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Turkey Pot Pie

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  • Prep 25 min
  • Total 1 hr 5 min
  • Ingredients 10
  • Servings 6
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Comforting and irresistible, pot pies have a flaky pastry top and bottom crust, filled with chunks of poultry or meat and veggies slathered in a rich gravy or sauce—it’s no wonder they are a popular go-to recipe to use up those Thanksgiving leftovers!

Surprisingly, the humble pot pie has a colorful history dating all the way back to the Roman Empire when it was a common dish served at royal banquets. Instead of tender chicken, beef, or turkey baked inside, these historical pot pies were often filled with live birds! The pot pie became a standard dinner in Europe around the 16th century and was later introduced to America by the English settlers. Now, the endless versions of pot pies commonly show up in weekly dinner rotations. Who could resist the tender meat and veggies, silky rich gravy, and flaky crust?

After all that cooking it took to put on the BIG holiday feast, you’ll love this easy-to-make recipe! It's simple to use your leftover turkey and transform it into a scrumptious new dinner with the help of Pillsbury™ pie crusts. That rich, flaky crust transforms ho-hum leftovers into a fresh new meal your family will devour. And trust us—they’ll never know they are eating leftovers!

It's also winner for busy nights—the sauce comes together in minutes to mix with your turkey and veggies. And the pie crust couldn’t be simpler to use—just unroll it! It’s so good it will feel like homemade, just made easy.

Your family will love sitting down to this comforting, satisfying dinner idea. The only hard part is deciding if you dive straight into the pot pie, eating a bite of crust with every bite of filling…or do you eat all the filling before you enjoy every flaky, tender bite of crust?

By Pillsbury Kitchens
Updated Jun 27, 2024
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What are the Turkey Pot Pie Ingredients?

There are just a few ingredients you’ll need for this homemade turkey pot pie that but most you may already have in your kitchen:

Turkey: This is the recipe to pull out when you’ve got leftover Thanksgiving turkey! Even if your Thanksgiving turkey was dry, you’ll never know it once its covered in this flavorful, savory sauce. No turkey on hand? No problem! You can substitute cooked chicken with our Classic Chicken Pot Pie recipe. Whether it’s leftover cooked chicken, shredded rotisserie chicken, or turkey, these pot pies will always be a hit at your supper table!

Onions: These add so much background flavor to this pie, you won’t want to leave them out! We recommend yellow onions and add them while making the sauce, to cut down on prep time and to take the edge of their raw flavor by cook them before adding to the filling ingredients.

Frozen Mixed Vegetables: Keep a bag of these in your freezer, so you can make pot pie any time you find yourself with leftover turkey or chicken. They are typically a medley of diced carrots, corn, and peas or pieces of green beans. You can substitute 2 cups of your preferred fresh or frozen diced vegetables such as broccoli, cauliflower, or bell peppers if you like.

Pillsbury Pie Crust: We highly recommend you always have this on hand, so you can make a pot pie whenever you crave the hearty coziness of this fan favorite. They cut down significantly on prep, rather than making pie crust from scratch, and they bake up so well, people will swear they are made from scratch.

How to Make Turkey Pot Pie

Our turkey pot pie recipe is easy enough for a weeknight dinner! Using leftover, tender turkey, it comes together quickly, with the help of frozen pie crusts. As with all pot pies, there are a few common steps you’ll want to know:

Crust

Pillsbury™ pie crusts are simply unrolled to use! One crust lines a pie plate, the other is used to top the savory filling, for a crisp covering to hold the fillings.

Sauce

Just a few pantry staples make a quick, savory sauce to bring all those delicious veggies and bite-size pieces of turkey together. Chopped onion is cooked in salted butter, and then flour is added with salt and pepper. Stir themed in with a whisk to keep it smooth while cooking it to thicken the mixture. Chicken broth and milk are added to make it the perfect thickness and amount for the veggies and turkey. Who knew these simple ingredients could make such a tasty sauce?

