Keto Low Carb Shepherd's Pie Recipe (Gluten Free)

Mini Low Carb Shepherd's Pie made in a muffin pan for perfectly portioned servings is a classic comfort food for whole family!

With a fabulously flaky crust, filled with a scrumptious ground meat mixture and topped with a buttery creamy mashed cauliflower, these little shepherd's pies will be a complete meal for the entire family.

It's a great option for meal prep to make ahead and heat up for easy lunches!

What is Traditional Shepherd's Pie?

A traditional shepherd's pie protein source is ground lamb, with a vegetable mixture, and topped with mashed potatoes. If you're following a keto diet, it would be too high in carbs to enjoy. 

Our low carb version has just 4 grams net carbs and total 8 g carbs with the pie crust. Nutrition info is below if you decide no pie crust on the bottom of your baking dish. 

I'm not a fan of lamb, so I used ground beef so technically it isn't a shepherd's pie, it's a cottage pie.

Can I Skip the Pie Crust? 

You could easily make this recipe in a standard pie plate and forgo having a bottom crust all together if you're just feeling a bit lazy.

Some days I get that way as well, but the little extra effort for the bottom crust is worth every delicious bite when you're family doesn't complain about eating cauliflower.

Or if you want to lower the carb count, you can skip adding the pie crust.

Nutritional Information without crust

The recipe card is below with all ingredients, instructions and nutrition with the crust but if you decide you don't want the crust, here are the macros for you.

​Calories 218

Total Carbs 2g

Protein 12g

Dietary Fiber 1g

Fat 18g

Net Carbs 1g

Low-Carb Shepherd's Pie

Once I made my low carb coconut flour pie crust, I've been creating recipes all around it. It's such an amazing crust that really resembles a traditional white flour pie crust.

I've used it for sweet pies, like my Lemon Cream pie as well as savory pies like my Cheesy Italian sausage Quiche.

I've also enjoyed these left over for lunch the next day. I simply just reheat in the microwave for about a minute. You could just reheat in a toaster oven as well for about 5-8 minutes.

One is sufficient with a side salad but at just 4 crabs per serving, you could enjoy more than one if you so desire.

My hubby and kids really loved these. The oldest teen wasn't crazy about the cauliflower, he'd rather have mashed potato, but otherwise he ate these anyway. For a 15 year old who's eating me out of the house and who prefers not to cook anything himself, he shouldn't be complaining one bit.

Can I swap the ground meat?

 Yes you can swap out the ground beef for ground lamb or ground turkey or chicken if you like.

​How can I make this one large Cauliflower Shepherd's Pie?

You can replace the muffin pan that I used to make individual mini shepherds pie and use a 9 inch cast iron skillet instead. You could also use a 9 by 13 large casserole dish. 

​You can use any pie dough you want, but the nutrition info is calculated with my coconut flour pie crust.

I have a brand new non stick muffin pan, and once cooled for about 15 minutes, these popped right out using a knife to loosen around the edges. If you don't have a new muffin pan, try using silicone muffin cups so these won't stick.

How to Store Healthy Shepherd's Pie

Store leftover keto cottage pie in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days. 

​Can I freeze this Shepherd's Pie?

Yes you can freeze for 2-3 months. 

Here's my little video to show how easy these are!

How to Reheat

Thaw the night before you want to reheat this shepherds pie. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F and cover pie with aluminum foil. Bake for 20-30 minutes. You could also microwave individual pieces. 

Keto Shepherd's Pie Recipe 

Print

Mini Keto Low Carb Shepherd's Pie

Prep Time 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes minutes

Total Time 35 minutes minutes

Servings 12 servings

Calories 330kcal

Author Brenda Bennett Sugar-Free Mom

Ingredients

• 1 My Easy Keto Pie Crust recipe
• 1 tablespoon coconut oil or olive oil
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic or garlic powder
• ½ cup chopped onion
• 1 ½ lb. ground beef
• ¼ cup beef broth or beef stock
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ⅛ teaspoon pepper
• 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese or vegan cheese for dairy free
• 2 cups mashed cauliflower (I steamed 1 small head, cauliflower florets were about 4 cups total)
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ¼ teaspoon pepper
• 2 tablespoon butter or coconut oil
• optional topping: fresh chopped parsley and dried paprika

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
• Once your pie dough is ready, separate it into 12 balls.
• Spread the dough with fingers on the bottom and half way up sides of each cup of 12 capacity muffin pan.
• Bake for 10 minutes. Set aside.
• While crust is baking, make filling by heating the oil in a large skillet over medium heat, add garlic and onion and cook until onion is softened.
• Add the ground beef and cook until browned.
• Stir in the broth, tomato paste, vinegar and salt and pepper.
• Once the pie crust is done, evenly add the ground beef mixture into each muffin cup.
• Top each evenly with shredded cheddar.
• Before piping the creamy cauliflower mash onto each muffin cup, stir the mashed cauliflower with salt, pepper and butter. Taste and adjust seasonings if needed.
• Add mashed cauliflower topping to a piping bag and pipe over each muffin.
• Bake for 5 more minutes to melt the cheddar cheese to golden brown.
• You can also broil for 2-3 minutes, watching carefully, just to brown the mashed cauliflower a bit.
• Sprinkle over optional toppings before serving if desired.

Notes

Net Carbs: 4g per serving with pie crust

Nutrition info without crust is above in the blog post.

This recipe was first published in March 2016. 

Nutrition

Serving: 1pot pie | Calories: 330kcal | Carbohydrates: 8.8g | Protein: 20.6g | Fat: 23.5g | Saturated Fat: 11.2g | Cholesterol: 123mg | Sodium: 331mg | Fiber: 4.8g | Sugar: 1g