Healthy Shepherd’s Pie
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This Turkey Shepherd’s Pie is the ultimate easy dinner. A Healthy Shepherd’s Pie recipe made with ground turkey and veggies. Easy and yummy!
This Healthy Shepherd’s Pie is the perfect light dinner. A classic comfort food made lighter..but make no mistake, you would never know this is healthy, it even has a golden, creamy topping just like the traditional recipe!
This turkey Shepherd’s Pie is hearty, tastes just like the ‘real’ thing and is the perfect cold weather dinner!
Liz’s Tips for the Best Turkey Shepherd’s Pie
- Use a food processor to chop your onions and garlic to save time.
- Assemble the night before and bake when it’s time for dinner! If you want to prep this healthy shepherd’s pie ahead of time, you can store it in the fridge overnight and bake when you’re ready to eat!
- Get creative with your ingredients. You can use ground turkey, ground chicken or ground beef – there are tons of options for customizing this recipe.
- Make sure to create an even layer of meat/veggies and topping.
Ingredients
Substitutions
Olive Oil: You can substitute avocado oil, melted butter, or ghee.
Vegetables: Feel free to add more veggies to this recipe. If they are frozen, just make sure they are defrosted and drained. Green beans would be a great addition.
Ground Turkey: Feel free to use ground beef or ground chicken. You can also use leftover turkey breast for the turkey meat filling! It’s great for Thanksgiving leftovers.
Broth: Any broth or stock (broth and stock are the same) can be used. Beef Broth, Chicken Broth, or vegetable broth all work interchangeably. I always use low or no salt broth.
Potatoes: Any potato will work in this recipe, just make sure they are peeled and chopped. We like yukon gold or russet best. You can also use leftover mashed potatoes as the topping!
Cauliflower: We use cauliflower to lighten up this recipe. If you are not a cauliflower lover, feel free to use more potatoes instead. Or, to lighten it up, even more, swap out the potatoes for even more cauliflower!
Parmesan Cheese: Parmesan cheese is optional, but highly recommended. It adds a ton of flavor to the recipe.
Spices: You can use any combo of spices in this recipe. Feel free to omit garlic/onion, or salt & pepper to your taste. You can also use 1 tablespoon of your favorite spice blend. If you’d prefer to use fresh herbs, substitute with 1 teaspoon fresh rosemary and fresh thyme.
What can I use instead of tomato? Tomato really helps to add flavor to the pie. You can skip it if you don’t have it, but it won’t be as delicious!
Low Carb: You can use more cauliflower than potatoes or try this Low-Carb Shepherd’s Pie
How to make Shepherd’s Pie with Ground Turkey
- Brown ground turkey, onions, garlic and veggies. Add spices, chicken broth, tomato paste, and frozen peas and corn. Stir until combined.
2. Boil potatoes and cauliflower florets for 10 minutes, until soft. Drain. Mash the potatoes, cauliflower, olive oil, garlic powder, black pepper, and parmesan cheese.
3. In a greased casserole dish, layer the ground turkey/veggie filling.
4. Top with mashed potatoes/cauliflower filling. You can use a rubber spatula to smooth out the mashed topping or get fancy by piping it with a piping bag or ziploc bag.
5. Bake at 350° for 30 minutes until the topping is golden brown.
storage options
Storing: You can store leftover turkey shepherd’s pie in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
Freezing: This recipe will last in the freezer for up to 3 months once cooked and cooled. We recommend freezing in a foil container, or freeze in individual servings in our favorite containers for freezing.
Reheating from frozen: If reheating from frozen, there’s no need to defrost, simply bake it in the oven at 350 degrees for 1 hour and enjoy! You can thaw overnight in the fridge if you’d prefer.
Reheating: You can reheat this recipe in the microwave, toaster oven, oven, or on the stove. We recommend covering it with aluminum foil if reheating it in the oven.
Other healthy dinner recipes:
Looking for other easy meals? Check out these 40+ Healthy Dinner Recipes. Click here to grab our free healthy 30-minute dinner cookbook.
Healthy Shepherd’s Pie
Ingredients
Topping:
- 1 ½ cups russet potatoes peeled and chopped
- 1 ½ cups cauliflower florets
- ½ cup grated parmesan cheese
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup chicken broth low or no salt
Filling:
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 lb ground turkey
- 1 cup diced onion
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic about 2 garlic cloves
- ½ cup diced carrots
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- ½ teaspoon dried rosemary
- ½ teaspoon dried thyme
- ½ cup low sodium chicken stock
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 1 cup peas
- 1 cup corn
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees & prepare a greased 8×8 (9×13 will also work) casserole dish.
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil on the stove. Add potatoes and cauliflower florets. Boil for 10 minutes, until soft.
- While the potatoes/cauliflower cook, heat olive oil in a pan. Brown ground turkey for 5 minutes. Add onions, garlic, and carrots. Cook for an additional 5 minutes until turkey is cooked through.
- Add salt, pepper, rosemary, thyme, chicken broth, tomato paste and frozen veggies to the turkey mixture. Stir until combined.
- Drain cooked potatoes & cauliflower.
- In a large mixing bowl mash the potatoes, cauliflower, olive oil, garlic powder, pepper, salt, chicken broth and parmesan cheese. You can use a stand mixer or hand mixer to bring these ingredients together.
- In a 8×8 casserole dish (9×13 will also work) layer the ground turkey/veggie filing. Top with cauliflower/potato filling and use a spatula to smooth out.
- Bake at 350 for 30 minutes until the topping is golden brown, serve and enjoy!
Thank you for sharing! I made this last night for dinner for the family and we all loved it! Will definitely make this again!
Great recipe
Comfort food but healthy!!!
Easy to change up and add your favorite veggies