It’s finally here- the heartiest and most delicious Whole30 paleo shepherd’s pie you’ll ever try. This warm and comforting recipe is full of nutrient dense veggies and topped off with a creamy, olive oil sweet potato mash. Just delicious!
Just wanted to let you know this fabulous recipe is sponsored by my friends at Lindsay Olives!
A one bowl paleo shepherd’s pie recipe
I feel like this paleo shepherd’s pie recipe has truly been in the works for a very long time. I really enjoy creating heart, one pot dishes, and this is a recipe I’ve been making different versions of for years. However, I never took the time to develop it properly until now.
I knew I wanted to top off this shepherd’s pie with a creamy white sweet potato mash. I decided to team up with the folks over at Lindsay Olives, as they offer a super buttery extra virgin olive oil that I knew would be perfect for incorporating into the mash.
Have you had olive oil mash before? The combination of fresh garlic and olive oil, mixed with the starchy white sweet potatoes is absolute heaven. Just wait until you try it.
There is something so gratifying about creating a dish that can be made in one pot, as it makes for quick and easy preparation and clean up time. I decided to boil the sweet potatoes first and simply rinse out the pot to then use for the shepherd’s pie. Perfection.
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Real comfort food = this paleo shepherd’s pie recipe
Sometimes, when I make something that is this comforting and delicious, I just want to sit down with the entire pot and absolutely go to town. Luckily, I have Tim nearby to do the honors so I don’t have to.
I was pleasantly surprised by how much he enjoyed this dish. He tends to not be a huge fan of ground meat, but he said that the combination of it with the fragrant herbs & spices was just heavenly.
The white sweet potato mash is an absolute game changer, too. This was my first time incorporating olive oil into mashed sweet potatoes, and I am never going back!
Speaking of never going back– we are moving into our new home at the end of the month! Ahh, it’s so crazy exciting, as we’ll have our work really cut out for us before our little babe is born in July.
We definitely want to do a good amount of work in the kitchen, as it’s basically my home office and haven. I cannot wait to share all of the improvements we are going to be making- ahh! 🙂
You are welcome to get as creative as you’d like with this paleo shepherd’s pie. If you’d like to use a ground chicken or pork instead of the beef, you sure can! You can alternatively use russet potatoes, yukon gold or red potatoes for the mash topping.
I tend to prefer using white sweet potatoes, as their flavor and starch content is my absolute favorite, but don’t be shy if you’d like to experiment.
This dish will be a welcome addition to your weekly meal plan, and an added bonus is that it is 100% Whole30 compliant – woo hoo!
You’re going to absolutely love this shepherd’s pie, and I cannot wait for you to try it! Be sure to let me know if you get to trying it… your feedback means the world to me.
This post is sponsored by the lovely folks at Lindsay Olives. Thank you for allowing me to continue creating such incredible content by supporting relationships with incredible brands and companies that The Movement Menu enjoys working with! Opinions will always remain 100% my own!
Whole30 Paleo Shepherd's Pie
Ingredients
Ground Beef Layer
- 2 tablespoons avocado oil or ghee
- 1/2 cup yellow onions diced
- 4 carrots diced
- 6 garlic cloves minced
- 2 red bell peppers diced
- 16 ounces mushrooms sliced
- 1 tablespoon avocado oil
- 2 pounds grass-fed ground beef
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1 cup bone broth- Find Here!
- 6 ounces tomato paste
- 1/2 teaspoon fish sauce
- sea salt and black pepper to taste
Sweet Potato Mash
- 2 pounds large white sweet potatoes
- 8 garlic cloves peeled
- 1/4 cup canned coconut milk
- 2 tablespoons California extra virgin olive oil
- sea salt and black pepper to taste
Instructions
Ground Beef Mixture
- Melt the oil in a large enameled cast-iron pot or saucepan over medium-high heat.
- Add the onions and carrots. Stir fry for 5-7 minutes until onions are translucent. Add the garlic cloves and stir frequently for 30 seconds, making sure it does not burn. Add in bell peppers and mushrooms. Cook for another 5 minutes with the lid on, until mushrooms begin to release water.
- Add the other tablespoon of oil and ground beef, along with the salt, pepper & seasonings. Cook over medium heat, stirring regularly to break up the meat well, until all of the moisture has evaporated and some pieces are starting to develop a brown color.
- Add in the tomato paste, bone broth and fish sauce. Stir well to combine and set aside.
Sweet Potato Mash
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and adjust the oven rack to the middle position. Wash and dry sweet potatoes. Peel and cut into 1-inch pieces.
- Bring cold water to a boil in a large saucepan. Add the potatoes, garlic and about 2 teaspoons salt. Cook at a rolling simmer until potatoes are fork tender. This will take about 15 minutes.
- Drain potatoes and garlic, reserving about 1 cup of the cooking liquid. Mash potatoes and garlic together. Add in the coconut milk and mix in the olive oil and thin to desired consistency with reserved cooking liquid. Check for salt and pepper seasoning. Spread the potato mash over the meat mixture.
- Bake for 30 minutes and let cool for 10 minutes. Garnish with chopped parsley and a bit more of drizzled olive oil and serve!
Notes
- If you'd like to use a ground chicken or pork instead of the beef, you sure can!
- You can alternatively use russet potatoes, yukon gold or red potatoes for the mash topping.
Hi! I’m Monica – recipe developer, matcha addict and lover of all things chocolate, kombucha and any & all puns. I am also the blogger, real food lover, & bonafide hustler behind the blog ‘The Movement Menu.’ I’m so excited to welcome you to my happy space, where my appreciation of creative recipes and healthy & mindful eats come together to inspire you to live a healthy, balanced life.
