Low Carb Shepherd’s Pie with Cauliflower Mash

Shepherds Pie With Cauliflower Mash

Take my old recipe for Turkey Mince Shepherd’s Pie, replace the mince with beef and pork if you choose, and make a cauliflower mash in place of the potatoes. You won’t miss those potatoes, friends.  This I do solemnly swear.  This is guilt free comfort food, remember?

This is the grater I use for the carrots and parmesan in this recipe: Microplane Gourmet Series Hand Graters

Footnote to this post:  In the comment section, Alison asks a great question about chicken bouillion/concentrate that makes me wanna feature my thoughts here for everyone.

Alison, I’ve been using a liquid chicken broth concentrate from Kitchen Accomplice that is certified gluten free. You are so right on about the weird ingredients. There are WAYYYYY too many chicken bouillons, broths, and concentrates that have weird ingredients, preservatives, and GLUTEN. Yuck. Check your labels carefully, and THEN you have to taste test to find a brand you love.

This recipe is featured in a round-up of easy to make Keto recipes classics from my fellow cookbook and recipe writers in the keto space, check it out here for 42 recipes of inspiration.

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Low Carb Shepherd's Pie with Cauliflower Mash

Course Casseroles, Main Dishes
Cuisine Keto, Low Carb, NSNG, Paleo

Ingredients
  

  • 2 cups of fresh Cremini mushrooms, chopped
  • 2 tablepoons olive oil
  • 1 finely chopped brown, yellow, or vidalia onion
  • 6-8 baby carrots, shredded
  • 1-2 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1 tablespoon fresh parsley, chopped
  • 1/4 teaspoon onion salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon garlic salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
  • 1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
  • 1 pound ground beef
  • 1 pound ground pork
  • 1 teaspoon or a cube of gluten free chicken bouillon, smashed into powder
  • Salt and pepper to taste
  • 1 head of cauliflower cut into chunks
  • 1/4 cup cream cheese
  • 1/4 cup heavy cream
  • Salt for seasoning
  • 1/2 cup grated fresh parmesan

Instructions
 

  • On medium high heat, sauté mushrooms in 1 tablespoon of olive oil, until nice and browned. Set aside.
  • Sauté onion in 1 tablespoon of olive oil until soft, about 8 minutes. Add in carrot, garlic, parsley, onion salt, garlic salt, thyme and oregano, and sauté another 5-10 minutes until soft. Set aside with mushrooms.
  • Sauté ground beef and pork, stirring meat until it is minced and cooked through. Drain and put back into the pan. Add in the chicken bouillon and mix evenly. Add in mushrooms and onion mixture and mix evenly. Season with salt and pepper to taste if necessary.
  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Meanwhile, boil the cauliflower in a large pot of water for 8-11 minutes, until tender when pierced with a fork.  Drain well, press as dry as possible with paper towels.  In a blender or food processor, place cauliflower, cream cheese, and heavy cream.  Process into the consistency of mashed potatoes, seasoning with salt halfway through and adding more liquid if necessary.
  • Transfer the meat mixture into a deep casserole dish. Spread cauliflower mash over the meat and top with thin coat of freshly grated parmesan.
  • Bake for 30-40 minutes, or until parmesan is lightly golden on top.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

 

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21 Comments:

  • I loved the mashed cauliflower on top of the meat mixture. In fact, loved it so much that I made a double batch because I couldn't get enough and really wanted a thicker "mash" on the top! Looks like I have a new way to get more veggies into my kids diet!

  • OK, we installe our new range today and it took several hours longer than we thought it would. So we didn't actually eat until 10:15 !!!! But oh, it was so awesomely good! I didn't know what temperature to bake it on, so I choose 350 degrees, but hubby wanted to test the oven first, and it turned out it baked at 400 for 25 minutes — it was still awesome. Thanks, Anna.

  • just made this last night. so yummy. the meat mixture is well seasoned and the parm cheese on top of the smashed cauliflower was good. even better the next day and all my boys loved it. Thanks anna

  • Is there a reason for draining the beef stock and replacing it with chicken bouillon?

