How to Reheat Shepherd’s Pie in the Oven

If you’re reading this, you most likely have some delicious shepherd’s pie sitting in your fridge or freezer and are wondering how to reheat it in the oven.

Since you took the time to prepare and store shepherd’s pie, the last thing you want is to reheat it incorrectly and be unable to eat and enjoy it.

That’s what I’m here for! In this article today, I’m going to walk you through a step-by-step guide on what the best approach to take is when you want to reheat shepherd’s pie in the oven.

So, how do you reheat shepherd’s pie in the oven? To reheat shepherd’s pie in the oven, cover your shepherd’s pie tightly with foil and bake in an oven-safe container at 350°F for 30 minutes.

I’ll go over the best approach to take for both shepherd’s pie that might be in your fridge, and shepherd’s pie that might be in your freezer.

Then, we’re going to answer some related questions regarding shepherd’s pie, in general, to help you optimize your cooking experience in the future.

Reheating Shepherd’s Pie in the Oven: Step-by-Step Guide

Reheating in the Oven – Things to Consider

When reheating shepherd’s pie, or any other baked good, in your oven, there are some key principles to consider to ensure that everything ends up tasting just the way you want it to.

First, you need to consider whether the food you are looking to reheat in the oven is coming from your fridge or your freezer.

Reheating baked goods coming from your fridge in the oven is usually going to be a fairly easy process. While we will go into specifics regarding how to do this for shepherd’s pie shortly, the general outline to follow is:

1. Preheat your oven
2. Remove the food from the refrigerator
3. Place the food in an oven-friendly container
4. Cover the food with tin or aluminum foil to prevent loss of moisture
5. Bake the food for a set amount of time
6. Remove the food
7. Let it cool down to a desirable temperature
8. And serve!

Reheating baked foods coming from your freezer, however, might not be as straightforward. Some baked goods, for instance, need to be thawed before they can be reheated in the oven.

Also, when food is being reheated from the freezer, there is always the risk of the food not tasting like you would expect it to due to the risk of freezer burn occurring when the food is in the freezer.

Freezer burn occurs when food that might not have been properly sealed or covered in the freezer develops a layer of frost which absorbs all of the moisture from the food. This will lead to the food tasting stale, dry, or less flavorful than normal.

So, to avoid freezer burn in baked goods, it is essential to always let the food cool down to room temperature before placing it in the freezer.

Also, always cover the food as tight as possible, whether it be in an air-tight container (I literally use these for everything), ziploc bag, or sealed with saran wrap or tin foil.

Most of the time, reheating baked goods in the oven that are coming from your freezer simply requires you to bake the food for twice as long as you would have if it were coming from the fridge.

Now that you know some general guidelines and principles regarding reheating baked goods in the oven, let’s cover how you can do this to ensure your shepherd’s pie ends up tasting perfect.

Reheating Shepherd’s Pie from Your Fridge

Having leftover shepherd’s pie is a common occurrence since usually it is prepared in large quantities for a family dinner, celebration, or gathering.

If you have some leftovers in your fridge and want to reheat them in the oven, here is the step-by-step guide to follow:

Step 1: Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C).

Step 2: Remove shepherd’s pie from refrigerator and remove lid or cover

Step 3: Place shepherd’s pie into an oven-friendly container. You can use a cast iron pan or a baking dish such as a casserole or baking pan (personally, I have and love these).

Step 4: Cover the shepherd’s pie with tin or aluminum foil. This is essential, as this will keep all of the moisture (and flavor) of your shepherd’s pie from evaporating.

Note: Make the seal on your shepherd’s pie with the tin or aluminum foil as airtight as possible. Even the slightest exposure will lead to a loss of moisture and flavor, which could cause your shepherd’s pie to end up tasting dry or stale.

Step 5: Place the covered shepherd’s pie into the oven and close the oven door.

Step 6: Set a timer for 30 minutes.

Step 7: After 30 minutes have passed, open the oven door and remove the shepherd’s pie from the oven.

