Don’t you love it when you decide on what to make for dinner and you just so happen to have everything you need right in your very own kitchen? It’s rare, but it happened to me when I had a craving for chicken pot pie.
I started rummaging through my fridge, pantry, and freezer, and was amazed to find that I could pull this together without even running to the store. I found puff pastry leftover from my Peach Tarts, heavy cream from my Salted Caramel Oat Bars, and fresh thyme from my Slow Cooker Pot Roast.
Unheard of!
My Walmart lady and I are so tight, she whispers price matches to me when I forget to check the ads. She thinks my boys are cute and “so well-behaved”, which makes me wonder what kid-shenanigens she witnesses on a daily basis. Because my boys are sweet, but we have our moments.
Like the time I was trying to decide whether I should buy regular or center cut bacon, and I looked down to see my three-year-old poking holes with his finger into the Saran wrapped raw ground beef!
Being a mom is exceedingly and abundantly a very humbling experience.
And that’s why I’m so thrilled when I can make dinner with what I already have. What I love about this recipe, is that it offers three shortcuts to make things easier.
First of all, I used puff pastry instead of making pie crust. Second, I used a pre-cooked rotisserie chicken from the grocery store instead of cooking my own. And lastly, I used a chicken base called “Better Than Bullion” instead of homemade or canned chicken stock. So very handy to have in the fridge all ready to go.
This Chicken Pot Pie has become one of my most popular recipes, and I think my mom is it’s number one fan! She makes this recipe a lot when she has company over. It pairs really well with a nice green salad, and that fancy lattice crust makes dinner guests feel extra special.
Don’t worry if you’ve never made one before, it’s really not too difficult. Make sure you are working with very cold strips of puff pastry. If they get too warm and soft they will be harder to work with, so you can pop them back into the freezer for a few minutes if needed.
This is the best lattice crust tutorial I’ve ever seen, and it’s super helpful to have that visual if you’ve never made one before.
Once you give this a try, you’ll be so happy to have it in your recipe box! Enjoy!
Disclaimer: the links in this post for the Better than Bullion chicken base are Amazon affiliate links.
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Chicken Pot Pie
- Prep Time: 45 minutes
- Cook Time: 35 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 20 minutes
- Yield: 4 1x
- Category: Main Dish
- Method: Bake
- Cuisine: American
Description
My favorite chicken pot pie recipe with three easy shortcuts to make dinner prep simple.
Ingredients
- 1 sheet frozen puff pastry
- 4 tablespoons butter
- 1/4 cup chopped onion
- 1/4 cup chopped celery
- 1/4 cup chopped carrot
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons flour
- 2 cups milk
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 1 teaspoon “Better Than Bullion” chicken base
- 2 cups cooked chicken, chopped
- 1/2 cup frozen peas
- 1/2 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme, plus more for garnish if desired
- 1 egg, beaten slightly with a fork
Instructions
- Allow puff pastry to thaw at room temperature and then gently unfold.
- In a large pot, melt butter over medium high heat.
- Add onion, celery, carrot, and salt and sauté until onions are translucent and vegetables start to get tender.
- Sprinkle flour over vegetables and cook for 1-2 minutes.
- Gradually whisk in milk, heavy cream and and Better Than Bullion, and bring to a slow boil.
- Simmer gently over medium heat until sauce begins to thicken (5 minutes).
- Turn heat to low, and add chicken, peas and thyme.
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- Pour chicken mixture into a 9 x 9 baking dish.
- Cut puff pastry into 12 equal strips, using fold lines as a guide.
- Lay puff pastry strips over chicken mixture, weaving it together to form a lattice pattern.
- Using a pastry brush, brush egg onto the top of the puff pastry.
- Bake at 400 degrees for 30-35 minutes. The top of the puff pastry will be a deep golden brown color.
- Cool for 5 minutes before serving.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 Serving
- Calories: 732
- Sugar: 4.3g
- Sodium: 583mg
- Fat: 52g
- Saturated Fat: 21g
- Unsaturated Fat: 27g
- Trans Fat: 0.8g
- Carbohydrates: 37g
- Fiber: 2.3g
- Protein: 29g
- Cholesterol: 186mg
Linda fox says
Can’t wait to cook this i like home made chicken pie put this one looks very taste
Jennifer says
OMG — made and froze this dish a couple of months ago and family just had it for dinner tonight. No words but— outrageous!!! Really delicious and froze really well. So tasty and was very easy to make. Would definitely make this again!
Julie says
Good to know, Jennifer. Thanks so much for your comment!
Maria Rangel says
How did you go about freezing the chicken pot pie?
April says
I’ve made this pie so many times it has now been transferred to Mum’s recipe book. It’s so delicious and my family love it so much. It’s our comfort food dinner go to. I like to poach 2 whole chicken breasts with 1tsp of vegetable stock then shred the chicken to mix through, that way there’s definitely some of everything in each bite. It also makes it a bit quicker to bake. I always add a more veggies than shows as well.
Thank you!!
CristinaB says
I make mine in a cast iron. I’ve used all milk, park milk…. it always comes out and it’s so pretty it’s a good one for dinner guests
Julie says
Thank you, Cristina. I need to try it in my cast iron skillet too!
