A hearty turkey pot pie is the perfect way to use up leftover turkey from Thanksgiving! With a rich, creamy sauce, tender veggies, and roasted turkey, it’s the ultimate comfort food dinner.
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Pin RecipeIt doesn’t matter if your Thanksgiving celebration is just you and your immediate family, or a ginormous gathering of cousins, second cousins, cousins once removed, and people you’re not sure you’ve ever even met before, one thing is true: you will always have leftover turkey after Thanksgiving. And this turkey pot pie is a delicious way to put it to use!
It’s everything you love about chicken pot pie—the flaky pie crust, peas and diced veggies, and creamy sauce—but with turkey instead of chicken.
Yep, turkey pot pie is quite possibly the best post-Thanksgiving dinner ever, right up there with the classic turkey sandwich slathered with cranberry sauce and piled high with stuffing. (What, you don’t put stuffing on your turkey sandwiches?!)
Easy Turkey Pot Pie Recipe
Turkey is the key ingredient in this recipe, and I use my leftover roasted turkey, but really any turkey leftovers will work here, even crockpot turkey breast. Dice the turkey or shred it with forks so it’s in bite-sized pieces before you put it in your turkey pot pie.
Many of the other ingredients in this recipe are ones you might have on hand after putting together a Thanksgiving dinner—onions and celery from the dressing, carrots after making my honey-glazed carrot recipe, fresh thyme, and butter from the mashed potatoes and gravy.
If you have time, you can use the turkey carcass to make homemade turkey stock to use in the pot pie filling, but if that’s not in the cards right now, no worries—any store-bought or homemade chicken stock will work just fine, too. (Note that if you use chicken broth, it’s already seasoned with salt, so you may need to add less salt to the recipe.)
Tools Needed:
Ingredients
See recipe card below this post for ingredient quantities and full instructions.
- Unsalted butter – If you only have salted butter on hand, you can simply add less salt to the recipe.
- Onion – Yellow or white both work, or you can substitute shallots.
- Carrot
- Celery
- Frozen peas – Not a fan of peas? Frozen green beans or lima beans work, too.
- Leftover roasted turkey – White or dark meat are both fine, or use a combination of the two.
- All-purpose flour
- Chicken or turkey stock
- Heavy cream – Heavy cream is key to a thick, rich sauce, but you can substitute half-and-half if you’d like to cut the calories and fat a bit (and don’t mind a slightly thinner sauce).
- Dried oregano
- Fresh thyme – If you happen to have fresh sage or rosemary on hand, those can be used instead of or in addition to the thyme.
- Kosher salt & black pepper
- Pie crust – I use store-bought to cut down on the work I have to do, but homemade pie crust works too!
How to Make Turkey Pot Pie
- Prepare: Preheat your oven to 400ºF.
- Start the Filling: Melt the butter in a Dutch oven set over medium heat. Add the onion, carrot, and celery and cook for about 5 minutes, or until the vegetables are softened. Stir in the peas, turkey, and flour and cook for 2 minutes more.
- Make the Creamy Sauce: Slowly pour the stock into the pan, stirring constantly. Continue to stir until the liquid thickens, about 5 to 6 minutes. Add the cream and continue to cook for 4 to 5 minutes, until the sauce is thick and creamy. Add the herbs, then season to taste with salt and pepper. Tip: If you dump the stock into the pan all at once, you may end up with clumps of flour in the sauce. Pouring it in a little at a time will help prevent a lumpy turkey pot pie filling!
- Assemble: Pour the filling mixture into a deep dish pie pan or baking dish. If needed, roll out the pie dough until it’s 1-inch larger than the top of the pie pan or baking dish. Set the dough over the dish and trim any excess, then crimp the edges with your fingers or the tines of a fork. Cut 3 to 4 slits on top of the crust with a sharp knife for venting.
- Bake: Set the pan in the oven and bake until the crust is golden brown and the filling is bubbling up through the vents, about 40 to 45 minutes. Let the turkey pot pie sit for 10 minutes, then serve. Tip: Letting the pie rest a bit will help you cut slices that don’t fall apart!
Tip:
Turkey Pot Pie is delicious heated up the next day! To reheat, simply pop a slice in the microwave for 2 to 3 minutes, or until heated through. You can also reheat it in a 350ºF oven until warmed throughout, which takes about 10 to 15 minutes.
How to Store Leftover Turkey Pot Pie
Turkey pot pie is best served warm, straight from the oven. However, leftovers can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 3 days or in the freezer for 2 to 3 months. Thaw frozen turkey pot pie in the refrigerator before reheating it.
To reheat, simply pop a slice in the microwave for 2 to 3 minutes, or until heated through. You can also reheat it in a 350ºF oven until warmed throughout, which takes about 10 to 15 minutes, depending on how much of the pot pie you’re warming up.
FAQs
I like to serve turkey pot pie with a simple green salad and some crusty homemade French bread or sourdough to sop up any leftover sauce. A simple veggie side like steamed broccoli works too!
Yes, turkey pot pie can be frozen. Simply assemble the pot pie as directed, then cover it tightly with plastic wrap and foil and freeze it for up to 3 months. When you’re ready to eat it, thaw it in the fridge overnight, then bake it as directed, or bake from frozen and add an extra 10 minutes or so to the baking time.
Yes, you can! Simply use puff pastry in place of the pie dough called for in the recipe. You’ll need to thaw the puff pastry before using it, so plan accordingly.
Yes, you can make turkey pot pie with biscuits! Simply prepare the filling as directed, then spoon it into a baking dish. Top with unbaked biscuits, then bake the pot pie at the temperature and time indicated by the biscuit recipe. You can use store-bought biscuit dough, or try my 3-Ingredient Bisquick Biscuits made with Sprite or Easy Homemade Biscuits.
More Easy Turkey Leftover Recipes
Turkey Pot Pie
Ingredients
- ¼ cup unsalted butter
- ½ cup onion diced small
- ½ cup carrot diced small
- ½ cup celery diced small
- ½ cup frozen peas
- 3 cups leftover roasted turkey diced or shredded
- ¼ cup all-purpose flour
- 3 cups chicken or turkey stock
- ½ cup heavy cream
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 2 tbsp fresh thyme chopped
- Kosher salt & black pepper to taste
- 1 9” store bought pie crust thawed
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400F.
- In a Dutch oven, heat the butter over medium heat until melted. Add the onion, carrot, and celery and cook until soft, about 5 minutes. Add the peas, turkey, and flour and stir to combine. Cook for 2 minutes.
- Add the stock and stir constantly until thickened, about 5-6 minutes. Add the cream and continue to cook for 4-5 minutes until thick. Add the oregano, thyme and season to taste with salt and pepper.
- Pour into a deep pie pan or baking dish.
- Roll out the pie dough until it is 1” larger than the baking dish. Carefully lay the dough over top and trim the excess with scissors or a sharp knife. Crimp the edges with your fingers or a fork. Cut 3-4 slits into the top of the dough to vent.
- Bake until golden brown and bubbly, about 40-45 minutes. Let rest for 10 minutes before serving.
