Classic Pot Pie, reimagined to use up Thanksgiving leftovers! Creamy sauce, filled with vegetables, herbs & turkey, all piled in between two flaky pie crusts & baked to perfection!
Turkey Pot Pie is the thanksgiving leftovers recipe you never knew you needed.
Pot Pie Perfection
This recipe is great for using up Thanksgiving leftovers in a fun & interesting way. You can use turkey, chicken, duck, ham, or any other meat you have lying around post-Thanksgiving feast. This pot pie can also be made vegetarian by using veggie broth & your favorite vegetabels. The peas in this recipe can be a place holder for any leftover vegetables you my have. This would be delicious with green beans, roasted carrots or Brussels sprouts.
My secret for easy Turkey Pot Pie
Store bought pie crust works incredibly well in this recipe. Because after cooking a Thanksgiving meal, I would never expect you to make your own pie crust (unless of course you wanted to!)
Working with the bottom crust:
Whether you’re using homemade or store bought crust, you want to make sure to lay it in your pie dish correctly. If you pull or stretch the dough at all, it will retract & shrink in the oven. When working with store bought crust, I like to roll it out just a little bit to give myself more room to work with, when it comes to crimping the crust. After your crust is rolled out to size, you can either fold it in half, to place it in the dish, or you can roll it over your rolling pin, then unroll it once it has reached the pie dish. Unfold the crust so it’s placed exactly where you want it to go.
Then, working your way around the whole rim of the crust, lift the outer edge of the crust with your right hand, while letting the crust fall right into the dish. Press the dough into the dish with your left hand, making sure there are no air bubbles. Once you have done this around the whole rim, it’s time to crimp the edge. Crimping isn’t necessary, but it gives the pie an elevated look & doesn’t take more than a minute. Begin by rolling any excess crust under itself (towards the outside of the pie). Check out the center image for an example. If there is a significant amount of extra crust, you can trim it with a knife.
Once the whole crust has been rolled, it’s time to crimp. A standard crimp is done by pushing together your thumb & pointer finger on the outside of the crust. Then push the inside of the crust with your opposing hand’s pointer finger (as shown above). Do this all the way around the rim. See, that wasn’t so hard, right?
Working with the top crust:
I like to plan out my lattice design ahead of time, when I want to do something a little fancier than your average crust. There is absolutely no need for a decorative crust, I just find it therapeutic to create these designs. For a simple top crust, lay your top crust over the pie filling & crimp the edges with the bottom crust to seal. If you’re doing a plain crust, you can wait to crimp the bottom edges & do it all at once, after you lay on the top crust. Make sure to cut a few vent slits to allow steam to escape.
For this crust I did a simple lattice, but the strips running vertically are 1”, where as the horizontal strips are ½”. This is a simple way to elevate your average lattice crust. Another tip for creating an easy lattice crust, is to assemble it on parchment first. This makes it much easier & cleaner than working directly on the pie.
Once you’ve egg washed the crust, it’s ready to top the pie! Place the whole sheet of parchment directly over the top of the pie & slowly peel back the parchment. Roll it under itself and the crust will stay put. Trim the edges & you’re good to go!
When I’m feeling ~extra fancy~, I like to cut out extra pie crust into fun designs to add to the top of the pie. This step is REALLY not necessary, but sometimes it’s fun to go the extra mile! Now your work of art is ready to hit the oven!
Freezing the Turkey Pot Pie:
You have a few options when it comes to freezing a pot pie. You can assemble the whole pie, then freeze it uncooked. Or you can cook it, then freeze the cooked pie. If you are freezing a cooked pie, make sure to cool the pie completely before freezing. Either method works well! I prefer to freeze an uncooked pie, but that’s just my preference! Frozen pies can last up to 3 months.
Turkey Pot Pie
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons Butter
- 2 tablespoons Olive Oil
- 1 cup Yellow Onion medium dice
- ¾ cup Celery medium dice
- ¾ cup Carrot thinly sliced
- Kosher Salt
- Black Pepper
- ⅓ cup All Purpose Flour
- 1 ⅓ cup Chicken Broth
- ⅔ cup Whole Milk
- 4 cups Turkey (or Ham / Chicken) cooked and shredded, (or Ham / Chicken)
- 1 cup Peas frozen
- 1 teaspoon Fresh Thyme
- 2 Pie Crusts refrigerated or homemade
- 1 Egg beaten
- ¼ cup Parsley roughly chopped
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425°F.
- In a large, high sided pot, heat butter & olive oil over medium heat. Add onions, celery, carrots, ½ teaspoon salt & ¼ teaspoon pepper. Stir to combine & cook until vegetables are soft & beginning to brown, about 10-15 minutes.
- Next, add the flour & stir to make sure all flour has been absorbed. Cook for 2 minutes to ensure there is no raw flour taste, then add broth & milk & stir. Continue stirring until the mixture has thickened significantly, about 5 minutes. The mixture should coat the back of the spoon & when you run your spatula down the center of the pan, the mixture should hold on either side & not be runny.
- Next, add in the turkey, frozen peas & thyme. Stir to combine. Taste & adjust for seasoning. The amount of salt you will need to add will depend on how salty your broth is & how salty the turkey is, so give the mixture a taste & season as needed. Cook mixture for another 5 minutes, then remove from heat while you prepare the pie crusts.
- Working with the first pie crust, lay it into the pan, making sure to not stretch the dough, as it will retract in the oven. The easiest way to lay the crust into the dish is by lifting the top edge of the crust with one hand, while pressing down on the crust inside the dish with the other hand. For an easy crimped edge: roll excess dough from the rim under itself, then, using your left hand, pinch together your thumb & pointer finger while using your opposite hand pointer finger to press the dough into a crimped shape. (photos are in the blog post to help guide this step)
- Pour slightly cooled filling into the bottom crust, then lay on the top crust. You can leave the crust whole or do a lattice pattern, whichever you prefer. If you leave the crust whole, make sure to cut a few slits into the top to allow steam to escape.
- Brush the top of the pie (anywhere there is crust) with the beaten egg, then bake for 30-40 minutes, until top is nicely browned* & filling is bubbling. Allow pot pie to rest for 10-15 minutes before serving. Garnish with chopped parsley.
This meal had SO much flavor! The crust came out moist and tender but still crispy and flavorful! Definitely will me having this again soon!
So glad to hear Cory! The crust is my favorite part!
I have to leave a comment as this recipe has literally become a staple in this household. We omit the peas (I still seem to have never gotten around to liking them.)
We also sub chicken for turkey broth because I am trying to learn to be a good girl and use all of the animal. Haha. 🙂 Bone broth for the win.
Regardless, I have to say my Fiancé requests this meal so often Ashley! Thank you for sharing! We literally cooked a full Thanksgiving meal in January on a Monday just so we could have left over Turkey to make these Pot Pies.
That is so great to hear Emily! It’s one of my favorites too! So glad you guys enjoy it so much.