The original Shepherd’s Pie casserole recipe is baked with lamb and a generous mixture of green peas, corn and carrots. The meat filling is then topped with a crust of creamy mashed potatoes. This recipe is calling to be served on a table during any season.

Why Is It Called Shepherd’s Pie?
Traditions go deep and far in time. In Ireland, England and Scotland, a pie made with ground meat and potatoes was called a Cottage pie. In early 1800 hundreds, when the same recipe was made with lamb meat, it began known as Shepherd’s Pie. The shepherds herding sheep had a quick access to the lamb meet vs beef or chicken or turkey.
Each area of where a Shepherd’s Pie was made was known for some originality: some used more peas in the filling; some opted for more mashed potatoes. Depending on season and time in history – war or famine – a Shepherd’s Pie recipe has been going through its transformation. What stayed unchanged is a principle of baking this recipe with readily available food ingredients.
How Do I Make Easy Shepherd’s Pie?
I love to experiment with my recipes! This recipe is made with ground turkey and a generous amount of probiotics. You may be so surprised reading this now. But if you continue, you will find it not only intriguing, but also easy to bake.
You may or may not be familiar with KEFIR. It is a Russian fermented milk product that has a myriad of benefits supplied by probiotics in it. Yes, kefir is nothing but a powerful stand-alone food that makes your gut a happy place for friendly-to-your-body bugs, called gut flora. Kefir populates these good for you bugs into your body, so you could have a better well-being every day. These bugs have a longer name – probiotics.
Study after study in the past decades have proved the benefits of probiotics for our immune system overall. Probiotics are an integral part of the system that reduces overall inflammation in our bodies. I grew up consuming kefir, sour kraut, kvass and many other fermented foods rich in probiotic power. Cooking with these foods was a second nature to me.
Today, I would like to offer you a fast, yet an amazingly delicious recipe that has the elements of a shepherd’s pie and a casserole in one, hence the name for this recipe.
You will be surprised at the final result, and would like to have it as your staple recipe for quick dinners and even brunch events.
Kefir Is the Key Ingredient for this Shepherd’s Pie Casserole

Easy Recipe With Simple Ingredients

The Dough for this Pie Casserole Should Be on the Liquid Side

The Baking of the Shepherd’s Pie Casserole is FAST
In about 30-35 minutes, you will have a beautiful, delicious and bursting with health benefits Shepherd’s Pie Casserole! The filling for this recipe could be versatile and up to your taste and personal preferences. Make it a vegetarian casserole. Use any meat like turkey, beef, chicken, lamb. Add some mashed potatoes on top of meat prior to pouring the kefir over your casserole. Lots of choices, and lots of different tastes you can create with this versatile Shepherd’s Pie recipe.






Do You Put Cheese on Top of Shepherd’s Pie?
In the original Irish recipe years ago, cheese was not in the recipe. These days, if you feel like savoring your Shepherd’s Pie Casserole with your favorite cheese – go for it! Sprinkle cheese over the top of the casserole about five minutes before you take Shepherd’s Pie out of the oven. You’ll enjoy a deliciously appetizing dinner!
Ingredients
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 cups kefir
- 2 cups flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 2 cups ground beef or ground turkey
- 1 cup onions, diced
- Salt, pepper to taste
- 1 tsp turmeric
Instructions
- Heat oven to 375 F (190 C)
- In a large bowl or measuring cup, combine and mix all ingredients. I like to transfer my liquid recipe mass into a cup for easier pouring over ingredients in the pan.
- In a bowl, spice the ground meat with salt, pepper and spices you like.
- Use olive oil to grease a baking pan.
- Inside the pan, layer ground turkey (or any other meat filling) on the bottom of the pan.
- Follow with a layer of thinly sliced onions. I use mandolin to truly achieve a thin layer of onions. Cover the entire turkey meat with these onions.
- Use turmeric to sprinkle over the onions. I use this spice to add anti-inflammatory benefits of this plant. Feel free to skip it, if you don’t have it on your shelf. FYI: Turmeric is almost tasteless and has very soft aroma which does not interfere with your cooking and tastebuds.
- Pour liquid ingredients over the layers of turkey and onions and places into the oven.
- Bake for about 30 minutes.
- When ready, enjoy each slice while it is warm or cooled.
- It stores well in the refrigerator in a ceramic or class container.
PIN for Your Next Food Adventure Into Shepherd’s Pie Recipe!









