This isn’t the usual sweet dessert pie you see on this website, but it’s certainly worthy of attention. Today we’re making pot pie in a skillet – where leftover veggies and chicken or turkey meat come together in an ovenproof skillet. Topped with a buttery pie crust, this easy skillet pot pie is everything you’d want and expect from a one-pan meal.
I often find that comfort is born out of familiarity, especially when it comes to our favorite recipes. Here, I combine leftover chicken or turkey with nutritious vegetables and simmer them in a generously seasoned and creamy stock. Once cooked, the rich, delicious filling is foiled in buttery pie pastry.
I used my traditional chicken pot pie recipe as the base but made a few key adjustments to save time. These few tricks actually cut the work in half! Try them for yourself:
- Prepare everything in 1 pan
- Use leftover veggies and turkey or chicken
- Cover with homemade or store-bought frozen pie crust
I highly recommend you stock your refrigerator or freezer with pie crust NOW. Simply shape pie dough into discs, wrap each in plastic wrap, and store them in the freezer. I can produce 6 pie crusts in 30 minutes. I always have crust on hand for, you know, pie-mergencies. Obviously.
Tell Me About This Skillet Pot Pie
- Texture: Tender bites of chicken or turkey, hearty vegetables, and flaky, buttery pastry make a winning combination. Trust me, this pot pie will put a smile on your face.
- Flavor: You need the carrots + celery + onion as the base, but you can have a little fun with the extra veggies: peas, bell peppers, mushrooms, broccoli, cauliflower, leeks, corn, etc. I used mushrooms + frozen peas + leftover rotisserie chicken. This recipe is perfect for using up the extra meat and veggies lingering in the refrigerator, including leftover Thanksgiving turkey.
- Ease: This is a relatively easy homemade dinner recipe. It’s customizable based on ingredients you have/love. You also don’t have to mess with a bottom pie crust and the entire recipe cooks in just 1 pan. Let the filling cool for at least 10 minutes before topping it with the pie crust. Don’t worry too much about perfecting the pie topping: you want it to look rustic, but more to the point, it will lose its integrity once it’s cut and served.
Overview: How to Make Skillet Pot Pie
The full printable recipe is below, but let’s walk through it so you understand each step before you get started.
- Prepare the pie crust. You can use your favorite recipe for pie dough or use a store-bought crust. We use and recommend this homemade pie crust recipe. The recipe yields enough for 2 crusts and you just need 1 here, so I recommend using the 2nd pie crust for another single crust pie or keeping it in the freezer for another time you make this skillet pot pie meal.
- Cook down the vegetables. Grab your skillet, cook down some carrots + celery + garlic + onion. Add seasonings + flour to soak up the liquid. The flour will also help thicken the pot pie filling.
- Add remaining ingredients. This when you’ll add the chicken broth, milk, vegetables, and cooked chicken or turkey. Set it aside for at least 10 minutes to cool down. The gravy gets wonderfully thick and we didn’t even use cream.
- Roll out the dough. Roll out the pie dough a little larger than the diameter of your pan. Cut slits in the top to form steam vents, crimp or flute the edges to seal, and lightly brush the top of the pie dough with an egg wash.
- Bake. Bake for 35-40 minutes or until the crust is golden brown.
If pie crust isn’t your thing, feel free to top with biscuits just as we do when making this biscuit vegetable pot pie.
A Kitchen Essential: The Ovenproof Skillet
If you haven’t invested in a cast-iron or ovenproof skillet yet, get one now! You can make everything from crispy honey skillet cornbread and cornbread chili casserole to flaky biscuits, frittata, or a fruit-studded blackberry peach skillet cornmeal cake. Add a hearty skillet pot pie to the equation and you’ll wonder how you lived so long without one. This pot pie is the ultimate comfort food: as cozy as flannel jammies and (almost) as delicious as grandma’s version. All you need is one pan and you’re all set for dinner.
If you don’t have a skillet, you can follow the assembly and baking instructions for this turkey pot pie.
