Vegan chicken pot pie (2024)

Published: Nov 16, 2018 · Modified: Apr 7, 2024 by Cadry Nelson
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It doesn’t get cozier than vegan pot pie. It is loaded with carrots, onions, celery, peas, and chicken-style seitan. Then it’s bundled up in a creamy cashew sauce.

This holiday-worthy dinner got a whole lot easier since it’s made with store-bought frozen crusts! And yes, there’s a top and bottom crust for maximum yum factor.

Vegan & gluten-free option.

One of my favorite dishes to bring to holiday get-togethers is pot pie.

It’s instantly recognizable to people who may be unfamiliar with plant-based dishes. And you just can’t argue with delicious!

This decadent pot pie is made with seitan and veggies in a luxuriously creamy cashew filling. Perfect for Easter, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and winter dinner parties.

In this post:

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Frozen crusts are an easy shortcut
Chicken-style seitan
Step by step instructions
Make it your own
Serving ideas
FAQ
📖 Recipe

Frozen crusts are an easy shortcut

At the holidays, people are plenty busy without adding dough-making to the list. So this simple pot pie recipe saves a step by using frozen pie crust.

(Thanks to reader, Janis, for the suggestion!)

Frozen crusts usually come two to a pack. So you get both a top & bottom crust out of it. That makes it doubly cozy!

FYI: You don’t need to thaw the pie crust until you’re ready to start cooking!

Frozen crust doesn’t take long to thaw. So as soon as you’re ready to cook, pull the frozen crusts out of the freezer, and put them on the counter. By the time you are ready to fill them, they will be thawed.

Prefer to serve the pot pie in a nicer pie plate? After you take the crust out of the freezer, move it to a standard pie plate within the first half hour or so, and it will still hold its shape.

Chicken-style seitan

This vegan pot pie recipe is made with chicken-style seitan, which adds a wonderful chewy quality. It’s reminiscent of the chicken pot pies I grew up eating.

Here are ideas for the chicken-style filling:

1 ½ cups of homemade seitan chicken, chopped in bite-sized pieces
8-ounce package of store-bought seitan, like Upton’s Naturals traditional or Herbivorous Butcher
Tofurky plant-based chick’n
1 (15-ounce) can chickpeas, Great Northern beans, or cannellini beans, drained and rinsed

Step by step instructions

Here’s how to make this recipe at a glance. For complete ingredient amounts & instructions, keep scrolling to the recipe card below.

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Then pull a double pack of frozen pie crusts out of the freezer to thaw. Put them on the counter.

Then make cashew cream by blending raw cashews and water in a high-speed blender.

Note: If you don’t have a high speed blender, you’ll need to help your standard blender. Get workarounds in the FAQ or notes section of the recipe card.

2. Sauté onions, garlic, and spices in a soup pot.

3. Add water, vegetable bouillon, carrots, potatoes, green peas, seitan, and salt. Cover and cook for 7 minutes, until the potato has softened slightly.

4. Add the cashew cream from the blender, stir, and cook for another 5 minutes.

5. Carefully ladle the pot pie filling into the bottom pie crust in its tin.

6. Take the second pie crust, and invert it over the top of the pie. Pull off the tin from the top crust. Then carefully pull at the crust to lay lightly over the top.

If the top crust has any tears, dab your fingers into aquafaba (chickpea liquid) or water. Then use your moistened fingers to smooth out the tears.

Remove any excess crust from the top. Press the tines of a fork along the edges of the crust all the way around to secure the top and bottom crusts.

Then dab your fingers into chickpea liquid or water (or use a pastry brush if you prefer), and add a very light coating to the top of the pie.

Cut a few slits into the top of the pie to act as air vents, so that steam can escape while cooking.

Put the pie onto a baking sheet. It will catch any filling that may bubble over. It also makes it easier for putting the pie into and out of the oven. (The aluminum pie tin is a little wobbly otherwise.)

Bake on the bottom rack for 30 minutes. (If it’s not brown enough on top, bake for up to 15 minutes more.)

The pie interior will be bubbling hot when you remove it from the oven. So wait at least 15 or 20 minutes before slicing into it. The longer you wait to slice into it, the firmer the filling will be.

Make it your own

You can make this recipe your own by varying the ingredients or amounts.

Replace onions with leeks or shallots
Replace water + bouillon with 1 ½ cups of vegetable broth or vegetable stock in the filling
Replace Russet potatoes with yellow potatoes or sweet potatoes
Replace any of the veggies with an equal amount of corn, green beans, mushrooms, or cauliflower
Replace vegan chicken with Great Northern beans, cannellini beans, or chickpeas
Instead of brushing the tops with aquafaba, brush with olive oil, melted vegan butter, or liquid Just Egg
Instead of making a full-sized pot pie, make mini vegetable pot pies

Serving ideas

Since pot pie is filled with plant protein and veggies in a hearty crust, it could be a fill meal on its own. But it’s even better with a vegetable side dish.

Here are some serving suggestions:

Brussels sprouts with apples
Delicata squash salad
Air fryer cauliflower
Roasted fennel
Air fryer radishes
Smoky sweet vegan collard greens
Air fryer asparagus

FAQ

Where can I find frozen vegan pie crusts?

