Smoked Sausage Shepherds Pie

Sausage, peppers, onions, and green beans are smothered in a cheese sauce and topped with a thick crust of mashed potatoes. This is sure to be a family favorite! 

Table of Contents

• ❤️ Why you'll love it
• 📖 Recipe
• 🧾 Ingredients
• 📖 Variations
• 🔪 Instructions
• 🥫 Storage
• 💭 Things to know
• 👩‍🍳 FAQs
• 📚 Related recipes
• 📞 The last word
• 💬 Comments

❤️ Why you'll love it

• Pure comfort food that the whole family will enjoy.
• A hearty, complete meal served up in a steaming hot casserole dish.
• Easy recipe short-cuts to make prep even faster for an easy weeknight meal.

Smoked sausage shepherd's pie features mashed potatoes toasted crisp over tender green beans, onions, and peppers-just don't forget the creamy cheese sauce to pull everything together.

Add this twist on the traditional cottage pie to the "family favorites" category ASAP!

📖 Recipe

🧾 Ingredients

This is an overview of the ingredients. You'll find the full measurements and instructions in the green recipe card.

📖 Variations

Make this smoked sausage shepherd's pie recipe your own with these tasty ideas:

• You can swap the sliced pork sausage with ground beef, ground lamb, ground turkey, or another type of ground meat you have on hand. However, you will lose the smoky flavor.
• Hate to boil potatoes? Replace the homemade mash with store-bought or pre-made.
• Whipped sweet potatoes with chipotle is a delicious substitution for the mashed potatoes!
• I like to use a combination of yellow, green, and red bell pepper.
• Blanch some fresh green beans instead of using canned. Alternatively, use up that frozen bag of mixed vegetables you've had for ages!
• In addition to the beans, you can add green peas, corn, or shredded carrots. A good idea if you need to sneak veggies into a picky eater's meal!
• Sometimes I make this in a large, cast iron skillet. It looks so warm and comforting and I think it tastes better, too.
• Try adding some crispy french fried onions to the top before baking.
• If you don't have time to make the cheese sauce yourself, use the quick swap in the recipe card below. Just know you're missing out, though!
• Mix in fresh thyme or minced garlic cloves if you like those flavors.
• Instead of the sharp cheddar cheese, use another similar type, like white cheddar or American.
• Garnish with fresh parsley and/or some grated parmesan cheese!
• If you don't have a casserole dish, you can bake the shepherd's pie in a large skillet.

🔪 Instructions

This is an overview of the instructions. Full instructions are in the green recipe card.

1. Layer the smoked sausage and cooked vegetables in a casserole dish.
2. Make the cream sauce.
3. Pour the cheese sauce over the vegetables and meat.
4. Top with mashed potatoes and more cheese and bake.

🥫 Storage

Isn't it such a great thing when your favorite recipe just so happens to make great leftovers?

Store cooled shepherd's pie in an airtight container and refrigerate it for four to five days. You can also just wrap the baking dish with plastic wrap or foil. Alternatively, double wrap the leftovers in plastic and freeze them for two to three months.

Feel free to use either the microwave or oven to thaw and reheat the shepherd's pie. If using the microwave, you'll want to heat in intervals, stirring in between.

💭 Things to know

Expert Tip: Making the cheese sauce in the same pan that you cooked the veggies imparts more flavor into your sauce! So, don't feel the need to wipe down the pan in between, unless something stuck and started to burn.

• Use red, yellow, or orange sweet bell peppers with four bumps on the bottom, rather than three. Typically, they're sweeter!
• If you use red potatoes for the mash you don't have to peel them.
• When making the roux for your cheese sauce, start with the whisk, but switch to a wooden spoon-preferably one with a flat edge. That way, you can scrape up any bits that stick to the pan before it scalds or burns.
• Slice sausage on the thicker side but keep it bite sized.

👩‍🍳 FAQs

📚 Related recipes

• Slow Cooker Sausage & Potatoes is creamy, hearty, and has a casserole feel. Slices of smoked sausage and potato in a cream sauce simmer all day in the crock pot. You're free to do whatever you please-dinner'll be ready when you get home!
• Crumbled sausage, al dente noodles, and oodles of cheese-for an Italian classic with a Tex-Mex twist, try Baked Ziti with Sausage.
• Swap the potatoes for tater tots and the sausage for beef, and you've got delicious, cheesy Cowboy Casserole-spurred boots optional.

📞 The last word

When I think of comfort food shepherds pie is always one of the first dishes that comes to mind. Creamy gravy, seasoned meat, mounds of fluffy mashed potatoes? Yes please!

Who could possibly resist all of that?

I love a delicious recipe like this -- the ones that taste like you worked on them for hours but in reality you threw it together in minutes.

You can assemble it ahead of time and keep it tightly covered in the fridge for a day or two before baking and serving.

First published April 4, 2016. Last updated October 6, 2023 for editorial improvements.