Guinness Vegetarian Shepherd’s Pie
Shepherd’s pie is notorious for making mealtime quick, easy, and plentiful.
Made with cheesy potatoes, carrots, onions, gravy, and all of the ingredients you can count on to comfort you – this vegetarian Shepherd’s pie is a great meatless substitute.
Whether you’re looking for something satisfying for a simple St. Patrick’s Day dinner idea, Sunday dinner idea, or a meal that you can count on throughout your busy week, Shepherd’s pie is a great option.
What’s A Good Meat Substitute For Shepherd’s Pie?
Although a traditional Shepherd’s pie originated from actual Shepherds who look after sheep, that doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy the same hearty taste without the meat. A traditional Shepherd’s pie uses lamb, while a cottage pie uses beef.
This recipe calls for mushrooms as a substitute for the lamb and/or beef, without compromising the original taste.
What Do You Need To Make A Vegetarian Shepherd’s Pie?
For this recipe, you’ll only need a few ingredients that include:
– Mushrooms
– Frozen Corn
– Frozen Peas
– Onions
– Bell Pepper
– Celery
– Tomato Paste
– Vegetable Broth
– Milk (I used Oat Milk)
– Freshly Grated Parmesan Cheese
Do You Have To Use Guinness Beer In Shepherd’s Pie?
You can omit the beer and add red wine instead, or omit the alcohol altogether if you’d like. To make the vegetarian version of a traditional Irish Shepherd’s pie, I used Guinness beer to keep the flavor.
This recipe was also made in our household especially for St. Patrick’s Day, which made the cause for beer extra important. Ha!
How Do You Make Shephard’s Pie?
Shepherd’s pie is super easy to make and you only need a pot for the potatoes and a pan for the veggies.
Boil your potatoes until tender with a fork. Sprinkle with salt, half a cup of parmesan cheese, butter and a few tablespoons of milk. Mash with a potato masher, add more seasoning to taste and set aside. You want your potatoes on the thicker side.
While your potatoes are boiling or cooling, you can get the veggies for your Shepherd’s Pie started.
In a warm cast iron skillet, heat your olive oil or butter, add your onions for about five minutes, or until translucent.
Add your mushrooms, celery, bell pepper and carrots and simmer until veggies are soft. I like to add the carrots last so that they can soak up some of the water the mushrooms give off, making them perfectly soft by the time the rest of the veggies are tender.
Add your garlic, seasoning, tomato paste, flour and stir. The mixture will be clumpy due to the flour and tomato paste.
Now add your vegetable broth and Guinness beer (or wine) and stir. Simmer until the vegetable mixture thickens.
Once the vegetable mixture has had time to thicken, top with mashed potatoes. Using a fork, create a pattern over the top of the pan. Sprinkle with more parmesan cheese and bake in the oven at 400 degrees for about 15 minutes.
After 15 minutes, broil for about 3-5 minutes, or until the top of your Shepherd’s Pie is golden brown.
Once your pie is out of the oven, set it aside to cool for about 10 minutes. Sprinkle with parsley, serve and enjoy!
Guinness Vegetarian Shepherd’s Pie
Yield: 4
Prep time: 10 MinCook time: 20 MinTotal time: 30 Min
A meatless twist on a traditional Sheperd’s Pie with mushrooms in a savory Guinness beer gravy and parmesan mashed potatoes.
Ingredients
Ingredients
Mashed Potatoes
Instructions
For The Mashed Potatoes
- Rinse potatoes under warm water. Peel and cut into 1-inch pieces. Transfer them to a medium pot with just enough water to cover them. Cover and boil for about 12-15 minutes, or until soft and can be pierced with a fork.
- Drain potatoes in a colander and transfer them back to the pot. Add butter, plant milk, parmesan cheese, and salt. Mash until most lumps are gone, making sure the potatoes aren’t too runny.
- Set aside until they’re ready to be spread on top of the veggies. Now preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
For The Shepherd
- Preheat cast-iron skillet. Melt butter and add chopped onions. Saute for about 5 minutes until translucent.
- Add mushrooms, celery, and bell pepper. Drizzle with oil, or add more butter if necessary. Saute for about 3 minutes before adding carrots. Adding the carrots after the mushrooms allows the carrots to soak up the moisture the mushrooms will let out.
- Season vegetables, add tomato paste and flour. The mixture will be clumpy.
- Slowly add vegetable broth and beer, while whisking until everything is smooth. Continuing to whisk, let the mixture boil for about 5 minutes. Taste and add more seasoning if desired.
- Add corn and frozen peas, then bring mixture to a simmer until it resembles a thick gravy.
Build The Pie
- After gravy has formed, spoon the mashed potatoes on top of the mushroom gravy and level with the back of the spoon.
- Take a fork and create small tracks across the surface of the pie. Sprinkle with more parmesan cheese.
- Transfer Shepherd’s pie to the preheated oven for about 15 minutes.
- After 15 minutes, turn the oven to broil and broil the top of Shepherd’s pie until nice and golden at the very top.
- Pull out of the oven, let cool and garnish with chopped parsley or chives.
