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Quick & Easy Vegan Shepherd’s Pie
Hi friends! This is one of my favourite vegan recipes ever – my quick and easy vegan shepherd’s pie (with no lentils)! This plant-based shepherd’s pie is comforting and sooooo delicious! If you’re looking for a vegan shepherd’s pie but want a recipe that is easy and simple, this recipe is the one!
This recipe is part of the everyday plant-based series.

General
- Creates: 6-9 serves
- Dietary: V | VG | NF | can be made gluten-free
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 60 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 10 minutes
Ingredients
Vegan Shepherd’s Pie Filling
- 3 cups frozen mixed vegetables (I used carrots, cauliflower, peas and broccoli)
- 3/4 cup soy mince*
- 1/3 cup tomato passata
- 1/4 cup soy sauce
- 1 tbsp maple syrup
- 1 brown onion, finely diced
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 tsp dried thyme
- 2 cups vegetable stock
- 1 tsp arrowroot powder (or cornstarch)
- 2 tsp water
Mashed Potato Topping
- Yellow potatoes
- 3 tbsp vegan butter
- Salt and pepper, to taste
- Garnish: chopped parsley
Directions
Mashed Potato Topping
Cook the potatoes first and while it’s cooking, start on the filling.
- Boil potatoes for 20-30 minutes until tender.
- Drain and return the potatoes to the pot to steam dry.
- Transfer to a large mixing bowl and mash. Add butter and season with salt and pepper.
- Cover partially and set it aside.
Vegan Shepherd’s Pie Filling
- Pre-heat oven to 200 deg C. Grease a baking dish with some butter or olive oil.
- In a large pan over medium heat, sauté onions and garlic until soft and fragrant. Add in dried thyme and sauté for a few minutes.
- Add in vegetable stock and soy mince (you don’t have to soak it before hand). Stir to combine.
- Cook for 6-8 minutes until the soy mince is soft. Add in tomato, soy sauce and maple syrup. Adjust to taste.
- Turn down the heat to simmer for 10-15 minutes. Mix in frozen veggies and cook for another 10 minutes.
- Mix arrowroot powder and water together in a separate bowl and pour it into the pan. Stir well. Add more arrowroot and water (1:2 ratio) if you want the sauce to have a thicker consistency. (Since I didn’t add a lot of vegetable stock, I found this to be sufficient)
- Transfer the filling into the baking tray and spread it out evenly.
- Spread over the mash potatoes on top. I like to leave it on the rougher/unrefined side to give it a rustic look – this makes it easier to also get the golden browned crust look when baked.
- Place the tray in the oven for 25-30 minutes. In the last 10 minutes, move the tray to the top rack to create the golden crust look.
- When done, remove from oven and garnish over some parsley.
Happy eating! x
Notes
*You can sub the soy mince with lentils if you prefer more vegetables or wholefoods
Additional notes:
- To make it gluten-free: use GF soy sauce or tamari
How to Make it Whole Foods
At Embody Nourish, we promote a plant-based diet that comprise mainly of whole foods. This means no oil (even ‘healthy’ oils such as coconut or olive oil), refined or processed foods. However we understand that this ideal is not yet mainstream so we strive to accomodate everyone while encouraging small changes.
You can make this vegan shepherd’s pie more whole foods by:
- Using lentils instead of soy mince
- Omitting or reducing the maple syrup (or use date syrup or yacon syrup instead)
- Omitting or reducing the vegan butter