Filling

The sauce you just crafted is then mixed with the thawed mixed veggies and turkey pieces, before being turned into the pastry-lined pie plate.

Top the Filling

Here’s where you’ll use the second pie crust. It gets placed over the filling and pressed to the bottom crust at the sides to seal in the filling. See the FAQ below: How Do You Flute Pie Crust?

Bake

The pot pie is baked 20 minutes and then a strip of aluminum foil is added around the edge to prevent it from getting too brown. The pie continues to bake until the top is golden brown (and that means the filling inside is hot and the veggies are cooked.)

Let Stand

Allowing the pot pie to stand at room temperature 5 minutes lets the filling firm up slightly, to be able to cut and serve nice size portions of this delectable Thanksgiving turkey pot pie without it falling apart.

How to Store Turkey Pot Pie

For the best textures of the crust and filling, it’s best to make and serve this simple turkey pot pie fresh from the oven, rather than freezing it to make later. But leftover pie can be stored and enjoyed over the next few days!

Store any leftover turkey pot pie right in the pie plate, covered with plastic wrap, up to 2 days in the fridge. A piece of hot leftover pot pie is a great meal when your evenings are too busy to cook. Or take a piece to the office for lunch the next day, that’s like a hug from home!

Love pot pies as much as we do? Try any of these other fantastic savory pie recipes to change up the flavors and ingredients.

Ingredients

Crust

Filling

  • 1/3 cup butter or margarine
  • 1/3 cup chopped onion
  • 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon pepper
  • 1 can (14 oz) chicken broth
  • 1/2 cup milk
  • 2 1/2 cups shredded cooked turkey
  • 2 cups frozen mixed vegetables, thawed

Steps

  • 1
    Heat oven to 425°F. Prepare pie crusts as directed on box for Two-Crust Pie, using 9-inch glass pie plate.
  • 2
    In 2-quart saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Add onion; cook 2 minutes, stirring frequently, until tender. Using whisk, stir in flour, salt and pepper until bubbly. Gradually stir in broth and milk, cooking and stirring until bubbly and thickened.
  • 3
    Stir in turkey and mixed vegetables. Remove from heat. Spoon into crust-lined pie plate.
  • 4
    Top with second crust; seal edge and flute. Cut slits in several places in top crust.
  • 5
    Bake 20 minutes; cover edge of crust with strips of foil to prevent excessive browning. Bake an additional 15 to 20 minutes or until crust is golden brown. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.

Tips from the Pillsbury Kitchens

  • tip 1
    A ¼ to ½ teaspoon of poultry seasoning, which is heavy in dried sage, stirred into the filling is a natural complement to a turkey pot pie.
  • tip 2
    Beat an egg with a spoonful of water and brush it over the surface of the top dough before baking for a glossy, golden crust.
  • tip 3
    Cutting slits in the top crust is necessary to allow the steam from the filling to escape, so that the crust will stay flaky. Use a small knife to make about 1-inch-long slits or use a small cookie cutter to cut out vent holes in the top crust before placing over filling. Attach the dough cut-outs around the edge of the pie by using a little bit of beaten egg.
  • tip 4
    For a grab and go variation, try our Mini Chicken Pot Pies, made with either chicken or leftover turkey! These are perfect when everyone want their own pot pie or ones where play time is just too hard to interrupt.

Frequently Asked Questions

How to Reheat Turkey Pot Pie

The trick to reheating pot pies is to heat the filling without making the crust soggy. We have found that reheating individual pieces, rather than larger portions, makes this much more successful. If larger portions are reheated, it can take so long to get the filling hot that the crust ends up steaming, making it soggy and tough. We recommend reheating in the microwave for the best results. When the leftovers are reheated in the oven, it takes so long for the pot pie to reheat it can become dry and less appealing.

Reheat in the Microwave: Place a piece of turkey pot pie on a microwavable plate; cover loosely and microwave on medium-high (70%) for 2 to 3 minutes or until turkey filling is at least 165°F when an instant-read food thermometer is inserted in the center of the piece.

