Vegetarian Shepherd’s Pie
Updated Sep 17, 2025
Vegetarian Shepherd's Pie made with mushrooms and quinoa, simmered in vegetable broth with fresh thyme and topped with mashed potatoes.
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my vegetarian shepherd’s pie is so good!
When the weather cools off, I always start craving comfort food, but that doesn’t have to mean heavy or with meat. This vegetarian shepherd’s pie brings the same amount of comfort with a filling of veggies and quinoa that makes it just as satisfying as the traditional kind. And of course, there’s the potato topping, I wouldn’t dream of skipping it. I make it lighter with a little butter and Greek yogurt, but if you’ve got leftover mashed potatoes, those work too.
One of my favorite parts about this vegetarian shepherd’s pie recipe is the leftovers. The flavors settle in overnight, and honestly, I think this shepherd’s pie tastes even better the next day.
Happy Cooking!
– Yumna
Vegetarian Shepherd’s Pie Ingredients
- Vegetables: You’ll need an onion, mushrooms, carrots, and frozen peas. No need to thaw the peas beforehand!
- For the potato topping: Russet potatoes, Greek yogurt, and unsalted butter make up the mashed potato topping. Instead of russets, you could use another creamy potato like Yukon gold.
- Seasonings: Minced garlic, tomato paste, salt, pepper, and fresh thyme add flavor to this vegetarian shepherd’s pie. Instead of fresh thyme, you can use 1 ½ teaspoons of dried thyme leaves.
- Quinoa: Any color quinoa works!
- Broth: This recipe calls for vegetable broth, but if you’re not vegetarian you can use chicken broth.
How to Make Vegetarian Shepherd’s Pie
Vegetarian Shepherds Pie Recipe
Video
Ingredients
Potato Crust
- 2 large russet potatoes peeled and quartered
- ½ cup non-fat Greek yogurt
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
Vegetarian Filling
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 medium onion diced
- 16 ounces mushrooms chopped
- 2 carrots peeled and diced
- 2 garlic cloves minced
- 1 tablespoon fresh thyme plus more for serving
- 2 tablespoons uncooked quinoa
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 ¼ cup vegetable broth
- 1 cup frozen peas
- Chopped parsley for serving
Instructions
- Combine potatoes and water in a pot and bring to a boil, heavily season with salt, cook until very tender, strain and place back into the pot. Add yogurt, butter, salt, and pepper, and mash with a potato masher until smooth.
- Preheat the oven to 400°F.
- In an oven-safe skillet, heat the olive oil on medium heat. Add the onions and cook until golden, about 5-7 minutes. Reduce heat to low, add mushrooms, carrots, garlic, and thyme, and cook until the vegetables soften, about 10 minutes.
- Add quinoa, tomato paste, and salt, cook until the tomato paste begins to stick to the vegetables, 3 more minutes. Then add the vegetable broth and peas and stir to combine. Carefully place mashed potatoes on top of the filling and spread into an even layer.
- Place the pie in the oven and bake until the potatoes begin to brown, about 25-30 minutes, then broil for 2-3 minutes until the potatoes become golden. Remove from the oven and let stand for 10 minutes. Sprinkle with chopped parsley and serve.
Equipment
- Braiser
Notes
- Instead of quinoa, you can use any other grains or any type of flour.
- Instead of greek yogurt, you can use sour cream or milk or any other dairy or non-dairy substitute for making mashed potatoes.
- You can replace any vegetables that don’t excite you 😉
Nutrition
Nutrition information provided is an estimate. It will vary based on cooking method and specific ingredients used.
Recipe Tips
- Use leftover mashed potatoes to cut down on the cooking time. Just be sure to warm the mashed potatoes first because it’s hard to spread cold mashed potatoes!
- Use an oven-safe skillet if you have one. That makes it much easier to cook the filling in the skillet, top it with the potato crust, and bake, instead of transferring the mixture from a pan to a casserole dish.
- Cook the filling in layers for the best flavor. It’s tempting to combine all the ingredients and cook everything at once and then just add the mashed potatoes on top. But cooking them step by step allows for a richer flavor that develops with each layer.
- Make it vegan by changing the mashed potatoes recipe. The filling itself is completely vegan, and the mashed potatoes can easily be made vegan by using vegan butter or olive oil and dairy-free milk instead of the Greek yogurt.
Serving Ideas
Vegetarian shepherd’s pie is a meal on its own. So there’s no need to serve it with any sides since it’s well balanced with protein, vegetables, and carbohydrates. However you can definitely serve with a salad or with grilled, sautéed, roasted or steamed veggies! Try it with:
FAQs
Kept in an airtight container in the fridge, leftovers will last for up to 4 days. You can reheat them in the microwave or in a 350°F oven for 5 minutes.
