Oh, you know those days? The ones where you look at 5 PM and realize you haven’t thought about dinner once? That’s why I live for making things ahead of time! Classic chicken pot pie is peak comfort food, but who has time to bake one from scratch when life is hitting hard? Not me! That’s why I’ve tweaked the traditional recipe into the ultimate convenience meal: the Freezer-Friendly Chicken Pot Pie. It’s amazing because you assemble it when you *do* have time, and then pop it in the oven straight from the freezer when you definitely do not. I adapt classic dishes like pot pie into freezer-friendly versions because they make busy days feel easier. Trust me, having this kind of hearty, ready-to-go dinner stashed away is a genuine game-changer for anyone trying to keep dinner simple but delicious. As the Lead Plate Designer here at Recipes by Betty, I can tell you this recipe is thoroughly tested for freezing success!
Why This Freezer-Friendly Chicken Pot Pie is a Meal Prep Essential
I honestly believe that having comfort food waiting for you is half the battle on a busy weeknight. This isn’t just about eating; it’s about making life run smoother when you need those easy grab-and-go meals. You prep once, and you get creamy, savory deliciousness later!
- It cuts down on active cooking time on the night you actually want to eat it—it’s perfect for those true lazy dinners.
- The flavor develops beautifully even when baked straight from its frozen state.
- It gives you a homemade meal feel without stressing over the components mid-week.
Ultimate Convenience for Lazy Dinners
Forget resorting to boxed meals! When you’re dragging after work or just don’t want to face a full cooking session, this is your best friend. You just pull it out, pop it in the oven, and an hour later you have a steaming hot, completely satisfying meal ready to go. No thawing required!
Making Freezer-Friendly Chicken Pot Pie a Healthy Dinner Recipe Option
Look, it’s pot pie, so it’s going to be indulgent, but we keep it relatively balanced here. Since you are assembling this Freezer-Friendly Chicken Pot Pie yourself, you get full control over the quality of your chicken and your vegetables. Using frozen mixed veggies gets you a serving of greens easily, making it a much smarter choice than a store-bought version any single day.
Ingredients Needed for Freezer-Friendly Chicken Pot Pie
When you are making something ahead of time, clarity on ingredients is everything, right? If you follow these measurements exactly, the filling will freeze and bake up perfectly without getting watery or separating later. I always check my pantry twice before mixing, just to make sure I have everything ready for the big assembly session! These ingredients make about eight satisfying servings, so you probably want to double the recipe if you have a hungry crew.
If you want to see how others tackle their fillings, check out this classic recipe for inspiration (though remember, ours is built for the freezer!): Taste of Home Favorite Chicken Pot Pie.
For the Filling: Building the Flavor Base
This is where all the creamy, savory goodness happens before it gets tucked away in the freezer. We need the building blocks for a really rich sauce:
- You’ll need 600 grams of cooked chicken, diced small. Since this is a freezer meal, using rotisserie chicken or leftover roasted chicken works like a charm!
- Grab 500 grams of frozen mixed vegetables—no need to thaw these first, it’s meant to be a simple addition.
- One medium onion, finely chopped. Make sure it’s nice and small so it melts into the sauce.
- 40 grams of butter to start our roux.
- 40 grams of flour, which we’ll use to thicken things up fast.
- 500 milliliters of chicken broth.
- 120 milliliters of milk. I usually use whole milk for extra richness, but whatever you have is fine if you’re in a hurry.
- Don’t forget salt and pepper, added to taste! Be generous with the pepper.
For Assembly: Pie Crust Details
This part is super straightforward, but remember the instruction note for this! You need enough dough to cover the whole dish.
- You must have 2 pie crusts ready. That means one for the bottom base in your pie dish, and one for the top layer. Don’t skip the bottom one; it keeps the filling contained!
Step-by-Step Instructions for Freezer-Friendly Chicken Pot Pie
Okay, this is the fun part where everything comes together! I like grouping the filling steps first, getting that rich, creamy sauce perfect before worrying about the crust. Remember, because this is a freezer meal, we aren’t worried about crispness yet; we are worried about perfect consistency for storage and baking later. If you’re looking for slow cooker inspiration while you wait for your oven to preheat next time, this crockpot chicken pot pie with potatoes is fantastic, but today we stick to the oven and freezer!
Preparing the Creamy Filling Base
We start on the stove top. You’ll need a good, large saucepan or skillet for this part, over medium heat. Don’t rush the butter melting!
- Melt your 40g of butter right there in the pan. Toss in your finely chopped onion and let it soften up nicely. You want it translucent, not brown, so keep the heat steady.
