Vegetarian shepherd's pie with lentils and mushrooms (hachis parmentier)

Name: Vegetarian shepherd's pie with lentils and mushrooms (hachis parmentier)
Prep time: 25 min
Cook time: 60 min
Total time: 85 min
Yield: 4
Cuisine: France
Ingredients: 1 kg floury potatoes; 150 g dried green lentils; 250 g button mushrooms; 1 onion; 2 carrots; 1 celery stick; 2 garlic cloves; 400 g tin peeled tomatoes; 100 ml vegetable stock labelled gluten free; 1 bay leaf; 1 sprig rosemary; 2 tbsp olive oil; 200 ml milk; 30 g butter; 1 pinch of nutmeg; 60 g grated Emmental, made with microbial or vegetable rennet (check the label); Salt and pepper

Local name: Hachis parmentier

A vegetarian shepherd's pie in the French hachis parmentier style: green lentils and mushrooms simmered with tomato, carrot and celery under a buttery, nutmeg-scented mash browned in the oven.

Published on 30 September 2026

Gluten-free#potatoes#lentils#mushrooms#gratin#winter

Method

Rinse the lentils and simmer them gently in a large pan of unsalted water for 20 minutes. They should be tender but whole. Drain.
Meanwhile, peel the potatoes, cut them into large chunks and boil them in salted water for 20 minutes, until the tip of a knife slides through without resistance.
Finely dice the onion, carrots and celery. Cook them in the olive oil over medium heat for 8 to 10 minutes, until soft.
Add the mushrooms, chopped small, and cook over high heat for 5 minutes, until their water has evaporated. Add the chopped garlic and stir for 1 minute.
Add the tomatoes, crushing them with a spoon, then the stock, the bay leaf and the rosemary. Simmer uncovered for 10 minutes to reduce. Stir in the lentils, season, and remove the bay leaf and rosemary. The filling should be thick enough to coat a spoon.
Preheat the oven to 200 °C. Drain the potatoes and mash them with the butter, the milk heated separately and the nutmeg. Season with salt.
Spread the filling in a gratin dish, cover with the mash starting from the edges, then rough up the surface with a fork. Scatter over the grated cheese.
Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until the top is golden. Leave to rest for 5 minutes before serving.

This vegetarian shepherd’s pie follows the French hachis parmentier: green lentils and button mushrooms replace the minced meat, simmered with tomato, carrot and celery. The mash, made with butter and nutmeg, goes on top and browns in the oven. The lentils keep their shape, the mushrooms give body to the sauce and the filling holds when you cut into it.

For another potato bake, the vegetarian tartiflette is made with reblochon. Lentils also go into the oven in South Africa’s lentil bobotie, under an egg custard. And for a winter soup, try the vegetarian garbure from south-west France.

The techniques this recipe uses

Drain and rinse
Canning liquid clouds a sauce and salts it blind: rinse until the water runs clear.
Reduce
Uncovered, water leaves and flavour concentrates. It is done when the sauce coats the back of a spoon.

Frequently asked questions

Which lentils work best in a vegetarian shepherd's pie?

Green, Puy, brown or black beluga lentils, which hold their shape when cooked and give the bite of minced meat. Avoid red lentils: they break down into a purée and the filling turns to mush under the potatoes.

Why is my filling too runny?

Mushrooms give off a lot of water: let it evaporate before adding the tomatoes. Then reduce the sauce for 10 minutes uncovered and stir in the well-drained lentils. A filling that is too wet bubbles up round the edges and the mash sinks into it instead of browning.

Which potatoes for the mash?

A floury variety, which mashes light. Use a masher or a food mill, never a blender, which makes the potatoes gluey, and add the milk hot rather than cold.

How do I make it vegan?

Replace the butter with 3 tbsp olive oil and the milk with an unsweetened plant drink, and leave out the grated cheese. The filling stays the same.

Pulses, the backbone of the world's kitchens

Which pulse each kitchen chose and why, how to cook them without guessing, and what turns a dry bag into a whole meal.

Peasant soups, feeding a table on almost nothing

What gives a country soup its body, how to thicken one without cream, and which of these recipes need adapting to do without meat.

Vegetarian shepherd's pie with lentils and mushrooms (hachis parmentier)

Method

The techniques this recipe uses

This recipe also appears in

Nutrition per serving

Frequently asked questions

Read more

Have you cooked this dish?

More recipes from France

Carrot soup, smooth French velouté

Celeriac remoulade with homemade sauce

Cherry clafoutis

Recipes in the same spirit