Shepherd’s Pie Potato Skins! Making this my “express” way, it takes just 15 minutes to prepare to pop into the oven to get those gorgeous brown crunchy bits on the mashed potato!
“That moment when you cut through the creamy mashed potato with the golden crunchy ridges and the filling comes oozing out….I can’t describe how satisfying it is!”
As a potato-obsessed-carb-o-holic, I take great interest in any potato related dishes. However, with potato skin recipes, the thought that always crosses my mind is, “what shall I make with the potato I scoop out?” That’s why I love making these Shepherd’s Pie Potato Skins. It’s efficient. And there’s a double potato hit. Win, win!
Here’s a bit of food trivia for you: Shepherd’s Pie vs Cottage Pie. Do you know the difference? The recipe is the same – a mince filling topped with mashed potato. The only difference is that Shepherd’s Pie is traditionally made with lamb mince whereas Cottage Pie is made with beef mince. I always get the names confused!
I first saw this Shepherd’s Pie Potato Skins recipe in a Women’s Weekly magazine way back in the 90’s. Well, not this exact recipe because I make the filling “my way” which is super fast. And a few weeks ago I saw it on Instagram and it prompted me to make it. The Instagram post was by Christina’s Cucina, a Scots-Italian food blogger based in LA. I mean, with that bloodline, how could you not be a great cook, right?? So thanks Christina, for reminding me of this!!
I made a bit of an effort to make these Shepherd’s Pie Potato Skins pretty by piping on the potato, but ordinarily I would just dump the potato on with just a spoon. It doesn’t impact the flavor at all. Just fluff up the potato with a fork and you pretty much get the same amount of brown crunchy ridges.
As a “fast food” blog, I make this the express way. Firstly, I microwave the potatoes. It takes about 10 minutes, compared to 50 minutes to bake. And because you pop the potatoes in the oven after filling it, the skin crisps up a bit so I don’t really see any difference between roasting or microwaving them. But you can bake the potatoes if you have an aversion to microwaving. 🙂
Secondly, I make my Shepherd’s Pie Potato Skins filling using frozen mixed vegetables (corn, peas and carrots). A decade ago I never would have done this, but nowadays the frozen vegetables are really great for dishes like this. Saves a whole lot of chopping! But if you prefer to use fresh vegetables, feel free to substitute!
I am not sure what moment is better – when it’s fresh out of the oven, ready to dig into, or that moment when you cut through the golden crunchy top through the creamy mashed potato and the filling oozes out…..What do you think??
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Shepherd's Pie Potato Skins
Ingredients
- 250 g / 8 oz lamb or beef mince (ground meat)
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- ½ onion (brown, white or yellow), diced
- 1 clove garlic , minced
- 1 1/2 cups frozen mixed vegetables (pea, corn, carrots) (or fresh)
- 2 tbsp flour
- 1 cup beef stock/broth (or 1 stock / bouillon cube dissolved in hot water)
- ½ cup water
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ tsp dried thyme
- ½ tsp dried oregano
- Black pepper
Potatoes and Mash
- 4 large potatoes , scrubbed clean (about 400g/13oz each)
- ½ to 1 cup milk (full or low fat)
- 2 tbsp butter (optional – but highly recommended)
- Salt to taste
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 180C/350F.
Prepare the Potatoes and Mash
- Prick the potatoes with a fork (about 6 times on each potato) and microwave on high for 5 minutes. Then turn and microwave for a further 5 minutes. Pierce with a knife to check if they are cooked.
- Remove from microwave (use a dish cloth). Cut off the tops and scoop out the center using a spoon, leaving a fairly thin skin (about 0.5 cm / 0.2”).
- Place the potato scooped out in a bowl. Add milk, butter and salt and mash with a potato masher until smooth, or to your liking.
- If you want to pipe the filling, place the mashed potato into a piping back with a large star tip nozzle.
Filling
- Meanwhile, make the filling. Heat the olive oil in a large fry pan over medium high heat.
- Add onion and garlic, sauté for 2 minutes until softened.
- Turn up heat to high. Add mince beef (ground beef) and cook, breaking up the mince as you go, until nicely browned and cooked – about 3 minutes.
- Sprinkle over flour and stir to combine.
- Add remaining ingredients and stir to combine. Bring to simmer and continue to stir until the sauce is thick and glossy – around 2 minutes.
- Remove from heat.
Assemble Potatoes
- Fill each potato with the Filling so it is slightly heaped. Push down lightly to pack the filling in well.
- Pipe over the mashed potato, or scoop it on with a spoon then fluff it up with a fork. You probably won’t use all of it – save the remainder or serve it on the side.
- Place in the oven and bake for 15 to 20 minutes until the mashed potato is starting to brown on the ridges.
- Serve immediately!
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
Followed the recipe but added Worcestershire sauce and Kitchen Bouquet to the meat and vegetables,and some shredded parm to the mash.
Very good!
