The British classic gets a vegetarian makeover with mushrooms and cauliflower. The result is a delicious low carb vegetarian shepherd's pie recipe that the whole family will love!
This post was originally sponsored by Australian Mushroom Growers Association. It has since been updated.
Shepherd's pie was a classic that many households in Australia and Britain grew up with and started as a way for people to make left-over scraps of meat and vegetables into a delicious meal.
As with so many peasant dishes, it is hard to beat in terms of flavour.
In my vegan shepherd's pie recipe I've used mushrooms in place of meat. If you're a regular reader you'll know I love mushrooms.
Not only are they amazingly versatile, they are also good for you as well.
And this month I'm working with Australian Mushroom Growers Association to promote mushrooms as a wonderful food for heart health.
While the health benefits of mushrooms are a plus, they are always a staple in our house because of their delicious versatility.
It's funny to think that my once mushroom hating husband now regularly requests mushroom meals such as my mushroom quinoa burgers, vegan mushroom alfredo and mushroom soup.
Continuing the makeover of my vegan shepherd's pie I've used cauliflower in place of potato, which works hand in hand with mushrooms healthy heart benefits.
It also makes this a wonderful low-carb dish that is significantly less stodgy than the original.
Be sure to check out the Power of Mushrooms website from the Australian Mushroom Growers Association for more amazing recipes and ideas for using fresh mushrooms!
More Tasty Recipes
This Vegan Shepherd's Pie makes a fantastic meatless dish for Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner.
If you love this recipe, you may also want to check out these delicious ideas:
If you're here planning your holiday menu, don't miss our new Vegan Christmas and Vegan Thanksgiving cookbooks. They're packed with all my favorite holiday-worthy recipes for a plant-based feast.
📖 Recipe
Ingredients
- 650 g cauliflower, (1 ½ pounds)
- 2 tbs olive oil
- 1 onion, diced
- 2 medium sized carrots, peeled and diced
- 1 celery stalk, diced
- 3 cloves garlic, chopped
- 10 g dried wild mushrooms, reconstituted in 2 ½ tbs boiling water (⅓ oz)
- 500 g mushrooms, diced (1 pound)
- 1 tbs thyme leaves, roughly chopped
- 1 tbs tomato paste
- ¼ cup red wine
- 1 cup vegetable stock
- salt and pepper, to taste
- 2 tbs olive oil
- 3 tablespoon nutritional yeast
- 1 tbs dijon mustard
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoon thyme leaves
- 1 pinch ground nutmeg
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 200 celsius (400 fahrenheit).
- Chop the cauliflower into roughly equal sized pieces and add to a large saucepan. Cover with water and bring to a boil. Season with salt and cook the cauliflower until tender. Drain.
- Place a large frying pan over a medium heat. Add the olive oil, onion, carrots and celery. Cook until slightly golden and caramelised. Add the mushrooms in 6 parts, making sure each batch is cooked before adding the next.
- Remove the wild mushrooms from the boiling water, reserving the water, and roughly chop. Add to the mushrooms along with the tomato paste. Increase the heat to medium-high and add the red wine. Cook until the red wine has almost evaporated before adding the mushroom soaking liquid and vegetable stock. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for 5 to 10 minutes or until roughly half of the liquid has been absorbed. Remove from the heat.
- Place the cauliflower in a food processor or high powered blender along with 2 tbs olive oil, the nutritional yeast, mustard, salt and thyme leaves. Blend until smooth and taste. Adjust seasonings as required and add the nutmeg and blend for a further minute.
- Divide the mushrooms between 4 large ramekins and top with the cauliflower mash. Bake for 20 minutes or until lightly golden.
Notes
Nutrition (estimated per serving)
Rosa says
So comforting and scrumptious! A great vegan dish.Cheers,Rosa
Nicole @ Delicious Everyday says
Thanks Rosa
Mushroom Enthusiast says
Great recipe. But then it does have my favourite superfood....
Nicole @ Delicious Everyday says
Mine too! 🙂
Christie Connelly says
Delicious Jen! Perfect for sneaking veggies into the kids too 🙂
Nicole @ Delicious Everyday says
Hehe yes, it is a great way of sneaking veggies into the kids, and adults too I suspect 😉
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ATasteOfMadness says
Whoa.. vegan shephards pie? I am seriously craving this right now!
Amanda McInerney says
Oh yum, Jen - this looks just like the real thing. I reckon I could even slip this one past my boy.
Nicole @ Delicious Everyday says
Thanks Amanda!
Neal Pearson says
Do you mean a quart, or a 1/4 cup, pint, litre or bottle of red wine? A 1/4 is meaningless as a quantity unless one knows the uniits - i.e. the whole that it's one quarter of ! Im guessing that you mean1/4 bottle unless I hear otherwise.
Nicole @ Delicious Everyday says
Sorry, for the confusion. I've updated the recipe. It should be 1/4 cup. 🙂
Arielle says
I'm so excited to try this dish. Thank you for the great great recipe! Since I don't have 4 ramekins at this time, do you think a casserole dish would work? If so, what size would you recommend? Thank you!
