Pressure Cooker Shepherds, Pie The Ultimate Instant Pot Cookbook!
Shepherd's Pie is one meal that both my husband and I can have for days on end and never grow tired of eating. I mean, creamy mashed potatoes on top of ground beef and tender veggies in a lip-smacking sauce -- what's not to love?!
The only reason that we don't make it more often is because (let's be honest here) it's kind of a production to make. As in, an afternoon-consuming production that leaves my kitchen looking rather storm tossed by the end. Some weekends, I enjoy this production. Others, not so much.
Enter my new favorite recipe: this Pressure Cooker Shepherd's Pie from my pal and Simply Recipes contributor Coco Morante's new book The Ultimate Instant Pot Cookbook.
You guys, this recipe is fast, easy, and most importantly, delicious. It also leaves a minimum number of pots and pans to clean, and that gets a thumbs up in my book. Please allow me to tell you all about it, as well as about Coco's awesome new book!
How to Make Shepherd's Pie in a Pressure Cooker
When I first came across this recipe, I was puzzled. Maybe I hadn't had my coffee yet, but I imagined tossing ground beef, veggies, and a few whole potatoes into the Instant Pot and then lifting off the lid to reveal a table-ready Shepherd's Pie topped with mashed potatoes.
In reality, there are a few more steps involved -- though not many!
Coco has you start by prepping the filling using the Sauté function on the Instant Pot. Then you place a tall steamer rack in the pot and place the peeled potatoes on top.
Then the lid goes on and everything pressure cooks together. At the end of cooking, the potatoes are perfectly cooked and ready to be mashed with milk.
For a traditional casserole-style shepherd's pie, you transfer the filling to an 8x8 pan, top with the mashed potatoes, and broil until the top is golden. You can also serve this in bowls by scooping out some filling and topping it with a generous dollop of mashed potatoes. So easy!
Emma Christensen
New Cookbook: The Ultimate Instant Pot Cookbook
This is absolutely my new favorite way to make Shepherd's Pie, but there are plenty more recipes in this book that I'm excited to try.
I've actually already made the Sweet Potatoes Stuffed With Black Beans and Quinoa. Verdict: phenomenal. I love having this easy, meat-free meal in my back pocket.
A few that are next on my list:
French Toast Casserole Hot and Sour Soup Thai Green Curry Tofu with Rice Lobster Rolls (!!!!) Hoisin-Glazed Spareribs Caramelized Onion DipCoco sprinkles her recipes with useful tips and suggestions for substitutions, which are all very useful for cooks like me who employ a mix of roughly 80% "follow the recipe" and 20% "wing it."
Reading through the book, I also appreciate how straightforward and approachable all the recipes feel -- though of course, this shouldn't come as a surprise since this is why I love featuring her recipes here on Simply Recipes as well! With its mix of basic recipes (like yogurt and chicken broth) and recipes to make for dinner, I think this book would be a good one for new Instant Pot users and die-hard fans alike.
Emma Christensen
Looking for more of Coco's Instant Pot Recipes?
How to Make Pressure Cooker Egg Bites Pressure Cooker Green Pork Posole Pressure Cooker Pumpkin Cheesecake Pressure Cooker Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal Pressure Cooker Guinness Beef StewSAVE IT Pressure Cooker Shepherd's Pie + First Look at The Ultimate Instant Pot Cookbook!
PREP TIME 15 mins
COOK TIME 45 mins
TOTAL TIME 60 mins
SERVINGS 4 to 6 servings
Changes I Made to This Cookbook Recipe: I used beef instead of lamb I used chicken stock instead of vegetable stock (it's what I had!) Taste the mashed potatoes and the filling for seasoning and add salt if needed (I used roughly double the amount of salt as indicated in the recipe) Reprinted with permission from The Ultimate Instant Pot Cookbook, copyright 2018 by Coco Morante. Published by Ten Speed Press, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC.
Ingredients
1 tablespoon avocado oil or other neutral oil with high smoke point 1 pound ground lamb or beef 1 yellow onion, diced 1 celery stalk, diced 1 large carrot, diced 1 garlic clove, minced 1 1/4 teaspoons kosher salt 1 teaspoon dried thyme 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce 1 tablespoon tomato paste 1 cup vegetable broth 1 cup frozen peas 4 medium russet potatoes, peeled (about 2 1/2 pounds) 1/2 cup whole milkMethod
Brown the meat
Select the Sauté setting on the Instant Pot and heat the avocado oil. Add the lamb and sauté, breaking it up with a wooden spoon or spatula, for about 7 minutes, until cooked through and no traces of pink remain.
Set a colander in a bowl. Wearing heat-resistant mitts, lift out the inner pot and pour the lamb into the colander, letting it drain. Return the inner pot to the Instant Pot housing. (Note from Emma: I just scooped out the meat with a slotted spoon and then poured off all but a tablespoon of fat, which I used for sauteing the vegetables.)