I don’t ever rate recipes online, but I can’t keep silent for this one. I have made this about four times and I now crave it. I didn’t make it over the summer because I avoid heating the oven at all costs (live in the desert), but now that it’s cooled down it’s the first meal of the fall. Looooooove it!
This is a new family favorite! Followed the recipe exactly as she created it & WOW!! We were blown away by how delicious it was! Thank you!!
Is there anything you’d sub for fish sauce? My boyfriend is allergic which makes me sad because I love it as an ingredient!
You can skip it all together!
I’ve made this twice and both times it’s been excellent. The second time I had some ostrich mince and it was oh so good. Thanks for this really great recipe.
You’re so very welcome. I am happy you loved it- and OSTRICH? Oh my gosh, wow.
Just curious, what size staub did you use? I used the biggest skillet I had, cut the mushrooms in half and still had tons of liquid spilling over in my oven. Really tasty, though!
This was incredibly tasty. However the prep time is way off. It says 15 mins but it took me over two hours to get it ready to put in the oven!
So my Instacart shopper brought me purple yams instead of white sweet potatoes. Nevertheless, I persisted. Those things are thirsty, so I had to use more coconut milk, and to offset its natural sweetness I added some powdered ginger. It all came out beautifully, in spite of the purple. Will definitely make again.
That is so awesome!!! i would love to see what this looks like!
After searching various Shepherd Pie recipe’s reading through this I think I’m going try tomorrow! Going to test roasting the potatoes and garlic first – then mashing together – thoughts? Also, thoughts on 1/2 potato 1/2 celery root to lower the sugar/carb?
On my, I’d say you got lucky with the purples, LOVE THEM, especially in my Coconut Curry Chicken!
RIGHT? I love purple sweet potatoes, too. Such a win!
Great recipe……but when ground beef or any other meat apart from Lamb is used its called Cottage Pie. Shepard’s Pie is Lamb only hence { Shepard }
Just to clarify-you keep the fat from the ground beef in the pan and keep adding ingredients. Is that correct? Thanks!
Yes! 🙂
This sounds delicious! I am very eager to make it! Everything things sounds great, except, I am not a fan of mushrooms. Do you think the consistency would be okay if I obmitted them? Or would thst make it not turn out? Thank you!
You can absolutely skip the mushrooms… you can add another favorite veg of yours instead!
Same here , I’d rather not eat fungus, trying to avoid it and grains which can be high in fungal count, makes eating out difficult, due to health issues
Ahh, yes definitely skip the mushrooms if you need to. I’m sorry you are dealing with that!
I have the hardest time getting my kids to eat veggies but they gobbled this up and even had seconds! I will be making this again and again.
That makes me so, so happy to hear- yum! After all, aren’t our kids usually the hardest to please? 😉 Would you mind rating the recipe within the recipe card? That helps me and other readers out tremendously. Thank you so, so much!
I would like to divide the recipe in half and freeze. Would you recommend cooking and then freezing?
I would, yes- that sounds ideal.
I made the potato mash and the ground beef and veg mixtures separately tonight and plan to combine them tomorrow before dinner. Should the ground meat mixture be pretty liquidy? I realize in the instructions it says to mix in the broth, fish sauce and tomato paste, stir it and set it aside which doesn’t leave any time to reduce the liquid- but will it cook out during the bake? Or is it meant to be that liquidy?
It should cook out during the bake. I loved the texture of the final product… let me know what you think!
Thanks! It did turn out really well. FYI in case anyone else is going to make it ahead- i added 15 degrees to the temp and 15 additional minutes to the baking time since it was coming from a cold temp instead of fresh off the stove. Also started covered when the timer went off, uncovered for 10 under the broiler.
Thanks for the recipe!
Looks amazing. My husband does not like sweet potatoes. Would regular potatoes be ok?
Absolutely!
What would you think about regular sweet potatoes in this dish?
I think it would come out fabulous!
Am I missing something or is the bake temp not in the instructions?
I’m SO sorry about that. It’s 350… I added it!
Hi Monica, I don’t see where it says to add the coconut milk so I just added it when I mashed the potatoes. Also, I don’t see what temp the oven should be on when cooking for 30 mins? I guessed and did 375.
Thank you!
So sorry about that… I added it to the instructions. How was it?
What temperature do you bake the prepped pie at?
I totally forgot to include it. It’s 350 and have updated it in the instructions!
Thanks!!!
Hi! Making this now looks delicious but I’m wondering if some items were accidentally left in the ground beef instructions…there are 2 different steps to cook the beef and it mentions peas and kale but those aren’t on the rest of the recipe. Thanks! Hope I make it correctly haha
Hi Maggie. I’m so sorry about that mixup. I’ve fixed the instructions! 🙂
Hi Monica. I went to make this recipe tonight and got thrown off by the instructions and random additions of ground ginger and fish sauce. Can you please post the correct recipe? I think my family would LOVE this!
Hi there. I’m not sure what you mean by the random additions. Those ingredients were put into the recipe with intention. If you do not like those flavors, you can leave them out, but I can’t guarantee the results will be quite *as* delicious! Hope that makes sense 🙂
Just follow the recipe! The fish sauce and ginger made it phenomenal. We loved it in our household!
Right? Those two ingredients really make it!! Would you mind rating the recipe within the recipe card? That helps me and other readers out tremendously. Thank you so, so much!
Fish sauce puts the “ooh” in umami.