Easy Turkey Pot Pie: Leftovers, GF Pie Crust, & Make-Ahead Tips

This is the Turkey Pot Pie we crave the moment the Thanksgiving leftovers are snug in their containers. Made from scratch with chunks of roasted turkey and vegetables bathed in a silky, gravy-like sauce.

And oh, that crust. Or no crust. Here, you have plenty of options.

This classic one-dish meal is full of comfort for cold winter days. With the holidays coming, pot pie is a delicious way to use up those turkey leftovers, but you can use rotisserie or baked chicken in this same recipe.

Let’s Talk Turkey

The easiest way to make turkey pot pie is with already-cooked turkey. Thanksgiving leftovers are ideal, but these days you can find roasted turkey breast portions in stores all through the fall season.

Start with quality turkey and you’re way ahead. We have enjoyed various organic turkeys offered at nearby stores, as well as free-range and heritage turkeys like those from Mary’s Turkeys. Whatever brand you choose, read the label.

Popular commercial brand ingredient label: CONTAINS UP TO 20% OF A SOLUTION OF WATER, SALT, MODIFIED FOOD STARCH, SODIUM PHOSPHATE, DEXTROSE, NATURAL FLAVORS TO ENHANCE JUICINESS

We prefer turkey that has been humanely raised and doesn’t come with a long list of other ingredients. 

I don’t mind paying more for clean, quality sourced meat. We use every bit of it in our holiday dinner, bone broth, and leftover recipes like this one.

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Making Turkey Pot Pie Completely from Scratch

When making this recipe from scratch, you’ll start by roasting 2 turkey legs or a bone-in turkey breast. The turkey legs will provide about the right amount of meat for the pot pie; with a bone-in turkey breast, you’ll have leftovers. Check out this tutorial at Spruce Eats for roasting turkey parts.

This may seem time-intensive, but it’s not all hands-on and can easily be spread over several days. I find it easier to do the first two steps of roasting the turkey and making stock on a separate day from making the pot pie–the turkey and stock can both be frozen if I want to do it well in advance.

1. Roast turkey legs or breast pieces. Reserve pan juices and allow to cool until easy to handle. Remove meat from bones; chop meat for pie and refrigerate until needed, transfer bones to a pot for making stock. (1 1/2 to 3 hours)
2. Make basic turkey stock. You’ll need an onion, 2 stalks celery, 2 carrots, and a bulb of garlic for this part. (3-12 hours)
   Now follow the recipe as written.
3. Prep the crust – It’s the last thing you’ll add to your pot pie before placing it in the oven, but it needs to chill and you’ll want it ready. (15 min)
4. Dice vegetables and saute with salt, pepper, and thyme in butter; sprinkle with flour (6-8 min)
5. Add cognac, cream, stock, and Worchester; simmer until sauce thickens (8-10 min)
6. Stir in chopped turkey and peas; season with salt and pepper, as desired. (2 min)
7. Pour into a casserole dish and top with crust; bake at 425°F. (30 min)

How Make Turkey Pot Pie with Thanksgiving Leftovers

Making turkey pot pie from leftovers requires a little more flexibility. If you plan for your pot pie when preparing your Thanksgiving turkey, you’ll want to add an onion (quartered), 3 stalks celery (coarsely chopped), and 2 large carrots (coarsely chopped) to the roasting pan.

When the turkey comes out of the oven, reserve these roasted goodies. 

If you make a little extra mashed potato, stuffing, and gravy these can all be incorporated into the making of your pot pie.

1. Prep the crust — It’s the last thing you’ll add to your pot pie before placing it in the oven, but you’ll want it ready. (15 min) This is where you can use leftover mashed potatoes or stuffing if you want to skip the crust. Spread or dot over the top of the pot pie filling before baking.
2. Dice the leftover roasted carrots, celery, and onions from roasting the turkey. Saute with salt, pepper, and thyme in butter for just a minute to warm. (If you don’t have these, simply follow the posted recipe step #2.)
3. Add cognac, cream, stock, and Worcestershire; simmer 6-8 min. This is where you can use leftover gravy which will thicken the sauce and trim a few minutes of simmering time. If you don’t have enough gravy, simply add broth/stock to the gravy to make the amount needed for the recipe.
4. Stir in chopped turkey and peas; season with salt and pepper, as desired. (2 min)
5. Pour into a casserole dish and top with crust, mashed potatoes or stuffing; bake at 425°F. (30 min for pie crust / 20 minutes for stuffing or potato topping)

Recipe Tips

• Skip the bottom crust and embellish the top — The posted recipe includes ingredients for a double-crust so there is plenty of pastry dough to create embellished accents or sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar for a special treat (see pastry decorating below).
• Make ahead — Each component can be prepped ahead up to 5 days (or frozen) before the final assembly. The assembled pie can be reserved and refrigerated for up to 3 days before baking (best if crust is held separate).
  If storing more than 24 hours, store pastry crust separately and place just before baking. Baking time will take a little longer when starting with a cold pie, so allow 40-45 minutes bake time. If crust begins to brown too quickly, simply cover with foil until the filling starts to bubble.
• How to reheat pot pie — To reheat and retain the best texture, place individual portions in a 350°F oven for about 10 minutes to gently reheat and finish under the broiler for a minute or two to crisp the crust, if needed.
  Reheat individual portions in a microwave for 2-3 minutes, but know that the pastry crust will suffer and become soft.
• How to freeze pot pie — The entire pie can be frozen before baking. However, doing so will require longer baking time and may result in a soggier pie crust.
  I recommend freezing the filling and the pie crust separately. Freeze the filling in a zip-type freezer bag, with as much air removed as possible, pressed flat (this will help it thaw quickly).
  Roll out the pastry crust to the size needed. Refrigerate to stiffen, then double wrap in plastic wrap. Place in the freezer on a flat surface as much as possible.
• How to prepare pot pie after freezing — Defrost filling and pastry crust in the refrigerator up to 3 days before baking. When ready to bake, pour filling into a prepared casserole dish and top with crust. Bake at 425°F for 30 minutes, until hot and bubbly and crust is golden brown.

