Chicken Pot Pie
This post may contain affiliate links. Read my full disclosure policy.
Take your comfort food to the next level with these elegant chicken pot pies. Made with rotisserie chicken and store-bought puff pastry, they’re as simple to make as they are delicious.
There’s something so comforting about chicken pot pie—the flaky crust, creamy sauce, and hearty filling make it the perfect all-in-one meal. But between the chicken, the sauce, and the crust, a traditional pot pie can easily take up an entire day in the kitchen. For this version, I wanted to streamline the process without sacrificing flavor. After many trials, I found that using a rotisserie chicken for the filling and good-quality store-bought puff pastry for the crust were both game-changing shortcuts. With those solved, I tackled the usual problem with chicken pot pies: the bland, goopy white sauce. I thinned the sauce to a chowder-like consistency and added splash of Cognac for that extra depth of flavor that takes these pot pies to the next level.
“My husband, who has never craved chicken pot pie, said this might be the best thing I’ve ever made and is already asking when I’ll make it again.”
What You’ll Need To Make Chicken Pot Pie
- Frozen puff pastry: Provides the flaky, buttery topping. I recommend Dufour all-butter puff pastry if you can find it (it’s sold at Whole Foods), but Pepperidge Farm, which is readily available in the freezer section of most supermarkets, is very good too.
- Butter: For sautéing the vegetables and enriching the filling.
- Onion and garlic: These aromatics form the flavor foundation for the filling.
- Celery, pearl onions, carrots, and peas: These vegetables add texture, flavor, and nutrition to the filling.
- All-purpose flour: Thickens the sauce; also used for rolling the pastry.
- Chicken broth: Creates the savory base of the filling.
- Cognac: Enhances depth of flavor.
- Heavy cream: Contributes to the creamy texture of the filling.
- Fresh thyme: Provides aromatic herbal notes.
- Shredded cooked chicken: The main protein component.
- Egg: Beaten for an egg wash to give the pastry a golden finish.
- Jump to the printable recipe for precise measurements
Step-By-Step Instructions
To begin, dust a clean, dry work surface with flour and place the puff pastry over top.
Sprinkle the pastry with flour and roll to about 1/8-inch thick, smoothing the creases with the rolling pin at the same time. Using a sharp knife, kitchen shears, or a pizza cutter, cut out 4 circles about 2 inches larger than the circumference of your soup bowls. Place the dough rounds on a foil-lined baking sheet and refrigerate until ready to use.
Next, make the filling. In a large sauté pan over medium heat, melt the butter, Add the yellow onion, garlic, celery, pearl onions, and carrots.
Sauté for 8 to 10 minutes, or until the carrots are just cooked.
Add the flour.
Cook, stirring constantly, for about 2 minutes.
Add the broth, cognac, salt, and white pepper. Bring to a boil, stirring with a wooden spoon to incorporate the flour.
Simmer until thickened, a few minutes. Off the heat, stir in the heavy cream, herbs, chicken, and frozen peas.
Ladle the filling into oven-safe ramekins or soup bowls (be sure they are oven proof up to 425°F). The filling should come up no more than three-quarters of the way to the top of the bowls. If you have extra, make another bowl.
Brush the outside edges of each bowl with an egg wash.
Place the cold dough rounds over the soup bowls, pressing firmly around the edges so that the dough adheres, and then brush the top of the dough with the egg wash.
Using a sharp knife, make a ½-inch slit in the top of each pie. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until the pastry is a rich golden brown.
Let cool for about 10 minutes, then use a wide spatula to carefully transfer the hot ramekins to serving plates. Sprinkle a few fresh thyme sprigs over top of the bowls and serve.
Frequently Asked Questions
While it’s possible to bake pot pies in a single pie dish, serving can be a bit challenging due to the soupy nature of the filling. Using individual ramekins helps contain the filling, making the pies easier to serve without the filling spilling out.
You’ll need oven-safe (up to 425°F) soup bowls. To make four servings, use bowls with an 18 to 20-oz capacity. To make six servings, use bowls with a 12 to 14-oz capacity.
Yes, it’s a great make-ahead dish. You can prepare the filling and even assemble the pie up to a day in advance. Keep it refrigerated, covered, until you’re ready to bake. You may need to add a few extra minutes to the baking time if it’s going straight from the fridge to the oven.
