Chicken Pot Pie With Puff Pastry (30 minutes)
With two convenient shortcuts, you can be sitting down to this rich, scrumptious chicken pot pie with puff pastry in about 30 minutes. The ultimate comfort food.
I ate plenty of those frozen pot pies as a kid (and loved them), but I promise this recipe is way better. We’re using rotisserie chicken, store-bought puff pastry, lots of veggies and a homemade gravy.
What to expect
I make the pot pie in a large skillet or cast iron pan, but if you don’t have one, just use a pot. The puff pastry crust is baked separately in the oven while you’re making the filling.
The chicken pot pie is loaded with chopped rotisserie chicken and lots of vegetables, making it more nutritious than the frozen pot pies you buy at the store.
Puff pastry is easy to work with and makes a perfect crispy pie crust. You buy the dough, cut it into squares, egg wash it for color and pop it in the oven. That’s it.
Bottom line: Tender chunks of chicken and vegetables, wrapped in a velvety flavorful sauce. And topped with a flaky, buttery, crispy crust.
Ingredients – tailored to your taste
- Chicken: Use a rotisserie chicken or leftover chicken, chopped into bite-sized pieces.
- Vegetables: Traditional veggies are onions, carrots and celery. I always add baby spinach for extra nutrition and red pepper for color.
- Gravy: We are making a rich gravy with butter (or oil), broth or stock and seasoning (poultry, garlic, thyme).
- Puff Pastry: Buy puff pastry in the frozen section of the grocery store – ideally the kind that comes in 2 sheets so you don’t have to roll it. If possible, buy a kind that says ‘butter puff pastry’ or ‘made with butter’. Others will be fine too though. A pie crust can be used instead.
Variations and Substitutions
- Vegetables: Other good options are mushrooms, butternut squash, potato, cauliflower, baby kale, corn and/or frozen peas (no need to defrost). You can leave out the vegetables for a super easy version. I would still include onions for the flavor.
- Seasonings: Try dill or tarragon instead.
- Vegetarian version: You can easily convert this recipe to a vegetable pot pie recipe by leaving out the chicken and using vegetable broth.
- Dairy-free version: Use broth only (no cream) for the sauce. I find the sauce doesn’t even need the extra cream anyway. Also, replace the butter with olive oil and buy a puff pastry that’s not made with butter.
- Crustless version: You can skip the crust and serve the chicken pie with crusty bread or crispy homemade croutons.
Step by step instructions
Shortcuts
Traditional chicken pot pies usually take well over an hour to make. We built these 3 shortcuts into the recipe to reduce the time to about 30 minutes.
- Chop the vegetables in the food processor (except for potato if using)
- Use a pre-cooked rotisserie chicken or leftover chicken.
- Buy store-bought puff pastry dough to make the flaky crust.
What to serve with chicken pot pie
Since the skillet chicken pot pie is packed with veggies, it can certainly be served on its own. If you want to stretch it a bit further, try it with a fig salad with pomegranates or a starter soup like a squash apple soup or a simple tomato soup with canned tomatoes.
More chicken recipes (saucy or glazed)
- apricot chicken recipe
- chicken fricassee
- spatchcock roast chicken with teriyaki glaze
- Indian butter chicken recipe (sous vide or regular)
- 20-minute spicy chicken pasta
If you’re looking for a more classic pot pie recipe, try our Ina Garten Chicken Pot Pie.
Please leave a 5 star rating ***** with a comment in the recipe card below if you like the recipe, Thanks so much!
Skillet Chicken Pot Pie (30 minutes)
Ingredients
- 1 sheet of frozen puff pastry dough, thawed about 8-9 ounces or 245g
- 1 egg mixed with 1 tablespoon water for egg wash
Filling
- 4 tablespoon butter or oil I use half butter, half oil
- 1 medium onion
- 2 medium celery stalks
- 2 medium carrots
- 2 cups additional veggies of your choice Note 1 or more carrots and celery
- 1/4 cup all purpose flour
- 2 1/2 cup chicken stock, chicken broth or vegetable broth Note 2
- 2 handfuls fresh baby spinach, roughly chopped
- 2 cups cooked chicken breasts or thighs, cut into 1 inch pieces use leftover or rotisserie chicken from store)
Seasonings
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1 1/2 teaspoon poultry seasoning or more to taste
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- salt and black pepper to taste depends on saltiness of broth. Start with 1/2 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp black pepper.
