This Shepherd’s Pie Soup has all the flavor of a classic shepherd’s pie but it’s way quicker to make, and it’s much more slurpable too.
I love turning classic dishes into quick and easy soup recipes. This Shepherd’s Pie Soup certainly fits the bill. It’s a hearty and comforting soup with ground beef, carrots and peas, and of course, potatoes! You can make this main dish soup in about 30 minutes, making it perfect for a weeknight.
Read more about how to make this cozy soup below or click here to head straight to the recipe.
What Is Shepherd’s Pie?
Shepherd’s Pie is a sort of casserole with ground meat and vegetables topped with mashed potatoes. In the UK, it’s traditionally made with lamb but in America, ground beef is more common.
Making Shepherd’s Pie Soup
Now about today’s soup recipe. This is basically a riff on a basic potato soup recipe but because of the ingredients added to it, it tastes just like shepherd’s pie.
What I love about this soup is that it has that classic flavor but it’s ready in a fraction of the time that it takes to make a real shepherd’s pie. It’s perfect for those days when you want some rich, meaty, starchy comfort food but don’t have the time to put the whole thing together.
To make this recipe, what you do is cook up some lean ground beef with some onions, carrots, and garlic. Then you add in some flour, cubed potatoes, and water. (Want a richer flavor? Substitute some of the water for beef stock.)
Heat it up to a simmer and cook until the potatoes are tender. I go in with a potato masher a bit at this point to break up some, but not all, of the potatoes. Finally, toss in some defrosted frozen corn and peas, heat through and eat. Easy, right? And soooo good.
Can I Use Mashed Potatoes?
As you may have noticed, to get this soup prepared quickly, I’ve used potatoes diced into small cubes in the soup and then break them up a bit to partially mash them. If you’d like to have this soup a little more like traditional shepherd’s pie, especially if you have leftover mashed potatoes, you are welcome to make adjustments.
You can either stir mashed potatoes into the soup instead of cooking the cubed potatoes in it, or for the classic look, scoop or pipe hot mashed potatoes on top before serving. So delicious!
More Classic Dishes Made Into Soups
I’m addicted to soup. And more than that, I’m addicted to coming up with soup recipes based on my favorite classic dishes. If you love this Shepherd’s Pie Soup recipe, try one of these next.
And, if you’re looking for a particularly comforting soup, I encourage you to try this Beef and Farro Soup, which is one of my all-time favorite recipes, and also go over and browse through all of my soup recipes (there are more than 70 delicious soup recipes there!).
PrintShepherd’s Pie Soup Recipe
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 6 servings 1x
- Category: Entrée
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: American
DESCRIPTION
This Shepherd’s Pie Soup has all the flavor of a classic shepherd’s pie but it’s way quicker to make, and it’s much more slurpable too. Enjoy! -Christine :-)
Ingredients
- 1 Tbsp. olive oil
- 3 medium carrots, peeled and chopped
- 1 small onion, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 and 1/4 lbs. lean ground beef
- 2 tsp. salt, divided
- 3 Tbsp. all-purpose flour
- 6 cups cold water
- 5 medium baking potatoes, in small cubes
- 1 cup frozen corn, defrosted
- 1 cup frozen peas, defrosted
Instructions
- Heat the oil in a Dutch oven or large pot over medium heat. Add the carrots and onion. Stir and cook for 3 minutes. Add the garlic. Stir.
- Add the ground beef and 1 teaspoon of the salt. Stir to combine and to break up the beef. Cook, stirring occasionally, until beef is cooked through, 5-6 minutes. Stir in the flour mixing well to combine.
- Drizzle in 1/4 cup of the water and stir. Repeat several times, stirring after each addition and then add the rest of the water all at once.
- Add the potatoes to the pot along with the remaining teaspoon of salt. Stir and partially cover pot. Heat over high heat until boiling. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook until potatoes are fork tender, 7-8 minutes.
- Use a potato masher to gently mash some of the potatoes in the pot. There should be mashed potato spread out through the broth while also having chunks of potato remaining. Stir in the corn and peas.
- Taste and season with additional salt and pepper if desired.
This post originally appeared in March 2016 and was revised and republished in February 2023.