Mini Terriyaki Shepherd's Pies

Alright, I know the name of this sounds insane. Terriyaki? Shepherd’s Pie? Yup. And it works. This is one of those recipes that just hit me as I was attempting to figure out what to make for dinner one night. “Wait… what if I took our love of Asian ingredients and combined them with my husband’s love of potatoes? What if they came in a nice little package? Wait! I can use our muffin tin!"

 It wasn’t until I sent this out to testers (super good friends who are game for anything food-wise) that I realized the similarities to Shepherd’s Pie and decided to roll with that when it came to giving these tasty little buggers a name.

I’ve now made this recipe four times and it’s been a hit each and every time. My son eats seconds and my hubby often reaches for thirds. My testers tried this on a 6 year old, a 3 year old, and two 1 year olds and reported back that they were a hit with all of them (minus the 3 year old who doesn’t like potatoes, she still liked the meat apparently).The awesome part about this recipe? It makes it's own gravy. Yup. And it's delicious. There are a few tricks to making sure the gravy doesn't cook off and I share them with you below.

You can choose to increase the garlic and ginger (I think it would be amazing bumped up a bit) but I kept the amount low in order to appeal to more palates.

All the ingredients lined up and ready to go

My secret- DARK Soy Sauce. It adds a depth of flavor that' you can't find in regular soy sauce . This one was found in an Asian Foods shop in Salt Lake City, Utah and brought to me by my awesome mother

As the patties cook they WILL shrink, so make sure to cover the entire bottom of the tin and contour the edges a bit so they make a cup. This helps the gravy to form and not disappear before eating time.

Mmmm. Little meat cupcakes. Note how the potatoes are stacked on top, but don't quite go over the edges.

Served up and ready to eat. See the gravy on top? Yum

Mini Terriyaki Shepherd’s Pies

6 medium potatoes
6 T butter
½ c milk
Salt and pepper to taste

1 lb ground Turkey meat
½ tsp diced garlic
2 tsp soy sauce (dark is optional
2 tsp Terriyaki sauce
¼ tsp ginger
¾ tsp paprika

Cut potatoes into slices, put in large pot, add water to fill ¾ of pot put on heat and bring to a boil. Boil potatoes until consistency needed to mash.

 Meanwhile mix turkey, garlic, soy sauce, teriyaki sauce, ginger, and paprika in bowl. Form into a cup shape in bottom of cupcake tin (any size works). Pop in oven warmed to 350 for 8 minutes. Meanwhile, make the mashed potatoes. Pull meat out of oven. If you’re using a small cupcake tin you’ll notice the gravy is on top of the patties. Simply use a spoon to tip the patties a bit so that the gravy goes back underneath (this step insures that the potatoes won’t sop up the gravy during the next step). Spoon potatoes on top of the patties so that you can’t see the patties or the bottom of the tin. Now pop in the oven for about 10 minutes or until the potato tips start feeling firm. When you serve them, use a spoon to pull them out, then spoon the gravy at the bottom over the potatoes. 

Let me know when you make it and what changes (if any) you make! Enjoy!