Step 8: Remove the tin or aluminum foil and take a toothpick, knife, or fork and stab the center of the shepherd’s pie, all the way down to the bottom of the pan it is in.

Step 9: Remove the toothpick, knife, or fork and see if it is hot to the touch. If it is, you now know that the shepherd’s pie is heated all the way through and is ready to serve.

If not, simply recover the shepherd’s pie with the tin or aluminum foil and place it back into the oven for an extra 5-10 minutes.

Step 10: After 5-10 minutes have passed, remove the shepherd’s pie from the oven, remove the tin or aluminum foil, and let it cool down to your desired temperature. This will usually take just a few minutes.

Step 11: Serve and enjoy!

Reheating Shepherd’s Pie from your Freezer

If you have shepherd’s pie stored in your freezer rather than your fridge, there is good news: the reheating in the oven process is almost identical to the process you would follow when reheating from the fridge, which is fairly simple.

Basically, you have two options for reheating shepherd’s pie from your freezer:

Option 1: Thaw the shepherd’s pie in your fridge the night before you plan on reheating it, then follow the steps outlined above for reheating shepherd’s pie in the oven from your fridge.

Note: Do not thaw your shepherd’s pie in cold water instead of the fridge!

Option 2: Follow the steps listed below. These are almost identical to the steps for reheating shepherd’s pie from your fridge, the only difference is we are baking the shepherd’s pie for twice as long. (60 minutes rather than 30 minutes).

Note: Generally, thawing in the fridge before heating will lead to food heating most evenly, however placing it straight into the oven is the best thing to do if you don’t have time to thaw.

For reheating shepherd’s pie in the oven straight from the freezer:

Step 1: Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit (177 degrees Celsius)

Step 2: Remove shepherd’s pie from the freezer and remove the lid or cover.

Step 3: Place shepherd’s pie into an oven-friendly container. You can use a cast iron pan or a baking dish such as a casserole or baking pan.

Step 4: Cover the shepherd’s pie with tin or aluminum foil. This is essential, as this will keep all of the moisture (and flavor) of your shepherd’s pie from evaporating.

Note: Make the seal on your shepherd’s pie with the tin or aluminum foil as airtight as possible. Even the slightest exposure will lead to a loss of moisture and flavor, which could cause your shepherd’s pie to end up tasting dry or stale.

Step 5: Place the covered shepherd’s pie into the oven and close the oven door.

Step 6: Set a timer for 60 minutes.

Step 7: After 60 minutes have passed, open the oven door and remove the shepherd’s pie from the oven.

Step 8: Remove the tin or aluminum foil and take a toothpick, knife, or fork and stab the center of the shepherd’s pie, all the way down to the bottom of the pan it is in.

Step 9: Remove the toothpick, knife, or fork and see if it is hot to the touch. If it is, you now know that the shepherd’s pie is heated all the way through and is ready to serve.

If not, simply recover the shepherd’s pie with the tin or aluminum foil and place it back into the oven for an extra 5-10 minutes.

Step 10: After 5-10 minutes have passed, remove the shepherd’s pie from the oven, remove the tin or aluminum foil, and let it cool down to the desired temperature. This will usually take just a few minutes.

Step 11: Serve and enjoy!

Related Questions

So we’ve gone over all the different ways you can reheat shepherd’s pie and what you need to consider when doing so. So, what’s next? Here are a couple more questions I thought you might have when reading this article.

Can I Reheat Shepherd’s Pie in the Microwave?

Yes, you can reheat shepherd’s pie in the microwave.

The only downside of reheating in a microwave (which is why I recommend using an oven) is that the shepherd’s pie might end up soggy and lose its crispy texture and flavor due to uneven heating.

Just be sure to heat and stir with a spoon or fork several times.

Can I Reheat Shepherd’s Pie More than Once?

As long as you follow the reheating processes outlined above, you can reheat your shepherd’s pie more than once.

This is because the processes outlined above ensure your food gets heated to a high enough temperature throughout to kill off any bacteria that might be harmful.

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