My Family’s Favorite Fall Meal Starts with Leftovers

It’s hard to say goodbye to summer, but there are a few things that make it worthwhile—cozy sweaters, fall foliage, and comfort foods, such as stew, lasagna, and roast chicken. Over the weekend, the weather in my area was definitely heralding fall, so I made my first comfort meal of the season with ingredients I had been diligently stashing away in the freezer throughout the summer. 

I once read that Americans waste about a third of the food they bring into their homes. That’s a lot of wasted food and money, especially now when grocery prices are so high. One of the best ways I’ve found to avoid feeding the garbage disposal is keeping a freezer-safe container in the freezer, and whenever I have some leftover cooked vegetables from dinner (like green beans, peas, or corn), I throw them in the freezer container. The leftover bits on a rotisserie chicken get shredded and frozen, too. 

Shredded chicken and vegetables are the start of many great comfort meals such as chicken noodle soup, chicken and vegetable casseroles, and the one classic chicken and vegetable dish that brings my family to the table every single time—chicken pot pie.

Yes, I’ve been planning for my first chicken pot pie of fall since the middle of summer, freezing bits of vegetables and chicken so that on one of the first chilly evenings, I could make our favorite fall dish. We eat chicken pot pie in two different ways. Sometimes, we do it traditionally, by putting the filling between two pie crusts. Sometimes, I take the easy way out and put it on top of baked biscuits from a can, adorably named “Pot on Fluffy Buns” by my son when he was little. 

What Vegetables Work Well in Chicken Pot Pie

Pot pie is a blank canvas for all sorts of vegetables. My family enjoys onion, carrots, peas, green beans, and corn in the mix, but you can add any vegetables you want. Broccoli, cubed potatoes, zucchini, yellow squash, butternut squash, asparagus, bell peppers—really, any vegetable works, but you want them to be cooked through when you add them to this particular recipe. It doesn’t spend enough time in the oven to thoroughly cook most vegetables. 

How to Make Chicken Pot Pie with Leftovers 

Ingredients

• 1 (15 ounce) package double crust ready-to-use pie crusts
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 1/2 cups leftover vegetables, thawed and chopped
• 6 tablespoons butter
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon ground marjoram
• 1 pinch dried shallots (optional)
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt, or more as needed
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
• 1 cup milk, whole or 2 percent
• 10 fluid ounces chicken broth
• 3 cups cooked, shredded chicken

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F (232 degrees C).
2. Press one pie crust into the bottom of a 9-inch pie dish. Bake in the preheated oven for about 15 minutes. 
3. Meanwhile, heat olive oil in a skillet over medium heat and sauté any vegetables that aren’t already cooked through. Set aside.
4. Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add flour, marjoram, dried shallots, salt, and pepper. Cook and stir for about 5 minutes. Add milk and chicken broth, a little at a time, stirring after each addition. Bring mixture to a boil, stirring constantly, until it has thickened slightly. Reduce the heat to medium-low. 
5. Add shredded chicken and all vegetables. Let mixture simmer over medium-low heat for about 15 minutes.
6. Pour filling into bottom pie crust. Top with second crust, seal crusts together, and crimp the edges with a fork. Cut holes into the top to allow steam to escape. Bake in the preheated oven until crust is golden brown, about 25 minutes. 

To make with biscuits: Bake biscuits according to package directions. Follow Steps 3 through 5. Split biscuits in half, place in a dish, pour filling over top, and you’re done!

Cook’s Notes

Use up any vegetables you’ve saved in the freezer, veggies that need to be used up in the crisper, or even a bag of frozen mixed vegetables. Vegetable pieces should be chopped small.

I only sauté any veggies that haven’t been previously cooked. For me, that’s usually the onion and often the straggling few baby carrots in the crisper.

If we have guests, I will use an egg wash on top of the crust. If it’s just my family, I don’t bother with the egg wash. 

This is a meal in itself, but sometimes I will serve the pot pie with cranberry sauce on the side or sautéed apples.