This Cheap Canned Ingredient Makes Chicken Pot Pie 10X Easier

A hearty, home cooked chicken pot pie is the perfect dinner for a busy day. And if that meal can be prepared in under 30 minutes? Perfection. The secret is using canned soup. Companies like Campbell's, Progresso, and many artisanal brands offer a soup made to taste like the savory filling of a chicken pot pie. Reverse engineering this deconstructed dinner is as easy as opening the can, dumping the soup, and putting the whole thing in the oven.

Start with a store-bought pie crust, available in individual packages or pre-fitted into a disposable pie dish. Follow your favorite pot pie recipe for cook times and temperatures. However, instead of mixing up your own filling from scratch according to the ingredients, swap out everything except the crust for the chicken pot pie soup. To supplement the soup, consider adding some diced up pre-cooked rotisserie chicken or frozen vegetables. For a heartier version, skip the traditional pie crust and pour the filling directly into a casserole dish. Top it with a package of premade biscuits and let them bake right on top of the filling. If the biscuits are doughy or underbaked, lower the oven temperature and increase the bake time or start them on a sheet pan and transfer them to the heated filling once they've started to brown.

Hacks designed to take a store-bought chicken pot pie from good to great can easily be used for this canned version. Brush the pie crust with an egg wash — a whisked mixture of egg and water — before baking for a crispy, restaurant-worthy glaze. To elevate a biscuit crust, brush it with a blend of melted butter and herbs after baking. Rosemary, chives, and garlic are classic complements to a creamy pot pie filing, but experiment with flavors to find your favorite combination. 

Adding just a few extra ingredients will take a plain pot pie to the next level. Try adding cheese to the crust. An extra sharp cheddar, either rolled into the raw pie dough or sprinkled on top within the last ten minutes of baking, will create a delicious contrast between the mild filling and the flavorful cheese. Finally, a dash of cognac is Martha Stewart's secret ingredient for a rich chicken pot pie. While you won't be using it in the cooking process like Martha, adding just a little bit to taste will bring out the existing flavors.