Slow Cooker Chicken Pot Pie Soup, Stove Top Option

Slow Cooker Chicken Pot Pie Soup~an easy, tasty way to have pot pie flavors without all the work of a crust and all those calories.

Since last fall a new favorite in the Sarr household is chicken pot pie soup. We have soups all the time in the fall, winter, and I guess the spring as well since it stays so gray most of the year. This recipe can be made easily with turkey as well.

Slow Cooker Days

(a little late, but it’s those taxes, I tell ya)

Last year I was inspired by pictures of chicken pot pie soup by Marie Poulin over at citronlimette.com. I wanted to adapt the recipe to the crock-pot and make it dairy-free so I could eat it (although you can use regular milk with this). Marie’s pictures of the soup looked so good, and they brought me back to lunchtime during my elementary school days when they served turkey and mashed potatoes with a nice thick gravy. Marie’s soup reminded me of that gravy. Anyway, I had always brought a homemade lunch to school, and I never actually tasted the school potatoes and gravy, but it looked and smelled so scrumptiously. I had to believe it looked better than it tasted though, so I could curb my envious vein.

I also grew up on store brand chicken and turkey pot pies. My early years are full of memories of me eating pot pie in front of the TV.  Those pot pies seemed healthy enough since they had meat and vegetables, right? When we first got married at the turn of the century (1999-so I guess I can say that), we had our freezer stocked with pot pies. Years later when I started reading labels and saw the calorie and fat count of a pot pie, I about had a heart attack right then and there. Now I am not scared of high calories or high fat foods (we aren’t calorie or fat counters) at all as long as they come from good, natural sources. So there’s no need to be afraid of avocados and nuts, folks. Anyway, after that I learned how to make my own pot pie without any cream of ____ cans.

I can say bringing the flavors of chicken pot pie to a soup is way easier than making the pie, because it’s making a pie, you know? This soup is pot pie without the mess. The key is enough pepper. Of course, make sure you salt the soup well, but really make sure you get enough pepper in the mix. And if you miss the pie crust, you can make some pie crust (here is a 4 ingredient recipe or use your own recipe), cut it into squares, and sprinkle the pie squares on your soup. You could also eat the soup with biscuits or bread. I have to admit, the kids loved eating those little pie squares when I actually got around to making the pie crust.

Another key to having a flavorful soup in the slow cooker is to sauté those onions, carrots, celery and garlic in a cast iron skillet before throwing them into the crock-pot. They don’t even need to be completely softened at the time since they’ll spend time in the crock, but boy does that cast iron skillet bring out the flavor in those veggies. Sometimes I get the soup started in the morning and don’t get to sauté the veggies until lunch or right before dinner. No problem. After I sauté them, I just throw them in when I get a chance. The flavor is worth it to me to include this step now (a few years ago I wouldn’t have cared). Also, I have sautéed the potatoes before adding them to the crock when I was afraid I wouldn’t have enough time to cook the potatoes all the way through. If I pre-cook the potatoes, I don’t worry about pre-cooking them all the way through, since those potatoes’ll also have plenty of time to soften in the crock-pot throughout the day. The smaller you dice the potatoes, the faster they’ll cook, regardless of the cooking method. Updated 2/15.

Have you tried a chicken or turkey enchilada soup?

Or making a homemade pot pie (d-f, g-f opt.)?

GO HERE FOR THE COMPLETE LIST OF RECIPES.

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