Turn leftover turkey into an entirely new meal with this turkey pot pie recipe. Vegetables and cooked turkey come together in a creamy herbed gravy, and it’s all topped with a buttery golden pie crust. This base recipe can be customized to your liking with ingredients you have on hand, and you can use pre-cut, leftover, or frozen vegetables to save time. Maximum comfort food for minimal effort!
Every fall season, I try to find a few recipes to use up leftover cooked turkey or chicken. (You know, after we’ve had our fill of turkey sandwiches!!) Pot pie usually comes to mind first because it’s always a satisfying, crowd-pleasing choice. No wonder it joins my list of 30 delicious fall dinner recipe ideas.
Why You’ll Love This Turkey Pot Pie
- Satisfying all-in-one meal
- Easy flavorful gravy, made from basic pantry ingredients
- A great way to use up leftover cooked turkey (or chicken)—use light or dark meat or a combination
- Use the suggested vegetables, or swap them for your favorites
- Use frozen, pre-cut, or leftover vegetables to save time
- Top with flaky buttery pie crust, or use store-bought pie dough
Start With Pie Crust
Ingredients in Turkey Pot Pie Filling (& Substitutions)
Use Leftover Thanksgiving Turkey
After the base veggies and butter cook together, add flour, salt, pepper, thyme, and rosemary. (Major flavor building is happening during these crucial steps!) Below, left: The base of the pot pie filling. Below, right: After adding the flour & herbs.
After the flour soaks up the moisture from the cooked vegetables, add the broth and whole milk. Let everything simmer and thicken on the stove, until the sauce has a thick gravy-like consistency.
Then you’ll add the cooked turkey and your vegetable add-in. (Peas, in this case.)
Your filling is done! ↓ Let it cool for 10 minutes, and then pour it into a 9-inch pie dish:
Assemble Pie Dough & Bake
FAQ: Can I Add Potatoes?
Yes. I recommend adding 1 cup peeled and chopped potato (or sweet potato) when you add the broth. To make room for this addition, remove the mushrooms or 1 cup of vegetable add-ins at the end.
FAQ: How to Thicken the Turkey Pot Pie Filling
This is a nice, hearty, and satisfying turkey pot pie filling because we take the time to let the gravy simmer on the stove. The flour soaks up the vegetables’ moisture, and when paired with the milk, helps create that smooth and creamy base. Avoid half-and-half and heavy cream because both are too heavy… and you’ll be eating a brick under that pie crust!
FAQ: How Can I Make Smaller Turkey Pot Pies?
If you have smaller pie dishes or oven-safe 8-ounce ramekins, you can spoon the filling into each and top with smaller pie crust circles. Cut the pie dough into circles about 1 inch larger than the diameter of your ramekins/smaller pie dishes. The bake time will be shorter than the full-size version, and that time really depends on the exact size of your mini turkey pot pies. When the crust is golden brown on top and the filling is bubbling through the steam vents, they’re done.
Turkey Pot Pie Recipe
Ingredients You’ll Need
Instructions
- . Make pie dough in advance because it needs to chill in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours before rolling out (step 3). The recipe makes 2 crusts, and you only need 1 for this pie, so save the other for another pie.
- Melt the butter in a large skillet or pot over medium heat. Add the onion, carrots, celery, mushrooms, and garlic. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes or until vegetables have softened and released some liquid. Stir in flour, salt, pepper, thyme, and rosemary until flour has absorbed all the liquid. Stir in the broth and milk. Simmer for 7–8 minutes or until thickened into a gravy consistency. Stir in the frozen peas and turkey, and then remove from heat. Taste and add more salt & pepper, thyme, or rosemary to taste, if desired. Cool for 10 minutes at room temperature. (Or up to 1 day. Cover and store in the refrigerator if making 1 day ahead.) After it has cooled for at least 10 minutes, transfer the filling to a 9-inch pie dish.
- Preheat oven to 375°F (191°C).
- Remove 1 disc of pie dough from the refrigerator. On a lightly floured work surface using a lightly floured rolling pin, roll the dough out into an 11- or 12-inch circle. Make sure to turn the dough about a quarter turn after every few rolls. Carefully lay dough over top of the filling. Trim dough edges so there is only about an inch of overhang. Fold the overhanging dough under, melding it into itself to form a thick edge crust. Crimp the edges with a fork or flute the edges with your fingers.
- Cut slits in the top to make steam vents. 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 20 minutes of baking, be sure to cover the edges of the crust with aluminum foil or use a pie crust shield to prevent the edges from getting too brown. (See this post on the best pie baking tools for instructions on how to make a pie crust shield out of foil.)
- 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.
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