Looking for a one dish meal to solve your dinner rush on a busy night? Is your crockpot gathering dust on the countertop while your hours spent cooking dinner are taking away from precious family time? Putting the crockpot to work can add more time in the evenings to spend with the children. One of the easiest meals to make is crockpot shepherd's pie.
Easy shepherds pie can be made by preparing the ground beef casserole in the crock pot. Whether using up leftover meat and potatoes or starting the crock pot casserole from scratch, this dish is sure to be a crowd pleaser. The slow cooker meal is a good choice for an office potluck, a meal after a night time ballgame, or to drop off for a new mom or a sick friend.
This one dish meal primarily uses ground beef for a meat but can be made with sausage, ground pork, turkey, or chicken. Crockpot Shepherd's Pie can be made with a variety of vegetables. Using a pack of mixed frozen vegetables works well or sauteed or canned vegetables can be used.
How to Make Crockpot Shepherd’s Pie with Sausage
Shepherd’s Pie is a versatile recipe which can use different types of meat. This video features a recipe which begins with browned ground sausage. Another suggestion made in this recipe can be a time reducing tip. The cook uses a store bought package of mashed potatoes in lieu of making her own. Using a prepared food item like the potatoes allows the bulk of the casserole to be cooked in the crockpot during the day, and the potatoes to be added at the end of the day if they are not available when the casserole is assembled.
Step 1: Crockpot Shepherd’s Pie Ingredients
- 3 cups mashed potatoes
- 1 pound lean ground beef
- salt, pepper, garlic powder to taste
- 1/2 cup chopped onion
- 1 can condensed cream of mushroom soup
- 1 can small green peas, drained
- shredded cheddar cheese, for topping
Step 2: Layering the Shepherd’s Pie in the Crockpot
- Brown ground beef with onion, salt, pepper, and garlic powder.
- Drain fat.
- Mix in mushroom soup and pour into greased crockpot
- Empty drained peas into pot over ground beef mixture
- Cover with mashed potatoes
- Cook on low for 4 to 6 hours
- Top with cheese for last 30 minutues.
Step 3: Crockpot Shepherd’s Pie Variations
- Shepherds Pie can be made with a tomato base with the meat.http://www.mealsmatter.org/recipes-meals/recipe/37410
- In place of the green peas, use frozen vegetables.http://wonderouswifey.blogspot.com/2009/10/shepherds-pie-crockpot-style.html
- Convert a regular Chicken Shepherd’s Pie to a crock pot recipe by decreasing the liquid in the chicken mix.http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,1739,150180-233195,00.html
- Diabetic versions of Shepherd’s Pie recipes sometimes use a cornmeal mix in place of the potatoes.http://fooddownunder.com/cgi-bin/recipe.cgi?r=125565
References
Fast Facts
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Substitutes
Use corn instead of green peas
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Meat Choice
Any ground meat can be used - beef, pork, sausage, turkey
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Soup Flavor
For a change of pace, use tomato soup with green beans for the vegetable
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Crockpot Tip
Use a crockpot liner for easy clean up
