I definitely found the right recipe at the right time. After making my first turkey for Passover/Easter, I had a ton of turkey left over and didn’t know what to do with it. I decided to freeze it. Leftover turkey will stay fresh in the refrigerator for 3-4 days, but freezing it will extend it’s shelf life by months. So, I packed it into neatly labelled ziploc freezer bags to use for future meal planning.

I came across a chicken pot pie recipe from My Healthy ‘Ohana, a blog full of yummy recipes (go have a look and try some of them). I thought turkey would work wonderfully with this recipe as well. It turned out to be a great way to use up leftover roasted turkey, and the recipe is not hard at all. I’m so proud of my first pot pie! 🙂

Turkey Pot Pie (or chicken)

Ingredients:

• 1 medium sweet potato peeled and cubed
• 2 medium carrots peeled and chopped
• ~ 2 cups homemade turkey broth (or 1 can chicken broth)
• 3 sprigs fresh thyme
• 2 bay leaves
• Half a large onion chopped
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1/3 cup flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 2/3 cups milk
• ~ 3 cups of leftover roast turkey chopped into large cubes (you can substitute with chicken)
• 1/2 cup frozen or canned peas
• 1 9-inch pie crust (I was pressed for time, I used a pre-made crust)
• 1 egg, beaten

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Place the chopped carrots and sweet potato in a small saucepan, cover with broth, and add thyme leaves and bay leaves. I used homemade turkey broth I had made from my roast turkey bones. Cover and bring to a boil. Cook until the carrots and potatoes are just tender. It’s easy to overcook the sweet potatoes, you don’t want them mushy.

In a separate pan, fry onions in butter until translucent.

Add flour, salt, pepper, and paprika and cook for a couple minutes, until the onions are well coated and everything’s mixed together nicely.

Next, add the milk in and stir until the mixture becomes a thick paste.

Remove the bay leaves from your pot of vegetables. Add the onion/flour paste to your vegetables and broth and continue cooking and stirring until the broth thickens to become a creamy sauce. (It doesn’t take long.) Fold in peas and leftover turkey (or chicken).

Place this mixture into a 9-inch pie dish. I used a round glass casserole dish that was a bit bigger than a pie tray, there was a lot of filling. You can also use individual ramekins if your want to make smaller pies. Sprinkle a bit of salt and pepper over the mixture before you put the crust over top.

Cover your filling with pie crust, making sure to seal the edges well. Remove the excess crust. You can shape this extra crust into fun decorative shapes to make your pie look extra special. I had a lot of extra crust, so I made an edge around my pie…and a heart. Next, brush the top of your pie with the beaten egg and cut several vents in the top to let steam escape. You’re ready to bake!

Bake the pie for 20-25 minutes at 425 in the oven (or until the crust is golden and crispy). I baked mine for 25 minutes.

I am so happy I tried this recipe. It was delicious! The sweet potatoes add a sweet creaminess that is really nice. My pie was done with one crust over top, but you can also use the same filling with two crusts. Line your pie tray with the bottom crust, fill, and then seal with the top crust. Play around with different spices too!

Enjoy! xx