Ground Turkey Shepherd’s Pie is such a great comfort food dinner. Ground turkey is mixed with carrots, peas, beef broth, red wine and lots of herbs & seasonings then is topped with super flavorful creamy mashed potatoes. It all gets baked up in one skillet. It is a great family dinner that everyone will LOVE!!
Some other great family recipes that use turkey are Turkey Pot Pie, Turkey Chili, Tetrazzini, or Turkey Meatloaf Muffins.
Why It’s SO Good!
- The potato topping has it’s own delicious flavors of butter, sour cream and a little garlic.
- Fresh rosemary lends amazing fresh flavor.
- Ground sage adds just a hint of “holiday” that goes perfect with the turkey.
- Red wine makes the filling deep and rich with flavor.
- Using beef broth instead of chicken broth gives the filling a robust flavor.
Ingredients
Pictured are the ingredients that you need to make Turkey Shepherd’s Pie, plus some helpful tips on a few ingredients:
Ground Turkey – When you cook with ground turkey it is always good practice to use 93/7. It has enough fat to be flavorful and juicy. The 99% lean is to be avoided at all cost!
You can absolutely use ground beef, ground pork or ground chicken if that is what you have in your fridge/freezer.
Red Wine – I HIGHLY recommend that you do not skip the red wine! If you do not want to buy an entire bottle just grab a carton or small “airplane” sized bottle. You only need ½ cup, but it makes all the difference.
Beef Broth – It may seem funny to use a beef broth in a turkey dish, but believe me it works! The beef broth adds a deepness of flavor that a chicken broth won’t. However if you are making this because you don’t eat beef, you can absolutely sub chicken broth.
Mashed Potatoes
Mashed Potatoes are the very best topping for Shepherd’s Pie. There is a great recipe included below for the mashed potatoes. However, you could also use one of these options:
- Instant Pot Mashed Potatoes
- Frozen Mashed Potatoes (Trader Joe’s has a great one!)
- Leftover Mashed Potatoes
- In a time pinch you can use potato flakes
- Savory Mashed Sweet Potatoes could even work!
Step by Step Picture Instructions
- Boil the Russets and make the mashed potatoes. Set aside until assembly.
- In a large oven safe skillet, sauté the onions, carrots, and celery in the oil, about 5 minutes.
- Add the garlic and ground turkey and crumble while cooking through.
- Now add in the rosemary, sage, salt, pepper, onion powder, flour and tomato paste.
- Deglaze the pan with the red wine and let it reduce for about 5 minutes.
- Finish with the beef broth, frozen peas, Worcestershire and bring to a boil. Simmer for 2-3 mins.
- Remove from the heat.
- Dollop the mashed potatoes over the meat filling. Smooth it to the edges. To get nice browned bits on the top make swoops in the mashed potatoes.
- If using a 10 inch skillet place it on a rimmed baking sheet to catch spills.
- Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.
Listen To The Full Recipe
Serving
Serve the Turkey Shepherd’s Pie right in the skillet. Scoop out portions making sure to get a good filling to mashed potato topping ratio on each plate.
Side Dishes
The nice thing about Shepherd’s Pie is it has everything in one – starch, protein and veggies – so it can really be served by itself.
But if you want to make it more of a dinner experience you can serve it with dinner rolls, a roasted veggie or side salad.
Recipe Tips
Top Tips
- If you have leftover mashed potatoes this makes a great recipe to use them up!
- Make Swoops in the mashed potatoes topping, the peaks brown beautifully in the oven.
- Don’t skip the red wine! It lends amazing depth of flavor to the Turkey Shepherd’s Pie.
- If rosemary isn’t your jam, sub in fresh thyme.
- If you like a soupier filling, add ¼-1/2 cup of beef broth.
- Pick a red wine you will like to drink. You only need ½ cup so you can enjoy the rest of the bottle.
- Do not use 99% lean ground turkey. Go for the 93/7!
- If you use a 10 inch skillet, place a rimmed baking sheet underneath to catch spills in the oven.
- If ground turkey isn’t your thing you can absolutely use ground beef, ground pork, or ground chicken in this recipe.
