Chicken Pot Pie with Winter Vegetables

This spin on classic chicken pot pie is made with winter vegetables and features an herby roux with chicken thighs, tender carrots, rutabagas, and turnips topped with a sheet of lofty, golden puff pastry. 

Jump to Recipe

Homemade chicken pot pie is the ultimate comfort food for these chilly, almost spring days. Flavorful roasted chicken thighs meld with tender winter root vegetables in an herby roux. The pot pie is topped with puff pastry that bakes up to a deep golden hue and shatters beautifully when the fork hits it.

There’s lots of room for variation, too! Use the ratio below to make your chicken pot pie yours! 

Celebrating Winter Root Vegetables

I’m finding real enjoyment in winter root vegetables this year. For one thing, they last forever in the fridge, meaning they’ll linger until you find time to cook with them. And for another, they’re versatile. Swap in winter roots anywhere you might use potatoes – they work in soups, gratins, and here, in a lovely chicken pot pie. 

Besides potatoes and sweet potatoes, the most widely available varieties of winter root vegetables are beets, carrots, celery root, rutabaga, and turnips. These winter-hardy storage vegetables can often be found at cold weather farmers markets or in the produce aisle at the grocery store.

This recipe is a celebration of these winter roots and includes carrots, golden beets, rutabaga, and turnips. Feel free to swap in your preferred roots (including regular old potatoes). Or, use one or two kinds of roots only. Maybe not the beets, though – their earthy flavor needs some balance from sweeter roots. Whatever you use, just ensure you have 4 cups total of diced root vegetables. 

Assembling the Chicken Pot Pie

The rest of the chicken pot pie is straightforward. Roast chicken thighs in the oven while you prep the rest of the pot pie. Sauté a mix of onion and leeks in lots of butter, add flour, and build your roux with flavorful chicken broth. Blanch the vegetables and then fold them into the roux. Spoon into a baking dish, add a layer of puff pastry, and bake until the pot pie is golden and bubbly. 

On Pastry

I’ve found that a true puff pastry makes the best pot pie crust. As the name implies, it puffs up, pulling up from the filling and getting crispy and golden. If you’d like, you can make homemade rough puff pastry with the recipe here. Or use store bought. Dufouris the gold standard for all-butter puff pastry, but is wildly expensive. People speak highly of Traders Joe’s all-butter puff pastry, so give that a try for a more affordable option.

Print Recipe

Chicken Pot Pie with Winter Vegetables

Prep Time

15 mins

Cook Time

40 mins

 

This spin on classic chicken pot pie is made with winter vegetables, and features an herby, deeply savory roux with chicken thighs, tender carrots, rutabagas, and turnips topped with a sheet of lofty, golden puff pastry.

This recipe can easily be halved and baked in a 1 1/2-quart baking dish. Use whatever mix of root vegetables you’d like. Potatoes can also be swapped in. Double the amount of onions if you don’t have leeks.

Recipe Type: Dinner

Keyword: chicken pot pie

Makes: 10 servings

Author: Elizabeth Stark

Ingredients

• 1 12 - 14 ounce sheet puff pastry, thawed, or use homemade
• 2 pounds skinless, boneless chicken thighs
• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 cup 1/2-inch diced carrots (2 medium)
• 1 cup 1/2-inch diced golden beet (1 small)
• 1 cup 1/2-inch diced rutabaga (1 small)
• 1 cup 1/2-inch diced turnip (1 small)
• 8 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 cup thinly sliced leeks (1 medium)
• 1 cup diced yellow onion (1 medium)
• 4 sprigs thyme
• 2/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 4 cups low-sodium chicken stock, homemade or store bought
• ½ cup minced fresh parsley, stems and all
• 1 egg, lightly beaten

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Set chicken thighs in a medium baking dish. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle generously on both sides with salt and pepper. Roast 20 - 25 minutes, or until internal temperature reaches 165 degrees F. Set aside to cool, then shred or chop chicken.
2. Meanwhile, fill a wide, deep-sided pot with water and bring to a boil. Add 2 tablespoons salt. Blanch carrots, beets, rutabaga, and turnips for 3 minutes. Drain and set aside.
3. Melt butter in the same pot over medium heat. Add leeks, onion, and thyme sprigs. Cook 10 minutes, stirring often. Stir in flour, along with 1/2 teaspoon each salt and pepper, and cook 2 minutes. Slowly stir in warm broth, allowing mixture to bubble and thicken between additions. Cook until mixture is nice and thick, 20 minutes total. Fish out the thyme sprigs and discard.
4. Fold in chicken and any accumulated juices, blanched vegetables, and parsley. Add salt and pepper to taste.
5. Spoon mixture into a 3-quart 10-inch skillet, Dutch-oven, or 9 x 13-inch baking dish.
6. On a lightly floured surface, roll pastry into a 14-inch square for a round or square baking dish, or an 11 x 15-inch rectangle for a rectangular one. Place on top of the filling. For a round baker, fold the corners up over the crust. I let my crust kind of float on top of the filling, but you do run the risk of it sinking into the filling. For best results, crimp the overhanging crust over the edges of the baking dish. Brush crust with egg wash, and sprinkle with a pinch of salt and pepper. Use a sharp knife to cut 4 (3-inch) slits in the top.
7. Slide into oven and turn heat down to 375 degrees F. Bake 40 - 50 minutes, or until filling is bubbling vigorously and pastry top is a deep golden brown.
8. Cool 20 minutes, slice, and serve.