Yes, the unbaked chicken pot pies and can be frozen for up to 3 months. Wrap the pies tightly in plastic wrap and then foil, and freeze. When you’re ready to enjoy it, you can bake it straight from the freezer; just be sure to allow about 10 minutes extra baking time and cover if the pastry starts to get too brown.
You may also like
Video Tutorial
Chicken Pot Pie
Take your comfort food to the next level with these elegant chicken pot pies. Made with rotisserie chicken and store-bought puff pastry, they’re as simple to make as they are delicious.
Ingredients
- 1 to 2 packages frozen puff pastry, best quality such as Dufour or Pepperidge Farm, thawed (see note)
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 medium yellow onion, diced
- 3 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
- 3 stalks celery, diced
- 1 cup frozen pearl onions (no need to defrost)
- 3 carrots, sliced into ¼-inch rounds
- ⅓ cup all-purpose flour, plus more for rolling the pastry
- 2½ cups low-sodium chicken broth
- ⅓ cup Cognac or brandy (okay to replace with more chicken broth if avoiding alcohol)
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon white pepper
- ½ cup heavy cream
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme (or a combination thyme, rosemary and sage), plus a few thyme springs for serving
- 3-4 cups shredded cooked chicken, from 1 rotisserie chicken
- 1 cup frozen peas (no need to defrost)
- 1 egg
Instructions
- NOTE: For this recipe, you'll need 4 to 6 oven-safe (to 425°F) soup bowls. For larger portions, use bowls with an 18 to 20-oz capacity; for smaller portions, use bowls with a 12 to 14-oz capacity. If making 4 servings, one (14-oz) package of puff pastry will suffice. However, if making 6 servings, you'll need another package.
- Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil for easy clean-up.
- Dust a clean, dry work surface with flour and place the puff pastry over top. Sprinkle the pastry with flour and roll to about ⅛-inch thick, smoothing the creases with the rolling pin at the same time. (Depending on the brand of puff pastry you buy, you may not need to roll it out that much.) Using a sharp knife, kitchen shears, or a pizza cutter, cut out 4 circles about 2 inches larger than the diameter of your soup bowls. (Alternatively, cut out 6 circles if making smaller portions.) Place the dough rounds on the foil-lined baking sheet and refrigerate until ready to use.
- Preheat the oven to 425°F and set an oven rack to the center position.
- To make the filling: In a large sauté pan over medium heat, melt the butter. Add the yellow onion, garlic, celery, pearl onions, and carrots. Sauté, stirring occasionally, until the carrots are just cooked, 8 to 10 minutes. Add the flour and cook, stirring constantly, for about 2 minutes. Add the broth, cognac, salt, and white pepper. Bring to a boil, stirring with a wooden spoon and scraping the bottom and corners of the pan to incorporate the flour. Simmer until thickened, a few minutes. Off the heat, stir in the heavy cream, thyme, chicken, and peas. Taste and adjust seasoning, if necessary. (Note that the broth will taste a little boozy at this point. That's okay - the cognac will cook off in the oven.)
- Ladle the filling into 4 large or 6 small oven-safe soup bowls. The filling should come up no more than three-quarters of the way to the top of the bowls. Do not overfill.
- Beat the egg with 1 tablespoon of water.
- Remove the pastry rounds from the refrigerator. Brush the outside edges of each bowl with the egg wash.
- Place the cold dough rounds over the bowls, pressing firmly around the edges so that the dough adheres. Transfer the bowls to the foil-lined baking sheet. Brush the dough with the egg wash. Using a sharp knife, make a ½-inch slit in the top of each pie. Place the bowls on the foil-lined baking sheet and bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until the pastry is a rich golden brown. Let cool for about 10 minutes, then use a wide spatula to carefully transfer the hot bowls to serving plates. Sprinkle a few fresh thyme sprigs over top of the bowls and serve.
- MAKE AHEAD: The pies may be assembled and refrigerated up to a day ahead of time. Brush the top of the dough with egg wash before baking.
- Note: Nutritional information calculated using 1 package of puff pastry and 3 ½ cups of chicken.
