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Skillet Chicken Pot Pie

September 4, 2024

Our skillet chicken pot pie makes use of a few handy shortcuts, including puff pastry from the freezer, to cut down on prep time while still delivering a homey comforting classic

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puff pastry chicken pot pie with vegetables made in a skillet

The Epic Comfort of Chicken Pot Pie, Any Night of the Week.

As hearty as the most labor-intensive of Sunday suppers, this super fast skillet chicken pot pie recipe is all bang, no buck. Because this skillet pot pie recipe relies on whole milk instead of cream, and is loaded with lean chicken breast and vegetables like carrots, celery and peas, it definitely counts as a balanced meal. Sure, there’s some butter in there—OK, a fair amount of butter—so it’s not as light as a rice bowl or dinner salad, but it’s a filling supper you can feel good about feeding your family. Especially on a dark and stormy night, when all you want is to fill those bellies with warmth and comfort.

ingredients laid out for Skillet Chicken Pot Pie carrots, onions, chicken stock, milk, celery, peas, butter, flour
butter, carrots, onion and celery sautéed in a cast iron skillet
butter, carrots, onion and celery sautéed in a cast iron skillet with flour and seasoning.
butter, carrots, onion and celery sautéed in a cast iron skillet with flour and seasoning and a wooden spoon.
butter, carrots, onion and celery sautéed in a cast iron skillet with chicken stock and milk added

A Classic Chicken Pot Pie Filling That’s Ready Fast.

We’re not trying to break the mold with this easy chicken pot pie recipe. Quite the opposite. We wanted to craft a homey, classic, comforting pot pie that you can make in no time flat. With a store-bought pot pie crust—we just use store-bought frozen puff pastry—all you’ll need to do is make a filling. But, even the pot pie filling relies on some simple shortcuts to make your life just that much easier. Here’s what you’ll need:

  • Chicken! Save yourself major time by using one of those already-cooked rotisserie chickens from the grocery store.
  • Vegetables! Carrots, celery, frozen peas and onions.
  • Seasoning! Celery seed and garlic powder—a perfectly retro combo and just right in this skillet pot pie. Salt and pepper, of course. If you’d like to add it, a sprinkling of fresh thyme is nice, too.
  • Liquid! Broth and milk are thickened with a little flour to make a creamy chicken pot pie sauce.
chicken and frozen peas being added a homemade chicken pot pie in a cast iron skillet
Skillet Chicken Pot Pie filling in a cast iron pan
puff pastry topped chicken pot pie being brushed with and egg wash
golden brown homemade Chicken Pot Pie in a cast iron pan

How To Make Chicken Pot Pie

This skillet chicken pot pie is easy as...well...pie. It’s a one pot meal that utilizes some pro quick dinner tips and results in a beautiful and homey dish that the whole family can be really excited about. We like to the assembly as a four-step process:

  1. Make a super-flavorful roux! Onion is cooked in butter until it's really fragrant, and then you make sort of a seasoned paste by adding flour, salt, pepper, celery seed, garlic powder and thyme. Voila! You made a roux! Roux just means a fat-flour mixture that serves as the base for making a creamy sauce.
  2. Make a sauce! Milk and then stock are added slowly to the roux. As you add the milk and stock, the roux will become a creamy sauce. Stir the chicken and vegetables into the sauce to finish the filling—you can add the peas frozen! No need to pre-cook them.
  3. Crust time! Grab your puff pastry—slightly defrosted so that you can work with it—and you can create a lattice top if you're feeling fancy, or just place one large pastry sheet on top of the skillet full of pot pie filling. If you choose to use just one sheet of pastry for the top, be sure to cut a few slits into it for the steam to escape while baking. Here, we even cut the pastry into squares and overlapped them.
  4. Bake! No explanation necessary, right?
golden brown homemade Chicken Pot Pie in a cast iron pan

Tools You’ll Need:

Other Easy Weeknight, One-Pan Chicken Recipes:

One-pan, easy chicken dinners are kind of our thing (if you hadn’t noticed.) Here are a few of our very favorites:

golden brown homemade Chicken Pot Pie in a cast iron pan with a scoop taken out with a spoon.

Homemade Chicken Pot Pie—Easier Than You Thought?

There are certain dishes that have gained a reputation as fussy or a lot of work, and pot pie is one of them. We’re hoping this easy recipe changes that a little bit, and makes homemade chicken pot pie something that feels within your reach now! Let us know how yours turned out! Snap a photo of your skillet chicken pot pie, and maybe even a video of the beautiful people you feed it to. Tag us on Instagram using @themodernproper and #themodernproper. Happy eating!

