Lentil Shepherd's Pie
with Cheesy Sweet Potato Topping
- Milk
- May contain traces of allergens
A vegetarian dinner that’s comfort food at its best? Sign us up! This herby, tomato lentil base gets a golden sweet potato topping and piles of melted, oozy cheese for a cosy winter bake that will warm you up from the inside out.
Ingredients
3 unit
sweet potato
1 unit
brown onion
1 unit
carrot
3 clove
garlic
1 bunch
rosemary
1 bunch
thyme
1 tin
lentils
1 sachet
tomato paste
1 box
diced tomatoes
1 bag
baby spinach leaves
1 cube
vegetable stock
1 packet
Cheddar cheese
(Contains: Milk)
Not included in your delivery
olive oil
60 g
butter
(Contains: Milk)
¼ tsp
salt
½ tsp
brown sugar
2 tbs
water
Utensils
Cooking Steps
Bring a large saucepan of salted water to the boil. Peel the sweet potato and cut into 2cm chunks. Add the sweet potato to the boiling water and cook until tender, 10-15 minutes. Drain and return to the saucepan. Add butter (50g for 2 people / 100g for 4 people) and the salt and mash with a potato masher or fork until smooth. Set aside.
While the sweet potato is cooking, finely chop the brown onion. Finely chop the carrot (unpeeled). Finely chop the garlic (or use a garlic press). Pick and finely chop the rosemary leaves. Pick the thyme leaves. Drain and rinse the lentils.
Preheat the grill to medium-high. In a large frying pan, heat a drizzle of olive oil over a medium-high heat. Add the onion and carrot and cook until softened, 5-6 minutes. Add the garlic, rosemary, thyme and tomato paste and cook, stirring, until fragrant and the tomato paste has darkened, 2-3 minutes.
Add the lentils, diced tomatoes, brown sugar, the water, crumbled vegetable stock (1 cube for 2 people / 2 cubes for 4 people) and the remaining butter to the frying pan. Simmer until reduced slightly, 5-7 minutes. Stir in the baby spinach leaves until wilted. TIP: Add a dash of water if the mixture looks dry!
Transfer the filling to a medium baking dish. Top with the sweet potato mash and sprinkle with the shredded Cheddar cheese. Grill until the cheese is melted, 8-10 minutes.
Divide the lentil shepherd's pie between bowls.
Customer reviews
Review summary
Updated on July 2026- Flavour: A rich, herby, tomato-based filling that most found deeply satisfying and comforting, though some felt the tomato paste was overpowering and suggest using roughly half the recommended amount.
- Ease of prep: Straightforward to follow, though several reviewers noted the actual prep and cook time ran longer than expected, particularly when chopping all the vegetables.
- Suggestions: Many reviewers found the rosemary quite strong and recommend using about a third of the suggested amount; others boosted flavour by adding a splash of balsamic vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, smoked paprika, or a pinch of chilli. Stirring garlic and onion through the mash, or mixing in Parmesan or ricotta, was also praised for lifting the topping. A tip to specify the recommended baking dish size would help achieve an even mash layer. If the filling looks watery after grilling, simmering it a little longer before transferring to the dish helps.
- Leftovers: Portions are very generous — many households got three to four meals from a two-person serve — and the pie reheats beautifully, with several reviewers noting it tasted just as good a week later after freezing.
- Portions: While the filling is plentiful, quite a few reviewers felt there was not quite enough mash to cover the top evenly, and suggest adding an extra potato or two.
