What’s hiding underneath the fluffy layer of sweet potatoes topping our Mexican Cottage Pie?
A delicious, flavor-packed filling of chorizo, ground beef, peppers, and spices.
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Mashed potato-topped cottage pie (AKA shepherd’s pie) is a classic comfort food dish. But we thought it was time to upgrade this warm and comforting meal from the usual white potatoes and ground beef. So we gave it a Mexican-inspired makeover!
With a filling of chorizo, bell and poblano peppers, Mexican oregano, ground beef, and chili powder — plus a topping of fluffy mashed sweet potatoes and cilantro — our chorizo shepherd’s pie is packed with flavor and color.
While the sweet potatoes bake, you brown the veggies and meat. Then, you transfer the filling to a baking pan, top with a layer of mashed sweet potatoes, bake, and serve. Since this Mexican shepherd’s pie is loaded with meat and veggies, it’s a complete meal on its own. But if you’d like, it would also be great with a fresh veggie side like our Mexican Street Corn and Kale Slaw, Black Bean and Corn Salsa, or Mexican Coleslaw with Creamy Avocado Dressing.
Wash it all down with a Lime & Jalapeno or Mezcal Margarita!
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- A fun Mexican-inspired take on the classic shepherd’s pie
- Freezes well — great for meal prep!
- Loaded with healthy veggies: sweet potatoes, bell peppers, onions, and poblanos
Chorizo Shepherd’s Pie Recipe Ingredients
Meat, veggies, and Mexican-inspired spices and herbs…here’s everything you need to make our chorizo shepherd’s pie. Find ingredient notes (including substitutions and swaps) below.
- Sweet potatoes – 3 pounds sweet potatoes
- Butter – 3 tablespoons butter (or ghee)
- Salt – you’ll need 1 1/2 teaspoons fine sea salt for the potatoes, and 1 teaspoon for the filling
- Bell peppers – 2 red bell peppers
- Poblano pepper – 1 large poblano pepper
- Onion – 1 small onion
- Garlic – 3 cloves garlic
- Olive oil – 1 tablespoon olive oil
- Chorizo – 1 pound chorizo (either ground bulk chorizo, or fresh chorizo sausages with the casings removed)
- Ground beef – 2 pounds ground beef
- Oregano – 1 tablespoon Mexican oregano (you can substitute regular oregano if you have trouble finding the Mexican variety)
- Chili powder – 2 tablespoons chili powder
- Tomato paste – 6 ounces tomato paste
- Cilantro – fresh cilantro for garnish
A full ingredient list with exact amounts can be found in the recipe card below.
Recipe Variations and Modifications
Here are some easy ways to customize this Mexican shepherd’s pie to your liking:
- Go dairy-free – to make a dairy-free shepherd’s pie, the only tweak you have to make is to use ghee for the sweet potatoes instead of butter, or leave it out altogether.
- Mix the meats – we love the combination of 1 pound of ground chorizo and 2 pounds of beef here. But if you’d prefer to use more of one than the other, or swap in other meat like ground turkey, chicken, or even bison, do your thing!
How to Make Shepherd’s Pie
Step-by-step, here’s how this warm and comforting chorizo cottage pie comes together.
Step 1: Preheat the oven to 375 F. Place sweet potatoes on a rimmed baking sheet and bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour, until easily pierced with a fork.
Step 2: Reduce oven heat to 350 F and let the potatoes cool, then peel away the skin and mash with butter and sea salt. Mix until smooth.
Step 3: Brown the onion, peppers, and garlic in olive oil in a large pot over medium heat until wilted and slightly browned, then move to a bowl.
Step 4: In the same pot over medium heat, add the chorizo and ground beef break up as it cooks. Keep cooking until the meat is browned, about 7-10 minutes.
Step 5: Add the veggies back to the meat mixture along with seasoning and tomato paste. Mix until fully combined.
Step 6: Add the meat mixture to a 9×13, or similar sized pan, and spread the sweet potato mixture on top. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes. Remove from oven, let cool, garnish with cilantro, and serve.
Mexican Shepherd’s Pie Recipe Tips
Choosing your chorizo – Because we get this question a lot, we’ll share that our favorite chorizo is local to the San Antonio, TX area. But we also like to grab bulk chorizo from our local grocery stores, including the Whole Foods meat counter.
Meal prep – This comforting and filling meal freezes really well, so it’s also a great dish to make ahead for busy weeknights, or nights you’re just too tired to cook from scratch!
How to Serve
Serve this cottage pie warm, garnished with fresh cilantro.
How to Store and Reheat
Just cover your pan with some plastic wrap or foil, and reheat in the oven.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is cottage pie, and what is shepherd’s pie? Traditionally, shepherd’s pie is made with a filling of onions, peas, carrots, and ground lamb (that’s why it’s called shepherd’s!) that gets topped with a layer of mashed white potatoes. Cottage pie is nearly the same, with the exception of swapping ground beef for the lamb.
But these days, the two names have practically become synonymous, and can be made with any number of creative filling and toppings.
You can! We’d either recommend using a plant-based ground meat substitute to get the traditional texture, or swapping in other hearty veggies instead, like cubed butternut squash.
More Mexican-Inspired Recipes
If you tried this recipe for Mexican Cottage Pie, or any other recipe on the Fed & Fit website, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let us know how it went in the 📝comments below!
Mexican Cottage Pie
Ingredients
For the Sweet Potato Topping:
- 3 pounds sweet potatoes, about 3-5 medium sweet potatoes
- 3 tablespoons butter or ghee
- 1 1/2 teaspoons fine sea salt
For the Filling:
- 2 red bell peppers, deseeded and finely chopped
- 1 large poblano pepper, finely chopped
- 1 small onion, diced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 pound chorizo
- 2 pounds ground beef
- 1 tablespoon Mexican oregano, may substitute regular oregano if needed
- 2 tablespoons chili powder
- 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 6 ounces tomato paste
- fresh cilantro, for garnish
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 F.
- Place sweet potatoes on a rimmed baking sheet and bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour, until easily pierced with a fork.
- Reduce oven heat to 350 F and let the potatoes cool, then peel away the skin and mash with butter and sea salt. Mix until smooth.
- Brown the onion, peppers, and garlic in olive oil in a large pot over medium heat until wilted and slightly browned, then move to a bowl.
- In the same pot over medium heat, add the chorizo and ground beef break up as it cooks. Keep cooking until the meat is browned, about 7-10 minutes.
- Add the veggies back to the meat mixture along with seasoning and tomato paste. Mix until fully combined.
- Add the meat mixture to a 9×13, or similar sized pan, and spread the sweet potato mixture on top. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.
- Remove from oven, let cool, garnish with cilantro, and serve!
The flavor in the minced meat filling alone was so great that I want to use this in future for other recipes as the amount of vegetables didn’t overpower the meatiness in the dish. But the additional flavor from the sweet potato makes this the perfect thing to have as meal prep for weeks when I know I need a big healthy dish for dinner over a couple of nights!
We LOVE this recipe! Flavorful and healthy. Definitely a staple at our house.
We’re so glad you love it, Cindy!! Thank you so much for taking the time to share this with us!
Printable recipe would be great!
Hi Janet! There’s a little printer button at the top of the post to the right of the “jump to recipe” button — that should give you a printer-friendly version!
This looks so yummy! I’m searching for a dish to bring over to my friend after her baby is born… this may be the one! Thank you!