The best backpacking meals are filling, nutritious, and delicious: that is exactly what my Shepherd’s Pie backpacking recipe is.

Just think about it. Ground meat for protein, potatoes for carbs, and vegetables for something resembling nutrition, all bound together in a savory gravy. It’s calorie-dense, emotionally satisfying, and when done correctly, it rehydrates into something that tastes like the real thing.

Real backpackers know that the best trail meals are the ones you make yourself, and shepherd’s pie might just be the ultimate dehydrated backpacking meal.

If you want to learn how to make dehydrated shepherd’s pie, this post is for you! Let’s get into it!

Just a heads up, this post contains affiliate links, which means I could earn a small commission at no cost to you. Thanks for your support!

Making Your Own Shepherd’s Pie Backpacking Recipe

The best part of this recipe is how easy it is to make. Every ingredient dehydrates well, leaving little room for error or spoiled meals. Plus, there is plenty of room for creativity with the ingredients.

This meal is similar to Nomad Nutrition’s Irish Shepherd’s Pie, but I am biased and think this recipe is better.

I like this recipe for a few reasons.

First, the hearty meal keeps me feeling satisfied and fuller longer than typical prepackaged backpacking meals.

Second, being able to add various vegetables and spices allows me to adjust the meal based on what I have on hand.

Related Read: Beginner’s Guide to Homemade Backpacking Meals

Equipment You Need for Dehydrated Shepherd’s Pie

You do not need much for this recipe, but you will need a food dehydrator.

If you’re just getting into dehydrating recipes, this recipe will work well with a smaller dehydrator. When I first started dehydrating my meals, I used a stackable dehydrator. It is a more affordable option that doesn’t take up much space. A basic stackable dehydrator costs about $60 and pays for itself after a summer of backpacking.

I currently use the Cosori Dehydrator because I like to dehydrate large batches of meals at once.

Other than a dehydrator, you will need:

• Pan for pan roasting and steaming the vegetables
• Non-stick dehydrator trays or parchment paper to line your trays
• Knife and cutting board for chopping vegetables
• A spatula
• Storage options
• Kitchen scale for measuring portions accurately*

*A scale helps ensure you pack the correct proportions for what you need on the trail and helps determine how much water you will need for rehydration.

For storage, a freezer bag, sandwich bag, or even mason jars will work, but if you’re meal prepping for a thru-hike, investing in a vacuum sealer will extend the shelf life of your meals even further.

Important Ingredients for Shepherd’s Pie

Every ingredient in this recipe has an important job to do when it comes to fueling your adventure and helping with muscle recovery.

Instant Potatoes

Instant potatoes are a staple for any long-distance backpacker hoping to pack in some solid carbs. They are extremely lightweight and rehydrate perfectly. For this backpacking meal, you could dehydrate your own potatoes, but it does take a bit of extra work.

Impossible Meat

To keep this recipe vegetarian, I used Impossible Meat as my protein source. You can definitely use lean ground beef for this recipe, but it’s up to you. For dehydrating the impossible meat, I followed the directions from thru-hiker, Veggie. You can find her directions here.

Mixed Vegetables

I am a firm believer that any vegetable belongs in Shepherd’s Pie, especially if you have some veggies in desperate need of use at the back of your fridge. But, typically, peas, carrots, celery, and onions are commonly found in Shepherd’s Pie. You can also add things like green beans or corn. Everything tastes good when smothered in gravy.

Instant Gravy

The easiest way to get a savory gravy in the backcountry is by using an instant gravy. Any powdered gravy will work as long as you are cooking your meal in a pot. Boiling the instant gravy is what causes it to thicken and is a necessary step. Without added heat, your shepherd’s pie might end up soupy.

Dehydrating Shepherd’s Pie

Shepherd’s Pie is the perfect, easy-to-make backpacking meal. The only ingredients you need to dehydrate are the vegetables and meat, as long as you’re using instant mashed potatoes and instant gravy.

For vegetables that rehydrate well in your backpacking meal, start by chopping them into small cubes. This includes your carrots, green beans, onions, and celery.

In a pan, start simmering a small amount of water. You’re going to add your vegetables to the pan to help make them tender. You can also choose to blanch your veggies if you’d prefer. I chose to simmer the vegetables in a pan so the flavors would meld together without overcooking them.

Once the veggies are tender and your onions are clear, remove everything from the heat and let the mixture cool to room temperature. While they are cooling, you can add salt, pepper, and garlic powder.

Using the same pan, heat a small amount of avocado oil or water. You will use this to pan-fry the Impossible Meat. If you’re going to use Impossible Meat, I would recommend following Veggies’ recipe, but if you’re using ground beef, you can follow this recipe.

After the meat and vegetables have reached room temperature, you’ll use your dehydrator. These components dehydrate relatively quickly. I set my dehydrator for 160°F for 6 hours.

You will know everything is dehydrated when the vegetables are brittle and the “meat” crumbles.

Packing & Prepping for Backpacking

Once your dehydrated meal components have reached room temperature, you can package them. If you’re going to be backpacking immediately, I would add the meat, instant gravy, and vegetable portions to a plastic baggie. Keep the instant mashed potatoes in a separate baggie for optimal rehydration.

If you plan to store the components for long-term storage, you will want to package everything separately in mason jars or vacuum-sealed bags.

I would not recommend rehydrating this recipe in a Mylar Bag, since the rehydration process for the vegetables is different from that of the potatoes.

Rehydrating on the Trail

Since there are two rehydration components for this meal, it is slightly more complicated than a typical backpacking meal. Here is how I did it using my current backcountry cooking setup:

To begin rehydrating the vegetables, I started by adding the meat and vegetables with instant gravy to the pot. Cover the meal with enough water to completely cover the dehydrated meal components, along with a little extra. You should see some of the veggies start to float.

Mix the water and dehydrated meal together until the instant gravy is fully incorporated without clumps. Bring the mixture to a boil with constant mixing. Once the water has been brought to a boil, turn off the heat and let the mixture sit for five minutes to completely rehydrate.

If you notice that the gravy has thickened before the veggies and meat are rehydrated, add a little more water.

After the veggies and meat are rehydrated and the gravy has thickened, you can begin making your potatoes.

For this step, I poured my gravy mixture into my backpacking cup.

Using my water bottle, I squirted the walls of my pot down until I had enough water (8oz) to rehydrate my serving of instant potatoes. Bring the water to a boil, then immediately add your instant potatoes. They will rehydrate almost immediately, but keep stirring so you don’t have any clumps.

Once your potatoes are rehydrated, pour your gravy mixture back on top and Voila!

Since potatoes rehydrate so quickly, you don’t need to worry about your gravy cooling down too much.

My current backcountry cooking setup is:

• MSR Titan Kettle
• PocketRocket Deluxe Stove
• GSI Compact Scraper
• Frontier Ultralight Long Handle Spork
• Frontier Ultralight Collapsible Cup

If you do not have another place to hold your gravy mixture while rehydrating your potatoes, you can just add the water directly to the mixture, bring it to a boil, and add the potatoes. You will want to add a few more ounces of water than required to rehydrate the potatoes.

This will not create the standard separation between filling and potatoes, but it is just as good!

Storage Options

This meal is perfect for long-term storage because it has an extremely long shelf life. Even when combined with the gravy, the dehydrated vegetables will remain shelf-stable for a year in a Mylar bag with an oxygen absorber.

For the Impossible Meat, it can remain shelf stable while in a vacuum-sealed pack for up to a year. You can extend that time by putting it in the freezer.

Read my guide on dehydrating and storing meat for storage options for dehydrated animal products.

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