More Delicious Comfort Food Dinners
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Ground Turkey Shepherd’s Pie Recipe + Video
Equipment
- 10-12 inch oven safe skillet (cast iron works great)
Ingredients
Mashed Potato Topping
- 2 – 2 ½ lbs. Russet potatoes - – peeled and cut into 1-2 inch chunks
- ¼ cup sour cream
- 5 Tbsp. butter
- 2 Tbsp. whole milk or half and half
- 1 tsp. Kosher salt
- 1 fresh garlic clove - minced
Ground Turkey Shepherd's Pie Filling
- 1 Tbsp. Olive oil
- 1 small onion (yellow or white) - diced
- ½ cup celery - diced
- ½ cup carrot - peeled and diced
- 3 garlic cloves - – minced
- 1 pound ground turkey - – 93% lean (93/7)
- 1 tsp. (heaping) fresh rosemary - chopped (could sub fresh thyme)
- ¼ tsp. ground sage
- 1 ½ tsp. Kosher salt
- ½ tsp. pepper
- 1 tsp. onion powder
- 2 Tbsp. tomato paste
- 2 tablespoon all purpose flour
- 1 ½ cup beef broth
- ½ cup red wine - (Cabernet, Merlot, Malbec would all work!)
- 1 cup frozen peas
- 1 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Mashed Potatoes
- Place the potato chunks into a large pot and add cold water to cover them. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce to medium low and simmer uncovered until the potatoes are fork tender (about 15 minutes).2 – 2 ½ lbs. Russet potatoes
- Drain the potatoes and return to the pan. Smash the potatoes using a hand held mixer or a potato masher. Add the sour cream, butter, milk and salt.¼ cup sour cream, 5 Tbsp. butter, 2 Tbsp. whole milk or half and half, 1 tsp. Kosher salt, 1 fresh garlic clove
- Taste and adjust seasoning. Set the mashed potatoes aside until assembly.
- Can also use a store-bought refrigerated mashed potato, not instant potato flakes! Just boost the flavor with sour cream, butter, cream cheese and a garlic clove!
Ground Turkey Filling
- For the filling, heat oil in a 10-12 inch cast iron skillet (or oven safe pan) over medium heat. Add onion, celery, carrot and cook until softened, about 5 minutes.1 Tbsp. Olive oil, 1 small onion (yellow or white), ½ cup celery, ½ cup carrot
- Add the ground turkey and garlic, and crumble/cook until browned, about 5 minutes.3 garlic cloves, 1 pound ground turkey
- Stir in the rosemary, ground sage, salt, pepper, onion powder, flour and tomato paste and cook 1 minute.1 tsp. (heaping) fresh rosemary, ¼ tsp. ground sage, 1 ½ tsp. Kosher salt, ½ tsp. pepper, 1 tsp. onion powder, 2 Tbsp. tomato paste, 2 tablespoon all purpose flour
- Deglaze the skillet with the red wine and reduce, about 4-5 minutes .½ cup red wine
- Stir in the beef broth, frozen peas and Worcestershire and bring to a boil. Simmer filling for 2-3 minutes.** If you like your filling a little soupier you can add ¼-1/2 cup beef broth at this point and simmer for another 2-3 minutes.1 ½ cup beef broth, 1 cup frozen peas, 1 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
Assembly & Baking
- Dollop the mashed potatoes evenly over the filling in the cast iron skillet. Using a spoon or spatula, spread the potatoes evenly over the filling and all the way to the edges of the skillet.Pro Tip: Make some swoops in the potatoes, the peaks will brown nicely in the oven!
- Transfer the skillet to the oven. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Pro Tip: If using a 10 inch skillet you may want to put a baking sheet or foil under the skillet to catch any drips as it is very full
- You can place under the broiler for 5 minutes at the end if you want the top to be golden brown.
- Let the Shepherd’s Pie rest for 5 minutes before serving.
Recipe Tips and Notes:
- If you have leftover mashed potatoes this makes a great recipe to use them up!
- Make Swoops in the mashed potatoes topping, the peaks brown beautifully in the oven.
- Don’t skip the red wine! It lends amazing depth of flavor to the Turkey Shepherd’s Pie.
- If rosemary isn’t your jam, sub in fresh thyme.
- If you like a soupier filling, add ¼-1/2 cup of beef broth.
- Pick a red wine you will like to drink. You only need ½ cup so you can enjoy the rest of the bottle.
- Do not use 99% lean ground turkey. Go for the 93/7!
