This creamy, comforting Halloween pot pie is the perfect dinner before trick-or-treating and is easily made all in one skillet!
Halloween traditions & a new pot pie made in 1 skillet!
It is isn’t my favorite holiday of the year, but the kids literally go bonkers for dressing up, carving pumpkins, and running around the neighborhood with friends to gather candy, so we let them be kids, and play along. We don’t even keep the candy, but they really have a ball, so we do have some fun “traditions” that they look forward to each year.
Halloween Night Fuel – Pot Pie Style!
One of those traditions is a nourishing, comforting, but *fun* dinner before the trick-or-treating begins! It started as a way for me to counteract the sugar when they were super little – little bodies and even one piece of candy can be a nightmare, so a nourishing meal in their bellies can slow that spike. As the girls have gotten older, I almost think they look more forward to what I’m going to come up with for dinner on Halloween, more so than the candy itself!
My little cookie cutter find…
I’m a sucker for little cookie cutters. It started when the girls were super little because I was always looking for cookie cutters that didn’t make such huge cookies for little ones. I found these adorable cookie cutters and knew I had to use them this year. Instead of cookies, I decided on a savory application – pot pie crust toppings! Here are some smaller cookie cutters so you can find some that you love too!
All of the Pot Pie flavor without the fuss
Making the pot pie filling in a skillet and skipping the crust on the bottom is where it’s at! My kids typically don’t love the crust part on the bottom anyway, opting to eat the crispy, flakey top part of the pot pie. So we skip the crust on the bottom, make a creamy, savory filling packed with protein and veg, and then top it with the *cutest* little pumpkin cut-out’s!
Pot Pie…fast and easy??
And all the momma’s said YES PLEASE! Because the last thing you want to be doing on Halloween night is cooking all day. Here are some ways to budget your time for that big night!
- Make the pie crust dough days in advance. You could even roll the dough out and put the cut out pumpkins in the freezer to keep until you are ready to bake.
- Make the chicken in advance. The filling comes together so fast if you have the chicken all prepped. I roast a whole chicken or Instant Pot a whole chicken on Sunday’s, so just plan this into a day when you have time to get some chicken leftovers made up. You can also brown up chicken breast in a pan to save for the pot pie.
- Chopping the veggies in advance also makes for the filling to go real fast!
Tell me about that gluten free pie crust…
I took a picture of the flakey layers so you can see! We just love this pie crust – something we use from everything from pumpkin to apple pie every year. The top stays crispy and flakey and the bottom soaks up a little of that cream sauce flavor. It is SO good!
The Method :: Making the Pot Pie Crust Topping
To get your pot pie started, blend up the crust ingredients in the food processor. This is my staple pie crust recipe that I use for everything from pumpkin pie to apple pie! Put the crust dough in the fridge to chill while you make the filling.
The Method :: Get the Pot Pie Filling Started
While the dough is chilling, you’ll make the filling. Get your veggies down into some butter to saute. The best part about this filling is that you only really need to cook through the base veggies – onion, carrot, celery. The broccoli gets tossed in to cook with everything else in the oven! If you like more traditional peas, you can swap for those.
The Method :: Finishing the Pot Pie Filling
Once you soften your veggies, you’ll add the flour to coat, and then all the liquid to make the creamy sauce. The seasonings make the cream sauce nice and savory, like the biggest chicken soup hug. Toss in the cooked chicken, corn, and broccoli, and you’re ready to top with your pie crust pumpkins!
The Method :: Making the Pot Pie Crust Pumpkin Topping
Once you take out the pie crust dough from the fridge, you’ll want to knead it a little to make it pliable. Roll it out on a flour dusted counter, and cut out your shapes. We used pumpkins, but use whatever Halloween cookie cut out you have. I used a couple different straw sizes for the eyes and mouth! Brush with an egg wash and it’s time to bake!
How to serve your Halloween Pot Pie!
We just scoop with a big spoon and make sure to include 2 or 3 little pumpkin crust cut outs in each bowl!
Gluten Free One Skillet Halloween Pot Pie
Ingredients
For the Pie Crust Topping ::
- 1 ¼ cup Namaste GF Flour Blend
- 1 tbsp organic cane sugar
- ½ cup cold butter cut into chunks
- 2-3 tbsp water
For the Pot Pie Filling ::
- 3-4 tbsp butter to cook in olive oil is fine too
- 1 medium onion diced
- 2 medium/large carrots peeled and diced
- 1 stalk of celery diced
- 3-4 cloves of garlic minced
- 1 tsp dried thyme
- 1/3 cup Namaste GF Flour Blend
- 1 ½ cups bone broth I use my Instant Pot broth, but store bought bone broth works just fine
- 1 cup coconut milk whole milk or cream will be fine here
- Sea salt and pepper to taste
- 2 cups of chopped broccoli
- 1 cup frozen or canned/drained corn
- 3-4 cups chopped cooked chicken I use leftovers from our weekly roasted chicken
- Optional 1 egg whisked with a splash of water for an egg wash on top of the pie crust topping to lend the golden brown color.
Instructions
Make the Pot Pie Crust Topping ::
- Put the flour, sugar, and cold butter into your food processor. Pulse/blend until the butter is distributed and the flour looks sandy.
- Add the cold water and blend until the dough comes together just like the picture in this post – this takes a good minute to get to.
- Wrap the pie crust in plastic wrap and place in the fridge while you make the pot pie filling.
Make the Pot Pie Filling ::
- You will need to use a large cast iron skillet, oven safe skillet, or braiser. If you do not have an oven safe skillet, you will have to make the filling in a skillet, and transfer to an oven safe casserole dish.
- Melt the butter in your skillet, and add the onion, carrot, and celery with a big pinch of sea salt. Cook over medium high heat for 5-7 minutes until the veggies are soft and fragrant.
- Add the garlic and thyme, stir, and cook for a minute.
- Add the flour, and stir to coat the veggies.
- Slowly whisk in the broth and coconut milk until everything is smooth, and then simmer the cream sauce low for 5 minutes. Taste this cream sauce and season with salt and pepper to your taste.
- Turn off the heat, and stir in the chopped broccoli and chicken. Set the skillet aside while you prepare the crust topping.
Make the Pie Crust Cut-Out’s ::
- Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees.
- Flour your counter, and “knead” your pie crust dough to get it pliable and ready to roll out.
- Roll the pie crust out to the thickness you want – I did about ¼ inch thick, but I do think you could go thicker if you wanted the crust topping to be more substantial.
- Use a Halloween shape cookie cutter to cut out the pie crust shapes. I used a pumpkin and poked eyes and a mouth with a straw and chop stick. This would look cute on a ghost too! Cut out all your shapes before placing them on top of your cooked filling in the skillet.
- Place the pie crust cut-out’s on top of the pot pie filling, and brush the tops with your egg wash (1 egg whisked with a splash of water), and then sprinkle the tops with flakey sea salt.
- Bake the your skillet pot pie for 45 minutes, until the tops of the crust are golden brown, and the filling is bubbling.
Notes
- You can use the more traditional pot pie veg (frozen peas) in place of the broccoli if you want! Our family prefers broccoli over peas. Chopped baby spinach is another great swap. Cut up frozen green beans would work too.
- You can brown some chicken or use slow cooker chicken for this recipe – just any cooked/leftover chicken.
- If you cannot have butter, use organic palm shortening for the pie crust, and cook in a dairy free fat like olive oil for the filling.
- Any GF Flour Blend with xanthan gum should be fine in place of the Namaste. If you tolerate gluten, AP flour should be fine.
