Instant Pot Shepherd’s Pie Casserole—a beefy savory casserole with potatoes, green beans and cheddar cheese. The flavors from shepherd’s pie made with a super easy, one-pot method.
Related: SLOW COOKER Shepherd’s Pie Casserole
Instant Pot Shepherd’s Pie Casserole
When I was growing up my mom would make her version of shepherd’s pie whenever we had leftover mashed potatoes to use up. It was a baked casserole of ground beef with canned tomato soup, canned green beans, mashed potatoes and then cheese on top. It sounds weird but I absolutely loved it. My sister, Gina, hated it…lol. There’s always one picky kid, right?!
My spin on shepherd’s pie is a one-pot, easy version that uses cubed potatoes instead of mashed, fresh green beans instead of canned, no tomato soup but tomato paste and worcestershire instead. Of course my version is also topped with grated melty cheddar cheese.
No picky kids saying “ew!” with my version. Everyone loved it including a friend that was over. If you have never made shepherd’s pie or if you’re traumatized from your mom’s version as a kid, try my version. I think you’ll really love this fast and easy, updated shepherd’s pie.
More Ground Beef Instant Pot Recipes…
Instant Pot Cabbage Roll Casserole
Instant Pot Southwest Tavern Sandwiches
What Pressure Cooker Did You Use?
To make Instant Pot Shepherd’s Pie Casserole I used my 6 quart Instant Pot Duo 60 7 in 1*. I love this Instant Pot because it has the yogurt making function which I use almost weekly. It has two pressure settings (high and low), and there are also little slots in the handles so that you can rest the lid there instead of putting it down on your counter-top.
Want more tried and true Instant Pot recipes?
The 365 Days of Slow and Pressure Cooking website has 3-4 new Instant Pot recipes a week! If you sign up for my emails (fill out the form below) you’ll receive an email each time something new is on the site. You can also join the 365 Days of Instant Pot Recipes Facebook group which is run by my husband Greg and myself. If you’re a visual learner consider subscribing to my YouTube channel where I share Instant Pot stuff with you weekly.
Instant Pot Shepherd’s Pie Casserole
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 2 minutes (plus 5 minute NPR)
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 4–6 servings 1x
Description
A beefy savory casserole with potatoes, green beans and cheddar cheese. The flavors from shepherd’s pie made with a super easy, one-pot method.
Ingredients
- 1 pound lean ground beef
- ½ cup chopped onion
- 4 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 Tbsp tomato paste
- 1 Tbsp worcestershire sauce
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- ½ tsp dried oregano
- 1 cup beef broth
- 1 pound yellow or red potatoes, cut into cubes (skins off or on)
- ½ pound fresh green beans, washed and trimmed (or you can use canned, see note)
- 1 cup grated medium or sharp cheddar cheese
Instructions
- Turn your Instant Pot to the saute setting. When the display says HOT add in the ground beef and break it up*. Add in the onions. Brown the ground beef for about 5 minutes. Drain off any excess grease. Add in the garlic and saute for 20 seconds. Then turn off the Instant Pot. Stir in the tomato paste, worcestershire, salt, garlic powder and oregano. Then add in the broth and scrape the bottom of the pot so there is no stuck on food.
- Add in the yellow potatoes and then top with the green beans.
- Cover the pot and secure the lid. Make sure the valve is set to sealing. Set the manual/pressure cook button to 2 minutes. When the time is up let the pot sit for 5 minutes and then move the valve to venting. Remove the lid.
- Stir in the cheddar and then scoop onto plates and serve.
Notes
If you prefer, you can use canned green beans instead of fresh. Don’t add the beans until after the food has pressure cooked. Just drain the green beans and stir them in along with the cheese. They’ll warm through quickly.
- Category: Beef
- Method: Instant Pot
- Cuisine: American
*Karen Petersen is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.
We loved this recipe! I used lamb, added carrots and peas and since I didn’t have Worcestershire sauce, I made a concoction from vinegar, garlic, aminos, salt and pepper.. I’m just getting used to my instant pot so I will definitely check out your other recipes! I come from a family of chefs so I consider this to be a big win for this busy family’s menu.
★★★★★
Wow your version sounds wonderful Angela! Great work 🙌
I made this last night and it was so good! Usually I don’t comment on recipes, but I saw some comments about it being bland and it wasn’t at all! The only thing I added was some cubed carrots, but I followed the recipe and thought it was easy and delicious.
