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If I found a recipe that worked and Tim liked, I tended to make it a lot. One particular recipe was for a chicken pot pie with a phyllo dough crust. Using a phyllo dough crust for pot pie is a great idea. It not only cuts way back on the calories, making a much lighter pot pie, but it also saves tons of time. Regular turkey or chicken pot pie can be an all-day ordeal if you are making homemade crust. With a phyllo dough crust, you can have this on the table in under an hour. It takes about 20 minutes prep time, and then cooks in the oven for 30 minutes.
I used Fillo Factory’s Organic Fillo Dough product. They also offer a whole wheat phyllo dough, which I sadly couldn’t find. I just saw on their website that they are offering 25% off all orders, so if you would like the whole wheat version but can’t find it in your area, it would be a great time to order. (Not sponsored or an affiliate link, just noticed that deal when I was linking to their site)
Now that I have much more kitchen confidence, I knew I could create a dairy-free pot pie recipe. I did this by using all broth instead of milk as the base. It’s just as comforting without the milk, trust me. Instead of thickening the sauce with a roux, I created a slurry with arrowroot powder (you can also use cornstarch) and some of the hot broth.This was such a simple way to thicken the sauce–no need to use an extra pan to create the roux. No need to use a boatload of extra flour to create a thick sauce. (Thank you, Mark Bittman, for the idea.)
Just so you know, in my first trial I used only 1 tablespoon of arrowroot powder, and that’s what you see in the pictures. Next time, I used two tablespoons, and the mixture thickened more. So you can expect a slightly thicker result than what you see in the pictures.
This is just as good as a turkey pot pie as it is as a chicken pot pie. I made it as a turkey pot pie first because I thought this would made perfect Thanksgiving turkey leftovers. So many Thanksgiving leftover recipes are just as heavy as the Thanksgiving meal. I love that this is a lightened up pot pie recipe that is still total comfort food! I suggest you use this recipe whenever you have leftover chicken or turkey you’d like to use up!
Lightened Up Turkey or Chicken Pot Pie {dairy-free}
- Total Time: 55 minutes
- Yield: 6 servings 1x
Description
An easy, lightened up turkey (or chicken!) pot pie recipe that is perfect for Thanksgiving leftovers. This is such an easy and healthy pot pie recipe. Ready in under an hour and dairy free.
Ingredients
2 tablespoons avocado oil or olive oil
3 cups diced potato (about 1 pound)
1 cup diced celery
1 cup diced carrots
1 onion, diced
3 cups turkey or chicken broth
1 tablespoon fresh thyme or 1 teaspoon dried thyme
2 tablespoons arrowroot powder or cornstarch
2 cups cooked and chopped turkey or chicken
1 cup frozen peas
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
6 (14 by 9 inch) sheets frozen phyllo dough, thawed
cooking spray
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
In a large Dutch oven or stock pot, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the potatoes, celery, carrots, and onion and sauté about 5 minutes. Add the broth and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer. Put the arrowroot powder in a small bowl. Add enough of the hot broth to create a slurry (about 2 tablespoons). Stir the slurry into the vegetable mixture and turn off the heat. Add the turkey or chicken, peas, salt, and pepper.
Transfer the mixture to a 3-quart baking dish. Add one sheet of phyllo dough on top of the mixture. Spray it with your cooking oil. Continue this process until you have 6 layers of phyllo dough. Place the baking dish on a baking sheet. Bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes, until the top is golden brown. Enjoy!
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 45 minutes
- Category: main meal
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 serving
- Calories: 350
- Sugar: 5.2g
- Sodium: 644.7mg
- Fat: 8.8g
- Carbohydrates: 42.6g
- Protein: 21g
It was interesting to cook a completely new and unfamiliar dish, because I did not expect that my family would like it so much and would enjoy great popularity.
This looks amazing!
Thanks so much, Megan!
that crust! yum!
Looks delish!! A family favorite at our home. And your photos are Stunning!
Thanks so much, Tina!
I’ve never cooked with phyllo dough but I’m dying to try! I think chickpeas may be a fabulous stand-in for turkey here 🙂
It’s such an easy alternative to homemade dough. Oh, and much lighter. 🙂 I would actually LOVE chickpeas in this!!
That looks absolutely amazing! I can’t wait to try this!
Hi Maryea! This looks like a great way to use up leftover turkey! I’m working on putting together a curated list of some of my favorite Thanksgiving leftover ideas and I’d love to include this if you’re okay with that. Of course I would link back to your blog and give you all the credit 🙂
Also, I just want to say your photos are great. I remember reading awhile back that you were working on improving your photography and re-doing some of your old posts with new photos. Whatever you’re doing it’s working! If you have any tips or links to resources, I’d love some ideas!
Happy Thanksgiving week!
Lindsay
Hi Lindsay, yes you can definitely use this for your list. Thanks!
Thanks for commenting on the photos. It’s been a long work in progress so it’s nice to hear the hard work is paying off. 🙂 One book that helped me when I first started wanting to improve was Plate to Pixel. You can find it on Amazon. I think what’s helped me the most is studying food photography that I really like and figuring out what makes it work. I spend a lot of time on sites like Foodgawker, just looking at the photos and studying the composition, light, etc. I’ve also read a ton of random blog posts on the subject of food photography. I read whatever I can and try to apply it. Hope this helps some!
I love using phyllo dough! I think I would love this recipe!
Phyllo dough makes this such an easy recipe! Thanks, Amy!
I love how much you healthified this! The addition of arrowroot over flour is perfect for us. I’ll be trying this out soon. 🙂 Thanks!
I hope you guys love it!