- Once the onions are soft, sprinkle in the 40g of flour. You need to stir this constantly for about a full minute—this cooks out that raw flour taste and creates the roux base.
- Now, the smooth part! Take your chicken broth (500ml) and milk (120ml) and start whisking them in gradually. Do not stop whisking! You need to keep going until everything is combined and the sauce has noticeably thickened up. It should coat the back of a spoon.
- Take that pan right off the heat source. Now, stir in your diced cooked chicken (600g), those frozen mixed veggies, and season well with salt and pepper to taste. Give it one final mix to distribute everything evenly.
Assembling and Freezing Your Freezer-Friendly Chicken Pot Pie
Your filling is ready, and it’s going to look very full, but that’s okay! It’s comforting food, not a delicate tart.
- Take your pie dish—the 9-inch standard size works perfectly—and line the bottom carefully with one pie crust. Pour your entire, warm filling mixture right over that base crust.
- Place the second pie crust on top. Now, use your fingers or a fork to crimp those edges together firmly to seal the top crust to the bottom plate of dough. Make sure it’s sealed tight so none of that yummy sauce leaks out later!
- This is the key step for our Freezer-Friendly Chicken Pot Pie: Wrap that unbaked pie tightly—I mean really wrap it! First, use plastic wrap, making sure it’s snug against the crust. Then, wrap the whole thing securely in foil. You can freeze this perfectly for up to three months!
Baking Instructions Straight from the Freezer
The best part is that you don’t have to wait for it to thaw. Seriously! Preheat your oven to 190°C.
When you are ready for dinner, take the wrapped pie out of the freezer. Unwrap all the plastic and foil. Yes, you bake it still frozen! Pop it into the hot oven and let it go for 60 to 70 minutes. You’re looking for that beautiful, deep golden crust and a filling that is bubbling hot all the way through the center. If the edges start browning too fast, just cover them loosely with a ring of foil.
Tips for Making Perfect Freezer-Friendly Chicken Pot Pie
Making a successful freezer meal is all about anticipating what happens during thawing and baking. When I first tried this recipe as a make-ahead, I learned honestly that you can’t treat the frozen version exactly like a fresh one. A few little tricks, gleaned from trial and error (and the occasional flat, soggy bottom!), make a huge difference in the final result. If you want that glorious crust and firm filling, listen up! For general cooking ideas, you can always check out my secrets to perfect scones and expert baking tips, but these tips are specifically for our freezer version. For another great source on classic pot pie structure, definitely peek at Simply Recipes’ guide.
Ensuring a Thick Sauce for Your Freezer-Friendly Chicken Pot Pie
You know how sometimes things get a little looser after they thaw? That’s the danger zone for pot pie filling! For our Freezer-Friendly Chicken Pot Pie to shine, the sauce has to be *slightly* thicker than you think it needs to be before you pour it into the crust. When you cook down the flour and liquid, let it simmer just a minute or two longer until it seems almost too thick—like heavy gravy. That little bit of extra body prevents any weepiness once it thaws and bakes.
Preventing Freezer Burn
This is crucial if you plan on keeping these tucked away for a few weeks or months. Freezer burn equals dry, unappetizing crust, and we simply can’t have that! The double-wrapping technique I mentioned earlier is absolutely necessary here. Make sure that plastic wrap is pressed right against the top crust to squeeze out any air before you wrap it with aluminum foil. The foil adds a solid second barrier. If you use a disposable foil pan, just make sure you crimp the foil lid on really tightly around the rim.
Storage and Reheating Instructions for Freezer-Friendly Chicken Pot Pie
The beauty of this meal is how long it safely stays ready for dinner! You can confidently store your assembled, unbaked Freezer-Friendly Chicken Pot Pie wrapped tightly for up to three months. I try to date and label mine immediately—because let’s be real, who remembers what they tucked away last week?
Reheating only requires a preheated oven at 190°C (375°F), and you bake it straight from the freezer. I know some folks wonder about thawing it first, but resist that temptation! Baking from frozen ensures the filling heats evenly without the crust getting soggy before the center is safe and hot. If you’re curious about other tried-and-true recipes that freeze well, check out this great list from Allrecipes to stock up your freezer for even more lazy nights.
Frequently Asked Questions About Freezer-Friendly Chicken Pot Pie
It’s normal to have questions when you’re planning ahead! Meal prepping, especially freezing, changes the dynamics of cooking just a little bit. I’ve gathered the most common things I get asked when people try this recipe for the first time. You’ll see that this technique works great for all sorts of comfort food planning.