Why is my Turkey Pot Pie Runny?

Everyone has their ideas on what the right consistency should be for the filling to suit their tastes. And that’s ok by us! If you think it’s too runny or too thick, here are some reasons it may have ended up too thin or too thick:

Using the Wrong Size Pan: If you use a larger or smaller pan than the 2-quart size, it will change the amount of moisture that is evaporated during cooking. A pan smaller than called for means less moisture was cooked off, so your sauce will end up thinner. A bigger pan means more moisture was cooked off, making a thicker sauce.

Adding More or Less Liquid: If you are tempted to stir in more broth or milk, it will make the filling runny. The recipe has the right ratio of butter and flour to liquid, so that your filling should be exactly right.

If your sauce isn’t the consistency you’d like, here are some helpful tips to fix it before you add the other ingredients:

Cook It Until It is Thickened: Be sure to cook it long enough before you remove it from the heat.

Filling is Too Thick: Stir in additional broth or milk, one tablespoon at a time, until it reaches the desired consistency.

Filling is Too Thin: Stir a tablespoon of flour into a tablespoon of cold water until smooth. Stir it into the boiling filling and continue to cook and stir until the filling has thickened.

How Do You Flute Pie Crust?

When making a two-crust pie, like this delicious turkey pot pie, it’s important to seal the bottom and top crusts together to encase all the scrumptious fillings inside. Fluting is one way to seal crusts together. Create a wavy detail by pinching the dough around your thumb and forefinger. But there are other options as well.

Try one of these easy-to-follow edge treatments to seal the crust while making an eye-catching edge (except the lattice crust—the filling should be mostly covered for this pie, so that it doesn’t dry out).

Nutrition Information

530 Calories, 30g Total Fat, 22g Protein, 43g Total Carbohydrate, 3g Sugars

Nutrition Facts

Serving Size: 1 Serving
Calories
530
Calories from Fat
270
Total Fat
30g
46%
Saturated Fat
14g
71%
Trans Fat
0g
Cholesterol
95mg
31%
Sodium
1060mg
44%
Potassium
250mg
7%
Total Carbohydrate
43g
14%
Dietary Fiber
1g
5%
Sugars
3g
Protein
22g
% Daily Value*:
Vitamin A
15%
15%
Vitamin C
6%
6%
Calcium
6%
6%
Iron
10%
10%
Exchanges:
2 1/2 Starch; 0 Fruit; 0 Other Carbohydrate; 0 Skim Milk; 0 Low-Fat Milk; 0 Milk; 1/2 Vegetable; 0 Very Lean Meat; 2 Lean Meat; 0 High-Fat Meat; 4 1/2 Fat;
Carbohydrate Choice
3
*Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet.

More About This Recipe

  • It’s hard to find a more comforting dish than a classic pot pie. Sometimes referred to as meat pot pie, the traditional recipe is typically filled with some type of protein, mixed vegetables, potatoes, chicken broth and flour inside a flaky pastry crust. Surprisingly, the humble pot pie has a colorful history dating all the way back to the Roman Empire when it was a common dish served at royal banquets. Instead of tender chicken, beef or turkey baked inside, these historical pot pies were often filled with live birds! The pot pie became a standard dinner in Europe around the 16th century and was later introduced to America by the English settlers. Now, the pot pie has become commonplace and has found a longstanding spot in weekly dinner rotations. The savory pie has certainly come a long way since its origin and today, there are plenty of different methods to bake the savory meat pie and endless twists on the classic recipe. You can make pot pie using biscuits instead of pie crust, you can make the filling on the stove or in the slow cooker, you can bake the pie in a casserole dish or a pie plate, and you can even bake it in a skillet or a muffin tin! This dish can be adapted and tweaked easily by simply changing out the filling. Whatever you’re craving, we have every pot pie and casserole recipe you could ever dream of!
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