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Skillet Chicken Pot Pie

  • Serves:  8
  • Prep Time:  15 min
  • Cook Time:  45 min
  • Calories:  457

Ingredients

  • ½ cup butter, 1 stick
  • 2 cups carrots, 1/4 inch sliced
  • 1 cup celery, 1/4 inch sliced
  • 1 cup onion, chopped
  • ½ cup flour
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • ½ teaspoon black pepper
  • ½ teaspoon celery seed
  • 1 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1 teaspoon fresh thyme, minced (optional)
  • 1 cup whole milk
  • 2 cups chicken stock
  • 2 cups peas, frozen
  • 4 cups cooked chicken, 3 chicken breasts, pre cooked or rotisserie
  • 1 package frozen puff pastry, slightly thawed
  • 1 egg, for pastry wash

Method

  1. Heat oven to 425°F.
  2. Melt the butter in a 12” inch cast iron (or other oven proof) skillet over medium heat. Add the onion, celery, carrots to the butter and sauté for 5 minutes, until the onions are tender and translucent.
  3. Add the flour, salt, pepper, celery seed, garlic powder and thyme to the butter and vegetables creating a thick paste. Sauté for 2 minutes.
  4. Slowly add the milk. Once the milk is fully incorporated, slowly add the chicken stock. Simmer, whisking continuously until mixture has slightly thickened.
  5. Add the peas and chicken to the sauce.
  6. Roll out one pastry sheet into a 16-inch square on a lightly floured surface. Cut into 26 (3-inch) squares. Place the squares, slightly overlapping on top of the chicken mixture.
  7. In a small bowl, whisk the egg with 1 tbsp water. Brush the egg wash over the puff pastry. Place in the oven for 25 minutes until pastry is golden brown and filling is bubbling. If it is browning too quickly, cover with foil after it gets as dark as you'd like.

Nutrition Info

  • Per Serving
  • Amount
  • Calories 457
  • Protein 19 g
  • Carbohydrates 32 g
  • Total Fat 25 g
  • Dietary Fiber 4 g
  • Cholesterol 117 mg
  • sodium 526 mg
  • Total Sugars 6 g

Skillet Chicken Pot Pie

Questions & Reviews

Join the discussion below.

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  • Alejandra

    Can I make it with chicken thighs instead or would it ruin it?

    You can make it with thighs just make sure they are cooked and shredded first. Hope you enjoy!

  • Nicole

    Can I make this in my dutch oven? I dont have an oven proof skillet.

    Thanks.

    Sure! Hope you enjoy!

  • Mandt

    Hi there,

    Should you use salted or unsalted butter?

    Thanks!

    whatever you prefer. I almost always use salted, but if you prefer less salt then you can use unsalted.

  • Jessica

    Can I make the filling ahead of time and keep it in the fridge for a few hours before topping? Also can I sub biscuits for puff pastry I was just going to whip my own up thanks

    That all should work out fine! Hope you enjoy Jessica.

  • Beth

    For 4 serving ado you recommend 1/2 everything?

    You can just make sure you're using a smaller skillet so that the filling isn't too thin and that the pastry still can cover the whole top. enjoy!

  • Kate

    This recipe is so delicious and comes together easily! Will be making this again. Husband and toddler approved :)

    Thanks Kate, we are so glad you loved it!

  • Mallory

    Fabulous! Used leftover turkey from thanksgiving instead of chicken. And we keep kosher so used earth balance and ripple milk to make it dairy free. Was so so good!

    Thanks Mallory, we are so glad you loved it!

  • Jennifer

    Omg this is so good. Its still in the oven and already I know its going to be delicious. I even messed up and tossed in 2 C of milk by mistake and so I used 1 C of stock and its going to be amazing anyway. I love this recipe!!

    Thanks Jennifer so glad you love it!

  • Andi

    Ive tried an inordinate number of chicken pot pie recipes and never found one I liked. The filling is usually not thick enough. Not the case with this one! Its absolutely perfect and soooo easy. I used Costco rotisserie chicken that can be bought in a big package and used corn instead of peas. Its amazing tasting and looks so pretty, too!

    Thanks Andi, we are so glad that you loved it!

  • Kacina

    This was excellent! I modified it to be gluten free by using gluten free flour and gluten free puff pastry. I prep all of my meat for the week on Sunday so my chicken was ready to go. The whole meal came together in about 30 minutes. I also halved the recipe and it was perfect. My family of four ate every bit of it!

    YAY! Thanks Kacina, so happy the whole family enjoyed it!