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Low-Carb Shepherd’s Pie – with Cauliflower Mash

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Low-carb shepherd’s pie was one of the first family meals I converted to a low-carb version. In fact, many family recipes can easily be adapted, as it is usually the side dishes or accompaniments that are high carb.

So if you can do without the bread, potatoes, pasta and rice, you’re already on the right track.

Low-carb shepherd's pie with a cheesy cauliflower crust is an absolute low-carb family staple. #lowcarb #familydinner #healthydinner #casserole #glutenfree #keto #mashedcauliflower

Low-Carb Shepherd’s Pie

A low-carb shepherd’s pie topped with simple mashed cauliflower and cheese is a great healthy winter dish. It only takes 20 minutes of preparation while the oven is warming up and the cauliflower mash is made while the mince is cooking away.

Low-carb shepherd's pie with a cheesy cauliflower crust is an absolute low-carb family staple.Click To Tweet

Packed with tomatoes, carrots and cauliflower, served with more vegetables, and your children won’t realise just how much they have just devoured. To encourage my children to eat their veggies, I always have some type of healthy fat on the table such as grated/shredded cheese, butter or cream cheese.

It just makes eating vegetables so more appealing to children and aids the absorption of the fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E and K.

Low-carb shepherd's pie with a cheesy cauliflower crust is an absolute low-carb family staple. | ditchthecarbs.com

Low-carb shepherd's pie with a cheesy cauliflower crust is an absolute low-carb family staple. | ditchthecarbs.com
4.22 from 85 votes
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Low Carb Shepherd's Pie - with Cauliflower Mash

A winter family winning meal - low carb Shepherd's pie with cauliflower mash. Everyone loves this one.

Course Dinner
Cuisine Gluten Free, Grain free, Keto, LCHF, Low Carb, No Sugars, Wheat Free
Keyword Low-carb shepherds pie
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Total Time 50 minutes
Servings 5 servings
Calories 475 kcal

Ingredients

Shepherd's Pie

  • Extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 onion diced
  • 500 g mince/ground lamb or beef
  • 2 cloves garlic crushed
  • 400 g tinned/canned chopped tomatoes
  • 60 ml beef stock
  • 3 carrots grated/shredded

Cauliflower Mash Topping

  • 1 small cauliflower cut into pieces
  • 55 g butter
  • 30 ml double/heavy cream
  • salt/pepper to taste
  • 50 g grated/shredded cheese
Metric grams - US measurements

Instructions

Shepherd's Pie

  1. Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan and fry the onion and garlic until cooked, but not browned.

  2. Add the lamb and stir until it is thoroughly cooked and browned.

  3. Add the beef stock, tin/can of chopped tomatoes and grated carrots (optional). Mix.

  4. Reduce the heat to a simmer. Simmer uncovered for 10 minutes while making the mashed cauliflower topping. Let the liquid evaporate so the mince thickens.

Cauliflower Topping

  1. Boil the cauliflower until soft, this takes about 8-10 minutes.
  2. Drain and allow ALL the steam to escape. Too much water left in the saucepan will make a 'sloppy' mash.
  3. Add the butter, salt, pepper and cream. Using a stick blender with a blade attachment, puree until smooth.

To Assemble.

  1. Place the shepherd's pie mince/ground meat mix in the bottom of a large casserole dish. Top with the cauliflower mash then sprinkle on the cheese.
  2. Put the casserole dish on a baking try to catch any liquid that may bubble over.
  3. Bake at 180C/350F for 20 minutes and until the cheese is browned.
Nutrition Facts
Low Carb Shepherd's Pie - with Cauliflower Mash
Amount Per Serving (1 serve)
Calories 475 Calories from Fat 342
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 38g 58%
Total Carbohydrates 12g 4%
Dietary Fiber 3.4g 14%
Sugars 5g
Protein 21g 42%
Vitamin C 45%
Calcium 15%
Iron 15%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

Some other family winter meals you may like:

