The BEST Paleo Chicken Pot Pie Recipe. This gluten and grain free pot pie will WOW your whole family. Tastes just like the classic everyone loves!
Originally Posted: November 17th, 2014 | Updated: November 5th, 2018
I love a good pot pie, who doesn’t though? It is the ultimate cold weather comfort food.
Last winter, I started perfecting my Paleo version of a pot pie. I made it with both leftover Thanksgiving turkey and rotisserie chicken and both worked out just fine. I also tried parsnips instead of potatoes and they were somewhat interchangeable (I prefer the potatoes).
But the crust was just an issue – I wasn’t 100% happy with it. By the end of the season, I retired my ideas and decided to come back to it this year.
Now that it’s been cold for a couple of weeks, I figured there was no better time so back into the kitchen to experiment with pot pie dough. I used my savory paleo pie crust as a base recipe and just keep tweaking until I got it where I wanted it.
This final version is pot pie perfection.
A rich and creamy savory pot pie filling that is topped with a light and flaky grain free crust. My family could not believe that it was gluten free, grain free and paleo.
They also couldn’t believe I didn’t use flour or any type of thickener for the sauce.
To say that this recipe was a success would be an understatement. As my husband said, “Baby, you hit it out of the park with this one! When are you making it again?”
I can’t wait to hear what you guys think!
Did you make this recipe? Please give it a star rating below!
The BEST Paleo Chicken Pot Pie Recipe. This gluten and grain free pot pie will WOW your whole family. Tastes just like the classic everyone loves!
- 1 cup blanched almond flour
- 3/4 cup tapioca starch
- 1/2 tsp paprika
- 1/2 tsp finely ground sea salt
- 1/4 tsp baking powder (gluten free or grain free)
- 1/8 tsp ground white pepper
- 1/4 cup butter OR Ghee frozen
- 1 large egg
- 3 T ice cold water
- 1.5 T butter or Ghee
- 1 large yellow onion finely chopped
- 1 pound russet potatoes divided, (1/2 lb peeled and and cut into 1/2" dice, 1/2 lb peeled and roughly chopped)
- 1 cup chicken broth
- 1/3 cup full fat canned coconut milk
- 2 medium carrots peeled and cut into 1/2" dice
- 2 tsp kosher salt
- 1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
- 1 pound boneless, skinless, cooked chicken meat cubed
- 2/3 cup frozen English peas
- 1 tsp fresh thyme leaves finely chopped
- 1/2 tsp fresh rosemary leaves finely chopped
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In the bowl of a food processor, combine almond flour, tapioca flour, paprika, salt, baking powder and white pepper. Pulse a couple of times to get rid of any lumps.
Using a cheese grater, grate cold butter or Ghee into flour and spice mixture.
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Add egg. Pulse 5 to 6 times so butter and egg are just incorporated. Don't over-mix.
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Add cold water and use a spatula to mix in until incorporated.
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Transfer dough to a bowl or piece of parchment or wax paper. Place in freezer for 1/2 hour.
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Remove dough from freezer. It should be hard and not sticky. Place between two pieces of parchment or wax paper and roll out to desired size. You can also use your fingers to push into shape you want.
Once you have the shape(s) you need, leave the dough between the parchment paper, place on a flat dish or tray to keep its shape and place back in the freezer for an additional 30 to 45 minutes or until ready to use.
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Finely chop onion.
Peel potatoes, dice 1/2 lb into 1/2" cubes. Roughly chop the other 1/2 lb.
TIP: Soak your potatoes in cold water until ready to use. Make sure to drain thoroughly before using!
Peel carrots and cut into 1/2" dice.
Finely chop thyme and rosemary leaves and measure 1 tsp thyme and 1/2 tsp rosemary - combine and set aside.
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Preheat oven to 350F. Heat a large skillet (12") over medium heat until hot. Add butter and then onions. Saute 10 to 12 minutes until soft and translucent, stirring occasionally.
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Add 1/2 lb of roughly chopped potatoes (thoroughly drained!) and chicken broth. Raise heat to high until broth is boiling. Immediately lower to a simmer and cook 6 to 8 minutes or until potatoes are just fork tender but still somewhat firm in the middle.
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Use a slotted spoon to transfer potato chunks from skillet to a blender or food processor. It's OK to get a little broth and/or onion in there so don't stress about it.
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Add the coconut milk to the potatoes in the blender and process until smooth and creamy.
