If you’re craving comfort food, homemade chicken pot pie is your answer! This completely from scratch recipe is simple to prepare, features a double crust, and nourishes the soul. For step-by-step photos, scroll to the bottom of this page.
When I’m craving a meal that’s truly comforting, this double crust chicken pot pie recipe hits the spot. It satisfies the soul—and, is surprisingly simple to throw together. We’ll use my favorite homemade pie crust recipe (it’s not just for Thanksgiving pies after all!) for a sturdy crust on the bottom and a golden brown, flaky cloak on top. In between the pie crust layers is a mixture of chicken and veggies topped with a creamy, rich white gravy that is flavored with a little cooked onion, salt, pepper, and thyme. Let’s get started!
This Homemade Chicken Pot Pie Is:
- Satisfying + comforting
- 100% homemade
- Simple to prepare
- Perfect for when you have veggies and meat to use up
- A delicious make-ahead recipe
- Customizable—use your favorite meats and vegetables
Overview: How to Make Double Crust Chicken Pot Pie
For the full recipe and lots of step-by-step photos to walk you through the process, scroll to the bottom of this page.
- Prepare the pie crust and let it chill for at least 2 hours.
- Boil the chicken, carrots, and celery.
- Make the gravy. Cook down the onion with butter and garlic. Whisk in the flour, salt, black pepper, thyme, chicken broth, and half-and-half.
- Divide the pie dough in half. Roll out one half into a 12 inch circle. Carefully place into your pie dish.
- Fill the crust-lined pie dish with the chicken and vegetable mixture. Add the peas, then pour the gravy over the top.
- Roll out the second half of pie dough into a 12 inch circle. Use this pie dough to cover the pie. Seal and crimp the edges, then slice a few small slits in the top crust.
- Brush the top and edges with a beaten egg.
- Bake until golden brown.
Craving a different variation? This biscuit vegetable pot pie isn’t your typical classic pot pie recipe, but it’s quicker and easier. Or for a single crust variation try this turkey pot pie recipe.
Chicken Pot Pie Variations
- Pie Crust: I love using my homemade pie crust recipe for today’s chicken pot pie. Using a combination of butter and shortening yields the flakiest, most tender and buttery crust. For a pie crust made without shortening, try my all butter pie crust. Store bought pie crust or even puff pastry also work!
- Meats: Turkey works wonderfully instead of chicken. If using precooked meat, simply skip the boiling and cook the carrots and celery with the onion and butter.
- Vegetables: Try adding corn (frozen or fresh) when you add the peas. Feel free to add 1 diced Yukon gold potato; cook until soft with the onion and butter. You can also throw in a cup of sliced mushrooms—add them when you cook the onion and butter. I wouldn’t add ALL of these veggies, though, as there isn’t enough gravy for it all. Stick to 2 cups of veggies + 1 potato or less. (Onion doesn’t count!)
- Spices: Taste and season this pot pie how you like! Try adding fresh chopped parsley, a pinch of celery seed, or even a little rosemary (my favorite). As long as there is salt and pepper (definitely thyme too), the extra seasoning in the pot pie is up to you.
Double Crust Chicken Pot Pie
- Prep Time: 2 hours, 50 minutes
- Cook Time: 35 minutes
- Total Time: 3 hours, 25 minutes
- Yield: serves 8
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
This double crust chicken pot pie is perfect when you’re looking for comfort food and don’t have all the time and energy in the world to whip it up! Make sure you check out the step-by-step photos at the bottom of the page, as well as my notes at the end of this recipe.
Ingredients
- 1 recipe homemade pie crust*
- 1 pound skinless boneless chicken breast, cubed
- 1 cup (about 130g) sliced carrots (about 2 carrots)
- 1/2 cup (about 40g) sliced celery (about 1 stalk)
- 1/3 cup unsalted butter
- 1/3 cup chopped onion
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic
- 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1 and 3/4 cups chicken broth (I recommend reduced sodium)
- 2/3 cup half-and-half*
- 1 cup frozen peas
- 1 large egg, beaten
- optional: sprigs of fresh thyme for garnish
Instructions
- Prepare the pie crust as directed in my pie crust recipe, including chilling for at least 2 hours. I usually make the crust the night before. The pie crust recipe makes 2 crusts and you’ll be using both crusts.
- In a large saucepan, combine chicken, carrots, and celery. Add water to cover and boil for 12 minutes. Remove from heat, drain, and set aside.
- In a large skillet, cook the butter, onions, and garlic over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Cook until the onions are translucent and the butter is lightly browning. Whisk in the flour, salt, black pepper, thyme, chicken broth, and half-and-half. Cook and whisk until no flour lumps remain, then simmer over medium-low heat until thick. I simmer mine for 10 minutes. You want it to be a very thick gravy; simmer longer if necessary. Taste and add more seasonings if you prefer. Sometimes I add more thyme. Remove from heat and set aside.
