Skillet Shepherd's Pie
Instant potatoes over a beef and vegetable base, browned in one pan on a grate.
- calories
- 700
- weight
- 7.5 oz
- cal / oz
- 93
- protein
- 32 g
- serves
- 4, scales
- prep
- 10 min
- cook
- 25 min
- total time
- 35 min
- water
- 600 ml boiled
- cost
- $$
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Dinner
- Campfire coals
- Grill grate
- Canister stove
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Needs a cooler
- Basic
Ingredients
| Ground beef | 1 lb | cooler item; brown it at home to save fuel and cleanup |
|---|---|---|
| Olive oil | 1 tbsp | more if the pan sticks |
| Onion | 1 medium, diced | keeps for days without a cooler |
| Carrots | 2, diced small | |
| Celery | 2 stalks, diced | |
| Garlic | 2 cloves, minced | |
| Tomato paste | 2 tbsp | the tube kind, not a can |
| Worcestershire sauce | 1 tbsp | |
| Dried thyme | 1 tsp | |
| Beef bouillon | 2 cubes | stands in for a carton of broth |
| Freeze-dried peas | 1/2 cup | |
| Instant mashed potato flakes | 2 cups | |
| Powdered milk | 3 tbsp | |
| Butter | 3 tbsp | or ghee, which does not need a cooler |
| Cheddar | 4 oz, shredded | a firm block grates better after a night in the cooler |
| Salt and pepper | to taste |
Method
- Set the skillet on the grate over medium coals. Brown the beef, breaking it up, about 6 minutes. Scrape it into a bowl.
- Add the oil, then the onion, carrot, and celery. Cook until the onion goes soft, 6 to 8 minutes. Stir in the garlic, thyme, salt, and pepper.
- Return the beef. Add the tomato paste, Worcestershire, peas, bouillon, and about 300 ml of water. Simmer until it thickens and stops sloshing, 5 to 8 minutes. Level the top.
- In a second pot or a wide mug, stir the potato flakes and powdered milk into 300 ml of boiling water. Add the butter. It should be stiff enough to hold a spoon upright.
- Spread the potatoes over the filling and scatter the cheddar on top.
- Cover the skillet and pull it to the edge of the fire for 5 minutes, until the cheese melts. If you have a lid and a few coals to spare, put them on top to brown it.
A shepherd’s pie is normally an oven dish: filling below, mashed potatoes above, browned under heat. The skillet version skips the oven by building both layers in the same pan and letting a lid plus a few coals do the browning. The order matters more than the technique. Brown the beef first so the fond is there for the vegetables, and get the filling thick before the potatoes go on, or the topping sinks.
The camp changes are in the topping and the liquid. Instant potato flakes with powdered milk mash up stiffer than boiled russets and take five minutes instead of twenty, which also means no draining a pot of hot water into the dirt. Bouillon cubes replace a carton of broth at a fraction of the weight, and freeze-dried peas rehydrate in the simmering filling without needing a freezer. The beef and cheese still want a cooler; the variations note covers you if you do not have one.
Packing
Dice the carrots, celery, and onion at home and bag them together. Brown the beef at home too if you have the time; it cuts the fire work in half. Potato flakes, powdered milk, bouillon, thyme, and peas go in one bag as the topping kit.
Variations
- No cooler: swap the beef for two 5 oz pouches of shelf-stable roast beef or a cup of freeze-dried ground beef, and use ghee instead of butter.
- Lentils in place of the beef work, but cook them separately first or they will still be gravel when the potatoes are done.
https://campfirefoodie.com/skillet-shepherds-pie-recipe