Pair with
Nutrition Information
Powered by 
- Per serving (5 servings)
- Calories: 747
- Fat: 45 g
- Saturated fat: 18 g
- Carbohydrates: 42 g
- Sugar: 6 g
- Fiber: 4 g
- Protein: 35 g
- Sodium: 678 mg
- Cholesterol: 163 mg
This website is written and produced for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and the nutritional data on this site has not been evaluated or approved by a nutritionist or the Food and Drug Administration. Nutritional information is offered as a courtesy and should not be construed as a guarantee. The data is calculated through an online nutritional calculator, Edamam.com. Although I do my best to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures should be considered estimates only. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased, natural fluctuations in fresh produce, and the way ingredients are processed change the effective nutritional information in any given recipe. Furthermore, different online calculators provide different results depending on their own nutrition fact sources and algorithms. To obtain the most accurate nutritional information in a given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.
See more recipes:
Comments
Add a Comment
This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
Sorry you’ve had a hard time finding them! You can find them at Sur La Table, Amazon, and Bed, Bath, and Beyond. Hope that helps and that you enjoy!
Hi Julie – I think these should work!
This was delicious and came out exactly as shown on the web site. We needed to use up some sherry and it added a nice rich flavour. Used the Pepperidge Farm pastry and it worked great. As always, yet another gem from Jenn. Thank you!
I made this tonight using Pepperidge Farm pastry sheets and leftover turkey of course. Followed the recipe but still found it a bit runny. I will either increase the flour or decrease the broth. I subbed dry sherry for the cognac. The flavor was amazing. I did end up with one leftover bowl.
What is your recommendation for reheating it? The top is already nice and golden and I don’t want to burn it. Should I use foil to cover it? What temp should I use to reheat and how long does it take? Thanks again for a fabulous easy to follow recipe!
Hi Susan, I’d reheat it at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes or until heated through in the middle. (And you can lay a piece of foil on top of the pot pie if it’s starting to brown too much on top before it’s hot in the center.)
Outstanding!! Picked up a chicken at Costco on Sunday and made the filling. Happened to have one sheet of Pepperidge Farm Puff Pastry already in the freezer, so used that the first night. Leftovers last night were even better as I found the Dufour puff pastry yesterday at Whole Foods. Do yourself a favor…if you put in the effort to make this outstanding dish, find the Dufour pastry if you can. Really makes a huge difference. 2nd go around turned out exactly as pictured. Thanks Jenn!!!
This recipe worked perfectly! Will definitely make that again! I didnt have the brandy though, added more stock as it says in the recipe and it was super tasty
I made this over the weekend, and it was delicious! I did not have the small oven-safe containers so just made a large, single pot pie. It was great – had no problems changing that up.
Hi Jenn! I want to make this recipe but I would like the puff pastry at thr bottom as well as on top of the chicken pot pie. Just like a real pie. Any tips? Do I need to cook the bottom part of the puff pastry first for a few minutes in the baking dish/bowl then add the chicken pot pie filling? Or would there be no change in recipe even if I add a puff pastry crust at the bottom. Your advice would be appreciated thanks! 😃
Hi Nuala, If you want to add crust on the bottom, you should blind bake it according to the package instructions. Enjoy!
My husband is an impossible eater, he dislikes fish & chicken. He would eat beef every day! One of his favorites is your Beef Stew with Carrots & Potatoes. That is a winner every time! He LOVED this chicken pot pie! He ate every bit on his plate!
The cognac adds so much depth. I will definitely be making this again. My ramekins are too small for a dinner portion. I did make this in a pie dish. It was a bit runny, but not bad. Next time I will prepare in larger ramekins. Thank you Jenn.
Jenn I am going to serve these tomorrow night for guests at six pm. I’m a teacher so can’t start cooking dinner until about 3. I have things prepped but I wonder if I should actually make the chicken pot pie filling tonight and reheat tomorrow and then add pastry tops/bake them. What would you do?
Hi Roberta, making the filling ahead would definitely work. You could also assemble them ahead and refrigerate (see the bottom of the recipe for make-ahead instructions). Hope everyone enjoys! 🙂
Jenn-
The chicken pot pies were fabulous!!! My husband said he’ll never be able to eat Stouffer’s again after tonight’s wonderful dinner – haha! I didn’t add the pearl onions or peas but instead used small frozen broccoli florets and some diced potatoes in addition to the celery, carrot and yellow onion. Thank you for another wonderful recipe:)