This Simple Swap Will Change The Way You Make Shepherd's Pie

Few dishes will ever achieve the comfort food status of shepherd's pie: savory ground beef cooked with aromatics and veggies, a gravy-like sauce made with beef broth and tomato paste, and creamy mashed potatoes on top. It hits all the comfort food notes. However, it can be time-consuming to make. The process of peeling and cutting potatoes, boiling them, then mashing and spreading them on your ground meat mixture before baking means you could spend over an hour total bringing together a relatively simple dish. A fun and quicker swap to try is using french fries instead of mashed potatoes. 

Shepherd's pie with french fries might sound strange at first, but this is essentially just another version of loaded fries. The great thing about potatoes, whether mashed or fried, is that they are versatile. It's incredibly difficult to find something that wouldn't taste fantastic perched on a french fry. Since shepherd's pie filling already goes great with mashed potatoes, it's a safe bet that a version made with french fries will be equally delicious.

This swap cuts your prep time down significantly. Whether you deep-fry the potatoes or bake them in the oven, they'll be done much sooner than if you had to boil and mash the potatoes before covering the pie and baking it. All you need to do is make the meat, veggies, and gravy as normal, then spoon it on top of a serving of fries.

Any recipe for shepherd's pie filling will work for this recipe. A meaty-tasting sauce is a classic topping for fries, just ask Canadian poutine lovers or anyone who regularly enjoys chili fries. 

This recipe offers a lot of potential for personal preference and tweaks. You can make a richer sauce for thicker gravy and add more or fewer vegetables depending on your taste. If you want to go all meat and gravy, that's an easy enough option, too. And then, of course, you can play with additions like cheese, maybe some chili flakes for a spicy kick, green onion or chives — whatever you like. If you want to go with a melty cheesy top at the end, you can put the whole thing in the oven for just a few minutes until the cheese melts. You'll have a completed dish in a fraction of the time.

A shepherd's pie filling can be made vegan with some simple swaps. Vegan ground beef is an option, or you can use something like lentils or black beans if you prefer. The seasoning and cooking can be done the same way as in the classic recipe, and the end result will taste essentially the same. However you put it together, shepherd's pie loaded fries just sound fun, don't they? Give them a try and see for yourself.