stock with bone broth.

Add bacon

I think brown lentils and bacon is a match made in heaven. So if you please, add 4 rashers of nitrate free bacon with the onion.

Fussy eater tip

Grate the vegetables so they sit behind the lentil/tomatoes.

 

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Course: Main Course

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