Leftover Turkey Pot Pie
What do you usually do with your Thanksgiving turkey leftovers? Do you pick at them cold from the fridge? Do you slap them on bread and have dry turkey sandwiches? Or do you revive them by making something totally new, delicious, and cozy, like a turkey pot pie? I’m hoping you’ll consider the latter this year. Here’s why this needs to be on your weekend-after Thanksgiving menu:
What’s to Love about this Turkey Pot Pie:
Incorporates a combo of fresh & frozen veggies. Has unparalleled depth of flavor. Thanks to sweet potatoes, smoked paprika, and fresh rosemary (or dried, if it’s all you have) this tastes both appropriately seasonal and incredibly flavorful. There’s not a bland bite to be found. Includes my favorite pie dough recipe for the topping. It comes together easily and quickly and has great flavor, but in a pinch you can swap store-bought pie crust. Versatile. Easy to swap ingredients for what you have on hand! Swap the corn for mushrooms, use all russet potatoes if you used up all of your sweet on sweet potato casserole, etc. And, perhaps the number one reason, it’s a great recipe for using leftover turkey! Turkey pot pie pays homage to Thanksgiving dinner without feeling like you’re eating the same meal twice (looking for another leftover option? Check out my turkey chili!)
My recipe is completely from scratch. It starts with a simple sauce made with near-caramelized onions for lots of flavor, then we’ll add in the veggies and meat, lay the crust on top, and bake! It’s so simple, and that’s exactly what we all need after prepping a big Thanksgiving dinner.
What You Need
While this recipe may look fancy, it’s actually seriously easy to make with fresh, seasonal ingredients. Here’s what you need to make it.
Pie dough. While you can use a store-bought pie crust if you’re really pressed for time, I really, really recommend that you try to make your crust from scratch–it makes such a difference in taste. My pie crust recipe works perfectly here; it’s no-fail, uses only 5 ingredients, and takes about 15 minutes to prep. It’s my go-to recipe for a perfectly light, flaky, golden crust, every time! Sometimes I’ll make an extra crust when I’m prepping my Thanksgiving pies and tuck it away in my fridge to use for this recipe after Thanksgiving. Sweet potatoes & potatoes. The sweet potatoes are a nice change-up from traditional chicken pot-pie and adds a nice, subtly sweet, distinctly fall flavor. Of course you could just swap them for more regular potatoes, instead if you prefer, but give the recipe a try this way at least once! As for the other potatoes, I usually use peeled russet but gold potatoes would work great instead! More veggies. We’ll use frozen veggies like corn and green beans (feel free to substitute fresh for either) as well as carrots and onions. Turkey. You’ll need 3 cups of cooked turkey. You can use either light or dark meat (or a blend, my preference), and you will need to cut/shred it before adding it to the filling. Chicken broth. Chicken broth or chicken stock will work here, or if you have some turkey stock, feel free to use that instead! Smoked paprika. This might seem a bit unexpected, but it adds a lovely depth of flavor to this recipe. I also use smoked paprika in my chicken and rice soup, which gives it its unique and so good flavor.
SAM’S TIP: If you don’t have fresh rosemary, you can use a ½ teaspoon of dried rosemary instead. This is just an overview of the ingredients I used and why. For the full recipe please scroll down to the bottom of the post!
How to Make Turkey Pot Pie
SAM’S TIP: Feel free to change up the veggies if you like. Peas, celery, leeks, mushrooms, turnips, and parsnips are all great options here too! I don’t know about you, but I have some leftover turkey calling my name right now 😉 Enjoy! Let’s bake together! Subscribe to my newsletter to be notified of all the newest recipes and follow along on YouTube where I share free recipe tutorials! 💜 This recipe was originally published November of 2015. I updated the post with new photos and, while all of the ingredients have stayed the same, I have very slightly altered the method to make the dish easier (we cook the potatoes and carrots right in the broth instead of separately — same end result, just a faster process).
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