This Dairy-Free Chicken Pot Pie is a classic comfort food recipe. The only differences it has from a traditional chicken pot pie is that it's made with dairy-free butter and plant-based milk. It's a great meal for the family and it's even kid friendly.
Looking for more family-friendly dinner recipes? Gordon Ramsay's Spicy Sausage Rice is packed with flavor and will not disappoint!
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📝Ingredient notes
- Sticks of dairy-free butter: Use your favorite tasting dairy-free butter. Mine is country crock plant butter with avocado oil. It gives some flakiness to the crust and has that real butter taste.
- Chicken: Use boneless and skinless thighs or chicken breasts.
- Chicken broth: I use reduced sodium as the sodium content can get a little high.
- Almond milk: Or your favorite tasting, unsweetened plant-based milk. I always use my homemade almond milk or my homemade cashew milk. They have a neutral flavor with no aftertaste and they are perfect for cooking!
🔪 Instructions
- Boil the chicken in a pot of water for about 25-30 minutes.
For the Crust
- Process 1 ½ cups flour, 1 cup butter and ½ teaspoon salt in a food processor.
- Add the remaining flour and process again, then add the cold water and process until it forms a ball.
- Quickly knead the dough on the counter dusted with flour to further mix. Then form into a disc, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to use.
Meanwhile start on the filling
- Chop the onion and potatoes, then set aside.
- In a skillet over medium heat, add in some olive oil and sautéed the onions until soft.
- Add the grated garlic.
- Add in the potatoes and dairy-free butter (or olive oil).
- When the butter is melted, stir in the flour.
- Slowly pour in the chicken broth while mixing to prevent lumps.
- Mix in the almond milk slowly.
- Add the salt and pepper.
- Bring to a soft boil until it thickens enough to coat the spoon but is still drippy.
- Shred the chicken once it's cool enough to handle and add it in the pan with the frozen veggies.
- Let simmer for about 5 minutes while preparing the crust. It will thicken some more. The potatoes will be softer, but not fully cooked. Then remove from the heat.
Back to the Crust
- Divide dough in half.
- Flour the work surface, dough and rolling pin and roll dough until it's the size of the skillet (not too thin). Continue to rub a generous amount of flour on the dough with your hand in between rolling. Flip it before it gets too big and dust the other side with flour to keep it from sticking. It's handy to use a scraper for scraping it off the counter.
- Carefully roll the dough up with your rolling pin and place in the bottom of the skillet. The dough will likely break in a couple spots (since we aren't using real butter). That's okay. Just press it back where it should go once it's settled in the pan.
- Repeat the same process for the other piece of dough.
- Pour in the semi-cooled filling.
- Cover with top piece of dough.
- Trim edges, cut 4 slits in the center of the top crust and brush with egg wash.
- Bake at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for 30 minutes.
- Let cool and enjoy!
🥚Substitutions
- Egg: if you are egg free, you can simply brush the top of the crust with an unsweetened/unflavored dairy-free milk.
- Chicken broth: in place of the chicken broth, you can use vegetable broth.
- Potatoes: just about any potato will do. Russet, yellow or even red potatoes. I use russet.
- Chicken: Aside from using thighs or breasts, for a simple method, you could use a rotisserie chicken. Additionally, you can use turkey breasts, or if you're vegan or vegetarian you can even leave it out and replace it with extra vegetables or even mushrooms!
- Peas: you can substitute peas for any other veggie you like such as mushrooms or green bean pieces.
- Milk: you can use other non-dairy milks like coconut milk (from the carton, not can) as long as it's unsweetened/unflavored and you enjoy the taste of it in your cooking. I will add that with store-bought oat milk, it does change the taste a little. It has a hint of sweetness to it so use at your discretion.
- Butter (for the filling): If you want to make this dish just a little bit healthier, you can swap the vegan butter for extra virgin olive oil for the roux in the filling, not for the crust. The olive oil will change the taste a little bit, but still results in a delicious pie.
🧊Storing
Store leftovers in the refrigerator for 3 to 4 days in an airtight container.
❓Frequently Asked Questions
Check your local grocery store for any (unsweetened) pie crust dough that does not contain any dairy. Another easy option would be to make it using a packaged puff pastry dough (that's not sweet and dairy free) or even using crescent rolls that do not have dairy. You will need to buy enough to roll out and fit your pan for the top and bottom layer.
Yes! Just divide the crust amount in half or make the full batch, only using half of the dough. You can wrap the remaining dough in plastic wrap, then stick it in a freezer-safe ziplock and freeze until ready to use. When you're ready to use it, let it thaw through the center. You can do this by thawing it in the fridge for a few hours or leave it on the counter. You will still want it cold before working it out on the counter.
