Chicken & Turkey Pot Pie Recipes
Reading Time: 4 minutes
Make delicious and easy homemade pot pies with these chicken, sausage, and turkey pot pie recipes.
by Rita Heikenfeld
If your family’s like mine, there’s a lot of chickens and turkeys roasted during the holiday season. And that brings up the question of what to do with the meat left on the carcass before making the yearly batch of poultry bone broth.
How about pulling off enough leftover meat to make the ultimate winter comfort food: pot pie. Chicken and turkey are yummy, and many variations fit what you have on hand. Make it your way: single crust, double crust, biscuit topping, even puff pastry or phyllo for the crust.
And as far as the vegetables in poultry pot pies, again, go with what you like. The classic combinations are carrots, peas, or a mixed vegetable blend. However, diced carrots and potatoes are tasty, too. Add a rib of finely chopped celery if you have it. See where I’m going here? Take a look in the vegetable bin. Just about any vegetable you like will work fine. Remember to dice them up small enough so they’re easy to eat.
If you like, you can cook the filling on top of the stove a couple of days ahead, then heat it before completing the pie.
I’m sharing my updated recipes for my family’s favorite pot pies. The first includes sausage for an extra boost of flavor and meat protein. The next recipe is a perennial favorite, using cream of chicken soup as the sauce base. Quick and easy!
Rita’s Sausage & Turkey Pot Pie Recipes
The sausage is optional, of course, but very good.
Filling Ingredients:
- 3 cups or so cooked, chopped, or shredded chicken or turkey
- 1/2 pound bulk sausage — we like hot sausage
- 1 clove garlic, minced, or up to 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 4 tablespoons butter
- 1/3 cup flour
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 1 can (14.5 ounces) chicken broth
- 2/3 cup milk
- 1/8 teaspoon dried thyme (optional)
- 10 to 12 ounces frozen diced peas and carrots combo, thawed or equivalent fresh
Instructions:
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
- Set chicken aside.
- Cook sausage over medium heat until done, breaking it up with a potato masher as you go. When it’s halfway cooked, stir in garlic and continue to cook until sausage is done. Set aside.
- Melt butter over medium heat, then whisk in flour, salt, and pepper. Cook, whisking constantly, until flour turns golden but not brown.
- Whisk in chicken broth and milk. Add thyme. Cook and whisk until bubbly and thickened.
- Stir in sausage mixture, chicken, and vegetables. Adjust seasonings.
- Keep warm while getting crust ready.
Crust Ingredients and Instructions:
No real recipe here. Just roll out your favorite pie crust and place it on top of the filling that you’ve put into a sprayed casserole dish. Make slits in the crust to allow steam to escape.
I like to brush my crust with an egg wash — one egg yolk or white, beaten a bit, then brushed on top. This gives a golden color to the crust.
Bake for about 20 minutes or until crust is golden brown.
Quick & Easy Homemade Pot Pie
The more meat you use, the thicker the filling will be.
Ingredients:
- 2 to 3 cups cooked chicken or turkey, shredded or chopped fine
- 10 ounces frozen, thawed, mixed vegetables or your favorite combo
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1 can condensed cream of chicken soup (or you can use 1-1/4 cups of homemade)
- Dash garlic powder (optional)
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 2 pie crusts
- 1 egg beaten with a bit of water for top of crust
Instructions:
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
- Line the bottom of a pie pan with one crust. Press gently into bottom and sides.
- Mix chicken, vegetables, milk, and soup together.
- Add garlic powder, salt, and pepper.
- Pour filling into pie crust, smooth out, then place second crust on top.
- Pinch edges to seal top and bottom crusts together.
- Make slits on top of the crust to allow steam to escape.
- Brush top with egg wash.
- Bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until the top is golden brown.
Crust Alternatives
Swap out the pie crust for biscuits, puff pastry, or phyllo dough.
Split biscuits horizontally. Otherwise, they may be too thick. Lay biscuits on top of the filling in the casserole.
For puff pastry, let thaw and, if necessary, roll out or cut gently to fit pan.
For phyllo dough, use a total of eight sheets. Lay two sheets on top of each other on a cutting board or counter. Brush top sheet with butter or spray with cooking spray. Set aside and repeat buttering with remaining six sheets, creating a stack. Place on top of filling, tucking in sides if necessary.
Bake until biscuits, puff pastry, or phyllo turn golden brown, about 20 minutes, but check after 15 minutes.
Bake Crust or Biscuits Separately
You can always bake these ahead on a baking sheet, then just put on top of pot pie filling right before serving.
Ladle It
Split baked biscuits in two. Then, ladle cooked, hot filling right from the pan on top of the biscuits.
Gilding the Lily
Take the pot pie up a notch! Bake a batch of puff pastry shells according to package directions. (They can be baked ahead of time). Ladle the hot pot pie filling into the shells.
Sprinkle with grated cheddar cheese.
Rita Heikenfeld comes from a family of wise women in tune with nature. She’s a certified modern herbalist, culinary educator, author, and national media personality. Most important, she’s a wife, mom, and grandma. Rita lives on a little patch of heaven overlooking the East Fork River in Clermont County, Ohio. She’s a former adjunct professor at the University of Cincinnati, where she developed a comprehensive herbal course. AboutEating.com column: rita@communitypress.com
Originally published in the January/February 2025 issue of Countryside and Small Stock Journal and regularly vetted for accuracy.