  • Buttery Bacon Brussels Sprouts
  • Crustless Salmon Quiche
  • Spaghetti Bolognese
Buttery bacon brussels sprouts with a hint of garlic and orange, oh my word!!! Give this one a go for sure. | ditchthecarbs.com
Crustless Salmon Quiche is grain free, gluten free, wheat free and low carb. With dill and cream cheese it is a beautiful dish for dinner, or cold for lunch the next day. It is low carb and a slice of deliciousness. | ditchthecarbs.com
What are zoodles? Click to see an easy recipe for low carb, gluten free, wheat free spaghetti bolognese which is incredibly healthy, fresh and nutritious. #lowcarb #sugarfre #glutenfree | ditchthecarbs.com

Low-carb shepherd's pie with a cheesy cauliflower crust is an absolute low-carb family staple. | ditchthecarbs.com

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Comments

  1. Cathy B says

    October 15, 2018 at 10:01 am

    Hi Libby
    Please can you confurm that 500g of mince is for 8 portions ?
    Thanks

    Reply
    • Libby www.ditchthecarbs.com says

      October 16, 2018 at 1:23 pm

      Hi Cathy, thanks for pointing this out. No, in fact, it should only serve 5. I have recalculated the nutrition. I’m not sure how the 5 turned into an 8. Apologies. And thanks for keeping me on my toes!

      Reply
  2. Candice says

    September 27, 2018 at 12:16 pm

    Wow! This turned out so tasty!! I was pleasantly surprised that it’s way better than “regular” Shepard’s Pie recipes I’ve made for my family. Since going Keto a few months ago I am always looking for low carb options of our familiar family meals. This one did not disappoint! It was full of flavor, filling, and a welcomed change from another chicken meal. I did not change a thing, made the recipe as is and it was delicious. This will be in regular dinner rotation in my household for sure!! Thanks for this amazing recipe 🙂

    Reply
  3. Theresa says

    September 15, 2018 at 3:08 am

    What is the cholesterol level in this? I want to make it but have to watch me cholesterol.

    Thanks

    Reply
  4. Julie says

    June 29, 2018 at 2:53 am

    Hi Libby, love the idea and it sounds all positive. What alternative would I use to make it veggie. Normally I would use lentils. Any ideas?

    Reply
  5. Denise says

    February 2, 2018 at 11:42 pm

    This is great! Having made this a few times now I have found that we like it best with only one [good sized] carrot and I don’t bother with the beef stock as I never have it handy. I also add some home made pesto, [a couple of tablespoons],and 1 sachet [50 gm] of tomato paste. Letting the cauliflower steam after cooking is good advice, and if I don’t have cream I just add some extra butter. And it tastes even better the next day!

    Reply
  6. Stephen Costanzo says

    January 31, 2018 at 10:15 am

    I noticed this on your site and others, why do you say “1 small cauliflower” and “1 red onion” as opposed to giving weight? I buy organic and a ‘medium’ there is a ‘small’ non-organic. It makes it difficult to know if I can trust the nutrition data – or – if i’m even making the recipe right.

    Can this be updated in your future recipes or can you point me to a site which can help define those things? It’s very frustrating for those of us who must keep our carb counts low for medical reasons.

    Thanks

    Reply
  7. Carole says

    October 23, 2017 at 12:09 pm

    Do you freeze this before or after baking?

    Reply
    • Libby www.ditchthecarbs.com says

      October 23, 2017 at 12:15 pm

      Definitely after. It’s handy to freeze individual portions so you have a ready-meal waiting for you.

      Reply
  8. Yvonne van der Westhuizen says

    August 5, 2017 at 5:37 pm

    Hi Libby. I want to make the cottage pie.
    Thing Is, where I live i can’t find double/ thick cream.
    Any suggestions on what to do?
    Love all you recipes btw.
    Thanks.

    Reply
    • Libby www.ditchthecarbs.com says

      August 8, 2017 at 11:25 am

      You may know it as heavy cream.

      Reply
    • Kathleen says

      November 16, 2018 at 2:11 pm

      I used whipping cream. Hubby loved it! And he hasn’t had Shepard’s pie in 18 years. I added a half can of diced carrots instead.

