Sweet Potato Shepherd’s Pie

Ingredients

For The Shepherd’s Pie Filling

• 1 pound ground beef or lamb

• 2 medium carrots, peeled and diced

• 1 small green pepper, diced

• 1 small yellow onion, diced

• 1 cup mushrooms, cleaned and stemmed, diced

• 4 cloves garlic, minced

• 3 ounces tomato paste

• 1 teaspoon chili powder

• 1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary or dried herb of choice

• 1/2 teaspoon fine salt or to taste

• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper

• 1/4 cup water

For The Sweet Potato Topping

• 2 large sweet potatoes (about 12 ounces each), peeled and cubed (~6 cups cubed)

• 1 tablespoons butter (may substitute ghee or coconut oil for Whole30)

• 1/2 teaspoon chili powder

• 1/4 teaspoon fine salt

Instructions

*We recommend making this in a 10-inch cast iron skillet so that you can cook everything in the skillet, top it with the mashed sweet potatoes and bake it right in the cast iron.

1. Preheat oven to 375℉. Bake the sweet potatoes until fork tender, 45 to 60 minutes (see our directions for perfect baked sweet potatoes). Alternatively, you can steam peeled and diced sweet potatoes until tender.

2. In a medium skillet over medium-high heat, saute the ground beef, chopped carrots, green pepper,  onion, mushrooms, and garlic. Continue cooking until the carrots are soft, about 12-15 minutes. Begin making the sweet potato topping while the filling cooks.

3. To make the topping: Place the peeled and baked/steamed sweet potato with all of the topping ingredients in a food processor (or blender) and process until smooth. NOTE: If using white potatoes, we recommend mashing them by hand rather than blending to prevent them from getting pasty.

4. Back to the filling: Once the carrots are soft, stir in tomato paste, chili powder, rosemary, salt, black pepper, and water.

5. Final step: Top the meat filling with the sweet potato mash. If you’re not using an oven-safe 10-inch cast-iron skillet, transfer the meat filling to a casserole dish or 9×9 inch baking dish and top the meat filling with the sweet potato mash. Sprinkle the top with a little sea salt and chili powder.

6. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and serve.

From therealfooddietitians.com