This meat and veggie-filled Sweet Potato Shepherd’s Pie is the perfect healthy comfort food and easy weeknight dinner! Filled with lean ground turkey, veggies, and cheese, then topped with creamy mashed sweet potatoes and butternut squash, it’s meal-prep friendly and freezes beautifully.
Why You’ll this Love Sweet Potato Shepherd’s Pie Recipe
I love love love sweet potatoes. And sweet potato fries? The best. So that got me thinking, why not make a Shepherd’s Pie with mashed sweet potatoes? Which then got me thinking even more. What about a Shepherd’s Pie with mashed sweet potatoes and butternut squash?
Yes, yes, and yes! This was going to be the best thing ever.
Anyway, seriously, this is one of my all-time favorite recipes. The combination of flavors from the butternut squash and sweet potato mash, smoke and spice from the adobo sauce, and mild mozzarella cheese make this a unique casserole – in the most fabulous way possible! I opted for lean ground turkey and spiced it up with chipotle chilis in adobo sauce. The result is delicious and surprisingly healthy comfort food that will warm you up from the inside out. Plus, leftovers are fantastic, it freezes well and is easily modified to suit your own personal tastes and preferences.
What is traditional Shepherd’s Pie made of?
Shepherd’s Pie is traditionally filled with ground or minced meat (typically lamb and vegetables, topped with mashed potatoes, and baked inside a pie or pastry crust).
Try my traditional Shepherd’s Pie Recipe.
How to Make Sweet Potato Shepherd’s Pie
Cook the chopped sweet potatoes in a large pot of boiling water until they are so tender that they nearly fall apart. You may also cook your sweet potatoes in the oven, using Instant Pot, or use leftover cooked sweet potatoes. Strain the cooked sweet potatoes in a large colander and transfer them back to the pot. Add the pureed butternut squash, milk, butter, sour cream, and salt to the cooked sweet potatoes. Mash with a potato masher or immersion blender until smooth and creamy.
Note: If your butternut squash is not previously pureed, chop it into 1-inch pieces and boil them along with the potatoes.
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
Add the olive oil to a large saute pan over medium-high heat. Cook the ground turkey until fully cooked, breaking it into small pieces. Remove the ground turkey from the pan and set aside.
In the same saute pan over medium-high heat, add one tablespoon of olive oil to your pan. Saute the chopped onion, minced garlic, and grated ginger. Then add the mushrooms, peas, corn, and carrots. Finally, stir in the chopped chipotle chilis, adobo sauce, Worcestershire sauce, and the pre-cooked ground turkey.
Creating a well in the middle of your pan, whisk the flour with the juices from the veggies and meat. Then, slowly whisk the chicken broth with the flour paste and mix in the tomato paste. Allow the meat and vegetable mixture to simmer on low, stirring occasionally.
Lightly spray a large casserole dish with non-stick cooking spray. First, pour the meat and vegetable mixture into the bottom of the dish and top it with a layer of mozzarella cheese. Next, carefully spread the sweet potato/butternut squash mash evenly over the top of the cheese.
Bake until potatoes turn golden and start to bubble at the corners. Serve and enjoy!
Ingredient Substitutions
- Ground turkey: Try ground or minced beef, lamb, or chicken.
- Chipotle chiles: You may use chipotle powder instead (start with 1-2 teaspoons) or omit it if you’re sensitive to spicy foods.
- Adobo sauce: Reduce by half if you’re sensitive to spicy foods.
- Mozzarella cheese: Pepper Jack, Monterey Jack, or Cheddar cheese are all great melting cheeses.
- Sweet potatoes: Regular potatoes
- Butternut squash: Pumpkin puree or additional sweet potato.
Storage and Freezing
Keep leftovers stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. Reheat in the oven or in the microwave until warm.
To freeze, allow it to cool, then cover it tightly, and transfer it to the freezer for up to 2-3 months. Cook from frozen for approximately one hour or so.
What to Serve with Sweet Potato Shepherd’s Pie
This Shepherd’s Pie is a balanced meal all on its own, but sometimes I’ll serve it with thick slices of fresh bread, honey-glazed carrots, or a small tomato salad.
More Casserole Recipes
- Breakfast Casserole
- Chicken Broccoli Rice Casserole
- Tuna Noodle Casserole
- Cheesy Cauliflower Bake
- Zucchini Casserole
If you try making this Sweet Potato Shepherd’s Pie Recipe, please leave me a comment below! I always love to read your thoughts and feedback!
