Turkey Pot Pie in a deep-dish crust is comfort food at its finest as well as a fantastic way to repurpose leftovers. Make your own crust or buy pre-made – no matter – it will be satisfying and delicious either way!
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This recipe is from Laura Kumin’s book, All Stirred Up, which reveals a new side to the history of the suffrage movement. Long before women had the vote, they enfranchised themselves through the subversive – and savvy – power of the palate, winning supporters over with recipes from hot cross buns, fish chowder, and spatchcock chicken, to roll jelly cake and brownies.
Make this turkey pot pie and you’ll be celebrating these heroic women (and make your family’s taste buds really happy as well).
Why you’ll love this recipe
Growing up, frozen pot pies were a staple in our house on TV dinner night. When my kids were younger, I made a one crust version that started on the stove top and finished in the oven topped with one sheet of puff pastry. My husband always asked: “Where’s the rest of the crust”?
With this modern interpretation of an early 20th century chicken pot pie recipe from Laura’s book, you get both crusts and enough sustenance for two meals or one dinner and a couple of lunches.
Ingredients you’ll need
This dish can be as simple to put together as you choose. Make your own pie crust or purchase pre-made crusts. Use leftover turkey or chicken, bake fresh or buy a store-bought rotisserie chicken. Or consider ham or beef chunks. Vegetables are suggested but substitutions are absolutely fine.
- Pie Crusts: Make your own or buy them pre-made. This recipe fills a deep dish pie pan. If you are using a regular size pan, you may have some extra filling. If you use deep dish and use pie crusts made for regular size pans – expect to not have much dough to come up and over the edges.
- Turkey (or chicken): Light or dark meat, leftover or freshly cooked, store-bought rotisserie chicken meat – any of it will work. I used turkey meat I had frozen from Thanksgiving. Laura notes it can be cubed or shredded.
- Potatoes: Laura calls out Yukon gold variety, which I love. But you can certainly use whatever type of potato you have on hand.
- Vegetables: Laura calls out hard vegetables such as green beans, carrots, peas – be creative – use frozen or fresh.
- Onion: I decided to sauté it and include it in the creamy bechamel sauce.
- Chicken or turkey stock/broth: Store-bought or homemade is fine – if it is extremely flavorful, you’ll need to add less seasoning.
- Fresh herbs: I love a strong note of thyme and the freshness of parsley in my pot pies so I added both.
- Milk or cream: I used lactose-free milk, cream would also be great.
How to make this recipe
Pot pies are basically vegetables and meat in a creamy bechamel style sauce encrusted in pie pastry. So if you make your own pie crust, you need to figure that into your plan since pie dough needs to rest before you roll it out. Or if using frozen crusts, be sure to defrost as directed.
Then gather and prepare your vegetables, shred or cube your meat and cook your creamy sauce. Lay one crust in the pie dish, fill, top it with the other crust and then all that’s left is baking it. While it’s in the oven, you can prepare a nice salad to accompany the savory pie.
Begin pie prep:
1. Preheat the oven and line a deep-dish pie pan with one of the pie crusts.
2. Layer the shredded chicken, cubed potatoes, and diced vegetables in the pie pan.
Prepare the bechamel sauce:
3. I chose to sauté the onions – do that in the same pot you prepare the bechamel cream sauce in.
4. Melt butter in a small pot, add the flour and let it cook for about 2 minutes, stirring constantly.
5. Slowly add the chicken broth and stir until it thickens slightly. Then add the cream or milk and stir to combine. Add fresh or dried herbs if using.
Finish the pie prep:
6. Pour the liquid (and onions) over the pot pie.
7. Put the second pie crust on top. Seal the edges and make several slits on the top of the pie to let out steam.
8. Egg wash the turkey pot pie.
9. Bake for approximately 40 – 45 minutes, until the crust is golden, and the pie is steaming.
10. Let the pie sit for at least 5 minutes before serving.
Expert tips and FAQs
- If you don’t pre-cook your hard vegetables (like the carrot and potato) then be sure to dice them small or they could be crunchier than you might like. Ours were not super soft but we loved their firmness – not hard and not soft. If you want larger pieces of vegetables, consider pre-cooking in the microwave for a bit to make sure they are tender enough after the pie is baked.
