Jackie Nothing says comfort food like a warm shepherd’s pie with a thick potato topping. Perfect for the cool fall and winter months. Warm your belly, warm your soul.
This dish is almost one pot! With the exception of the potato topping, I cooked this in my lodge cast iron skillet. With the cast iron you can go from the stove top to the oven to finish cooking this shepherd’s pie. Don’t have one? Transfer the mixture to a glass baking dish to finish it off in the oven.
Back to talking this recipe up! This shepherd’s pie is veggie packed and super flavorful. We packed in carrots, celery, mushrooms, onions, peppers and topped with creamy sweet potatoes.
If you haven’t tried ground bison yet I highly recommend it as a leaner option to beef. It has a slightly sweeter taste than beef, but mixed in with all the flavors in this recipe you won’t even notice the difference. Can’t find bison? Easily swap with beef, lamb or even ground turkey or chicken.
The gravy gets a rich and slightly sweet flavor from the Primal Kitchen Steak Sauce and coconut aminos. The steak sauce is Whole30 approved and adds such a rich flavor while the coconut aminos give it a little sweetness. The stone ground mustard adds a little kick. Feel free to add more if you like mustard, you can’t go wrong.
Since this is a gluten free and Whole30 gravy we use arrowroot flour as a thickening agent. Arrowroot can be tricky to work with, I’ve had the best luck making it into a slurry before stirring into my recipes. You mix 1 tbsp of arrowroot with 1 tbsp of water and shake it up. I do this in a little container with a tight lid as I find shaking it easier than trying to whisk it together. Stir it in to your bison mixture and your sauce will thicken right up.
You could easily make this a vegetarian dish by substituting the bison for lentils and the beef broth for vegetable broth. Lentils are packed with protein and a great option for substituting ground meat.
I hope you enjoy this veggie packed heart warming dish. Leave a comment and let me know how you made it yours.
Ground Bison & Sweet Potato Shepherd's Pie
Ingredients
- 1 lb ground bison
- 8 oz mushrooms diced
- 1 large stalk of celery diced
- 1/2 cup carrots diced
- 1/2 medium onion diced
- 1 bell pepper diced
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1 1/2 lbs sweet potatoes cubed
- 1/4 cup unsweetened almond milk
- 1 tbsp ghee
- 1/2 cup beef broth
- 2 oz Primal Kitchen Steak Sauce
- 2 oz coconut aminos
- 1 tsp stone ground mustard
- 1 tbsp arrowroot flour
- 1 tbsp water
- Salt & Pepper
- 1 tbsp olive oil
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil and add sweet potatoes, boiling until tender, about 15 minutes
- Heat a large skillet over medium/high heat and add olive oil
- Once oil is shimmering add in veggies, mushrooms, celery, carrots, onion, pepper, season with salt & pepper and stir occasionally cooking until veggies are tender
- Add garlic and stir until fragrant, about 30 seconds
- Move veggies to the sides of the pan and add bison, season with salt & pepper, and cook bison until browned, stirring to break apart
- Once bison is cooked, mix with veggies and stir in broth, steak sauce, coconut aminos and mustard stirring to combine
- Mix arrowroot flour and water in a small container and shake to combine
- Stir in arrowroot slurry and let simmer to let the sauce thicken
- While your sauce simmers, strain potatoes and add to a food processor with milk, ghee, salt & pepper. Blend until potatoes are smooth, taste for more seasoning or you may need to add more milk to get the right consistency.
- If cooking in an oven safe skillet, smooth out bison and veggie mixture in an even layer and top with sweet potatoes, smoothing to try and make them as even as possible as well. If your skillet is not oven safe transfer to a glass baking dish.
- Cook in the oven at 375 until the potatoes are just browned on top. The sauce may bubble to the top a bit, that's ok.
- Slice & serve!
