This is the BEST shepherds pie recipe. It is everything you love about this favorite fall comfort food, made healthier using a sweet potato pumpkin blend topping, and a lean ground turkey filling made with extra veggies and bone broth. It is satisfying yet guilt free!
This sweet potato shepherds pie recipe gives me allll the fall feels. And now it can do the same for you! It is your classic version with some fun twists, making it a little more fall inspired, a little cleaner, and, in my opinion, a whole lot tastier.
Potato, Potahto
First of all, the topping of this pie packs in a whole lot more nutrients than your standard shepherds pie recipe, and leaves out a lot of what you don’t want! A classic shepherds pie topping is super heavy and dense. It is made of mashed white potatoes with butter and sour cream and topped with a ton of cheese. What is mine made out of? The perfect combination of sweet potato, pumpkin, and spices.
Sweet potatoes have fewer carbs and calories than your typical white potato as well as a little more fiber. Sweet potatoes are also PACKED full of vitamins and minerals contributing to many health benefits. One alone has over 100% of your daily vitamin A requirements, which helps boost immunity and fights off disease and infection. It is also a great source of beta carotene. Plus they are a great way to curb sweets cravings.
Pumpkin is also very high in both vitamin A and beta carotene (as these are characteristics of orange fruits and veggies). But it is also 94% water therefore is very low in calories.
That’s a lot of benefits in one little recipe – and that is only the topping!
If you want more sweet potato recipes be sure to check out my sweet potato breakfast bowl, my sweet potato muffins, and my sweet potato nests for breakfast!
Turkey or Beef
I eat a lot more turkey than I do beef. Mostly because I like it better. So that is what I made this recipe with. And it does tend to be leaner and lower in fat and calories if that is something you are looking for in your diet.
But if you like ground beef feel free to use that! Beef has gotten a bad reputation because of its fat content. But we are learning that there is actually not much science behind the fact that eating saturated fat causes heart disease, and most of the warnings and limitations placed on it in our dietary guidelines have been revoked. Just be sure to buy grass fed when you can.
If you are interested in learning how to make healthier choices in your diet, I’d love to help! Check out my health coaching services and schedule your free consultation today!
Let’s Make a Sweet Potato Shepherds Pie!
So are you ready to make the BEST shepherds pie recipe ever??
Most of my suggestions for this recipe are just about the proportions. The first time I made this dish I baked it in a smaller round glass dish. I used all of the meat and had some leftover sweet potato topping (which makes a great prep for my sweet potato breakfast bowl). The second time I made it I wanted to use my cast iron for some extra umph (everything just seems to taste better when you make it with the cast iron am I right!?). I have a large cast iron (12 inches) so let’s just say this made for pretty thin pie. Lots of topping, not a whole lot of meat. So the third time I doubled the filling and used my cast iron again. This is what I based the below recipe off of, so if you are making this in a smaller dish I would cut the turkey in half, you can reduce the amount of veggies if you’d like (but probably not necessary) and then be prepared to have some leftover topping to use for other fun recipes!
The other proportion is related to spices. There are no eggs or anything harmful (once the turkey is cooked through) in this recipe, so taste as you go! If you want your topping spicier, add more chili powder or even a dash of cayenne! If you want more coconut aminos to balance the tomato paste in your filling, go ahead! You get to be in charge of what you eat and that’s the best part!
Also if for any reason you don’t want to use pumpkin (you crazy you) you can definitely just use sweet potato for the topping 🙂
Lastly – I always broil mine in the oven for the last 5 minutes. Just to really cook, maybe even brown, the topping a little. Makes it extra yummy!
In addition to the ingredients listed, you will need:
- Potato peeler
- Pot
- Potato masher
- Cast iron skillet
Ready for some sweet potato shepherds pie!? Let’s go!
Print
Sweet Potato Shepherds Pie
- Total Time: 55 minutes
- Yield: 6 + servings 1x
Description
Gluten Free, Dairy Free, Refined Sugar Free
This is the BEST shepherds pie recipe. It is everything you love about this favorite fall comfort food, made healthier using a sweet potato pumpkin blend topping, and a lean ground turkey filling made with extra veggies and bone broth. It is satisfying yet guilt free!
Ingredients
Topping:
- 2 medium sweet potatoes
- 1 cup pumpkin puree
- 2 tbsp cashew milk
- 1/2 tsp chili powder
Filling:
- 2 lb lean ground turkey
- 1 yellow onion – diced
- 1 cup diced mushroom
- 1 cup frozen veggie mix (I used peas and carrots)
- 4 tbsp coconut aminos
- 3.5 tbsp tomato paste
- 1/2 cup bone broth ( I like Bonafide Provisions)
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp paprika
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 1/4 tsp salt
Instructions
Topping:
- Start by cooking the sweet potatoes: peel and chop into small cubes, put in a large pot, cover with water, and put on stove over medium to high heat (can add a tsp of salt if you want). Bring to a boil and then reduce to simmer, cover and allow to cook until potatoes are soft (20-30 minutes, you can test by sticking a fork in them).
- Drain and mash with a potato masher.
- Add pumpkin puree, milk, and chili powder and mash until combined.
- Set aside until it is time to cover filling.
Filling:
- In your cast iron- cook mushroom and onion with a little salt and pepper
- Add turkey and all filling spices and cook over medium heat.
- When turkey is almost done, add veggies.
- Once turkey is fully cooked add tomato paste, coconut aminos, and bone broth.
- Simmer about 5 minutes to allow flavors to combine and moisture to mostly cook off.
- Flatten evenly in cast iron.
- Once filling is done and evenly spread throughout the cast iron, spread topping over it.
- Bake in oven at 350F until topping is golden brown – about 20 minutes.
Notes
You can also make this a strictly sweet potato shepherds pie. Simply omit the pumpkin puree in the topping and add one more sweet potato so you are sure to have enough!
I want to reiterate in case you didn’t read above 🙂 the cast iron I used was a 12 inch. If you don’t have one that is okay. Cook everything on the stove and transfer to a baking dish. If it is much smaller, I would recommend halving the filling.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 40 minutes
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1/6 of pan
If you try this sweet potato sheperds pie recipe please leave a comment below letting me know what you think! If you remake on Instagram don’t forget to tag me at @donutworry_behealthy so I can see your creation and share in my stories!
↓PIN ME FOR LATER↓
Pingback: Fall Flavors Butternut Squash Soup - Donut Worry, Be Healthy