Traditional chicken pot pie is not dairy free as it contains milk and butter.
A classic chicken pot pie isn't typically considered a healthy dish as it's high in fat, carbs and calories. However, the definition of "healthy" depends on who you ask.
Let the filling cool down some before pouring it on the bottom dough layer. If it's piping hot, it could result in a soggy dough bottom.
Yes! I use Bobs Red Mill 1:1 Baking flour as part of the filling four the roux. For the crust I really like Cup4Cup Gluten-Free Pie Crust Mix. You can't even tell it's gluten free and the dough is super easy to work with. You'll just want to use dairy-free sticks of butter (like country crock) and start out with half of the amount of cold water it recommends using. I find that the recipe instructions calls for too much water and it results in a sticky dough. You can add a little of the 1:1 baking flour if your dough ends up being too sticky to work with. I also used the 1:1 baking flour to flour my work surface when rolling the pie crusts.
Something light such as a veggie that is not already in the pie, such as asparagus, Brussel sprouts, corn on the cob, a side salad, applesauce or even a mix of fruit.
Before you go! If you enjoyed this recipe for my Dairy-Free Chicken
Pot Pie, leave a review and comment down below to share it with me. I love to hear from you! Also, if you aren't already following me on social media, find me by searching @thedairyfreemenu and follow along for more cooking inspiration!
📖 Recipe
Dairy-Free Chicken Pot Pie
Ingredients
The Crust
- 2 ½ cups flour divided
- 1 cup non-dairy butter cold
- ½ teaspoon coarse kosher salt see notes**
- 4 tablespoons cold water
- 1 egg for brushing
Filling
- 2 tablespoons olive oil extra virgin
- 1 pound chicken breasts or boneless skinless thighs
- 1 small yellow onion finely chopped
- 4 cloves garlic grated
- 1 cup russet potatoes peeled & diced in bite size cubes
- 4 tablespoons non-dairy butter
- 4 tablespoons flour
- 2 cups chicken broth reduced sodium
- 1 ¼ cups almond milk
- 2 cups frozen peas and carrots
- 1 teaspoon coarse kosher salt see notes**
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
Instructions
- Boil the chicken in a pot of water for about 25 to 30 minutes.
For the Crust
- Process 1 ½ cups flour, 1 cup butter and ½ teaspoon salt in a food processor.
- Add the remaining flour and process again, then add the cold water and process until it forms a ball.
- Quickly knead the dough on the counter dusted with flour to further mix. Then form into a disc, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to use.
Meanwhile start on the filling
- Chop the onion and potatoes, then set aside.
- In a skillet over medium heat, add in some olive oil and sautéed the onions until soft.
- Add the grated garlic.
- Add in the potatoes and dairy-free butter.
- When the butter is melted, stir in the flour.
- Slowly pour in the chicken broth while mixing to prevent lumps.
- Mix in the almond milk slowly.
- Add the salt and pepper.
- Bring to a soft boil until it thickens enough to coat the spoon but is still drippy.
- Shred the chicken once it's cool enough to handle and add it in the pan with the frozen veggies.
- Let simmer for about 5 minutes while preparing the crust. It will thicken some more. The potatoes will be softer, but not fully cooked. Then remove from the heat.
Back to the Crust
- Divide dough in half.
- Flour the work surface, dough and rolling pin and roll dough until it's the size of the skillet (not too thin). Continue to rub a generous amount of flour on the dough with your hand in between rolling. Even flip it before it gets too big and dust the other side with flour to keep it from sticking. It's handy to use a scraper for scraping it off the counter.
- Carefully roll the dough up with your rolling pin and place in the bottom of the skillet. The dough will likely break in a couple spots (since we aren't using real butter). That's okay. Just press it back where it should go once it's settled in the pan.
- Repeat the same process for the other piece of dough.
- Pour in the semi-cooled filling.
- Cover with top piece of dough.
- Trim edges, cut 4 slits in the center of the top crust, and brush with egg wash.
- Bake at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for 30 minutes.
- Let cool and enjoy!
Notes
- If you are not using coarse kosher salt, you will want to use less salt as finer sized salts do not measure the same and your dish will be saltier.
- The sodium content is high so if you'd prefer, you can use half the amount listed.
- For a quick crust, you can use a store-bought pie dough that is dairy free. You can also make the crust with crescent rolls or with a puff pastry. Make sure they are dairy free and unsweetened, and roll them out with your rolling pin.
Nutrition
Note: The nutrition label is just an estimate. Amounts may vary.
I would also like to mention that while I don't track my calories, this isn't a dish I make incredibly often as it is pretty high in calories and not the most healthy of meals. But it is in fact a comfort food recipe that's here when we need it.
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