- Preheat oven to 425°F (218°C).
- After the pie dough has chilled: On a floured work surface, roll out 1 half of the chilled pie dough. Turn the pie crust dough about a quarter turn after every few rolls until you have a circle 12 inches in diameter. Carefully place the dough into a 9-inch pie dish. Tuck it in with your fingers, making sure it is smooth. With a small and sharp knife, trim the extra overhang of dough and discard. Place the chicken mixture on top. Top with frozen peas. Pour gravy over top. Roll out 2nd half of pie crust dough just as you did the first. Cover the pie with the 2nd crust and trim the extra overhang off the sides. Seal the edges by crimping with a fork or your fingers. With a small and sharp knife, slice a few small slits in the top crust for steam to escape. Using a pastry brush, brush crust and edges with beaten egg.
- Bake for 32 – 38 minutes, or until crust is golden brown. I use a pie crust shield to protect the edges from browning too much too soon. Cool for 10 minutes before serving. Makes amazing leftovers– the filling is so thick on the next day! Reheat as desired. Leftovers keep well in the refrigerator in an airtight container for up to 5 days.
Notes
- Make Ahead & Freezing Instructions: Filling and gravy can be prepared 1 day in advance, cover and chill in the refrigerator. Assemble, fill, and bake the next day as directed. The pie crust dough can be made ahead of time and stored in the refrigerator for up to 5 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator before using. The unbaked OR baked pot pie freezes well for up to 2-3 months. Allow to thaw overnight in the refrigerator and bake as directed or bake to warm through.
- Pie Crust: Two 9-inch frozen (and then thawed) store-bought pie crusts are just fine instead of homemade. Puff pastry works too.
- Cream: Heavy cream or whole milk works instead of half-and-half to make an extra rich filling. I wouldn’t use lower fat milks; the gravy will be too thin.
- Filling Variations: This is a wonderful recipe if you have extra meat or leftover veggies to use up. Turkey works wonderfully instead of chicken. You can use precooked meat. Simply skip the boiling and cook the carrots and celery with the onion and butter. Add some corn (frozen or fresh) when you add the peas. Feel free to add 1 Yukon gold potato, diced. You can cook them until soft with the onion and butter. Mushrooms are great too; you can add 1 cup sliced mushrooms when you cook the onion and butter. I wouldn’t add ALL of these veggies though as there isn’t enough gravy for it all. I don’t recommend going over 2 cups of veggies + 1 potato. (Onion doesn’t count!)
- Spices: Feel free to add fresh chopped parsley, a pinch of celery seed, or even a little rosemary. As long as there is salt and pepper (definitely thyme too), the extra seasoning in the pot pie is up to you. Taste and season how you like!
Keywords: chicken pot pie
As directed in the recipe above, place chicken, celery, and carrots into your pot. Fill with water to cover. Boil for 12 minutes.
As directed above, in a skillet or separate pan, cook down the onion with some butter and minced garlic. Whisk in spices, flour, chicken broth, and half-and-half to make a thick white gravy.
As directed above, roll out homemade pie crust to fit into your 9-inch pie dish (a 9-inch square baking pan works too). Fill with the chicken and vegetable mixture, then top with frozen peas. I add the frozen peas at this point because they lose their vibrant green color when cooked with the chicken in the first step.
Top with creamy gravy, then the other rolled out pie crust. Cut holes in the top to release some steam, crimp down the edges, add the egg wash, and bake!
best ever husband’s favorite!
★★★★★
My husband keeps asking for this again, fabulous!
★★★★★
Hi Sally. I Made this yesterday for dinner. I had two problems with this recipe which it was me I’m sure I did something wrong somewhere anyways I use the piecrust in the food processor and it came out very very very wet I only used like 3 to 4 tablespoons of ice cold water but I don’t understand why it turned out like this I’ve always made my pie crust in the food processor in the past and never had this kind of problem the only thing I could think of is there really wasn’t any instructions if using a food processor I have used another recipe in the food processor that I’ve never had a problem with the only thing I could think of that I did wrong is I ran it too long to get it together and I should’ve known better than that I only use like 4-5 tablespoons of ice cold water. Knowing it was very wet I still divided it I weighed it make sure I had it even and put it in the refrigerator for about 2 1/2 hours when I rolled it out it was sticking everywhere it was so wet. AnyWho I had a piecrust dough in the refrigerator that was made a week ago luckily I had it in there and I used that recipe and it turned out great the second problem was I needed more thinner gravy when I took it out of the oven it was very very good but it needed more gravy it was a bit dry one thing I did do is I baked it in my black cast-iron 9 inch size pan it was So good we’re having leftovers tonight which I’m going to make some more chicken gravy that’s how good this recipe is just being honest it’s my fault I know I did something wrong thank you Sally. One more thing I Will make this recipe again I highly recommend it
★★★★★
I made this last night. The family loved it!
