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Chicken Pot Pie Recipe
Chicken pot pie is a comfort food beloved by many—but what we don’t always love so much is the higher calorie count and abundance of heavy cream and butter.
For this healthy homemade chicken pot pie, we created a simple recipe that doesn’t require getting out the rolling pin or making your own pie crust.
Plus, you don’t even need to stand over the stove and make a roux—we used cottage cheese, cornstarch, and Greek yogurt to get the same effect for less effort and fewer calories.
How to Make a Healthy Chicken Pot Pie
Healthy chicken pot pie is not an oxymoron—rather than using heavy cream, butter, flour, and a pie crust on the top and bottom, we went for some healthier twists.
This recipe uses non-fat Greek yogurt, cornstarch, and blended cottage cheese to thicken the sauce (like a butter-and-flour roux would) while boosting the overall protein content.
We also nixed the bottom pie crust in favor of a layer of reduced-fat crescent rolls laid out flat across the top to achieve that flaky crust.
Another time saver is using a bag of frozen mixed veggies—no need to dice up all your veggies and spend time sauteeing them first on the stove.
With these swaps, this chicken pot pie recipe truly couldn’t be easier—it only takes ten minutes of prep time and less than an hour of total cooking time.
Homemade Chicken Pot Pie Ingredients
- Chicken: Of course, you can’t have chicken pot pie without chicken! Our favorite type of chicken is organic and pasture-raised, meaning the chickens are fed organic food and allowed to roam freely on pastures (not stuck in cages or barns). We love the convenience of Crowd Cow, a meat delivery service that has high-quality heirloom pasture-raised chicken that comes from Certified Humane and USDA Organic farms.
- Cottage Cheese: The addition of low-fat cottage cheese provides extra protein and creaminess. Rather than using cream and a roux (a mixture of butter and flour that serves as a base for thickened sauce), cottage cheese helps to emulate these flavors and textures. However, we don’t want the lumpiness of cottage cheese straight from the container—blending it will make it smoother and a better texture for this chicken pot pie recipe.
- Greek Yogurt: Similar to cottage cheese, Greek yogurt adds protein (3 grams per ounce!) and is lower in calories and fat than heavy cream. We used non-fat (0%) Greek yogurt, but you could also try 2% or higher fat content if you wanted to make your pot pie creamier.
- Frozen Veggies: While you could certainly spend time dicing carrots, we went the easy route and grabbed a bag of mixed frozen veggies for our chicken pot pie filling. Good options include mixtures of frozen peas, carrots, green beans, and corn—pick whichever mix you like!
- Bone Broth: Once again, we’re upping the protein and nutrient content in this chicken pot pie recipe with some bone broth rather than just using regular chicken broth. While chicken bone broth is the obvious choice to stay on theme, beef bone broth also works well, lending a deeper savory flavor. Our go-to bone broth brand is Dr. Kellyann’s—the flavors of the Homestyle Bone Broth would go particularly well in this recipe.
- Canned Crescent Rolls: Some might argue that a chicken pot pie is not technically a pie if it doesn’t have a bottom pie crust underneath—but we’re stretching the definition here and skipping out on the traditional pie crust. Rather, we used rolled-flat canned crescent rolls to get the same effect with hardly any work—and taking out the bottom pie crust cuts the carbohydrate count by about half.
- Herbs and Spices: You’ve got to have plenty of herbs, spices, and seasonings to make a recipe taste great—in this homemade chicken pot pie recipe, we used parsley, minced garlic, salt and pepper, poultry seasoning, ground thyme, garlic powder, and onion powder. We don’t recommend skipping out on these, as they add much-needed flavor and depth.
Chicken Pot Pie Recipe
Chicken pot pie is a comfort food beloved by many—but what we don’t always love so much is the higher calorie count and abundance of heavy cream and butter.
Ingredients
- ¾ cup blended low-fat cottage cheese (generic)
- 1 cup 0% Greek yogurt (I used Fage)
- 3 chicken breasts (generic)
- 1 bag of frozen mixed vegetables (generic)
- 2 cups chicken or beef bone broth (I used Dr. Kellyann)
- 2 tbsp cornstarch
- ½ tbsp parsley
- 1.5 tbsp minced garlic
- 1 can of reduced-fat canned crescent rolls 8-count (I used Pillsbury)
- Seasonings we used (1 tsp each): Salt and pepper, poultry seasoning, ground thyme, garlic and onion powder
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 F
- In a 10×8” baking dish, add chicken, frozen veggies, blended cottage cheese, greek yogurt, bone broth, minced garlic, cornstarch, and seasonings. Mix until well combined.
- Place in oven for 35-40 minutes.
- Remove from oven and add a crescent roll layer on top. Place back in the oven for 12 minutes or until golden brown.
Nutrition
Calories: 345kcalCarbohydrates: 29gProtein: 38gFat: 8gSaturated Fat: 2gPolyunsaturated Fat: 1gMonounsaturated Fat: 1gTrans Fat: 0.01gCholesterol: 75mgSodium: 606mgPotassium: 599mgFiber: 2gSugar: 6gVitamin A: 2470IUVitamin C: 7mgCalcium: 76mgIron: 2mg
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
Homemade Chicken Pot Pie Recipe FAQs
What Is the Sauce Made of in Chicken Pot Pie?
In a classic chicken pot pie recipe, the sauce is made out of cream, chicken broth, and a roux (a mixture of butter and flour designed to thicken up a sauce). Some chicken pot pie recipes use cream of mushroom soup, chicken stock, or cream of chicken soup.
In our less-traditional chicken pot pie, we used Greek yogurt, cornstarch, and blended cottage cheese to achieve the same effect with fewer calories and more protein (especially when swapping out chicken broth for bone broth).
What Is Chicken Pot Pie Filling Made Of?
A classic chicken pot pie filling will have peas, carrots, and shredded or diced chicken breast mixed into a creamy sauce (described above). It may also include mushrooms or other veggies.
You can also use rotisserie chicken (or leftover chicken from another meal) and frozen vegetables to make things easier.
How Do You Keep the Bottom Crust of Chicken Pot Pie From Getting Soggy?
Ah, the dreaded soggy bottom. There are a few ways to prevent the bottom crust of chicken pot pie from getting soggy, including baking the pie on the lowest oven rack, coating the inside layer of the bottom pie crust (before adding fillings) with egg wash or beaten egg whites, or pre-bake the pie crust alone to brown it before the creamy filling is added. Or, you can do what we did and forgo the bottom pie crust altogether!
Can I Freeze Chicken Pot Pie?
As this chicken pot pie recipe does not have a bottom pie crust to hold things together, we wouldn’t recommend freezing this one. However, you could freeze a classic chicken pot pie by covering it with foil and freezing it for up to two months.
How Do You Know When Chicken Pot Pie Is Done?
The top pie crust should be golden brown and flaky, and you should check the internal doneness with a meat thermometer that reads 165˚F to ensure your chicken is fully cooked.