- If you use a 10 inch skillet, place a rimmed baking sheet underneath to catch spills in the oven.
- If ground turkey isn’t your thing you can absolutely use ground beef, ground pork, or ground chicken in this recipe.
JS says
Absolutely delicious!!!! All the ingredients come together magically.
Susie Weinrich says
Love the description!!
Donna says
What instructions can you give us for using an air fryer
Susie Weinrich says
I am so sorry but I don’t have an airfyer so I wouldn’t know how that works. Can you put pans in the airfyer?
Susan says
I bring dinner to a shelter every so often and I’d like to make this, it looks great! It’s for a group of about 22 people, could I double the recipe and make it in a large foil baking pan? I’m guessing I would need to make 4x the original recipe? I’d love your advice – do you think this would work, and how would it affect the cooking time? Thank you so much!
Susie Weinrich says
Yes, I think you could definitely 4x the recipe and make it in a big foil pan, or two foil pans. Really you are just heating everything together during the cooking time. So I think you could add 10 minutes and be ok. Just make sure the center is heated through.
Susie Weinrich says
If you are assembling, refrigerating, and then baking in the larger pans, you may want to bake it at 350 for 20 minutes covered with foil, remove the foil and bake another 30 minutes to make sure it heats through.
Susan says
Thank you for answering me so quickly! I will give it a try, I’ll 4x the recipe and cook in 2 big pans for a little longer as you suggested. Thank you also for the cooking instructions if I refrigerate it first – so helpful!
Randy says
Very good. Plan on making this many times in the future
Susie Weinrich says
Great! Thank you for the comment and rating
Sarah says
This is so good! It’s my favorite shepherd’s pie recipe. Have you ever tried prepping and freezing it?
Susie Weinrich says
I haven’t, but that should totally work. Freeze it for 2-4 months. Thaw in the fridge overnight and then bake!
Sara says
Delicious! So savory and satisfying. This is a perfect winter warming meal.
Susie Weinrich says
We agree!!
Jackie Foskett says
I’ve made this once before. Very good. I transfer everything to a baking dish. Tonight I made the mashed potatoes with baked sweet potatoes. Very yummy. No sour cream…just used plain yogurt and extra 1/2 and half.
I put all in baking pan and then refrigerator and I’ll bake it tomorrow for a holiday party. Thank you. It’s a recipe one can adlib on some of the ingredients.
Jessica says
If you don’t have an over-safe skillet, can you transfer the filling into a 9×13 or smaller casserole dish, assemble with mashed potatoes and bake in that dish? If so, would it still be at 350 degrees?
Susie Weinrich says
Absolutely!!! Same cook time and temp.
Dane Rasmussen says
A whopping 5.0…Easiest recipe to follow and the tastiest dinner I’ve eaten in 77 years. My wife allowed me to help make it…very cool!
Susie Weinrich says
What HIGH PRAISE!!!! Thank you so much for taking the time to leave such a nice comment. You made my day.
Barb says
This was absolutely the best Shepard’s pie I have ever made. Everyone loved it!!
Susie Weinrich says
Thank you so much, Barb! That was a perfect comment ❤️ Save the recipe for the fall too!
Jenna says
This Sheppard’s pie was so incredible and different from the typical tomato based version. The rosemary, sage and beef broth were so savory and awesome! 100% recommend as will be putting in the comfort food rotation!
Carmen says
So good! I don’t drink wine so I substituted with 1/4 c water and 1/4 cup red wine vinegar. I also used Greek yogurt in place of the sour cream in the potatoes. This is a keeper!
Dana says
This is one of our favorite meals! Is it possible to freeze this? What would the reheating steps be if it can be frozen?
Susie Weinrich says
You should be able to freeze this, although I have not tested this.
Bake the Shepherd’s pie as directed and then let cool completely. Freeze for up to 3 months.
Then you can let thaw in the fridge overnight and bake, covered with foil, at 350 for around 30 minutes. Or bake from
frozen, covered with foil, at 350 for about an hour.
Paula says
Why do you suggest not using 99% fat free turkey? Because it will be dry? That’s all I have in the freezer because it’s all I ever buy and I was planning on making this for dinner tonight
Susie Weinrich says
Yes, 99% fat free it is pretty dry and rubbery. BUT it will definitely still work! The recipe has enough “sauce” and flavor to make up for it.