Vegan Lentil Shepherd’s Pie Recipe

Published: January 27, 2019 Updated: February 11, 2020 / By: Dawn | Girl Heart Food 35 Comments

This super hearty vegan lentil shepherd’s pie is packed with hearty lentils, a meatless ground and veggies. It’s baked up bubbling hot in a cast-iron skillet for one comforting and delicious meal!

A little while back I shared a traditional shepherd’s pie with lamb and a lovely horseradish mash.

Today I’m mixing things up a bit with this vegan lentil shepherd’s pie. If you’re a “meat-n-potatoes” kinda person, honestly, you’re not gonna miss the meat at all!

This meatless shepherd’s pie is super hearty and always hits the spot on a cold day. I don’t know about you, but I crave food like this, especially this time of year.

Ingredients Needed

For the “meaty” component of this vegan shepherd’s pie I used a combination of lentils and meatless crumbles (soy based crumble). You can typically purchase in your grocery store where you would find other veggie products, like meatless burgers or tofu.

Lentils are super convenient to have in your pantry, are quite versatile, filling and pretty inexpensive.

The lentils and ground round really add a substantial base to this veggie shepherd’s pie.

Other ingredients are:

Olive oil
Onion
Garlic
Carrot
Peas
Corn
Sweet Potato
Seasonings
Mushroom or vegetable broth
Tomato Paste
Flour (to thicken)
Almond milk and nutritional yeast (for the sweet potatoes)

Ingredients for a meatless shepherd's pie recipe.

How To Make Vegan Shepherd’s Pie

You make a vegan shepherd’s pie much in the same way you would a classic shepherd’s pie, just instead of using an animal protein, you use a vegan alternative. Full details are in the recipe card below, but here are the basics:

In a pan, cook onion in some olive oil. Then, add garlic and cook for a minute.
Add plant-based “meat” crumbles, carrots, thyme, broth, chili, salt and pepper. Bring to a simmer and cook until carrots start to get a little tender and the broth has reduced.
Add lentils, peas and corn.
Stir in flour.
Pour over remaining broth.
Cook everything for a little bit.
Add sweet potato mash over top.
Spread the mash out so that it’s not perfectly smooth.
Bake.

Collage of steps to make a vegan shepherd's pie recipe.

Tip: I love to have some textural interest to the sweet potato mash, so I don’t smooth them out. Run a spoon over top so there’s peaks and valleys in the mash.

Skillet of vegan shepherd's pie before being baked.

Tips for Making This Recipe

Don’t chop the carrots too thick because you want them to cook tender. You want them about ¼ of an inch thick.
For the mash, salt, pepper, nutmeg and almond milk was used. If you want your potatoes a little richer, feel free to add a dab or two of vegan butter.
Mushroom broth was used. This really adds a rich punch of savoury flavour. All you do is soak about a cup of mushrooms in some water for about 15 minutes. Strain the mushrooms and use. Alternatively, you could use store-bought broth.
Place a sheet pan under the cast-iron pot when you bake this vegan shepherd’s pie. It will catch any mess that may bubble over.

Close-up of a skillet of meatless shepherd's pie with a piece taken out.

Recipe Variations

Other veggies could be substituted or added to the mix, like celery or mushrooms.
Don’t have sweet potato or prefer not to use? Try regular potato.

More Easy Comfort Food Recipes

If you try this veggie shepherd’s pie recipe, be sure to leave a comment below!