Beef and Lentil Shepherd's Pie Recipe | Nutritious Comfort Food! (2024)

This Beef and Lentil Shepherd’s Pie is big time comfort food!I took a tasty twist on the traditional filling by adding lentils, barley and lots of veggies. I’m all about simple cooking with nutritional impact, and lentils in particular, pack a punch of protein, fiber and minerals.

I discovered my love for lentils at a food conference a few years agowhen I sawhow versatile theywere. (That’s why I’m so happy to be working with Canadian Lentils on this #LoveALentil campaign. Their lentil quesadillasamples changed my life.)

Lentils cango way beyond the soups and stews, y’all. Think salads, smoothies and even desserts! But for now,they’re going into this yummy beef and lentil shepherd’s pie recipe, andit’s delicious!

Try my chicken Mexi-bowl recipe with lentils too!

The lentils you see most often on grocery store shelves are whole green lentils and split red lentils. Split lentils have their seed coat removed, and the inner part of the lentil has been split in half. Here’s a pic of the lentils in my pantry, so you can see the difference in thickness. (It takes split lentils about half the time to cook.)

Pssst, packaged lentils should be stored in airtight containers in a dry, dark cool location (like in a pantry or on a cupboard shelf) for up to a year.

Lentils are simple to cook (rinse, simmer, serve), but here’s a tip to make preparation even easier. You can puree and freeze lentils in specific quantities, so the next time you need some for a recipe, just thaw out the needed portion. Smart, right?

I love them becausein spite of their tiny size, there’s a whopping amount of protein and fiber. In a 100 gram serving of whole green lentils, there are 26 grams of protein, and in the same size serving of split red lentils, there are 18 grams of fiber.

Now you can see why I used them in my shepherd’s pie recipe. Lentils don’t mess around!

To make the filling for the beef and lentil shepherd’s pie, I sauteed some carrots, onion and garlic, and separately browned some ground beef.

I added everythingtoa big stockpot along with beef broth, lentils, barley, tomatoes, peas, corn and seasonings and let all those flavors simmer together for 30-40 minutes.

While that was simmering, I made some homemade mashed potatoes for the topping.

The filling wentinto the bottom of a large casserole dish.

And the mashed potatoes were smoothed over the top.

The whole shebang went into the oven for 30 minutes.

I stuck mine under the broiler for just a couple minutes at the end to brown the potatoes too, and then I let the mealsit on the counter for about 15 minutes before serving.

It was oh, so yummy!

Tip: Individual servingscan be frozen and reheated.

Beef and Lentil Shepherd’s Pie

I hope this beef and lentil shepherd’s pie recipe gets you thinking about all the possibilities of cooking with lentils. They’re easy to cook and eat, heart-smart and rich in nutrition —perfect additions to your pantry!

What are your favorite lentil recipes?