Nicole @ Delicious Everyday says
I'd try a 20cm (8inch) square casserole dish if you don't have ramekins. It will also take longer to cook. Simply cook until the top is lightly golden. I hope you enjoy it. Please let me know how it turns out 😀
Natalie says
Jennifer—this recipe was an absolute triumph! It was hands down the best thing I've ever cooked. The cauliflower topping was so velvety and light, yet rich, and the filling was also rich, perfectly savory and just so wonderful. The only modifications I made were omitting the wild mushrooms (as I didn't have any on hand), and adding about 2 cups of cooked lentils to the filling for some added protein and fiber. The lentils were a perfect addition to this filling. I didn't see in the recipe where I was supposed to add the garlic to the pan—I added them when the mushrooms had finished cooking down and it seemed to turn out perfectly! Thank you for such a splendid recipe. I'm a vegetarian working my way into the vegan world and this recipe was game changing. I've shared it with anyone who will listen! 🙂
Nicole @ Delicious Everyday says
Thank you so much Natalie. I'm so glad you enjoyed it, as much as I did. My husband, who is a definite carnivore, loves it. I love your addition of lentils. I like to sneak them in now and again for a bit of protein too. If you liked this recipe you'll probably like my mushroom bolognese (which I also sometimes add a 1/4 cup of lentils too as well) as it has many of the same flavours. You might also like my mushroom and black bean chili too. Good luck with your vegan journey. Let me know if you have any questions or if I can be of assistance. 🙂
Jennifer says
I don't see it mentioned when to add the garlic. I assume it's to the onion mixture sauté?
Nicole @ Delicious Everyday says
I add the garlic when I add the tomato paste. Sorry for missing that earlier. I've updated the recipe now 🙂 I hope you enjoy it.
Shannon says
This looks so delicious! I make a similar version with lentils all the time!
Carin says
I'd like to make this for 8-10 people. Should I double it?
Carin says
Oops. Didn't see the "yields 4" at the top. Loving your recipes.
Nicole @ Delicious Everyday says
Thanks Carin! And yes, this recipe makes 4 shepherds pies. How did yours turn out?
Trish says
Well this was just delicious!! The cauliflower mash had so much flavor it was amazing. I didn't have ramekins so I put everything in a casserole dish. Definitely a keeper of a recipe. So many variations you can make with this too. Love the idea of adding lentils, which, I may do next time ... or not 🙂 Days are slightly cooler in upstate NY but the nights are feeling like fall so this was a perfect dinner last night! Very comforting. Thanks for a fabulous recipe!
jrb says
I prepared this dish and it was amazingly delicious, a very hearty meal. I saved the wine broth after cooking the mixture and added a little corn starch and worcestershire sauce to it and used it as a gravy topper. I paired it up with some sourdough bread.
Nicole says
I am so glad you enjoyed it! Great idea to re-purpose the extra broth - I bet that was delicious with sourdough!
Donna says
We are moving towards more plant based meals. I cooked this for dinner tonight and we loved it. Will definitely add this to our regular meal rotation. Can you please tell me the logic behind cooking the mushrooms in batches and is that why they are so meaty in this dish? Thanks for sharing this recipe, Nicole. I will be trying your mushroom bolognese as well.
Jenny says
My husband and i agree that this is one of the best recipes we've had. We recently started eating vegan and we dont feel like we missed out on anything with this dish. I didn't even add the garlic and it was still full of flavor. Thank you!
Nicole says
So glad you enjoyed it. Thank you so much for coming back to let me know. You totally made my day!
Katie says
This was a hit!! So flavoursome and such an improvement on the meat version and healthier too!!
Bel Burn says
That was lovely. I did my usual of choosing a recipe where I didn't have all the ingredients but it worked out fine. No carrot or celery so I added some sun dried tomatoes which went in with the tomato paste and some edamame beans (for bulk, contrast and protein) added when the dried mushrooms went in. Oh and red wine vinegar instead of wine and ground mustard seeds instead of mustard! I am surprised how filling it is - I made enough for 2 nights and have only eaten half which is a result!
PK says
This was absolutely delicious! I use dried porcini mushrooms instead of wild mushrooms and dried thyme instead of fresh (using the 1T fresh =1t dried theory). Otherwise, I followed the recipe exactly. I will be making this again and again. Thank you for posting this recipe.
Maya says
Pretty delicious- I would say it could do with a few more herbs. If you want to have your veggies spend less time in the oven or on the stove so the micronutrients don't deteriorate, you could try microwaving all of them first, then just throwing it in the oven to broil for a bit! The cauliflower mash was delicious though!
Plant based gal says
This is fabulous! I appreciate that you posted this....I made a few changes by adding asparagus to the mushrooms, carrots, celery and onion. Also did not have wine, or broth, so just used a bit of water with the paste.
So good! Love that cauliflower topping! I steamed my cauliflower a bit before putting it in a blender with the nutritional yeast.
This is so versitile, I think you could use any veggies you have on hand! I took photos to add, but don't see an icon to add them.
Kate says
Recipe was delicious and wild mushrooms added an earthy flavor and great texture.