RECIPE CARD
Sweet Potato Shepherd’s Pie
Ingredients
Filling
- 1 lb. ground turkey
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 large yellow onion - chopped
- 6 cloves garlic - minced
- 1 tablespoon fresh ginger - grated
- 10 oz. mushrooms - cleaned and sliced
- ½ cup frozen peas
- ½ cup frozen corn
- ½ cup shredded carrots
- 2 chipotle chilies - chopped (more if you love heat)
- 2 tablespoon adobo sauce - you can always add more later
- 1 teaspoon worcestershire sauce
- 2 tablespoon flour
- 1.25 cups chicken broth - more if needed
- 3 teaspoon tomato paste
- Mozzarella cheese - shredded
Topping
- ½ cups butternut squash puree
- 3 medium sweet potatoes - peeled and chopped into large cubes
- ½ cup milk - unsweetened
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 3 tablespoon sour cream
- salt to taste
Instructions
- Fill a large pot with water and add the chopped sweet potatoes. Over high heat, bring water to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer the potatoes until fork tender and nearly falling apart. Remove from heat and drain water using a large strainer. Return potatoes to the same pot and add the pureed butternut squash, milk, butter, sour cream and salt. Mash with a potato masher until smooth and creamy. Set aside.
- note: if you’re butternut squash is not previously pureed, simply peel, seed and chop your butternut squash into 1-inch pieces and boil them along with the potatoes.
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
- Add one tablespoon of olive oil to a large saute pan and heat over medium-high heat. Add the ground turkey and a dash of salt and pepper. Continue to cook over medium heat until fully cooked. Remove from heat and set aside.
- In the same saute pan over medium-high heat, add 1 tablespoon of olive oil to your pan. Add the chopped onion and saute for 1-2 minutes. Turn down heat to medium-low and add the minced garlic and grated ginger. Mix the garlic and ginger with the onions and saute for an additional minute or so. Now mix in the mushrooms, peas, corn and carrots and cook for 5-7 minutes. Stir in the chopped chipotle chilis, adobo sauce and worcestershire sauce, as well as the pre-cooked ground turkey. Mix well.
- Creating a well in the middle of your pan, whisk in the flour with the juices from the veggies and meat. Once a paste is formed, slowly whisk the chicken broth in with the flour paste and finally mix in the tomato paste. Mix everything together well. Allow meat and vegetable mixture to simmer on low for 10 minutes or so, stirring occasionally.
- Lightly spray a large casserole dish with non-stick cooking spray. First pour the meat and vegetable mixture into the bottom of the dish and top with a layer of mozzarella cheese (I probably used 2 cups because I love cheese). Carefully spread the sweet potato/butternut squash mash evenly over the top of the cheese. Use a fork to scrape the top of the potatoes to make ridges.
- Bake for 25 minutes, or until potatoes turn golden and start to bubble at the corners. Allow it to cook for 10 minutes before serving.
Nutritional Information
(Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and specific brands of ingredients used.)
Just curious but the half cup unsweeted milk are you saying use evaporated milk or is my 2% milk good to use??
2% is fine 🙂
I’ve made this twice now and it’s a big hit. It’s delicious! I don’t like ground turkey so I use extra lean ground beef.
I gave it a 5 star rating because the flavours are amazing, but I take issue with the prep time of 20 minutes. I believe it could be mislead8ng to someone trying the recipe. Without help, I don’t think you can peel chop and cook sweet potatoes then measure the other ingredients and mash them with the butternut squash. Then chop an onion, mince garlic, grate ginger, grate cheese, grate carrot, chop chipotle peppers, measure out flour, tomato paste, and broth in 20 minutes. I’m an experienced home cook and it took me a lot longer, even beginning the prep while the sweet potatoes were cooking.
That being said I’ll make it again!! I’ll just make sure to plan ahead and have plenty of time.
I searched online for butternut squash and turkey shepherd’s pie and your pretty picture lured me here! I love the design you made on top and I’m intrigued by the ginger and chipotle chilies in adobo. I now know what I’m making for dinner, of course with a pretty design on top! Thank you!
I’m going to be trying this soon, minus the spicy ingredients (my mom can’t tolerate black pepper, much less adobo sauce or chipotle chilies! ) But it’s easy ingredients to omit. I may riff on it with homemade bbq sauce.
Thanks for the recipe!
Thanks for posting this recipe. I’ve just used the bit for the mashed sweet potato and butternut, to top a ground beef and ground turkey chilli I made. I’ll be trying your full recipe soon! Sounds delicious! X