Recipe Variations

• Double crust turkey pot pie –– Roll out a little less than 2/3 of the crust to fit the bottom and sides of a 9x9x2 baking dish. Pierce crust with a fork multiple times to prevent bubbles. Pre-bake the bottom crust at 350°F for 15-20 minutes while finishing the top crust and making the filling. Bake just until set and just starting to brown at the edges. Roll out the top crust and refrigerate until ready to use. Then continue with Step #2.
• No crust turkey pot pie — Top with leftover stuffing or mashed potatoes before baking. 
• Make Inside Out turkey pot pie with biscuits — Prepare our whole wheat biscuit recipe instead of pastry crust in step #1. Bake the biscuits and ladle the filling right over the top to serve.
• Make it with dumplings — Increase stock in the pot pie recipe to 2 1/2 cups and merge this recipe with the Parmesan Dumpling instructions in our Creamy Chicken Stew.
• Switch out the veggies — green beans, cauliflower, parsnips, celeriac root, leeks, and mushrooms all work well in this recipe without changing the base flavor of the dish.
  Use any combination you like, just keep the total amount the same as listed in the recipe, which is 3.25 cups, including the onions. Of course, you can reduce the amount of turkey (3 cups) to accommodate more vegetables as well. 

How to Decorate a Pastry Crust

In this recipe, I simply use a small cookie cutter to create cutouts for a layered design. Since I only wanted enough dough to create a topper for my pie, I had plenty of dough from the double crust recipe to play with and create something unique.

Use cookie cutters to create the small shapes for layering on top of the main crust, or use a sharp knife to carve unique designs. 

TIP: Brushing the crust with cream will deepen the color and egg wash will give it a glossy finish. 

Pastry embossing is a thing! A pastry embossing rolling pin is a simple way to make gorgeous designs by rolling the pin over the finished dough.

When using an embossed rolling pin, roll the pastry a little thicker on the first pass so it will be thick enough to receive the impression without making the finished dough too thin. There are numerous designs to choose from as well as alphabet stamp tools for creating messages.

TIP: Practice on a small piece of dough before rolling out the main slab as over-working the dough can cause the butter to soften too much or toughen the dough. An embossed design is more delicate and will be easier to manage as strips or pieces of an overall design rather than a solid pie topper.

Our motto is to always make more pastry crust than you think you’ll need; use leftover scraps for sweet treats by dusting with cinnamon and sugar and bake at 425°F for 6-8 minutes or until edges begin to brown.

Our kids always loved the chance to make shapes with pie dough and it got very interesting at times.

Pastry Crust Options for Turkey Pot Pie

I have used this gluten-free crust for year as I’m still working on making pie crust with sprouted whole wheat that we like as well.

We don’t have to eat gluten-free, but I have friends who do and having a great-tasting pie crust to serve everyone is a win when inviting friends to our table.

Our pie crust is made with (gluten-free) whole grain oat flour, arrowroot, coconut palm sugar, almonds, eggs, and butter — all minimally processed whole food ingredients.

You’ll appreciate how easy it is to handle while feeling good about what you’re eating. 

• Regular, all-purpose pastry crust – Though I highly recommend our gluten-free crust with whole food ingredients, Cook’s Illustrated’s All Butter Pie Crust is what I recommend if you just gotta have a regular crust. Whatever way you go, avoid anything with shortening, which is hydrogenated oil and unnecessary for great pie crust.
• Gluten-free pastry crust – See the recipe below.
• Paleo — This Paleo pastry crust by Wholesome Yum is made with almond flour and ghee. 
• Keto — This Keto pastry crust by A Girl Worth Saving is made with almond meal and coconut flour. 
• Healthier store-bought pastry crust — I get it, sometimes we just ain’t got time for homemade pie crust. So if you must buy the crust, look for the same wholesome ingredients on the package you’d use at home. Though I have not used it myself, Wholly Wholesome is one brand that looks promising with a regular, whole wheat, or gluten-free pastry crust to bake at home.

Gluten Free Oat Flour Crust Step by Step

1. Combine the flours, sugar, salt, and baking powder in a bowl or food processor until well mixed. Cut in butter with a pastry knife or pulse in the processor only until butter pieces are about the size of peas.
2. Mix in by hand or pulse beaten egg and creme fraiche in processor just until dough begins to hold together.
3. Press dough out into a disc with your hands on a sheet of parchment paper. Cover or wrap to refrigerate for 1 hour or for up to 3 days if making in advance.
4. Remove from fridge, allow to sit for 10 minutes to soften a little before rolling.
5. Roll out and bake according to final recipe.

More Turkey Recipes You’ll Love

• Healthy Cranberry-Avocado Turkey Salad
• Smoked Turkey and Bean Soup
• Turkey & Vegetable Tetrazzini
• Inside Out Turkey Pot Pie
• Emeril’s Turkey Club Casserole

This is our gluten-free pie crust recipe using rice flour as an alternative to oat flour.