Can I use leftover chicken in this recipe?
Absolutely, that’s my favorite way to do it! Using cooked, leftover chicken is ideal because it saves you a whole step. You can use rotisserie chicken, leftover roast chicken, or chicken you might have pulled from an easy crockpot honey garlic chicken recipe earlier in the week. Since the chicken is already cooked, we just need to heat it through completely when baking the frozen pie, which is why the 60-minute bake time works so well.
How do I adapt this for Crockpot Recipes For Dinner?
That’s a smart question! This recipe is specifically designed to be assembled and *frozen unbaked*. However, the creamy filling we make on the stove top is the perfect base for actual Crockpot Dishes. If you wanted to make a non-frozen, slow cooker version, you would simply assemble the filling (steps 1-4) and then transfer the whole mixture to your slow cooker instead of a pie dish. You’d usually cook that on low for 4-6 hours. This recipe takes the flavor profile of those great Crockpot Recipes For Dinner and makes them portable for the freezer!
Is this recipe suitable for Fall Dinner Recipes?
Oh, you bet it is! Chicken pot pie is the definition of cozy. When the weather cools down and you start looking for those hearty, warming meals, this is perfect. It’s one of my top recommendations for Fall Dinner Recipes because it delivers that rich, nostalgic flavor profile without requiring you to stand over the stove simmering gravy for hours.
Estimated Nutritional Information for Freezer-Friendly Chicken Pot Pie
Listen, because we are dealing with butter, flour, and pastry crusts, this is pure comfort food! That means it’s delicious, satisfying, and definitely not a low-calorie salad. The numbers below are just estimates because brands of broth and crust can change things up, but this gives you a good ballpark figure per serving if you slice the pie into 8 even pieces.
It’s super important to remember that since this recipe has two crusts and is meant to be satisfying, the numbers reflect that hearty portion size. For a lighter version, you could always try skipping the top crust, kind of like making a chicken pot pie casserole! If you want to see some genuinely lighter freezer meals, check out my thoughts on healthy crockpot lasagna soup.
- Estimated Calories: 450-550 per serving
- Estimated Total Fat: 25 – 30g
- Estimated Protein: 25 – 30g
- Estimated Carbohydrates: 35 – 40g
This is why we call it a cozy fall or winter meal—it’s meant to stick to your ribs when you need that warmth! Enjoy every bite!
Share Your Freezer-Friendly Chicken Pot Pie Experience
And there you have it—the secret to having a homemade, comforting dinner waiting for you whenever you need it most. This Freezer-Friendly Chicken Pot Pie is such a reliable staple in my own home, and I truly hope it becomes one for you too!
Now, I absolutely love hearing from you all! Did you try this out on a super busy Tuesday? How did everyone like biting into a perfectly baked pie that was assembled three weeks ago? Please leave a star rating right below this section—it helps me know what recipes to keep coming back to!
While you’re here, tell me about your best freezer meal prep strategies in the comments. Do you prefer making full meals ahead, or are you a ‘component-freezer’ person? I’m always looking for new ways to make my meal rotation easier. If you’re looking for a completely different, but just as simple, make-ahead bowl idea, check out this avocado chickpea bowl recipe!
If you’d like to see how Pillsbury tackles their classic version for a fresh bake—for those times you don’t want to freeze anything—take a peek here: Pillsbury Classic Chicken Pot Pie. Happy freezing, and happy eating!
Freezer-Friendly Chicken Pot Pie
Equipment
- Large saucepan or skillet
- 9-inch pie dish
Ingredients
For the Filling
- 600 g Cooked chicken, diced
- 500 g Frozen mixed vegetables
- 1 Onion, finely chopped
- 40 g Butter
- 40 g Flour
- 500 ml Chicken broth
- 120 ml Milk
- To taste Salt and pepper
For Assembly
- 2 Pie crusts (top & bottom) One for the base, one for the top
Instructions
- Melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the chopped onion and sauté until it becomes soft.
- Stir in the flour and cook for 1 minute, stirring constantly.
- Gradually whisk in the chicken broth and milk until the mixture thickens into a sauce.
- Remove the pan from the heat. Stir in the diced chicken, frozen vegetables, salt, and pepper.
- Pour the filling into one pie crust placed in a pie dish. Top with the second crust, crimping the edges to seal.
- Wrap the unbaked pie tightly in plastic wrap and then foil. Freeze for up to 3 months.
- When ready to cook, bake the pie directly from frozen at 190°C for 60 to 70 minutes, or until the crust is golden brown and the filling is bubbling hot.