After baking, let the dish cool completely, then cover it tightly with foil. You can freeze the pie for up to 3 months and cook it straight from frozen, keeping it covered with the foil and cooking for an hour at 350ºF. If you’re freezing it, I would recommend baking the shepherd’s pie in a casserole dish.
I wouldn’t! This will cause the mashed potatoes to be gummy. Instead, I’d use a potato masher, fork, or whisk.
Comments
Made this as a double batch TWICE this month! Two for eating and two for freezing! (Expecting our third baby soon and can’t get enough of this comfort dish as the colder weather sets in).
Adjustments we made:
Added about 2 cups of cooked green lentils to the final base mixture for protein (about half a cup dried lentils, then cooked and drained) and doubled the quinoa to 2 tbsp to soak up the extra liquid. Perfection! Best mashed potatoes as well, can’t get enough!
Love these ideas! And congratulations!
Didn’t care for it at all. This is a recipe that I will not be using again.
Oh no, I’m sorry to hear that! Is there anything specific you didn’t like?
Made this for my book club tonight and everyone LOVED it!!!!
Amazing!! So happy it was a hit! Thank you!!
This sounds delicious! Do you think I could substitute lentils for the mushrooms? We have a mushroom allergy
Yes, I think that would work! Please let me know how it turns out.
I used all the ingredients except I added amounts to my liking , I love garlic so added more. I added a little Lea & Perrins Worcestershire sauce with the veggie stock and a little violife Mexican shredded cheese on top of mashed potatoes, lots of fresh ground pepper and some salt. This is definitely a keeper, thank you for a great recipe.
Yay, so happy you liked it!! Love how you made it your own. Thank you for sharing!
OMG. This recipe is so delish. Just made this and it’s wonderful. My husband loved this! Thank you!
Keeping this as my favorite recipe😊
Awesome!! Aww, so happy you both loved it so much! Thank you, Nancy!!
Great as a base recipe very easy to adjust. This one is going in my recipe catalogue! 😀
I adjusted the recipe to suit what we had in the kitchen and to my family’s tastes:
– I only had half the mushrooms so I added a tin of lentils (great for protein).
– I added a tablespoon of BBQ sauce &
a dash of Worcestershire (not vego).
Lastly some cheese over the potatoes before grilling. 🤤
Everyone even the meat eaters in my family were going back for more.
Thanks for the kind feedback!
Yummy yummy perfect
I had a craving for sloppy joe taste so instead of the thyme I put in a sachet of SJ sauce mix according to the pkg directions (increasing the Tom paste) and detest quinoa so subbed barley. And of course added a bit of cheddar to the potatoes. Such a nice base recipe that can take on many tastes… next time I will try taco or burrito. Or enchilada. The original is great to wanna try. Thanks for posting !
Your additions sound delicious, thanks for letting me know!
This was easy to cook and came out perfect. My husband isn’t vegetarian but said he would love me to cook it again. Very happy 😋
Thank you so much, Maxine!
Made this awesome, easy dish tonight. I had made the potatoes ahead of time, which I think helped this dish go together so quickly. The flavor was amazing and my family and I loved it! Will make this again for sure. Thank you for such a great recipe.
You’re so welcome! So glad you and your family liked the shepherd’s pie!
So so tasty! I love the combination of flavors but i never get the right texture! This last time it turned out as a soup actually but still so yummy! Thank you
I am glad you enjoy it, Malak! It sounds like there may be too much liquid getting added or that the veggies aren’t cooking down long enough to release moisture. Can you tell me a lot more about your process? I’d love to help you troubleshoot so we can get you to the right constancy.
I’m a university student and also vegetarian(mostly) and I made this dish tonight! I added some plant based ground beef to it and it turned out really well! Now I have a delicious meal to last me the whole week! Great recipe!:)
Hi Arielle! So glad you liked it – if you want something else easy to make for the week for lunches, I’d love for you to try my Chickpea ‘Tuna’ Salad, and let me know what you think!
What is the serving size for this Vegetarian Shepherd’s Pie? Please include in all recipes
It is a sixth of the recipe. The serving size can be found in the recipe card.
I’m allergic to mushrooms (as well as peanuts, all seafood, molds and gluten). What could I substitute for mushrooms.
Unfortunately I have yet to try this recipe with a mushroom substitute. Maybe you can try lentils, cauliflower, or walnuts? Or maybe a combination of those? If you’re open to making it not vegetarian, you can also use ground meat.
Made tonight for dinner. Followed the recipe exactly, and it turned out perfectly. Between 3 of us, we ate it up, no leftovers! Very good recipe, thank you so much!
Thank you for making it, Deb!