Made this tonight for the family, the (at least) 30th recipeTin shopped for and made, and possibly at past the 50th made with a general guide… to ight, the fussiest of.ky eaters cake for seconds! THANK YOU, A NEW FAMILY FAVOURITE
I made this but instead of the cottage pie mixture, I filled it with Nagi’s meat pie mixture! I did a beef mince pie and added chopped mushrooms in it too. It was like a potato top mince and mushroom pie in a potato skin! 👌🏻
I didn’t love this, but I really wanted to. Seemed like the flavor of potato under and over the mixture really overpowered the flavor in the mixture – ending up making the dish seem pretty bland. The filling inside was not bland, though, so I think it’s just too much potato. Was a really fun idea though!
I’m usually one of your biggest fans but not entirely with this Shepard’s pie mince recipe. Found the flour and liquid made an ugly greyish mush. Strained that off and added some worcestershire sauce to add some flavour.
Can’t wait to make these. Great idea! You mention cut off TOP of potato. So to clarify: I should cut off approximately top 1/3 and each serving is one potato (NOT cut potato in half). It’s a bit hard to tell from the photo.
Shepherd’s Pie cos sheep 🙂
Therefore Cottage Pie must be beef.
Wonderful recipe! Thank you so much! Everyone loves it.
I have made this recipe several times and it turns out great and deliciously great. Everyone is requesting for more. I mixed 30% ground pork with mince lamb. Much more smoother & not too dry. Thanks for the great recipe.
Delicious, great taste. Easy to make. Great flavor, everyone loved. Served with side salad.
Made this dish but instead of ground beef and lamb I filled it with pot roast then covered with mash potatoes and sprinkle with grated cheddar cheese. Yum!
That’s so great to hear Evelyn! I’m so pleased you enjoyed this, thank you for letting me know! N x
These individual servings are a great idea, especially when there are only two of us at home now and freezing the rest for a non cook night which most of us love. However, my daughter scolds me by saying “you should not eat too much potatoes” and I tell her that we don’t but I must admit I love nothing better than a lovely soft mash, to which I add grated Parmesan cheese, a little chopped parsley and sometimes a light herb/spice, depending on the mood. These look delicious and will definitely give them a go, but won’t tell my daughter. Ha, ha.
Ba ha ha! Did you imagine you’d get to a stage in your life where you’re hiding food from your daughter? 😂
Turned out wonderful!
This was fantastic. I made it tonight with bison meat. Everyonev raved about it. Thanks for this brilliant idea.
These look great and will definitely give them a go. If you use beef mince it is definitely called Cottage Pie and if you use lamb it’s Shepherd’s pie. Being from the UK I grew up with these dishes!
I ALWAYS forget which way it is! 😂
Hi! The way I remember the difference is that sheep (and lambs) are watched by a shepherd (ground lamb) and cattle (ground beef) are not.
When you freeze theses individually and take them out to thaw and reheat how long do you recook them and what temp?
Hi Shelly! About 20 minutes @ 180C/350F will do the trick 🙂 I use a knife to check – stick it in the middle and ensure it’s hot when it comes out 🙂
Mahi,
Is a serving one or two halves?
Made these tonight exactly by the recipe…. With the exception of substituting chicken broth for the beef ( what I had on hand). They were delicious! I am not a big shepherds pie lover, but my husband is. He ate two halves, but my daughter and I could only eat one.
Is a serving considered a whole potato or 1/2?
Definitely keeping this one!
Woo hoo! I’m so glad you enjoyed this Miriam, thanks so much for letting me know! N x
Can’t wait to try these! They sound sooooooo yummy!
These would be good to take camping.
Have everything done beforehand and fill them at the campsite.
They would be PERFECT FOR CAMPING! Thanks for the idea, I’m going to do that myself!!! Love camping!
Just finished making this for my husband for dinner (I won’t touch shepherd’s pie). He loved it! I baked my potatoes for over an hour so assumed they were done, but as I started to scoop I could tell they were a bit under cooked. They mashed fine but it made the potatoes break a little while scooping. I actually had one casualty and ended up with just 3 potatoes. This is such a perfect meal for my husband cuz he doesn’t get shepherd’s pie since I don’t like it. This is a nice little individual dish instead of a whole casserole. Will definitely make for him again and hopefully next time they’re as pretty as yours 🙂
Did you let them sit prior to scooping
Just until they are cool enough to handle – or use a tea towel!
They must have been GIANT potatoes if they weren’t cooked after an hour in the oven!! BA HA!!! So glad you enjoyed this Torrey, thanks so much for coming back to let me know!!
Hey Nagi, for starters i just want to say i love shepherds pie (well cottage pic to be exact lol). I just wanted to ask if it was alright to use your recipe in a school competition I’m in for my school. I just wanted you to know and i hope you are okay with it.
This was my point as well. Shepards pie is traditionally made with lamb. This would be considered a Cottage pie since it is made with beef.