- Feel free to use fresh or dried herbs. Remember that dried herbs pack more flavor so use less than you would fresh.
- This recipe can be prepared ahead and baked later in the day or the next day.
- Leftovers were great – the crust stayed crisp when reheated, even when I was lazy and popped a small piece in the microwave.
Absolutely you can freeze it. Prepare the pie and freeze the entire thing unbaked. Wrap it well and it should be fine in the freezer for at least two months. Alternatively, you could also freeze it baked, but since you would have to warm it in the oven to bring it back to life, why not just bake it fresh from the freezer. Just remember it will take longer to bake from frozen. And if using a glass pie dish, let it sit out while the oven preheats so the glass isn’t quite as cold when it hits the hot oven.
As I mentioned earlier, I used to make a one crust puff pastry topped pot pie. If you want to try that, put all of of your filling ingredients in an oven-safe pan, then top that with a pie crust or piece of puff pastry and bake. But I highly recommend the two crust version!
Yes – if you want to make it two-crusted, be sure to use a fork to dock (poke holes) in the bottom crust so it doesn’t rise too much as puff pastry wants to do. Also puff pastry is generally rectangular, not round so you’ll have to adjust your choice of pan for a good fit.
You can definitely use lactose-free milk for a bechamel sauce. Another choice is to use only broth and use arrowroot or cornstarch or flour to thicken it. I have made pot pies without cream and they are still delicious!
If you want to make your own pie dough, be sure to check out my how to make pie dough post. The crust recipe is adapted from an Emily Luchetti recipe and works really well, though it fits better in a regular pie dish, than a deep dish. But you can make it work!
And be sure to check out all the other recipes from Laura’s book after the recipe card below.
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Turkey Pot Pie
Ingredients
- 2 pie crusts homemade or store-bought to fit a deep dish pie pan
- 3 cups cooked chicken, cubed or shredded can use store-bought rotisserie chicken
- 4 medium Yukon Gold potatoes sliced thin or diced
- 1 cup hard vegetables diced (carrots, green beans, peas, etc.)
- 1 1/2 cups diced onion
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter melted or a mixture of butter and olive oil
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 – 1 3/4 cups chicken broth (seasoned), homemade or store-bought, heated to a simmer
- 1/2 cup cream or milk heated to a simmer
- 1 egg for optional egg wash
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425°F/220°C. Line a deep-dish pie pan with one of the pie crusts.
- Layer the chicken, potatoes, and vegetables in the pie pan.
- Sauté the onions (if you want to) with a bit of butter or olive oil in the medium size pot that you'll use to make the bechamel. Set the onions aside.
- In the medium pot, melt the butter (or butter and oil) and add the flour. Cook the flour for about 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Slowly add the chicken broth and stir until it thickens slightly. Then add the cream or milk and stir to combine. Mix the onions into the bechamel and pour the liquid over the pot pie.
- Put the second pie crust on top, seal the edges by crimping them, and make several slits on the top of the pie to let out the steam. If you want a very golden crust, egg wash it all over.
- Bake for approximately 40 – 45 minutes, until the crust is golden, and the pie is steaming.
- Let the pie sit for 5 – 10 minutes (or longer) before serving.
Notes
- If you don’t pre-cook your hard vegetables (like the carrot and potato) then be sure to dice them small or they could be crunchier than you might like. Ours were not super soft but we loved their firmness – not hard and not soft. If you want larger pieces of vegetables, consider pre-cooking in the microwave for a bit to make sure they are tender enough after the pie is baked.
- Feel free to use fresh or dried herbs. Remember that dried herbs pack more flavor so use less than you would fresh.
- This recipe can be prepared ahead and baked later in the day or the next day.
- Leftovers were great – the crust stayed crisp when reheated, even when I was lazy and popped a small piece in the microwave.
Nutrition
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Appetizers
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Sides
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Dessert
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Oh, my gosh, such prime comfort food! This looks fantastic, Beth!
Thanks Jenni – We enjoyed every bite of this pot pie!
That crust looks amazingly flaky with that turkey filling.
It was great crust and the filling is simple but really satisfying!