I used two frozen pre-made pie crust. Baked the bottom one first, as instructed on the package. The other difference I did was added diced potatoes. I will definitely be making this more often.
★★★★★
My boys are crazy in love with your chicken pot pie recipe. Since lockdown, we’ve been trying many recipes on this site. All been winners! Thank you Sally. 🙂
★★★★★
I made this for dinner yesterday, exactly as written and it was INCREDIBLE. This was also my first time making homemade pie crust and your instructions were so helpful. Thank you so much for the recipe. I can’t wait to make it again!
★★★★★
Most definitely a 5-star recipe ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️!!! This is the very best chicken pot pie I’ve ever made! I have to add, the first time I made this, my husband covered it with tin foil, and left it on top of our stove….overnight. Our darling cat, Grumplet, (she is a Grumpy cat look alike, just a smaller version at only 6 pounds), found the pot pie too tempting….it was nice and warm, and smelled great too! So, she curled up on top of it, and slept “in the chicken pot pie all night!” (Thank heavens it was covered with foil!) This recipe not only got rave reviews from my husband, it also got rave reviews from Grumplet too! But, it really is a VERY DELICIOUS chicken pot pie!,
★★★★★
WowWowWow
First time and no problem
No changes necessary
Amazing
Perfect texture
Fantastic taste
Nice color
Flaky
★★★★★
Made this today with leftover roast chicken. I skipped the boiling part and just sauteed the carrots and celery first before adding the other veggies. I turned it into a one skillet dish and only put one dough layer on top of the cast iron skillet and stuck it straight in the oven versus putting it into a pie pan. My husband said it was fantastic. I would add some potato the next time. But other than that the basics of the recipe were great.
Even though this is a baking blog, I mainly cook Sally’s soups and entrees. Always fantastic. Thank you 🙂
★★★★★
This recipe was amazing! My daughter requested chicken pot pie and I decided to give this recipe a try. I am not the greatest baker, so I was a little nervous to try this. I followed the recipe exactly and my whole family loved it.
★★★★★
I have now used this recipe twice. The first time turned out really well. It rolled out nice and round, easy to handle. Second time I’m not sure what I did differently, but it clumped together and crumbled. Not sure what happened but it still tasted great!
★★★★★
This is an amazing recipe and is definitely going into our rotation! Thanks to the Great British Baking Show, my husband asked me to make a chicken pot pie. Well, I have never made one of these before, but I knew Sally would have a great recipe! I had made the pie crust last year for my father-in-law’s 60th birthday (and the blueberry pie was a HIT) but it was even better this time around. I’ve made this pot pie twice in the past two weeks based on husband’s request. He would eat the entire thing in one sitting if I didn’t ask him to please save some for leftovers! We did cut back on the thyme a bit the second time and I pan seared the chicken instead of boiling with the vegetables. But that is the beauty of this recipe!
★★★★★
I have never cooked successfully from scratch. Especially pie crust. My niece introduced me to your blog and I looked here first to try something new. The pie turned out delicious and beautiful! Thank you!
★★★★★
Double crusted Chicken Pot Pie- so awesome. I made the pie crusts and Pot pie recipe twice now and have recipe to my favs!
★★★★★
This with the pie crust was so exciting, I’ve been wanting to make Pot Pie for about 2 years now. Finally on this quarantine just did it. The only thing I would do differently is more spices in the roux. A little bit bland, but that is very much personal taste. It was beautiful and we ate the whole thing very quickly.
★★★★★
My daughter has asked if i would make this recipe one evening, but instead of doing one pie, to make them in a muffin sized pan. Would this be possible and if so how long should I give it in the oven?
Thanks
Hi Tessa, It is possible but I’m unsure of the exact bake time.
I haven’t made the muffin sized pies, but the only direction in the recipe is to wait until the crust is golden brown – makes sense, since all the ingredients are already cooked! So I assume one should judge whether the little pies are ready only by the look of the crust.
I made this and it was easy and delicious. It turns out perfect every time!
I decided to freeze it this last time I made it. I hadn’t seen the directions for how to bake it after freezing, but my advice is to definitely follow those instructions. I wouldn’t recommend sticking it directly in the oven to bake from frozen.
