This Use it Up! series is all about how to save money on groceries by using up what you have on hand. We all end up with leftovers from last night’s dinner, squidgy vegetables sitting in the fridge, and the last bit of a rotisserie chicken next to the milk. Finding ways to repurpose every bit of food and not wasting our hard earned money is a perfect way to save both the food and those dollars. This Skillet Chicken Pot Pie is a perfect way to hit both of those goals!
This post isn’t about a recipe to follow to the letter, it is about looking at what you have to work with and making a delicious meal. I will go ahead and share a recipe for chicken pot pie since this is how I like to make mine. Also I will show you the process I follow to remake leftovers and bits and bobs of food into something new.
What I’m working with
I often bake a few chicken breasts with my All-Purpose Seasoning on them for lunches and those evenings when I haven’t planned dinner. After they cool I store them in the fridge. It’s a great way to prep food for the week. There’s usually a cup or so of broth in the pan after baking so I save that too.
We had baked potatoes for dinner earlier in the week. There were four extra potatoes so I put those up for another meal. My family is in a phase where I never know who will be home for dinner. Several of my kids work in the evenings. My adult kids may join us for dinner on short notice. Another may plan to meet a friend for dinner. This makes it where I don’t know if I’ll be feeding three people or six. Because of this, we often have more leftovers to use than I’m used to.
For this pot pie I used a pie crust I had in my freezer. When I make pie crust it’s easy to double the recipe and make an extra one for later. Here’s my pie crust recipe and all my tips for making your own. It’s very simple to make great pie crust from scratch but it’s just as easy to make two or three of them as it is to make one. You can roll out all the crusts at the same time and freeze them folded into quarters. When you are ready to use one, just thaw in the fridge for a couple of hours and you’re ready to go!
Skillet Chicken Pot Pie Recipe
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 1 medium carrot, diced
- 1 stalk celery, diced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 2 cups chicken stock
- 2 cups potatoes, leftover baked potatoes or peeled, diced, and cooked potatoes
- 2 cups cooked chicken, chopped or shredded
- 1/2 cup frozen peas
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- salt and black pepper to taste
- 1 unbaked pie crust
Vegetable base for the filling
Melt the butter over medium-low heat in a 9 to 10 inch cast iron or oven-safe skillet. Here’s a skillet like mine if you are looking for a cast iron pan. Mine is about the same age as me and very well seasoned. If you’re starting with a new skillet it will take a while and a lot of cooking to get the surface like an old one. It is worth the effort and will quickly become one of your most used pans. Thrift stores and antique shops are great sources for cast iron too.
Add the diced onion and stir to coat in the hot butter. Sauté while you dice the carrot. Add the carrots to the skillet and sauté while you dice the celery. Add the celery to the pan and sauté while you mince the garlic. Stir and cook for a minute to soften the garlic.
This is the process I use when cooking any dish with a vegetable base. Usually the amount of time it takes to sauté the first vegetable is the perfect amount of time to dice or chop the next. If this makes you feel rushed or you’re still working on your knife skills, feel free to dice all the vegetables before you start cooking. All you need to do is set each one aside in a small bowl until you’re done prepping them and are ready to cook.
Making the Chicken Pot Pie filling
Once the vegetables are all nice and soft, sprinkle the flour over the sautéed mixture and stir to coat all the vegetables with flour. Cook over low heat for 2 minutes to cook the flour a bit. Pour in the chicken stock and stir well to prevent any lumps of flour from forming. Bring to a simmer and cook for a few minutes or until the sauce is thick.
Add the cooked diced potatoes and chicken. Stir to combine and simmer over low heat for 5 minutes to bring the filling together and heat the potatoes and chicken through. This is an important step if they were cold from the fridge.
Add the peas and heavy cream, stir to combine. Check for seasoning and add salt and pepper to taste. Keep in mind that the stock will have some salt. The stock I used was leftover from baking the chicken breasts so it had a good amount of salt already. Use your best judgement and add seasonings slowly until it’s just the way you like it.
Finish and bake the Skillet Chicken Pot Pie
Remove the skillet from the heat and set aside for 10 minutes to cool. This is the perfect time to roll out your pie crust if you need to. You want to let the filling cool for a bit so you aren’t laying the crust directly on boiling hot filling. This would melt the butter in the crust and there won’t be as many flaky layers. If you need to go ahead and assemble it without the cooling time, it’s not the end of the world. Ideally you can cool it a bit first for the best texture.
Lay the pie crust over the filling and cut a few slits in the center to vent steam. Put the skillet into a preheated 375 degree oven. Bake for 45 minutes or until the crust is golden brown and the filling is bubbly. Remove from the oven and cool for a few minutes to let the whole thing settle. Serve hot with a salad or just on it’s own. Delicious!
Skillet Chicken Pot Pie
Equipment
- 1 9 to 10 inch cast iron skillet or oven-safe skillet
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp unsalted butter
- 1 medium onion diced
- 1 medium carrot diced
- 1 stalk celery diced
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 3 tbsp all-purpose flour
- 2 cups chicken stock
- 2 cups potatoes peeled, diced, and cooked, leftover baked potatoes are perfect.
- 2 cups cooked chicken chopped or shredded
- 1/2 cup frozen peas
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- salt and black pepper to taste
- 1 unbaked pie crust
Instructions
- Melt the butter over medium-low heat in a cast iron or oven-safe skillet. Add onion and sauté while you diced the carrot. Add the carrots to the pan and give it a stir. Sauté while you chop the celery, add the celery to the skillet. Cook the vegetables while you mince the garlic. Add the garlic to the pan and cook for 1 minute to soften the garlic.
- Add the all-purpose flour and stir well to coat all the vegetables in flour. Cook and stir over low heat for 2 minutes.
- Pour in the stock and stir to combine. Bring to a simmer, stirring occasionally, until the sauce is thick.
- Add the potatoes and chicken, stir to combine with the sauce. Simmer for 5 minutes to bring the filling together and heat the potatoes and chicken through. This step is important, especially if you're using leftover potatoes and chicken that have been refrigerated.
- Add the peas and heavy cream. Stir well and taste for seasoning. Add salt and pepper if needed.
- Remove from the heat and cool for 10 minutes. This will keep your pie crust from softening too much before baking. Roll out the pie crust if needed while the filling cools.
- Quickly place the crust over the filling in the skillet. Cut a few slits in the crust to let out steam. Bake in a preheated 375° oven for 45 minutes or until the crust is golden brown and the filling is bubbly.