  • This comment has been removed by the author.

  • I like to drain the excess fat because it muddies the flavor to me. But feel free to experiment!

  • Hi Anna, What brand of bouillon are you using? I’ve bought the “chickn’ which isn’t chicken because it has less weird ingredients, but it doesn’t taste quite right.

    • Alison-I’ve been using a liquid chicken broth concentrate from Kitchen Accomplice that is certified gluten free. You are so right on about the weird ingredients. There are WAYYYYY too many chicken bouillons, broths, and concentrates that have weird ingredients, preservatives, and GLUTEN. Yuck. Check your labels carefully, and THEN you have to taste test to find a brand you love.

  • Omg! This was so yummy! I made it tonight and was in heaven. Shepards pie is one of my favorite dishes and I really didn’t think this would meet my expectations, but it did!!! I followed the recipe, but added more garlic, seasonings and vegetables. I wished I had made more cauliflower mash. Thank you so much for this amazing recipe!!!!!

    • That’s great to hear!! Yeah, I do so LOVE the cauliflower mash–can’t hurt to double that part of the recipe!
      xoxo
      Anna

  • Eric Wolff / Reply

    Trader Joe’s has “Savory Broth chicken Flavor” packets. 12 packets for $4. It’s gluten-free, does have a gram of sugar, and more sodium than the one recommended above. Since a recipe usually calls for a teaspoon, I think it’s a good option.

    • that’s great, Eric, thank you! I’ll check it out–I love Trader Joe’s!

  • Shelly Frantz / Reply

    Made this and loved it. It will be a staple at my house!

  • Johnna / Reply

    Anna is it 1 lb groundpork sausage? I am not a great cook so not familiar with ground pork. Thanks so excited to try this for my family

    • It’s ground pork, which you can find in the meat section of the grocer (or the butcher will grind it for you). It should be readily available. Enjoy!!

  • Thank you Anna for the easy to follow recipes. With the cauliflower shepherd pie I subed moose meat instead of beef.
    I wasn’t a big fan of the pork and moose mix but eat it anyways. I think it was because I’m not used to store bought vs. wild meat. My dad wasn’t a fan of me not following the recipe exactly when it comes to what it calls for. I told him you said we can sub out any meat we want and I didn’t have beef on hand and didn’t want to go to the store for beef. Why get store bought when we have a freezer full of wild meat to eat up?
    I did for pork and mixed it in with moose burger. I wasn’t a big fan of the pork and moose mixture but eat it anyways.
    When you’re raised on wild meat store bought meat tastes different. Especially when it’s in Alaska. Do you have any segestions for what to look for when it comes to buying store bought meat?
    I find even farm raised salmon isn’t the same as wild caught. My sister made a salmon chowder and used store farmed raised salmon and it tasted COMPLETLY DIFFERENT than when it was made with wild salmon.

    • Rachel, sounds like you have an abundance of wild meat on hand, what a blessing! As for store bought meat, I always tell people to buy the highest quality you have access to that you can afford. So that being said, if you can get wild caught fish, grass fed beef, and pastured chicken (meaning they run around in the pasture), especially from a local rancher or CSA, that’s ideal. But not everyone has access to that, and that’s okay! Like you, I now prefer the taste of wild caught and game meat.
      XOXO
      Anna

      • Rachel / Reply

        Thanks Anna for the advice. If someone put out a plate of whild caught salmon and farm raised I’d mostly likely be able to tell you which one is which just by the taste. Nothing can beat a fresh caught salmon or freshly ground burger. Not even the store bought meat!!

  • Ashley / Reply

    How much liquid broth would I use for this if not using the bouloin cube? I didn’t see measurements for the liquid anywhere.

    • The bouillon is only for seasoning, so you can just use extra salt!

  • This dish is AMAZING!!!
    Thanks Anna for the sneaky veggie topping. For any of you NSNG go getters a note for this recipe I’ve found helpful is sub out the heavy cream for whole milk and add it as you mix the cauliflower. A 1/4 cup will not be enough to moisten the cauliflower.

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