Great recipe from, as usual! 🙂
★★★★★
Vegetarians: this is great with any/all hearty veggies. I usually use carrot, potatoes, celery, peas, mushroom, have added parsnip, fennel, green beans, chickpeas in various variations. The roux portion can be accomplished many ways…I was out of AP flour after the crust but once I had veggies lightly sautéed in evoo I added 2 tbsp butter, dusted the whole thing in spelt flour, combined, then slowly added water and the gravy was created around the veggies (I cooked the potatoes longer than the other veg so they could contribute thickening starch. I had no cream around and it is fine without thanks to plenty of butter. I like to add a pinch of turmeric or saffron to the roux/gravy for the color and earthiness they contribute. My goal is to put it in the oven without the veggies full cooked so they don’t end up too mushy. I’m sure It could be made vegan with minor substitutions. Bon Appetít
My husband and I both agreed that this was the MOST WONDERFULl pot pie we have ever tasted!! I did make a change which I think gave it added flavor- instead of cubing and boiling the raw chicken with the veggies, I pre seasoned 2 large raw chicken breasts with olive oil, salt , pepper and herbs in a glass dish for about 1.5 hours. Then I sautéed the chicken in butter and olive oil, 4 min each side. I set them aside to cool ( and later cubed in with celery/ carrots), and then without altering the sauté pan, I added the onions, garlic and several diced mushrooms in that nice chickeny butter/oil, and then made the roux from there and did everything else the same. Thank you for this fantastic recipe ( and inspiring my cooking creativity)!!!!!
★★★★★
This pot pie was absolutely delicious!
I think it will definitely be on my husband’s favorite list!
★★★★★
Awesome recipe. One of the most delicious things I’ve ever baked! I was a little intimidated at first making everything from scratch, but it turned out so amazing I’m not sure I will ever be able to eat a Costco pot pie ever again! It is a little labor intensive, so next time I will probably try to plan ahead and make the dough in advance. Also, I did not have shortening on hand so I made an all butter crust from the Joy of Cooking Cook book, still turned out fantastic.
★★★★★
I made this exactly as written tonight with one minor addition. I added a little cumin as well to the sauce. . It was my first attempt at Chicken Pot Pie with home made pie crust. It turned out AMAZING. The pie crust was buttery flaky perfection and the sauce was so decadent and delicious. I’ll be making lots of versions with this recipe in the future. I’m thinking Beef stew version, chorizo Mexican pie version. Can’t wait to explore other recipes on this site. Thank you for a great recipe!!
★★★★★
Pure comfort! I used leeks and green garlic instead of onions and only one crust – so satisfying! Thank you!
★★★★★
This recipe has been a go-to for years. My husband told all of his friends about this magical pot pie recipe the first time I made it! Well done!
★★★★★
My husband and I made your chicken pot pie recipe this evening, using tinned chicken from the pantry supplies we stocked in prep for self. It was wonderful! We also made your pie crust, and it turned out beautifully. As a newcomer to your website, I am really looking forward to exploring more of your recipes, and I think an apple pie will be a project in the very near future! Thank you so much for providing a delicious diversion from the stress and worry about friends, neighbors and family during this difficult time. Best wishes to you and yours, and all your readers. Stay safe and well, everyone.
★★★★★
I don’t have half and half. I know you said a lower fat milk will make the gravy thin but couldn’t I just thicken it with more flour and add more seasonings as needed?
Hi Abby! You could thicken the thinner milk with a little more flour, yes.
I just used this recipe to make a turkey pot pie using turkey dinner leftovers. I also threw the stuffing in lol. I also used your recipe for pie crust. The meal was a complete success. Thanks so much!
★★★★★
I made this yesterday, it was great! I used leftover chicken I had roasted the other day. It wasn’t clear to me how to use it though. The recipe notes say to skip boiling the chicken with the carrots and celery and just cook those in the gravy. So do you add the cooked, cold chicken to the first pie crust, top with peas, and pour the gravy with carrots and celery on top? Or add the chicken to the gravy, add most of that to the first pie crust, top with peas, then the rest of the gravy/veggie mix? My son voted for the latter, so that’s what I did. Next time, I will use fresh, raw chicken and the recipe as is. But if I ever use leftover chicken, I will boil the carrots and celery, add the chicken, and then follow the recipe. Quite delicious either way, my son and I loved it. The pie crust was buttery and flaky.
★★★★★
I’m so happy you enjoyed it, Michael! If using pre-cooked/leftover chicken you can still use about a pound. Your method sounds like it worked perfectly and honestly there isn’t a wrong way to layer them in 🙂
Everything tasted good but I don’t believe the ratio for the dough is good. Mine cracked everytime I tried to roll it! Unless I did something wrong.
★★★
Hi Heather, That is a result of not enough liquid in the pie crust. It’s cracking because it is too dry. Add a little more ice water next time– 1 Tbsp at a time.
Wow! Thank you. This recipe is nearly perfect. The flavors are outstanding. My personal preference is a thinner sauce. Next time I’ll just adjust the roux to make it a bit thinner. Your pie crust recipe is amazing. I was wary of the high fat content compared to my typical crusts…but I was totally wrong. I will only be using your pie crust recipe from now on! Thanks again!
★★★★★