Veggie Shepherd’s Pie

11 February 2022 3 years ago131 Views

If you’re looking for an easy, vegan comfort meal-in-one, try out this classic veggie take on a Shepherd’s pie, which I fashioned into easy, individual, potato-topped pies. Though you can certainly make this recipe in a casserole dish, too. Filled with veggies—zucchini, peas, carrots, peppers, onions—and plant-based seitan, these savory vegan mini pots of stew are topped with whipped potatoes and browned in the oven. The next time you’re making mashed potatoes, save the leftovers for this recipe and you can make it no time!

Learn how to make homemade seitan for this recipe here.

I was first acquainted with this dish when I traveled to the UK many years ago. You will find versions of these recipes as classic pub fare, but typically they are filled with meat. I swapped meat for seitan and a veggie broth in my recipe. This is—hands down—one of my very favorite plant-based meals during the cool weather months.

I just love it when the weather gets a little bit chilly, and it’s time to create this recipe.

Since it is a meal-in-one dish, it is not difficult to get a great meal on the table quickly. Just get your potatoes cooking in one pot, while you make your flavorful stew-like filling in another. My family loves it when I fashion shepherd’s pie into individual servings, as they are featured here. Pop them in the oven to get all golden, melty brown.

Then just decorate the tops with fresh herbs.

You can easily adjust the ingredients in this recipe to suit what you have on hand, too. Swap out seitan for cubed tofu, zucchini for broccoli, and peas for lima beans—the sky is the limit! Plus, you can use frozen veggies when fresh are not available. Fill out your menu with a crisp, green salad, and you’re good to go.

This is also a wonderful meal to do for meal prep—get it all ready on Sunday, and bake it on Monday night. And you can tote along individual servings for work the next day. Plus, it’s fabulous for dinner parties and potlucks.

Veggie Shepherd’s Pie

(9 votes, average: 4.78 out of 5)
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4.8 from 9 reviews

Author: The Plant-Powered Dietitian
Total Time: 50 minutes
Yield: 6 servings
Diet: Vegan

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Description

Filled with veggies—zucchini, peas, carrots, peppers, onions—and plant-based seitan, this healthy, delicious, vegan recipe for Veggie Shepherd’s Pie can be made into six individual servings or one family-sized casserole.

Ingredients

Mashed Potatoes:

5 medium (6 ounces each) potatoes, peeled, halved
1 ½ tablespoons dairy-free margarine
½ –2/3 cup plant-based milk, plain, unsweetened (i.e., soymilk)
Salt and pepper (optional, as desired)

Stew:

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
4 medium (2 ounces each) carrots
1 large onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 small (7 ounces each) zucchini, sliced
1 small (10 ounces) bell pepper (green, red, yellow or orange)
1 cup frozen peas
1 teaspoon poultry seasoning (vegetarian seasoning blend)
2 tablespoons fresh chopped parsley (or 1 teaspoon dried)
½ teaspoon celery salt
½ teaspoon dried mustard
¼ teaspoon black pepper
Pinch sea salt (optional)
8 ounces seasoned seitan, sliced
1 ½ tablespoons flour
2 cups vegetable broth
1 teaspoon reduced sodium soy sauce

Garnish:

Fresh herbs (i.e., chives, rosemary, tarragon, thyme)

Instructions

To make mashed potatoes: Fill pot with water and bring to boil. Add potatoes, cover, and cook until tender (about 30 minutes).
Remove from heat, drain, and mash with a potato masher or electric mixer. Add dairy-free margarine, enough plant-based milk to make a smooth, spreadable mashed potato topping, and salt and pepper (if desired). Set aside.
While potatoes are cooking, make stew. Heat olive oil in a large sauce pan, skillet, or sauté pan.
Add carrots, onion, garlic, zucchini, and bell pepper and saute for 10 minutes. Add peas, poultry seasoning, parsley, celery salt, mustard, pepper, sea salt (if desired), and seitan and stir well. Mix flour into broth and add to saute pan and stir well. Stir in soy sauce.
Simmer, covered, stirring frequently, for an additional 10 minutes, until vegetables are just tender.
While vegetables are simmering, preheat oven to 400 F.
Divide vegetable stew (about 1 1/8 cups each) among 6 oven-proof soup or mini-casserole dishes (about 2 cup size). Top each dish with ½ cup mashed potatoes, smoothing over surface of stew. Alternatively, you can place all of the stew into one large casserole dish (2 1/2 – 3 quarts in size), and spread all of mashed potatoes over the surface.
Place dishes on the top rack of the oven and heat for about 20 minutes, until mixture is golden on top.