Easy Leftover Turkey Pot Pie

Leftover Turkey Pot Pie Recipe

I HATE throwing away food.  When I have leftover turkey, chicken, or even ham after the holidays I’m always looking for leftover recipes so I don’t have to throw any of it away.

THIS is a great meal to make year round though too! Bake or make an air fryer turkey breast, and you’ll have meat for the entire week for your family. It’s cheap and great for you too.

This is a bit like our Chicken Pot Pie Recipe with Cream of Chicken Soup but we used turkey AND there are freezer meal instructions below too. That is great when you’re meal planning and want to batch cook a bunch of meals at once.

Pot Pie Ingredients

This recipe originated with chicken pie but was altered to include turkey instead. Either meat is fabulous, you could use a precooked rotisserie chicken from the grocery store too and make a double batch = 4 pot pies!

If you want to make this even easier you can use this filling but our Bisquick pot pie mix for the one crust, yep only one for this one.

1. Diced turkey
   1. or chicken
   2. ham would work too
   3. I imagine you could use browned ground beef too if you wanted to try something new
2. Milk – whole is best
3. Chicken broth – boxed or make homemade chicken broth
4. Frozen peas and corn
5. Carrots – cut into dials
   1. Amounts below could be increased by 1/2 cup if you’re a real carrot lover
6. Potatoes – diced
7. 2 refrigerated pie crusts per pot pie – this recipe will fill 2 so you’ll need 4 total
   1. or follow our 3 ingredient pie crust instructions
8. Butter
9. Onion
10. All purpose flour
11. Salt and pepper
12. Seasonings of your choice – or use suggestions below in the printable recipe card

And yes of course you’ll need a Pie plate. If you’re making and freezing a bunch you may want to use throw away aluminum versions.

Pot Pie with Leftover Turkey

Like I said, leftover pressure cooker turkey was used for this batch. White and dark meat are great, use what you have on hand I always say. 😉

Let’s talk about the vegetables in this dish – Frozen peas and corn were used as well as fresh carrots and potatoes. Remember that they are going to essentially cook twice so the thinner your carrot dials are the softer they will become. Too thin and you risk them falling apart all together.  The same goes for your diced potatoes.

You can make this into a double crust pot pie with two layers and the filling in between. Here’s where you begin:

• Start by preheating your oven to 425 degrees.
• Put carrots and potatoes in a pot covered in water and bring to a boil. (could add halved fresh green beans probably)
• Once they have softened but are still a bit al dente, drain and set them aside

Don’t let it go too long or you’re gonna’ have mashed potatoes and mushy carrots.

Russets were used in this batch but you could use red potatoes if you wished. Just remember that they will have a firmer texture to them even when cooked. It is personal preference really. 😉

• Melt butter over medium heat and allow that to melt, then add onions and allow those to soften.
• Stir in flour and seasonings and mix together to create a sort of roux.

How does a roux work?

The sauce is essentially a fat (butter) + a thickening agent (flour) and flavoring ingredients (seasonings). When you thicken a soup or sauce with a roux, the starches in the flour expand and absorb the liquid, thus making it thicker.

• Slowly incorporate your broth and milk, stir, boil, and allow to thicken and become smooth.
• Stir in turkey meat, potato/carrot mixture and your frozen vegetables too.
• Cook stirring until frozen veggies are warmed then turn pot off

Now get your pie crust ready:

Tip: When working with refrigerated pie dough it is best to use parchment or wax paper. Place 1 piece of pie crust sheet between your paper as shown to prevent sticking to your rolling pin. You can alternatively make our pot pie crust with butter and just 3 ingredients.

You want to do this extra step to make it a bit bigger. This is important in order for the edges to overflow off the ends of your pie tin.

Why? The top layer will need something to “hold on to” and pinch together so the yummy insides don’t peek through and overflow. Make sense? Now do this to the top pie crust too. See below how it lays off the sides of the tin?

How do you make pot pie crust from scratch?

I will tell you that my husband makes the most amazing homemade apple pie. He has made it with homemade pie crust, and with ready made like this one.

I personally prefer this type, but it is personal preference. If you want to go all out, you can follow our homemade pie crust recipe above.

Once the top crust is layered over the filling you’ll want to turn under the top crust and pinch the top and bottom crusts together.

• Then use the crimping technique shown in the picture below.  

How do you crimp a pie?

For a classic crimp use one finger to push the pastry down towards the outside of the dish. Pinch around that finger with the finger and thumb of your other hand to create a scalloped look.

You can alternatively press the prongs of a fork all the way around the rim of the pie dish to secure the top and bottom dough together. 

Pot pie freezer meals

Then you’ll want to put 4 medium sized slits at the top so steam can release.

• If you want to cook it right now then go ahead and put it on a baking sheet for 35-40 minutes or until top is lightly browned.
• You likely will not need 2 whole turkey pot pies so you’re probably going to want to freeze one (or both) of them.

How do you freeze homemade meat pies?

Wrap you pie completely in plastic wrap or seal it in an airtight freezer bag. Place your pie in the freezer on a baking sheet.

Freezing a pie

This takes longer that you might think. In most freezers it will take up to 24 hours for a pie to freeze completely. You really can move to the next step after a couple of hours of hardening up in the freezer if you’re in a rush.

Lay 2 sheets of foil down and wrap your frozen pie inside. If you try and do the foil part before it’s frozen hard you’ll ruin all the pretty edging on your crusts. They will last 3 months this way, in a frozen state, without altering the taste.

Should I thaw chicken pot pie before baking?

When you’re ready to cook there’s no need to thaw. However it will turn out better if you leave it on the counter 30 minutes before baking.  If you don’t, just add a good 15-20 minutes of extra baking time. 

What goes good with turkey pot pie?

It really is a complete meal if you ask me, but a salad goes with just about anything or cook more steamed vegetables to serve on the side.

• This turkey pot pie soup is amazing
  • Instant Pot chicken pot pie soup is another quick dinner idea
• You can try our leftover turkey turnovers too if you have even more meat to use up

Then throw some into our Instant Pot turkey tetrazzini or follow our oven baked tetrazzini recipe using what you have left.

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