ABSOLUTELY DELICIOUS!!! I made it as is without changing anything, my whole family loved it, and will definitely make it again. Thank you so much for the great recipe!
Thank you so much! I love that!
This sounds amazing! I will try!!
Thank you! Let me know what you think once you’ve given it a try.
Hi
Can I half this recipe? I’m only accommodating 1 pax for dinner.
& can I use red lenthils instead of quinoa?
Thank you 🙂
Yes, you can adjust the serving size to three to half the recipe. I have yet to try it with lentils, but let me know how that goes if you give it a try!
This recipe is awesome. However, as an Englishman I feel compelled to correct one piece of information. Shepherds would not kill their own flock. For that reason, traditional Shepherd’s Pie is mad from ground beef. Cottage Pie is made from Lamb. For the mashed potatoes, I would recommend Butter and Cream (vs yoghurt). That said, I appreciate the vegetarian recipe so that I can accommodate the vegetarians at the table. Thanks!
Thank you so much! And, thank you for sharing that with me.
Sorry, but I think you have that mixed up.
The Traditional Shepherd’s Pie is a British comfort food classic loved by all. This is a classic recipe using ground lamb cooked with vegetables and Guinness for an extra flavor boost, topped with fluffy mashed potato and baked. The same recipe using ground beef is called Cottage Pie.
What size cast iron pan are you using for this recipe.
It was the 10-inch cast iron by Staub! https://amzn.to/2SqG35p
Oops, meant to ask, what is a serving size? Trying to figure out just how much damage we did after eating almost the entire pot. I still cant’t get over how good this was. I’m an avid meat eater and may have liked this even better than a traditional one.
A serving is a sixth of the recipe! That’s happened to me too!!
This was soooo good! I followed the recipe almost exactly except I added a TBSP of Worcestershire along with the veggie broth. I also detest making mashed potatoes so used Whole Foods prepared ones. Anyway, it was so good my husband and I ate almost the whole thing. So much for having leftovers the rest of the week. I truly don’t understand how something so easy to make can taste so good!
Thank you so much! That makes me so happy to hear!!
I made this tonight and it was amazing!!! New family favorite. It’s so comforting and delicious. Thank you so much for this recipe!
That makes me so happy to hear! You’re so welcome!!
Wow—this was really delicious! I added cheddar cheese after reading the comments and it was everything I needed! Thank you for this recipe!
I love that! You’re so welcome!
My family of meat eaters didn’t miss the meat at all – this was very good! Made exactly as is. Calories are really low given how filling it is. Will definitely make this one again!
Loved this recipe. The mashed potatoes were rich and we liked the broiled crunchy top! I added a little cauliflower to clean out my fridge and would probably double the thyme next time…. Highly recommend this.
I’m so happy to hear that! Thank you!
New to vegetarian dishes and this is soooo tasty!! I prefer it to a meat one.
Thank you! Hope you continue to try more vegetarian recipes on this website!
This recipe was amazing! Very easy to make! We will make this again!
Yay! Thank you so much!
This looks so good! My fiancé hates mushrooms so what would you suggest to replace it with?
You can actually leave the mushrooms out, but if you wanted to add more vegetables to it, you can try sundried tomatoes, eggplant or zucchini!
I made this last night, and it was amazing! i made it exactly like the recipe and will be making it again, without changing anything. It is perfect as it is!!
Yay! I’m so glad to hear that! Thank you 🙂
I added lentils and celery to mine and WOW it was so great and filling!!!! I truly recommend, amazing recipe.
So glad to hear that you enjoyed it. Thank you so much!
This is crazy good! I used 4 Tbs of ketchup instead of tomato paste and about 2 Tbs of red lentils out of seeing how much liquid there was and having a little less mushrooms than called for and this was so good! I even forgot the salt for the filling so just sprinkled a little on top with pepper and it tasted even better. I also broiled it with some cheese on top. I will definitely be making this again as it was so easy too 🙂 Make this ASAP trust me it’s worth it.
Aww so glad that you enjoyed it so much!! Love your substitution ideas and the cheese on top!! Yummy!! Thank you!
Would cooked quinoa work? If so, how much?
Yes, you can use cooked quinoa, the 2 tablespoons of dried quinoa will triple in size. So they end up being between 1/3 and 1/2 cup cooked quinoa. Hope that helps!
This was soooo good, it served 6 but the 3 of us all wanted seconds. Not only this but it cost $12 dollars and I have enough ingredients to make another. Perfect during a fast too, just what room needed
That’s so great to hear! It’s amazing how filling, affordable and tasty the recipe is and I’m happy you noticed that too. Thank you!
Love that it’s so hearty but vegetarian. It’s the best shepherd’s pie I tasted.
Thanks for all your healthy vegetarian recipes.