      Reply
  9. Victoria Olson says

    August 2, 2017 at 6:27 am

    Steaming the cauliflower on a steaming rack helps cut back on retained water. I then twist/squeeze it gently in a linen tea towel. I cut back on tomatoes (i use fresh halved cherry tomatoes) and carrots to lower the carbs, adding chopped celery to fill in. Thank you for sharing your recipes.

    Reply
  10. Low Carb with Jennifer says

    April 20, 2017 at 2:10 am

    Hi! I just wanted to let you know that I featured this recipe in my roundup post 14 delicious low carb recipes using cauliflower! https://jenniferbanz.com/14-delicious-low-carb-recipes-using-cauliflower

    Reply
    • Libby www.ditchthecarbs.com says

      April 24, 2017 at 12:28 pm

      Hey thanks Jennifer, this really is one of the most popular family meals here.

      Reply
  11. Mischa says

    April 6, 2017 at 12:44 am

    Just wondering how you got the 10g Carbs?? I put this in My Fitness Pal and it came up with 18g, and that was without the carrots… Don’t really want to eat this if it’s actually at the 18-20g of carbs per serving?? Thanks

    Reply
    • Libby www.ditchthecarbs.com says

      April 10, 2017 at 12:37 pm

      I avoid MyFitnessPal, it is so inaccurate. I use cronometer.com and advise readers to calculate using the brand they have cooked with as they can vary so widely. The carbs are coming from the vegetables such as cauliflower, tomatoes and carrots. 18-20g sounds way off. I’d check to make sure you have divided by the number of servings.

      Reply
  12. Kathy says

    March 31, 2017 at 7:13 am

    Could I substitute maybe broccoli for the carrots ? I know it would change the carb count but carrots have a lot of natural sugar in them. I am trying to watch my blood sugar levels.

    Reply
    • Libby www.ditchthecarbs.com says

      March 31, 2017 at 12:54 pm

      Sure thing, that would certainly reduce the carbs and keep happy stable blood sugars. I keep them in for the authentic look and taste for my children.

      Reply
      • Mike says

        March 18, 2018 at 1:54 pm

        I completely skipped the carrots and it’s still great

        Reply
  13. Lori says

    March 27, 2017 at 6:09 am

    Is that 10 net carbs in one serving?

    Reply
    • Libby www.ditchthecarbs.com says

      March 27, 2017 at 3:17 pm

      It is 10g total carbs, 3.2g fibre = 6.8g net carbs per serving.

      Reply
  14. Kim says

    January 30, 2017 at 3:27 pm

    My son said “mom, this is good!” And my daughter is actually eating it, cauliflower and all! Thanks Libby!

    Reply
  15. Shari says

    January 29, 2017 at 4:38 am

    Can you lower the fat with a substitute for the heavy cream??

    Reply
    • Libby www.ditchthecarbs.com says

      January 31, 2017 at 1:07 pm

      You could, but I love the full fat for flavour and to keep me fuller for longer. Read here why we are higher healthy fat.

      Reply
  16. France says

    November 9, 2016 at 12:56 pm

    Delicious…. Loved it, will do this on a regular basis, definitely a keeper. You can’t tell it’s not potatoes… Thanks for sharing.

    Reply
  17. Alice says

    October 28, 2016 at 3:18 am

    My family we do everything but we use tomato sauce. My mother always made it that way and would add green beans. Just another way to try. It’s very good. I make my own sauce. Less salt and sugar.

    Reply
  18. Avril Collins Martinez says

    October 14, 2016 at 1:39 am

    Oh goodness, how can you put garlic in this quintessential British dish!! No no no!!!

    Reply
    • Jenna says

      September 8, 2017 at 7:12 am

      When an Italian wants to pretend to be British 😉 the more garlic the better!!

      Reply
    • Lisa Margarete says

      November 22, 2017 at 6:55 am

      because it’s healthy and adds flavour – if it improves the original recipe why not?

      Reply
  19. Tim says

    September 24, 2016 at 6:55 pm

    This looks amazing! Does it keep and reheat?