★★★★★
I’m glad you liked it Jen! Thank you so much for taking the time to comment.
Made this recipe the other night. It was delicious. I had a question about the amount of cheese. On a bag of shredded cheese 1/4 cup is equal to 1 ounce (weight) so does that mean I was supposed to use 4 ounces (weight)? I only used a cup (didn’t weigh it) and I don’t think it was enough cheese evem though it was delicous.
Yes 4 ounces.
This is a great weeknight dinner. Super quick, cheap and healthy! I like it! My husband added ketchup to his. I ate it this way but think sour cream and green onion would be good on top too. Very flexible recipe. Thanks!
★★★★
Glad you enjoyed it Jessica!
I was a little skeptical, honestly, that much garlic? Cheese on green beans? But YESSS yummy! Thank you!
★★★★★
Haha! Glad it won you over!
Yum! Thanks for the great recipe. I added chopped carrots and celery to the onions. I doubled the sauce and seasonings, and doubled the fresh green beans. I added diced mushrooms. At the end added 1/2 bag each of frozen corn and frozen peas. It was very good our whole family loved it! I am new to instant pot cooking and was very pleased at how easy this recipe was. Thanks again 🙂
★★★★★
Wow that version sounds amazing Robin!
Delicious! I used ground turkey & 1/2 lb hatch green chili sausage (had it, needed to use it) and added a tbsp of our favorite BBQ sauce, used mixed frozen veggies and it was awesome! Whole family loved it.
★★★★★
Liz your version sounds amazing😊
This was very good. Some changes I made was using seasoned salt in place of regular salt, adding a diced carrot and celery with the onions, and adding some frozen peas at the very end. The vegetables were perfectly cooked.
★★★★★
Love all those ideas!
I have seen quite a few recipes that are made directly into the Instant Pot, pot. What I don’t understand is when something is made using a tomato base or something else, what comes out of the pressure valve and how do you clean it. I made a corned beef and there was a mess. I realize I used too much liquid.
I would try to use a natural pressure release for those types of recipes or you could move it to venting and then back to sealing. Do this back and forth for a while. It’s sort of like opening a bottle of soda.
We LOVE this recipe! Easy to make and SO delicious!
I agree!
My family wipes this out ! Easy to make
★★★★★
Glad to hear it Pamela!
Hi Karen! I tried this with 1.5 cups broth in my 8 qt. Instant Pot as you suggested. I could tell I could love this recipe, but with the extra liquid it was too soupy. Would it be possible to put the extra half cup liquid in a measuring cup (glass?) in the bottom of the cooker in the middle of the food and thus allow the cooker to come to pressure and avoid the dreaded BURN notice? Or perhaps put the extra liquid on a trivet above the food? (I don’t want to have to move the food out and wash the liner to do pot-in-pot). I love my Instant Pot and like to batch cook, but sometimes the 8 qt. presents problems. (I don’t think this would freeze well–am I wrong?)
For the pot to come to pressure the liquid has to be touching the instant pot liner. You could try to see if it would come to pressure without the extra liquid. I do that all the time and it works. Lots of times I only use 1/2 cup in my 6 quart. Freezing it would probably be weird with the potatoes is my guess.
I recently read that scalloped potatoes freeze well, so this might too. Best to add the cheese later, after reheating.
My Instant Pot is 8 qt. Will there be enough liquid in this recipe for it to work in my cooker?
I bet it’d work. You could increase broth to 1.5 cups to be sure though.
We loved this dish!
It was super easy, flavorful and the kids ate it (very important). We added diced celery and carrots with the onions, and added frozen peas after depressurizing. Also added a few bay leaves.
This will be in our regular rotation for easy dinners- thank you!
★★★★★
Sounds like a great version! 😊
Made this last night and hubby loved it, had 2 helpings. Made it just as recipe says except stirred in can of green beans at the end. Very good will definitely make again!
★★★★★
Nice! Glad you guys liked it!
I’m planning on trying this and was wondering how small should the potatoes be. I don’t want to make them too small where they’ll end up mushy or too big where they aren’t cooked
I did mine in 1 inch cubes 🙂
Do you think I could double it??
yes for sure!
This was fast and easy! Great comfort food. After reading the comments, I upped both the tomato paste and the Worcestershire sauce. Instead of green beans, I substituted diced fresh carrots and celery, and frozen peas. Making this again tomorrow, as it was a big hit!
