Chicken Pot Pie Recipe
This chicken pot pie recipe is hands down my family’s favorite meal. It’s a crowd pleaser for sure. It’s also great for meal prep, a freezer meal, or to gift to someone in need.
I don’t know anyone who doesn’t like chicken pot pie. It’s comfort food at its best. My family goes crazy every time I make it. It takes just a little time, but it’s not hard at all. And you can make it ahead of time. You can stick it in the fridge for a day or so or the freezer for up to three months.
Of course, you have to have some chicken in your chicken pot pie. I typically use boneless, skinless chicken breast and bake it in the oven. Once it’s cooled, I chop it up into bite sized pieces and it’s ready to go. If you already have some sort of cooked chicken in your fridge, you’re a step ahead of the game! Just chop it up and throw it in there! You could also take a shortcut and buy a rotisserie chicken and shred it up.
Now for the filling. For this recipe, we are going to make a homemade sauce for the filling. You could totally skip this step and just use a couple of cans of condensed cream of chicken soup. But the homemade sauce really isn’t hard at all, and in my humble opinion, it tastes so much better!
You’re going to need a big pot for all your filling, so get that going on a medium low heat. Melt some butter, then add some flour and a little salt to make a roux. Once all that is well incorporated and browned to your liking, you’re going to slowly whisk in a mixture of milk and chicken broth. Stir the mixture continuously until it has thickened to your desired consistency. It may take a few minutes but be patient. It’s worth the wait.
Once your sauce has thickened, you’re ready to add the rest of your filling ingredients. Add in your cooked, chopped chicken, some frozen peas and carrots, and some diced potatoes. You can use a can of diced potatoes to keep it simple, or you can dice fresh potatoes if you have them on hand. Stir all that together and let it warm up just a few minutes, and your filling is done!
Okay, I wish I was a professional baker with all the time in the world and I could make homemade pie crust for this pot pie. But I’m not, and chances are, you aren’t either. So, we’re just going to make life easier on ourselves and use some premade pie crusts here. Get a large pie dish and roll out one pie crust in the bottom of your dish. Fill the dish with that delicious filling, then add the second pie crust to the top. Crimp the top and bottom crusts together around the edges so your filling doesn’t ooze out. And cut some slits in the top crust so the steam can escape while it’s baking.
At this point, basically all the work is done. You can make this earlier in the day and pop it in the oven in the evening. You can make it a day or so ahead and keep it in the fridge. Or you can freeze it for up to three months and save it for a hectic night when you don’t have time to cook.
I usually double this recipe and make two pot pies. I bake one for my family and give the other away or put it in the freezer.
It smells so good when it’s in the oven. When you take it out, it will look like you have slaved away in the kitchen all day. If your family is anything like mine, they will devour every last bite of it, and you will be the hero of the day!
Chicken Pot Pie
Ingredients
- 2 cups cooked, chopped chicken *I use baked chicken breasts, but feel free to use any type of cooked chicken that your family prefers.
- 1/4 cup butter
- 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1-1/2 cups chicken broth
- 1-1/2 cups milk of your choice
- 2 cups frozen peas and carrots *You could also use canned(drained).
- 1 cup diced potatoes *Canned(drained) or fresh is fine here.
- 1 package refrigerated unbaked pie crusts (2 crusts)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- Bring a large pot up to medium low heat.
- Add butter to pot. Once melted, stir in flour and salt. Continue stirring until well incorporated and light golden brown, 1-2 minutes.
- Slowly whisk in broth and milk. Stir constantly until sauce is thickened, 5-10 minutes.
- Once sauce is thickened, add cooked, chopped chicken, peas and carrots, and potatoes. Cook 3-4 minutes until everything is heated through. Remove from heat.
- Roll out one pie crust into the bottom of a large pie dish.
- Fill pie dish with filling. Roll out second pie crust on top of filling.
- Crimp top and bottom crusts together around edges of dish. Cut slits in top pie crust to allow steam to escape.
- Bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes. Let cool 15 minutes before serving. Enjoy!