    Reply
    • Libby www.ditchthecarbs.com says

      September 26, 2016 at 4:31 pm

      Oh yeah! I can absolutely vouch for this one. Every time I buy more and more meat to make a bigger and bigger batch as my children LOVE this for breakfast. They reheat a bowl in the microwave and wolf it down.

      Reply
  20. Stef says

    August 26, 2016 at 11:16 am

    Absolutely amazing recipe, definitely a hit at my house! Thanks a bunch 🙂

    Reply
  21. Kymberly says

    August 12, 2016 at 2:36 am

    if you omitted the carrots and tin tomatoes what would the net carbs be?

    Reply
    • Karen says

      September 23, 2016 at 4:11 am

      There are a LOT of nutritional calorie/carb counting sites and programs online. Just Google them 🙂

      Reply
  22. Martina says

    May 31, 2016 at 10:14 pm

    OMG I love it. Added some nutmeg to cauliflower….

    Reply
  23. Linda says

    March 15, 2016 at 5:31 am

    This sounds amazing! Will definitely try 🙂

    Reply
  24. Julie Hawkes says

    December 13, 2015 at 6:20 am

    Shepherd’s Pie, my husband’s favourite dish! Understandably I was nervous to mess with it by making it LCHF, but hey, I did it anyway. I made it exactly as your recipe stated, he said it was beautiful. Thanks

    Reply
    • Libby www.ditchthecarbs.com says

      December 15, 2015 at 9:12 am

      Yay!!! I love shepherds pie and knew I had to make our family favourites in a new way for LCHF to be sustainable forever for us. Hence you see so many of our family favourites on my site. You might like the spaghetti bolognese with zoodles too.

      Reply
  25. Lindsay says

    October 8, 2015 at 7:16 am

    This was incredible! But aren’t the carrots fairly high in sugar?

    Reply
    • Libby www.ditchthecarbs.com says

      October 8, 2015 at 10:40 pm

      Yes and generally I wouldn’t recommend them to anyone who really needs to monitor their carbs strictly for weight loss or a health issue, but for many of my family meals, I don’t want my children to feel there is any vegetable that is out of bounds for them. My focus for them is whole foods and no processed carbs, with me monitoring their quantity of starchy vegetables. I hope that makes sense.

      Reply
      • Lindsay says

        October 16, 2015 at 1:57 pm

        Yeah that makes sense – but is it still only 7.6g of carbs? That seems low with all those carrots in there. Normally I wouldn’t worry about it too much, but I am trying to stay below 30g/day as I’m just starting low carb.

        Reply
        • Libby www.ditchthecarbs.com says

          October 16, 2015 at 6:35 pm

          Hi Lindsay, there are only 3 carrots and this makes a huge shepherds pie, serving 6-8. So in reality it is only less than half a carrot per person. You can omit this easily, it’s not necessary, I just like to sneak in extra veggies where I can for my children.

          Reply
          • Lindsay says

            October 17, 2015 at 3:33 am

            I think maybe my carrots were really big or something. I did only put in one. Thanks for all your replies!

  26. Ray says

    October 7, 2015 at 7:46 am

    Made it today. Very tasty and pleasing to the eye. I live alone so have frozen the remaining portions. I’ve previously frozen traditional cottage pie with good results and see no reason why this shouldn’t be similar.

    Reply
  27. HarryB says

    February 25, 2015 at 1:38 am

    Love shepherd’s Pie. Tasty recipe. I used homemade beef stock, as Oxo cubes contain wheat.

    Reply
  28. carla says

    November 3, 2014 at 5:16 am

    Have you ever tried freezing it? If yes, how did you reheat it?

    Reply
    • Libby www.ditchthecarbs.com says

      November 3, 2014 at 10:07 am

      I have never tried freezing it, we usually eat the leftovers the next day. If you do freeze it, I would reheat in the oven, once defrosted, for 20 minutes at 180C.

      Reply
  29. Jamila says

    October 11, 2014 at 5:08 pm

    I have made this several times for my family, even the little ones eat it. Very worth the effort, good comfort food and so healthy

    Reply
    • Libby www.ditchthecarbs.com says

      October 11, 2014 at 8:34 pm

      Great to hear! Thanks Jamila.

      Reply

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