Vegan Shepherd's Pie with Lentils

5 from 2 votes

Vegan Shepherd's Pie with Lentils

Vegan shepherd's pie with lentils is pure comfort food. Loaded with nutritious ingredients all snuggled under creamy mashed potatoes. This is one hearty, comforting and easy to make veggie-loaded meal that is sure to delight your tastebuds

Prep Time40

Cook Time30

Total Time1 10

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: British, Worldwide

Diet: Vegan, Vegetarian

Servings:

Calories: 313kcal

Author: Jane Coupland

Ingredients

For the Base

1 Onion
1 Celery stick
200 g Aubergine
100 g Mushrooms
120 g Green lentils dried
300 g Carrots
120 g Peas frozen
500 ml/ 2 cups Vegetable stock
4 teaspoon Nutritional yeast
4 teaspoon Sunflower protein powder or mushroom powder (optional)
1 tablespoon Soy sauce
4 Thyme sprigs
⅛ teaspoon Ground black pepper
Salt

For the Mashed Potatoes

1 kg Floury potatoes King Edward or Maris Piper are great
2 tablespoon Nutritional yeast
3 tablespoon Vegan butter e.g. Flora Buttery
Salt & pepper to taste

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Make the Filling

Wipe clean the mushrooms and roughly chop along with the aubergine
Place in a food processor and process until finely minced
Put some olive oil into a cooking pot or saucepan and fry the minced mushroom and aubergine for a few minutes
Add finely diced onion and celery and cook for 3-4 minutes until softened
Dice the carrot and toss into the pan along with the lentils, nutritional yeast, sunflower protein powder (if using) and thyme
Pour in the soy sauce and ¾ of the stock and let simmer for 25 minutes, stirring occasionally and adding more stock if the pan gets too dry
When the lentils are cooked through add the pepper and season with salt to taste then toss in the frozen peas and take off the heat

Make the Mashed Potato

Preheat oven to 200C/ 400F/ GM6
Peel and chop the potatoes
Place in a large saucepan and cover with lightly salted water
Put a lid on the pan and bring to a gentle simmer. Cook for around 20 minutes until tender (poke with a sharp knife to check)
Drain, reserving the cooking liquid
Mash, using a handheld masher or a potato ricer
Stir in vegan butter, nutritional yeast and seasoning to taste
If the potato is too stiff add a little of the reserved cooking liquid

Assemble the Pie

Spoon the cooked filling into a large pie dish
Spread or pipe the mashed potato over the top
Bake for 25 minutes in the preheated oven

Video

Notes

Do not be tempted to use red lentils in this recipe. They break down as they cook and will turn the base mushy. Green or brown lentils work well though
Tinned lentils work fine in this recipe. Use a 400g tin, drain and rinse the lentils then add them to the base at the same time as the peas.
Pulse the aubergine and mushrooms in the processor until finely chopped but not completely broken down. You may need to do this in batches and any stubborn large pieces of veg remaining should be removed and chopped by hand
Spread the potatoes over the pie base whilst they are warm - they stiffen up once cool and become harder to spread
If you don't fancy piping the potatoes onto the top, add a little rustic charm to the appearance of the pie by dragging a fork across the top to rough them up once they have been spread out. Simple but effective!
Instead of topping with mash, slice the potatoes thinly, blanch in boiling water for 3 minutes, then drain and layer them on top of the filling, overlapping as you do so. Brush with melted vegan butter (or oil), season and bake for 25-30 minutes until the potatoes feel tender when poked with a sharp knife
Scatter grated vegan cheese over the top of the potatoes before baking for an indulgent treat (be sure to choose a variety that you know melts well though)

Freezing Instructions

This vegan shepherd's pie will always have the best flavour, texture and consistency if eaten fresh. But it is possible to freeze this pie if making in advance.

Please bear in mind that lentils do continue to absorb liquid as they sit and mashed potatoes will dry out if they keep getting reheated. For these reasons, I suggest freezing this pie as soon as it has been fully assembled and cooled, but before it has been baked.

When required, defrost at room temperature for 3-4 hours and proceed to bake as per the recipe instructions.

What to Do with Leftovers

Leftovers can be safely stored in the fridge (covered) for up to 3 days or frozen for several months. Defrost fully if frozen and reheat either in the oven (covered with foil) or in the microwave until piping hot throughout. Consider serving with a little vegan gravy to account for any lost moisture during the storing and reheating processes.

Nutrition