Transfer to a measuring cup or bowl and set aside.
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Add carrots and remaining potatoes (cut into 1/2" dice) to remaining broth in skillet along with salt, and pepper. Raise heat to medium and cook for 8 to 10 minutes till vegetables are just starting to soften.
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Add cubed chicken, frozen peas and chopped thyme and rosemary leaves. Cook 1 to 2 minutes to heat through.
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Slowly stir in creamy potato and coconut milk mixture. Remove from heat and set aside.
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Grab baking dish(es) and pour in filling mixture. I used a glass Pyrex style casserole dish as shown.
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Remove rolled out dough from freezer and gently remove from parchment paper one side at a time letting the dough fall onto the pot pie.
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Scrape the edges a little so that there isn't too much overhang, remove the excess dough from the baking sheet and discard.
Use a small knife to cut 2 to 3 slits (if making one big pot pie or 1 slit per individual pot pie) to allow some steam to escape while cooking.
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Bake uncovered for 1 hour and 10 minutes or until crust is beginning to brown all over.
If you are using individual baking crocks, you may need to decrease the time.
Allow to rest for 10 minutes, serve and Enjoy!
- Butter is a controversial ingredient in the Paleo community. Some freely eat high quality butter and others feel it isn't compliant. You can substitute Ghee (which is also Whole30 approved) for butter in this recipe if you fall into the second camp. Make sure that they Ghee is frozen and follow the same directions.
- Peas are another controversial ingredient. Many people eat them and consider them an acceptable part of their Paleo diet plan. We fall into that camp. If you don't, please read through the comments for some helpful substitution ideas from other readers who have made this recipe without peas.
- Almond meal (ground raw almonds with their skins on) and blanched almond flour (finely ground blanched and skinless almonds) are different. This pot pie uses blanched almond flour and will not work with almond meal.
- Your butter or Ghee has to be ice cold if you want a flaky crust!
- I used rotisserie chicken meat but cubed turkey would also work.
- You can make both the filling and dough ahead of time and freeze. I do recommend freezing them separately and placing the dough on right before baking. You may need to adjust your baking time slightly (longer).
- Please note the the nutrition information generated is for the exact recipe as written. If you make any modifications, you will need to recalculate the nutritional information for it to be considered accurate.
Did you make this recipe? Tag @EverydayMaven on Instagram with the hashtag #EveryDayMaven and please give a star rating below.
I want to try this recipe but thought that potatoes aren’t part of the paleo diet. Comments?
Hey Val,
A couple thoughts. First, if you want to get a sense of what people in the Paleo community are saying about potatoes, this is a good article. Second, I use potatoes as part of a paleo plan but that may or may not be right for you. I encourage you to follow what is right for your body and not buy too hard into dogmatic diet!
Thank you Alyssa!
I don’t have tapioca flour. Could I use Xanthum gum instead? Possibly?
Hi Cynthia! Xanthum gum would be too sticky – at least the amount called for of tapioca flour. Do you have arrowroot starch, or gluten-free flour?
Even better than traditional pot pie in my opinion. It even had my very picky husband’s blessing and he went back for thirds. Thanks!
Hey Kelsey!! Wow – thank you SO much! What great feedback. Nothing better than converting a picky eater. <3
What egg substitute for the crust do you recommend for an egg allergy. I have not yet tried any of the many ones available. Online searches yield many home results but you need to know what the egg is doing for the recipe? A binder, browning agent, moistened…
Hi Michelle – The egg acts as a binder and browning agent in the crust. I haven’t tried this with an egg substitute though so, unfortunately, I can’t recommend one. If you experiment, come back and let me know what works/doesn’t!
This is absolutely wonderful! It is so good we ate the whole thing and I had to make it again the next day! But I had run out of potatoes so I used cauliflower in the same way as the potatoes by boiling them in the broth and then blending them with coconut milk. It was honestly JUST as delicious!
Love it Emily! Glad to know about the cauli!
So of course after reading the “fine print”, I have used almond meal instead of almond Flour , and dough is waiting in freezer all rolled out.. 🤪
Do I have any chances of this almond meal dough working out or should I start over? 🙏🏽
Thank you so much!
Hi Amanda!! How did it come out?!?
I like all the process shots. And that the crust has very approachable ingredients. I love an old fashioned chicken pot pie so I’ll have to try this version to compare!
Thanks Jill! I hope you love it 🙂