★★★★★
Nice! I love those ideas!
Did the frozen peas change the consistency with the extra water?
I only used about 4oz of peas – the other four was carrots and celery, so no, the consistency wasn’t affected. Plus, the cheese thickens things up.
This looks really good. If I don’t own an InstaPot, how would I go about making this?
You can make it in your slow cooker: https://www.365daysofcrockpot.com/slow-cooker-shepherds-pie-casserole/
I made this and it turned out great! I substituted frozen corn for the green beans! I also added a few splashes of hot sauce!
★★★★★
Sounds awesome!
Love this recipe! I like a lot more flavor in my food, so after reading the comments about it being a little bland, I added Daddy Hinkles sauce and dry rub to the meat, and some crushed red pepper. (Oklahoma girl here – I always have some marinades and dry rubs on hand!)
It was so easy, and I was able to chop the potatoes and onions and thaw the meat on my lunch break, and throw the dinner together when I got home from the gym after work. It took less than an hour and instead of standing at the stove the whole time, I was able to wash the dishes, clean up, go sit down, etc.
It came out so delicious! I used frozen green beans and they came out perfectly. I also used half sweet potato and half yellow potato – highly recommend! Love that I can throw this together from things I always have on hand – frozen ground beef, frozen green beans, potatoes and I onion, and spices. This is going to be added to the regular dinner rotation for sure!
★★★★
Yum your version sounds so great! Thanks for sharing 🙂
I had high hopes for this recipe. Made this today and it was so bland…no flavour at all. I followed the recipe to the T. I’m sad this didn’t work out because it’s such a simple and quick recipe.
★★
Surprising! My version was not bland at all. Did you use worcestershire and sharp cheddar?
I’m interested in making this but making it lower carb by swapping out cauliflower for the potatoes. Can I just follow the directions as stated but use cauliflower in place of the potatoes or do I need to do something different for it? Thanks.
I meant swapping IN cauliflower instead of potatoes. Haha
Yes I think that would work! I would do the cauliflower florets. Let me know how it tastes!
Wow this was soo yummy! I love shepherds pie but my husband doesn’t like mashed potatoes .so this was a nice compromise for us .my husbands only complaint was he wish there was more tomato flavor .next time i will double the tomato paste. Thanks for sharing
YAy! glad you found this recipe!
I was very disappointed with this recipe. Very blah. Loved the texture of the potatoes, firm and good. It just needs something more to season it up. Way too mild. Husband and son didn’t like it. 😥
★★
Surprising! My version was not bland at all. Did you use worcestershire and sharp cheddar?
Can’t wait to try this. Will it work with frozen green beans?
I am not sure. I haven’t tried it myself. But I do wonder if they would get mushy. You can always add them in after the food has pressure cooked. You could even steam them in the microwave and then add them in.
Delicious! Kids loved it too.
★★★★★
Glad you liked it Erin!
Do you have a crock pot version?
yes it’s here: https://www.365daysofcrockpot.com/slow-cooker-shepherds-pie-casserole/
I made this last night & it was a hit! I added celery & carrots with the onions plus a whole can of green beans at the end. It came out really tasty!
★★★★★
Great ideas! More veggies is perfect.
Can I use the “1x” recipe quantities for a 3qt instant pot…or do I have to half it?
You don’t need to halve it. Should fit nicely in the 3 quart.
Shepard’s pie is actually made with lamb not beef. It is a beef pie
Thanks Captain Obvious but 99.9% of
The recipes for shepherds pie use ground beef -what a Debbie Downer reply
Lol too funny!!
Well then it is properly called Cottage pie ( shepherds don’t have much to do with cattle). Also this is a stew not a pie.
We used ground turkey : )
I’d like to try this but use frozen green beans.
Give it a shot and let me know how it works. I am hoping they won’t come out too mushy!
What the beef frozen or thawed?
It was thawed.
Would this work in a slow cooker? I don’t own the other thing and we’re snowed in today. This sounds like a great “snowed in” meal if I can pull it off another way.
https://www.365daysofcrockpot.com/slow-cooker-shepherds-pie-casserole/
How can you do it with mash potatoes? My kids like the potatoes mashed. Please help. I would love to make this for them.
Hi Joy, do you mean making it with leftover mashed potatoes? If not you may want to try this recipe: https://www.imagelicious.com/blog/instant-pot-shepherds-pie