Vegetarian Shepherd's Pie Recipe

5 from 1 vote

A lighter version of the traditional meat-filled Shepherd's pie thanks to the addition of broccoli, lentils, savory sweet potatoes and cottage cheese.

Prep Time20

Cook Time1

Total Time1 20

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: American

Keyword: low fat shepherd's pie, meatless shepherds pie, vegetarian low fat shepherds pie

Servings:

Author: Peter | Simple Nourished Living

Equipment

Ingredients

Nonstick cooking spray
1 pound sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped
1/2 pound redskin potatoes, thoroughly washed and chopped
1 cup brown lentils, rinsed
3 crowns broccoli, florets only (about 4 to 5 cups)
1 cup cottage cheese
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
1 large yellow onion, chopped
2 large carrots, peeled and chopped
6 stalks celery, trimmed and chopped
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon dried sage
Fresh ground black pepper, to taste

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 400F degrees. Spray a 11x7-inch baking dish with nonstick spray and set aside.
Fill 2 large sauce pans with water, halfway and bring to a boil. In one pan, add the sweet potatoes and redskin potatoes. Cover and reduce heat to medium-high. Let simmer for about 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, in the second pan, add the lentils then cover and reduce heat to medium-high. Let simmer for about 10 minutes.
After 10 minutes, add the broccoli to the lentils and simmer for an additional 5 minutes. After 5 minutes, drain and set aside.
After 10 minutes, drain the potatoes and return back to pan. Add the cottage cheese, stir in the egg and mash by hand with a potato masher until smooth.
In a large, nonstick skillet, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion, carrots and celery and cook for about 3 minutes. Stir occasionally to prevent burning.
Stir in salt, thyme and sage and cook for another 2 minutes.
Remove pan from the heat and stir in the lentil and broccoli mixture. Season to taste with black pepper.
Spoon the mixture into prepared baking dish and spread evenly.
Drop spoonfuls of mashed potatoes over the top and smooth with your spoon.
Place dish in oven and bake for about 40 minutes, until the edges of crust begin to brown.

Notes

Serving size: 1/4th recipe

WW Points: 2

Check the WW Points for this recipe and track it in the WW app.
(Must be logged into WW on a smartphone or tablet.)

10 SmartPoints (Green plan)

6 SmartPoints (Blue plan)

2 SmartPoints (Purple plan)

9 PointsPlus (Old plan)

This gluten-free version of meatless "Shepherdless Pie" uses lentils and broccoli in place of ground beef (or lamb) and boosts the healthy flavor of the potato crust by mashing sweet potatoes and cottage cheese with redskin potatoes.

You can easily use dried lentils for this dish since they cook up rather quickly and easily. But I cheated a little and used Trader Joe's steamed lentils which only required a quick reheat before they were ready to go.

Nutrition