Sweet Potato Shepherd’s Pie with Ground Turkey

This Sweet Potato Shepherd’s Pie is a twist on the classic comfort food that packs extra protein from the lean ground turkey. The meat layer is topped with a whipped sweet potato lightened up by using greek yogurt.

If you are making this dish for a group, I love pairing it with a simple green salad with apple cider vinaigrette or mason jar salad dressing. This shaved brussels sprout salad would also be delicious.

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

• Comfort meal – Shepherd’s pie is the perfect dish for a cozy dinner. It is warm, creamy and delicious, making it the perfect comfort food. With minimal prep time and a total time under 45 minutes, you can even make this on a weeknight!
• Updated classic – shepherd’s pie recipes are usually made with white potatoes and ground lamb, or ground beef in a cottage pie, but I love to change it up with ground turkey and sweet potatoes.
• Great freezer meal – This turkey shepherd’s pie is great for the freezer. I like to freeze half of the pie and defrost at a later date

Ingredients You’ll Need

• Sweet potatoes – the sweet potatoes are the base of the potato layer in this shepherd’s pie
• Plain Greek yogurt – the yogurt makes the potato layer so fluffy and creamy
• Chicken broth – the broth thins out the potatoes just enough while adding great flavor
• Unsalted butter – butter makes the potato layer super creamy and delicious. Ghee would also work in this recipe
• Parmesan cheese – the parmesan melts into the potatoes adding so much tasty flavor
• Oil – you can use any oil you would like. I used olive oil but any will work
• Yellow onion – the onion is base of your flavor in the meat layer
• Ground turkey – I like using ground turkey as a way to mix it up with this recipe but any ground meat will work
• Dried oregano, dried thyme, dried basil – I love this combination of spices for the shepherd’s pie. You could also add garlic if you would like
• Salt – add salt to enhance all of the flavors in your pie. I use kosher salt
• Chicken broth – add broth to help keep the shepherd’s pie moist. You can use any broth here and low sodium will work
• Tomato paste – tomato paste adds a ton of concentrated flavor to the dish
• Worcestershire sauce – I love using worcestershire sauce because it really deepens all the flavors in the pie
• Frozen vegetables – you can use any combination you would like. I used frozen peas, carrots, and corn

Ingredient Substitutions

You can also make this recipe with white mashed potatoes. It won’t have the same sweetness as the sweet potato topping, but it will be a delicious, classic shepherd’s pie! You could also experiment with cauliflower mash. This will change the texture but could be a great way to add more veggies.

If you need this recipe to be gluten free, just make sure your Worcestershire sauce is gluten-free. Not all brands are, so double check.

I use ground turkey for this recipe, but ground beef, ground lamb, or ground chicken all work too. For the vegetables, you can use any combo you want. Mushrooms would be a great addition.

To make this recipe dairy-free, you could use non-dairy yogurt, oil instead of butter, and omit the cheese.

How to make this Sweet Potato Shepherd’s Pie Recipe

Step 1: Preheat oven to 400F. Boil cubed sweet potatoes until tender. Brown ground turkey in a pan and season.

Step 2: Add tomato paste, chicken broth and worcestershire sauce to the turkey in the skillet. Then, stir in the frozen mixed veggies and saute for a few minutes.

Step 3: Add greek yogurt and butter to the large pot with the boiled sweet potatoes.

Step 4: Whip sweet potatoes using an electric hand mixer or use a masher to mash them together.

Step 5: Spread the turkey and veggie mixture into a casserole dish. Then, scoop the mashed sweet potatoes on top of the turkey. You can also assemble this dish and bake it in a cast iron skillet like a traditional shepherd’s pie.

Step 6: Spread out the sweet potatoes and top with grated parmesan cheese. I like to add a little design to the top of the casserole with a fork before baking. Bake at 400F until warmed through and the top is browned.

Storage, reheating and Freezing

Allow the turkey shepherd’s pie to cool completely and then transfer to an airtight container. Place in the fridge and store in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.

Reheat in the oven or in the microwave until just warmed through. Top with fresh herbs and serve.

This shepherd’s pie freezes perfectly. Transfer to a freezer safe container after cooling and freeze for up to 4 months. To keep it in the same pan, wrap it in plastic wrap and foil to make it airtight. Thaw one day before you would like to eat, and heat it in the oven.