Jane Wilcox says
I never had a pot pie in a casserole dish before a few years ago when it was served that was at a museum luncheon. I always make it in a pie plate. I love the idea for a larger group. I am amazed at your lattice top crust. I am willing to try that! I look forward to making this for my family, thanks for the post.I can only hope to make a crust as lovely as yours.
Julie says
Hi Jane, hope you enjoy! I made a double crusted chicken pot pie last night with a traditional pie crust, and it gave me trouble! I think I’ll stick with the puff pastry, just on top 🙂
Lori Clarke says
This was excellent. I did not use the heavy whipping cream (mind accidently froze). I used what I had no peas (ever) but I did use mushrooms, a little zucchini and 4 small potatoes. It turned out excellent, and will def make again. Thank you for this recipe!
Melissa Ciafre Rogers says
Make this all the time,absolutely delish! Hands down my sons favorite meal! I double up on the veggies and lightly coat the chicken in flour, helps thicken as it cooks. I give this dish to friends that just had babies, or one a loved one of theirs passes, or if someon had surgery. Best way to say Im thinking of you ♥️
kitcheniest says
This recipe is amazing…This was so good!! My whole family loved it! Will definitely be making again. I only had one pie crust that I used on the bottom and I topped the pot pie with instant garlic mashed potatoes. I also added one cubed potato with the vegetables.
Kim says
Delicious! Found this recipe on Pinterest and have made it several times. The whole family loves it.
Katherine A Dietz says
For lactose intolerant how do you get by with the butter in the puff pastry?
Thanks
Katherine
Jennifer Brown says
Hi Julie,
This dish has become a staple in our home!! Often times when we lay the puff pastry lattice just before putting into the oven, the lattice sinks into all the goodies and doesn’t cook all the way through. Any tips or advice you could throw our way? Maybe cook a bit before and lay on top after a few minutes?
Thanks in advance!
Natalie says
I made this last night and it turned out great! So good on a cold winters night. And I love that this so versatile. Thank you for a great dish!
I wanted to leave some helpful advice so you do not have to go through years of comments like I did.
1. If you can’t find the better than bullion paste, use 1/4 cup of water and a regular chicken bullion. I put mine in a pot on low and let it dissolve and put in when it was called for. My store was out of it so I had to improvise.
2. I used the 2nd puff pastry as a pie crust and I put mine in a pie dish. Just roll it out, place it in the dish, get a fork and prick holes in it, get a piece of aluminum foil and cut it so the foil sits on the base of the dish and cook at 425 for 20-25 mins. Then bake the filling and lattice as instructed.
3. I had my filling at room temperature or close to. It sat for at least an hour before I filled my pie dish.
4. I put my pie dish at top rack in the oven and put it in for 30 mins and it came out beautifully. Wish I could post the picture. The filling did not bubble up over the top and my lattice was not soggy.
5. I got my pastry to room temp and then stuck it in the freezer for about 10 mins. Easy!
6. And I doubled up on veggies and it definitely needs a little more salt and pepper and some garlic powder wouldn’t hurt.
Julie says
Thank you Natalie, glad you enjoyed!
Meg says
I am making this for a 5th time today and will be making it for a 6th next week. Best Chicken Pot pie ever!! People love it when I make it for them. I have made it to take to an elderly person (we ate with him!). I made it for my sister after her surgery, and I made it for my Mom’s 60th while she was quarantined. I also made it the first time just for my family. My kids and sister’s kids loved it too.
Thank you for a delicious addition to my recipe collection!
Julie says
Awesome!
Tanya says
Gorgeous dish. So pretty and tastes amazing! I have made this multiple times now and it is so easy but looks so good that it’s great for company as well. Thank you for the recipe!
Ashley says
Hello, I found this recipe on a freezer friendly meal blog and I don’t see any instructions for freezing. This looks delicious and I was hoping to make it for a friend that is having surgery! If anyone has froze this and has any advice it would be greatly appreciated!
Laura Rasmussen says
My go to pot pie recipe. I recommend to anyone wanting a quick delicious dinner for the entire family!
Kendall says
What can be substituted for peas and carrots? My family doesn’t care for those particular vegetables. Please don’t say lima beans. We won’t eat those either. LOL! Thanks.
Ginny says
Broccoli, corn, green beans, potatoes, parsnips, cauliflower- but honestly this dish is so good most picky eaters won’t care that their least favorite veggies are in the dish.
Kendall says
I made this last night for dinner. I am not a fan of chicken pot pie because I’ve only ever had the premade frozen ones and they were always disgusting. This recipe was amazing though! We barely had any milk left but we did have enough 1/2&1/2 and heavy cream to make it work. It was extra rich because of that, so I don’t recommend that to anyone if you can avoid it. But my 8yo had seconds which is a good thing, and said they can’t wait for leftovers tomorrow! I didn’t have enough carrots, onions, and celery to meet the recipe, so I just added extra mixed frozen vegetables when it said to add the peas. That worked great. I’ll make this again using milk and different veggies next time to appease the rest of the family who are much more picky about dinner. Thanks!
Amy Smith says
Hi! Do you think this could be double and put in a 9×13 dish? If so, would that change the bake time? Thank you so much in advance! Can’t wait to try this recipe this weekend. Perfect for a cozy winter weekend 😊
Jana says
At the top of the ingredients list there are a few little boxes to click for 1X, 2X, 3X for doubling or tripling. Super helpful!