Easy Shepherd’s Pie with A1 Sauce

I am always looking for a way to prepare a quick and easy meal and this is a family favorite! Here’s my recipe for Easy Shepherd’s Pie with A1 Sauce.

I have a confession.

I’m not an in between holiday celebrator.

You know, those holidays that you don’t get off work for, like Valentines Day or St. Patricks Day.

I usually don’t pull out decor for those holidays, but that doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy the benefits!

In fact, every St. Patricks Day, I make this Shepherd’s Pie for my boys.

It’s not a traditional Shepherd’s Pie, but works for our family.

So in spirit of the upcoming holiday – I thought I’d share this with you!

Especially if you’re like me!

It never fails – I’m always late with dinner prep.

But I’ve been on the hunt for ways to make dinner time quick and easy for me!

This dish has been a go to for our family for many years, and I finally found a way to have it from start to table in about 30 minutes.

Here’s how I do it!

Easy Shepherd’s Pie with A1 Sauce

(Some affiliate links are provided below. Full disclosure here.)

INGREDIENTS:

Ground Beef, Browned – I prefer 93% lean and use about a pound
1/3 cup A1 Sauce
3 Tbsp Worchestershire Sauce
3 – 4 Potatoes Peeled and Sliced to boil
Cream for the mashed potatoes
Butter
Cheese
Parsley
Salt and Pepper
Baking Dish

Most of these measurements are eyeballed since the amount of meat or serving sizes can change.

TRICK TO A QUICK MEAL

The trick I have found that saves me time is to freeze my meat as flat as can be.

When I purchase our ground beef, I buy in bulk and separate it out into approximately 1 pound sections and put them into gallon size freezer bags.

With the bag almost sealed – leaving about an inch open – I push and mush the meat until the entire bag is filled with meat. Then I seal and freeze them lying flat.

Once they are frozen, you can store them on their end. It takes up less space in the freezer.

But here is the key – when it’s time to defrost, they thaw very quickly because it isn’t a huge hunk of meat that remains frozen in the middle.

When I cooked this dish, the meat was completely defrosted in less than an hour.

So I can grab some meat out of freezer and start on the potatoes.

START WITH THE POTATOES

To begin, I rinse and peel my potatoes.

Then I slice them and put them in a pot of water to boil with a little bit of salt.

These will be mashed and creamed, so I let them boil until they are soft when a knife goes through them – usually about 15 minutes.

By the time I’m done slicing the potatoes, the meat is defrosted enough to put right into the pan to brown.

BROWN & SEASON YOUR MEAT

Season your meat as you normally do and brown.

I always salt and pepper my meat and sometimes add dried minced onion.

Once your meat is cooked through, now it’s time to sauce it up!

Again, I truly eyeball this.

What you want to look for is consistency.

I start with the Worcestershire sauce. Seriously….how do you pronounce that correctly?!

I add enough to make the browned beef wet, but not doused.

Then I add the A1 sauce.

Now I LOVE A1 sauce ! Btw – this is not a sponsored post! 😉

So I add a good bit. You can see the consistency. Not too saucy, but not dry either.

Once I add both of those sauces, I turn off the burner, begin preheating the oven to 350 degrees.

And then I head back to the potatoes.

MASH THE POTATOES

Now here’s another tip to save you lots of time.

I mash my potatoes in my stand mixer. It makes everything smoother and so much quicker!

You may need to add more of each of these ingredients.

I start with blending them together until mashed, about 2 minutes, then I taste to see if it needs more of something.

But almost always, it needs a touch more cream or butter.

We like our potatoes creamy, but still firm.

Once they are to your liking, your ready to start baking!

ASSEMBLE THE PIE

I pull out one of my Pampered Chef stoneware dishes, but have used a pyrex baking pan before and it works great. Any baking dish will do!

Start with the seasoned beef.

I make sure the layer fully covers the bottom before adding the potatoes.

So here’s the thing with the potatoes.

They will move the meat around as you try to smooth them out.

I like to drop the potatoes in sections around the whole pan instead of adding them all at once in a big clump. That makes it easier to spread.

Super smooth and ready to cheese up!

Our go to cheese in our house is colby jack. We use it in almost every dish – even some italian recipes we make.

Add the cheese to your liking.

Just note: the more cheese you add, the longer it will take to melt in the oven.

But before your put it in the oven, add a sprinkle of dried parsley to the top.

Now you’re ready to bake!

It only goes in the oven until the cheese is melted. Everything else is already fully cooked and should still be warm.

Our cheese was melted in about 7 minutes.

Perfect timing to fix your side vegetable or salad!

Doesn’t that look yummy?!

We like to serve it with broccoli and some bread. Soda bread is our favorite!

By the time I was done taking these photos, my oldest had already swooped in and had his serving! It doesn’t last long in our home.

For one pound of ground beef, we usually get about 6 servings out of the dish.

Quick, easy and festive. But we do eat this dish year round!

I hope this helps you if you’ve been looking for a quick dinner fix.

I’m not a food blogger, so if I left out any steps, leave me a comment and I’m happy to help!

And let me know if you make this dish – I would love to hear how it turned out for you!

Share this with your friends!