Leftover turkey is quite dry, given it's a lean meat. So smothering it in a creamy sauce for a Turkey Pot Pie is the ideal way to repurpose perfectly good leftovers! This is like a cross between Chicken Pot Pie and Cheesy Garlic Bread. While the filling is delicious, that buttery garlicky cheesy topping steals the show. I just love how it gets soaked with the creamy white sauce!!Use whatever veggies you want. And of course, chicken is a straight up simple substitute for turkey if that's what you have.
Prep Time15 minutesmins
Cook Time40 minutesmins
Total Time55 minutesmins
Course: Dinner
Cuisine: American, Western
Keyword: leftover turkey pot pie, leftover turkey recipe, turkey recipe
Servings: 5-6
Calories: 589cal
Author: Nagi | RecipeTin Eats
Ingredients
1tbspolive oil
150g / 5 oz mushrooms, sliced 1/2cm / 1/5" thick
50g / 4 tbspbutter
1onion, finely chopped (brown, white, yellow)
2garlic cloves, minced
1carrot, peeled, chopped into 1cm/ 1/3" pieces
4tbspflour(plain/all purpose)
2 1/2cupsmilk(any fat % fine)
4 cups (600g)cooked chopped turkey or chicken
1 1/2cupsfrozen peas
1tspchicken or vegetable stock powder (or 1 cube. I use Vegeta powder)
1/4tspsalt
1/2tspblack pepper
Garlic Bread Topping
50g / 4 tbsp salted butter
2garlic cloves, minced using garlic press
5packed cups bread chunks ~2.5cm/1" cubes(Note 1)
2tbspparmesan cheese, grated (optional)
1cupmozzarella or other melting cheese, shredded or sliced(or enough slices to cover most of top)
Topping: Stir together melted butter and garlic. Place bread chunks in a bowl, drizzle over butter, toss. Set aside.
Brown mushrooms: Heat oil in an oven-proof skillet over high heat. (Note 3) Add mushrooms and cook until browned - about 4 minutes. Remove.
Sauté garlic & onion: Lower heat to medium high. Melt butter in same skillet. Add onion and garlic, cook for 2 minutes.
Add carrot then cook for 1 minute.
Add flour, cook for 1 minute. You'll have a pasty mix. Don't worry if it looks dry (depends how sweaty your onions get).
Make roux: While stirring, add half the milk and mix quickly to dissolve the paste into the liquid (this happens quite quickly). Add remaining liquid and stir. Add stock powder, salt and pepper, stir.
Thicken sauce: Cook for 2 - 3 minutes, stirring regularly. It should start steaming and bubbling a bit, and the sauce will thicken. Thickness test: coat back of wooden spoon, you should be able to draw a line across it (see video, Note 3)
Add turkey, peas and mushrooms, and mix into sauce.
Top with bread, spread to cover surface. Grate over parmesan if using, top with melting cheese.
Bake: Bake for 12 - 15 minutes or until the cheese gets some brown spots. Tent foil over so it doesn't stick to the cheese, then bake for a further 10 minutes.
Serve: Sprinkle with additional parmesan if desired, then serve!
Notes
1. Bread - It's better to use soft breads rather than artisan sourdough-type breads with really thick chewy crusts and a tight crumb. I just used an everyday bread loaf. Rolls, hamburger buns, sandwich bread - anything goes here.It's hard to measure the bread required because they all have different densitie. You just need enough to cover the surface of the pie, one layer. If using sliced bread, just cut them into 3cm / 1.5" squares then layer them overlapping slightly, and drizzled with butter (too hard to toss).2. Skillet - I use my Lodge 26cm/10.25" cast iron skillet, it is perfect for this sort of job. See My Essential Kitchenwares for more information.If you don't have one in a similar size that's oven proof, make this in a 2.5L/2.5 quart casserole dish (10 cups).3. Don't stress about sauce thickness, it's easy to adjust. Once you stir the turkey etc in, whatever the consistency of the sauce is, that's how it will be once out of the oven. It does not thicken much in the oven - cook time is short plus no air vents for evaporation to allow sauce to thicken. If the filling is too runny for your taste, just pop it back on the stove (with turkey etc) and cook until thickened to your taste.You can also thicken the filling with CHEESE. :)4. Storage and reheating - Keeps fine in the fridge for up to 5 days (we re-cooked the turkey remember -clock reset!) Reheat covered in oven (better) or the microwave. 5. Nutrition per serving, assuming 6 servings. I totally thought it was going to be way worse than this - score!