All You Need Is 3 Canned Ingredients For Shortcut Chicken Pot Pie Filling

A classic savory pie is cozy, warm, creamy, and downright delicious — and if you want to make chicken pot pie effortlessly at home, the three key ingredients to add to your cart on your next grocery trip are a can of condensed cream of chicken soup, canned chicken breast, and a can of mixed vegetables. Combining these three elements creates a shortcut pot pie filling that hits all the marks without the prep work. 

As for ratios, you'll want to use approximately two 10-ounce cans of condensed soup for every 5 ounces of chicken. For veggies, you can generally fold in as many as you prefer. Most recipes call for somewhere around two cups or one 16-ounce frozen package, but remember that there are no steadfast rules. If you prefer a heartier, protein-rich take, stir in a larger quantity of chicken. Alternatively, a saucier pot pie may be up your alley; if so, incorporate an extra can of creamy condensed soup. You could even swap the canned chicken for shredded leftover rotisserie chicken or use frozen mixed veggies instead of canned if that's what you have at home.

After thoroughly combining all the ingredients, place the mixture in a crust-lined pan and bake until the crust is golden brown. Voilà — a shortcut chicken pot pie that skimps on time but not on taste!

While you can definitely scoop this chicken pot pie filling into a regular pie crust, that's not the only way to enjoy it. You could serve it with a bed of buttery biscuits — a simple and comforting pairing that makes it feel like home. Some renditions even place raw biscuits directly on top of the condensed soup mix, then bake so the bottoms of the biscuits stay a bit doughy, like a take on chicken and dumplings. You could also skip a bottom crust and instead do a layer of canned crescent rolls (just lay them flat instead of rolling them up) on top to create that signature crunchy, buttery layer chicken pot pies often have, with a fraction of the work.

Another idea: use the rich filling to stuff into puff pastry sheets (just make sure you don't buy frozen puff pastry if it's not all butter). This will create a flaky, delicious hand pie with a delightfully savory center. Perhaps you're craving something even cozier? Turn it into a soup by incorporating some chicken broth. This way, all the flavors of chicken pot pie are present, but in a scoopable form that is perfect for cold days and is much easier to serve.