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.
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.
Easy Skillet Pot Pie Recipe
Ingredients You’ll Need
Instructions
- 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).
- 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.