Do you see all those beautiful chunks and swirls of butter in the pie crust below? That’s a good thing. This is an odd thing to shout but YOU WANT CHUNKS! Visible chunks of butter mean (1) you didn’t overwork the dough and (2) more flakes. If you overwork the dough, you’re breaking the butter down too much and will miss out on a flaky crust. So… do less work.
More Favorite Dinner Recipes
- Honey Teriyaki Chicken
- Slow Cooker Chicken Chili
- Crab Cakes
- Creamy Chicken Noodle Soup
- Pumpkin Chili
- Baked Chicken Meatballs
Skillet Pot Pie
- Prep Time: 3 hours
- Cook Time: 55 minutes
- Total Time: 4 hours
- Yield: serves 8
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
This easy skillet pot pie is a delicious one pan dinner for your family. It’s hearty and satisfying and you can use chicken or leftover Thanksgiving turkey!
Ingredients
- Store-bought or homemade pie crust (my recipe makes 2 crusts; you can halve the crust recipe or freeze the 2nd half)
- 2 Tablespoons (28g) unsalted butter
- 1/3 cup chopped onion
- 2 teaspoons minced garlic
- 1 cup sliced carrots (about 2 carrots)
- 3/4 cup sliced celery (about 1–2 stalks)
- 1/4 cup (31g) all-purpose flour
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoons dried thyme leaves
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 2 cups regular or reduced sodium chicken broth
- 1/2 cup whole milk*
- 2 cups vegetables*
- 2–3 cups cooked shredded or cubed chicken or turkey
- egg wash: 1 large egg beaten with 1 Tablespoon (15ml) milk
Instructions
- The crust: Prepare my pie crust recipe through step 5. Do this in advance to save time!
- Heat the butter in a 10-12 inch oven-safe skillet over medium heat. Add the onion, garlic, carrots, and celery. Cook for 5 minutes or until vegetables have softened and released some liquid. Add flour, thyme, salt, and pepper. Stir and cook for 2 minutes as the flour soaks up the liquid.
- Pour in the chicken broth and milk. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low and allow to simmer for 5 minutes. Gravy will thicken. Stir in the vegetables and chicken/turkey. Cook for 1 more minute. Remove from heat and allow to slightly cool for 10 minutes (and up to 1 day—cover and store in the refrigerator).
- Preheat oven to 375°F (191°C).
- Roll out the chilled pie dough: On a floured work surface, roll out one of the discs of chilled dough (you can freeze the 2nd for later use, see note). Turn the dough about a quarter turn after every few rolls until you have a circle 12 inches in diameter. If your skillet is 12 inches, roll out the pie dough to about 13 inches so it fits. Carefully lay the dough over the filling. Cut slits in the top to form steam vents. Crimp or flute the edges to seal. Lightly brush the top of the pie crust with the egg wash.
- Bake for 35-40 minutes or until the top of the crust is golden brown. After the first 20 minutes of bake time, I place a pie crust shield on top of the skillet to prevent the edges of crust from burning.
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 5 minutes before serving. Leftovers keep well in the refrigerator in an airtight container for up to 5 days. Reheat as desired.
Notes
- Make Ahead Instructions: Filling can be prepared 1 day in advance, cover and chill in the refrigerator as noted in step 3. Continue with the recipe and bake the next day as directed. You can also prepare and freeze the filling for up to 3 months. Thaw before covering with crust and baking. 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.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): 10- to 12-inch Oven-Safe Skillet | Rolling Pin | Pastry Brush | Pie Crust Shield
- Milk: Use whole milk and avoid lower fat milks because the gravy/filling will not thicken as much. Plain unsweetened oat milk works best as a nondairy milk replacement.
- Vegetables: I use 1 cup of frozen peas and 1 cup of sliced mushrooms. Other vegetables that work are chopped fresh or frozen broccoli, cauliflower, zucchini, leeks, bell peppers, and/or corn.