61 thoughts on “Easy Shepherd’s Pie Casserole With Ground Beef And Probiotics”
I make shepherd’s pie a lot but never used probiotics/kefir in it before. What a great way to cook food which is healthy for the whole family with them not realising it.
So interesting with the probiotics added! Nice to have that added benefit. And the recipe looks delicious.
Never thought of using kefir, but it’s such a clever and healthy addition. Can’t wait to try this for dinner—it’s like a cozy, health-packed hug in a casserole dish!
Ground turkey and kefir? Now that’s a new one for me.
This is so good! I made it last night for dinner, and my family devoured it. I’m reheating it for dinner again tonight, too!
The layers of ground turkey, thinly sliced onions, and that touch of turmeric for anti-inflammatory goodness make this dish a must-try. Easy to prepare and even easier to savor, this bake is a perfect balance of flavor. Plus, the convenience of storing it in the refrigerator adds to its appeal.
I’ve never had Sheppard’s pie, but with those ingredients, I bet it tastes amazing. (You had me when I saw the onions) . Looks like the perfect comfort food.
Yum! This looks amazing. I think this is a dish my whole family
Would love! Going to try it! Can’t wait.
I haven’t had shepherd’s pie in years (since I stopped eating meat). I’m going to try to make this with meatless crumbles. I bet it would still be just as yummy!
This sounds good and a great idea to try for dinner next week. I have my version of shepherds pie I make but I want to try yours.
This pie casserole will be our new favorite dinner for sure! Love all the ingredients!
I have never made a Shepards pie. This is a dish that I would like to make.
We love Shepherd’s Pie. I have a casserole recipe that my mom used to make & it’s total comfort food 🙂
My family loves Shepard’s pie! They would freak if I made this for them!!
That’s an interesting recipe. I like my mandolin for making thin slices.
This Shepherd’s Pie Casserole recipe is easy to follow and the dish looks delicious!
This sounds like a recipe that all of my boys would really enjoy.
This sounds good and looks good!
This recipe looks so good and easy. I love that it also has things in it that are really good for you. Will definitely be trying this one. All ready pinned it to use later this month.
This looks so yummy and I will have to try out the recipe 🙂
Like the history given and Shepherds Pie is fairly Easy!!!^_^
i rember when my gran ma used to make them for dinner on sundays
I’ve never made Shepherd’s Pie. I always thought it was more difficult to make but your recipe looks easy to follow. Thanks for sharing.
This recipe looks delicious. My Father loves this meal.
I like shepards pie
I like Shepherd’s Pie but I don’t use Lamb because I am allergic to it, so we use beef.
Yummmm and it looks easy to make too.
This looks really interesting. I use turmeric for arthritis inflammation, so this really interests me.
I would love to try this recipe out. I would have to leave the onions out because I am allergic to them. Thanks for this great recipe.
I would love to try this awesome recipe out in the near future. Thank you for posting.
This sounds so tasty! I’ll have to try to make it. Yum!
Shepherd’s Pie is so good we love to eat it. Kefir is gluten free so my son can enjoy it he has celiacs. Will have to try your recipe it looks wonderful.
I love shepherds pie and this sounds so good!
This is a really unique Shepherd’s Pie. I would probably add some peas and carrots to mine as well.
This sounds really good I am going to try this recipe soon.
This looks so yummy and easy to make.
I love Shepard’s Pie! It’s a family favorite!
I love Shepard’s Pie! Although I’ve never seen a recipe that uses kefir before. Definitely worth trying though!
You had me at “probiotics.” I am always looking for recipes to improve the gut health of my family, especially since my husband has really bad indigestion. We love Shepherds pie, and I never thought of using Kefir. I am totally going to try this. It looks delicious! 🙂
Looks great!
I have never had shepherd’s pie before… it sounds good
I’ve never made sheperds pie and this looks delicious and so easy. I think my family would enjoy it.
i have been looking for this. iam glad you posted it. thank you
I love a simple recipe.
Wow! I browse through and even collect a lot of recipes but this is the 1st one I’ve seen using probiotics=kefir!
I love seeing and learning new ideas, so major kudos to you for this being the 1st one I’ve seen like this. I would not be surprised if this idea really takes off and starts being seen everywhere in recipes.
Looks like tomorrow’s lunch!
Looks delicious!
KEFIR is new to me and this Shepherds pie comfort dish has convinced me to give KEFIR a try!
This looks delicious! Also, it looks pretty easy to make. I’ll have to try it out!
I don’t care for kefir but maybe this would mask the taste for me.
Looks delicious.
THis looks like it is the perfect cozy winter meal that will be so satisfying. It is so easy too. Will try this recipe for sure.
This shephards pie looks amazing, I love how easy this recipe is from the old recipe and the benefits from the is one is amazing. Definitely will have to try your recipe out and sharing on my facebook.
@tisonlyme143
This sounds like a great shepherds pie recipe, easy too! I love that it has probiotics in it, healthy and comforting! Thank you so much for sharing the recipe. 🙂
This is the ultimate comfort food.
I haven’t had Cottage or Shepherd’s pie in a long time. And until now, I didn’t know the difference between them. I did pin this healthy recipe. It is good to know about this ingredient kefir. I wonder what else it can be used in?
Thank you for sharing this bit of healthy information! Happy New Year!
Dear Sue,
I use KEFIR for many things: Making pancakes, cakes, cottage cheese (from old kefir).
I’ve grown up with it, and learned all these recipes from my mom and grandmothers on both sides.
This looks absolutely amazing. Thanks for the recipe!
Shepherd’s Pie is one of my mom’s favorite meals, but I’m not sure she’s ever made it at home. She orders it a lot when we go out to eat. I think this looks even better! I love that it has probiotics! I need to pass this recipe along to her or make it for her one day as a surprise!
Shepherds pie is one of my go to comfort meals for my family. It would be interesting with the addition of the kefir.
The shepherd’s pie casserole looks scrumptious! I’d say it would never had occurred to me to try kefir this way, but I’d like to try it.