We’re excited to introduce you to one of our fellow low carb bloggers, Tiffany of That’s Low Carb?!. She’s bringing us an awesome, Low Carb Shepherd’s Pie using some wholesome, delicious ingredients. This pie/casserole combo may be low in carbs but it’s full of flavor. You and your family are bound to love it. Enjoy!
Keto Comfort Food!
Shepherd’s Pie originated in the UK as a means of using up leftover meats. Traditionally, Shepherd’s Pie is made with ground lamb and Cottage Pie is made with ground beef.
I’m not a fan of either, so I opted for ground turkey. But the meats in this dish are truly interchangeable. If you have a preference one way or the other, any of those meats will work with this recipe.
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Shepherd’s Pie is a hearty, filling and comforting food on a cold fall or winter evening. Even though this low carb version is made with riced cauliflower instead of mashed potatoes, it’s still incredibly satisfying. You don’t need a ton of this to feel full. It will pair nicely with a salad or some cooked greens and travels well as a “leftovers-lunch” the next day.
The trick with the topping is to make sure that the cauliflower has no water in it. I purchase mine frozen and then simply microwave without any water. But if you purchase it raw or rice it yourself at home in your food processor, you will most likely end up cooking it in water.
If you go this route, you’ll want to drain the water off and then transfer the cauliflower to a piece of cheesecloth folded over a few times for a “finer mesh”. Wring out as much of the water as you can. This finished dish will have a bit of liquid in the bottom anyway, so you don’t want to add more by leaving water in your cauliflower.
This freezes well and will keep in the freezer for up to 3 months or in the fridge for up to 3 days (before baking). After baking, it will keep in the fridge for up to 5 days.
This is a wonderful dish to make ahead of time. Prep it on the weekend and bake it on a busy weeknight!
If you love shepherd’s pie, then you’ve got to try the keto shepherd’s pie from Primal Edge Health. Topped with cauliflower mash and melted cheese, it is a fun take on this delicious recipe!
Servings: people |
- 1/4 cup oil
- 1 lb ground turkey, lamb or beef
- 1/4 cup yellow onion (chopped)
- 3 cloves garlic (minced)
- 1/2 cup celery (chopped)
- 1 cup tomatoes (chopped)
- 2 12 oz. packages riced cauliflower (cooked and well drained)
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1 cup shredded cheese
- 1/4 cup grated parmesan
- 1 tsp dried thyme
- Warm the oil in a large skillet.
- To the warm pan, add the ground meat, onions, garlic, and celery. Sauté until the meat is fully browned.
- Turn off the heat and quickly stir in the tomatoes. Transfer mixture to a casserole dish approximately 10x7 inches.
- In a food processor, blend together the cauliflower, cream, cheeses and thyme until you have a mixture that more closely resembles mashed potatoes than riced cauliflower.
- Spread the cauliflower over the meat in the casserole dish.
- Bake at 350°F for 35-40 minutes.
- Cool slightly, cut and serve.
Author Bio
Tiffany McCauley blogs about low carb cooking and recipes at ThatsLowCarb.com. She focuses on easy-to-make recipes that use real food ingredients. She lives in beautiful Sonoma County with her son, 2 dogs and 1 grumpy cat. You can find her on Facebook and Pinterest as well.
Loved this recipe? Let us know! Something didn’t quite turn out right? Ask us in the comments below or contact us– we respond to comments every day and would love to hear from you and help you out! And check out all our low carb dinners to learn to make more delicious and healthy meals!
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Thanks for the recipe – I make Shepherd’s Pie every year for St. Patrick’s Day (i am not a fan of corned beef – it’s not traditional in Ireland anyway!) I made a few modifications to your recipe (because I found an awesome recipe a few years ago and figured I could try to mash the two)
I reduced the oil to 1 tbsp and added an a tbsp. of butter (Kerrygold, of course!), I also took out the cup of tomatoes and replaced it with 2 tbsp of tomato paste (adds a nice richness to the beef). I increased the onion to one whole yellow onion and added a tsp. of black pepper. Other additions are 1 tbsp of Worcestershire sauce, 1/2 cup of chicken stock, 1 tbsp of Xanthum gum and a glass (3.5 oz) of red wine.
The rest (cauliflower mash) remains the same as your recipe.
Total calories: 398; 8g of carbs, 28g of fat and 22g of protein
Hi Tami, great add-ons! Just an FYI, I plugged the recipe with your changes into the MyFitnessPal recipe nutrition calculator. I halved the butter and oil and added cayenne pepper. So with less butter and oil and the addition of 1/2 tsp of cayenne (3 calories) I get the following nutritional breakdown per serving: 556 calories, 12g carbs, 44g fat and 22g protein. I know there should be some slight variances based on brand, but I think yours and Vicky’s are a bit low on the calorie counts. Since the calculator likely gives total carbs, your net carbs are probably more accurate. I did double the recipe, but I also doubled the number of servings so that shouldn’t be a factor.
what happens with the heavy cream?
It’s added in step 4!
I live in Canada and can get it at my local Walmart. However I choose just to make my own. So much cheaper. All you have to do is grate it with a box grater.
Hello, Can you freeze before baking? If so, do you have to thaw before popping into the oven and how long do you need to bake for if you can bake from frozen?
Thanks
Hi Andrea, I’m not sure, I’ve never tried freezing these! Hopefully, someone can let you know if they’ve tried that.
I just made this but also made individual servings and froze them in cupcake papers. 1 minute in the microwave and it was perfect.
Throw your own cauliflower into a food processor, it’s a lot cheaper than buying the ready riced stuff. I do this and often freeze it in batches. There are lots of recipes you can make with it too!
I live in Canada. I have never heard of rice cauliflower, do you know if is available here.
I’m not totally sure, it’s a relatively new product here in the States. You can make your own, though! Just toss some cauliflower florets in your food processor and pulse them until they resemble rice grains. You can also shred the cauliflower using a cheese grater.
You can get it at Costco as far as I know.. in case you haven’t found it yet :S
I’m in Canada and we can now get it at Walmart and grocery stores 🙂