Cheesy Mashed Cauliflower Shepherd’s Pie – Low Carb, Gluten Free

Introduction

Ground beef simmered down with cream cheese and heavy cream, under a lid of mashed cauliflower with cheddar stirred through it. That is this low carb mashed cauliflower shepherd’s pie — the shape of the original, built out of different parts.

This Is Not Your Momma’s Shepherd’s Pie

Three things are different, and all three are on purpose.

Beef, no lamb. Most recipes call for lamb, or both. This one is a pound of ground beef. Use lamb if you would rather.

No peas, corn or carrots. Not because they are bad — we left them out to keep the carb count down. If that is not your concern, put them back in.

Cream cheese instead of broth. This is the one that changes the character of the filling — it goes rich and thick rather than brothy.

The Filling Thickens by Simmering, Not by Flour

A traditional shepherd’s pie filling gets thickened with flour, and neither almond nor coconut flour sounded like an improvement here.

Heavy cream goes in instead. Let it simmer for about five minutes and the filling thickens as it cooks, with the cream cheese making it richer. Same approach as our Keto Mac and Cheese, which also skips the roux.

The Mashed Cauliflower, and the Cheese You Should Add to It

Two ways to get there. Buy a head of cauliflower, chop it, boil it, blitz it and season it — here is a good guide. Or buy it pre-made and frozen, which is what we did, because it is considerably easier.

We used Green Giant’s Cheddar and Bacon Mashed Cauliflower, the 20 oz box. (Green Giant did not sponsor this post. If they wanted to, that would also be fine, hint hint.)

Either way, do this: stir about half a cup of shredded cheddar into the mash halfway through cooking it, not at the end. It is one extra ingredient, and it is what makes the topping read as part of the dish rather than a lid of cauliflower set on top of it. It came out better than any mashed potatoes I have had, which is not a sentence I expected to write about cauliflower.

Start the Topping First

The one bit of timing worth knowing: the mash takes far longer than the filling. The box’s oven route runs around 45 minutes, against the twenty the beef needs, so the topping goes on before you brown anything. Otherwise the filling sits there thickening while you wait. Go by the instructions on the pack you buy rather than by our clock.

The finished pie can stay in the skillet or move to a baking dish, and two minutes under the broiler to brown the top is optional but worth it.

You’ll find the full per-serving breakdown — calories, fat, fiber, protein, and net carbs — in the Nutrition Facts panel with the recipe below. It is calculated for 4.5 servings, with the topping counted as one 20 oz box of Green Giant’s Cheddar and Bacon Mashed Cauliflower.

Leftovers

Refrigerate leftovers in an airtight container and use them within three to four days.

When you reheat a portion, take it to 165°F in the middle, checked with a food thermometer.

We do not have a reliable answer on how the cauliflower topping holds up when you reheat it.