Instructions
- HEAT OVEN to 400F/204C
- MAKE CRUST: Unfold sheet of puff pastry dough. Dough will be 1/8 inch (3 mm) thick. Cut into 6 or 8 pieces with knife or pizza cutter. Transfer to sheet pan lined with parchment paper. Brush with egg wash (you will only use a bit of it). Make a few small slits in each rectangle with a sharp knife to allow steam to escape. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until deep golden brown. Remove from oven and set aside.
- PREPARE VEGETABLES: While crust is baking, cut vegetables into smaller chunks (about 2 inches). Place half in food processor. Pulse a few times to chop into 1/4-1/2 inch pieces. Don't worry if they are all not perfectly even, but they should be close to the same size for even cooking. Chop up any with a knife that have remained large. Repeat with remaining half. Alternatively, dice vegetables with a knife.
- SAUTE VEGETABLES: Melt butter (or heat oil) in large pot or large skillet on medium-high heat. Add onions and veggies to skillet. Sauté for 6-8 minutes.
- MAKE SAUCE AND FINISH FILLING: Add flour to vegetable mixture. Stir well. Cook for 3 minutes, stirring. Add broth and all seasonings, stirring rapidly, until you get a smooth creamy sauce. Cook 10 minutes until vegetables are tender and sauce is thickened, stirring occasionally. Stir in cream if using. Stir in spinach and chicken. Cook 1-2 minutes. Taste and adjust seasonings.
- TWO OPTIONS FOR SERVING: °Scoop filling onto plates and top with 1-2 pieces of puff pastry crust. Or, °Split each crust horizontally with a sharp knife into two thinner pieces. Place bottom half on plate. Add some filling. Place the top half on top of filling.
Recipe Notes
- Vegetables
- You can add a total of 6 cups (~500 grams) chopped veggies, not including the spinach.
- If using 2 carrots, 2 celery ribs and an onion, you can add another 2 cups/170 grams extra veggies without changing the sauce amount. Some options are: a potato, mushrooms, butternut squash, cauliflower, baby kale, corn and/or frozen peas (no need to defrost).
- For a creamier gravy/sauce: You can substitute 1/4 cup/59 ,l of the broth with half and half cream (or heavy cream) to increase the richness of the filling.
- Make ahead
- You can make both the filling and the crust a couple of days ahead. Store the filling in an airtight container in the fridge. Store the crusts separately at room temperature on the counter – they will stay crisp in or out of a sealed bag.
- Warm the filling on the stove on medium or in the microwave for a couple of minutes. Add extra broth or water to thin the sauce. Stir.
Great taste
Can you make this with filo dough instead? TY
Yes you can. It’s a little more effort but it will come out very crispy. Brush layers of phyllo dough with melted butter or oil (use about 6-8 sheets). Layer each sheet on top of each other and bake on a baking sheet at 375F for about 12-15 minutes or until crispy and golden. Check to make sure the dough is not burning. Let us know how it came out!
I love Ina Garten’s chicken pot pie so I’m looking forward to trying this stove top variation
I’ve so enjoyed trying your recipes, thank you
I hope you like it Susie. Much quicker and easier than our traditional Ina Garten version. I will be curious what you think if it.
Recipe is great but the conversions need to be fixed. The amount of chicken is not getting increased due to the 2-3. Thanks for the ideas. Love puff pastry!
So glad you liked the chicken pot pie. I fixed the conversion on the chopped chicken (the system doesn’t work with a range and I had put 2-3 cups). Thanks for letting me know.
Fantastic recipe. Made it twice this week
Wow. Guess it was a hit! Thanks for leaving a comment