There are a surprising amount of vegan options these days when it comes to pie crusts. Check out the frozen section of your favorite co-op, natural grocery store, or the health market of your mainstream grocery store.

I picked mine up at Natural Grocers. The crusts I used are from Wholly Wholesome. The 9 inch crusts come two to a pack. (By the way, they also have a gluten-free vegan pie crust. Although, I’ve never tried it. )

There are lots of options. Just read the ingredient labels to find a crust that will work for you.

What if I don’t have a high-speed blender?

If you don’t have a high speed blender, you’ll need to help your standard blender. You can either soak the raw cashews for several hours ahead of time, then drain the cashews before continuing with the recipe.

Or grind the dry raw cashews in a clean coffee grinder until they become like a flour. Put the ground cashews into your blender. Then continue the recipe as written.

What is the point of aquafaba in this recipe?

Aquafaba is what vegans use instead of egg wash. It helps the crust to brown.

📖 Recipe

Vegan chicken pot pie

Author: Cadry Nelson

5 from 11 votes

Comfort food at its best – vegan pot pie with chicken-style seitan in a creamy cashew sauce. This cozy dinner is a great main course for Thanksgiving, Christmas, or holiday get-togethers.

But since it's made with frozen, store-bought pie crusts, there's no need to wait for a special occasion! Enjoy this main course anytime you need something soothing.

Makes 1 pot pie

Print Pin Rate

Prep Time: 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 50 minutes minutes

Total Time: 1 hour hour 10 minutes minutes

Servings: 5 people

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: American, Vegan

Keyword: christmas recipe, holiday food, thanksgiving recipe

Ingredients

▢ 2 (9-inch) frozen pie crusts
▢ ¼ cup + 2 Tablespoons raw cashews soaked if necessary
▢ 2 cups water divided
▢ ½ teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
▢ 1 cup chopped onion in medium pieces
▢ 2 cloves garlic minced
▢ ½ cup sliced celery
▢ ½ teaspoon dried rosemary
▢ ½ teaspoon dried basil
▢ 1 vegetable bouillon cube or 1 teaspoon Better Than Bouillon no chicken base
▢ ½ cup thinly sliced carrots cut into coins
▢ 1 medium Russet potato about 6 ounces, chopped in small to medium pieces
▢ ½ cup green peas fresh or frozen
▢ ½ to ¾ teaspoon salt
▢ 1 ½ cups chopped seitan chicken or an 8-ounce package of seitan
▢ Aquafaba** liquid from can of chickpeas or olive oil, to use as vegan egg wash on top of pie crust

Instructions

▢
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
▢
Take the frozen pie crusts out of the freezer, and put them on the counter to thaw.
▢
Make the cashew cream. Put the raw cashews into a high-speed blender with ½ cup of water. Blend until it is completely smooth, a thick cashew cream. Set aside.
(See standard blender instructions in the notes below.)
▢
Bring a soup pot to a medium heat with extra virgin olive oil. Saute onion in oil for about 5 minutes, until it has softened slightly and is fragrant.
▢
Add garlic, celery, dried rosemary, dried basil, and saute for for a minute more.
▢
Add remaining 1 ½ cups water, vegetable bouillon cube (or Better Than Bouillon), carrots, potato, green peas, ½ teaspoon salt, and seitan chicken. Bring to a simmer. Then lower heat, cover, and cook for 7 minutes, until the potato has softened slightly.
▢
Add cashew cream from blender and cook for 5 minutes more over a low medium heat, so that the cashew cream can reduce slightly and flavors can combine. Stir occasionally.
Taste for salt. Add the remaining ¼ teaspoon, if necessary. But keep in mind, the filling will continue to condense while it bakes.
▢
Use a ladle to put the filling into one of the crusts.**
▢
Then take the second crust and invert it over the top of the bottom crust. Remove the tin from the second crust. Gently pull the top crust, so that it lightly lays evenly over the bottom one.
If the top crust has any tears, dab your fingers into aquafaba (chickpea liquid) or water. Then use your moistened fingers to smooth out the tears.
▢
Remove any excess crust from the top crust. Press the tines of a fork along the edges of the crust all the way around to secure the top and bottom crusts. Then dab your fingers into chickpea liquid or olive oil (or use a pastry brush if you prefer), and add a very light coating to the top of the pie.
(Aquafaba is what vegans use instead of egg wash. It helps the crust to brown.)
▢
Cut a few slits into the top of the pie. They will be air vents, so that steam can escape while cooking.
▢
Put the pie onto a baking sheet. It will catch any filling that may bubble over. It also makes it easier for putting the pie into and out of the oven. (The aluminum pie tin is a little wobbly otherwise.)
▢
Bake on the bottom rack for 30 minutes. If it doesn't look brown enough on top, bake for up to 15 more minutes.
▢
The pie interior will be bubbling hot when you remove it from the oven. So wait at least 15 or 20 minutes before slicing into it. The longer you wait, the firmer the filling will be when you slice into it.

Notes

Standard blender instructions

If you aren’t using a high-speed blender, you’ll need to soak the raw cashews in additional water for several hours to soften and then drain before continuing with the recipe. Or grind the dry raw cashews in a clean coffee grinder until they are fine like a flour. Then add them to your standard blender with the water. If you’re using a high speed blender, you can skip this step.

Additional recipe notes

You can use store-bought seitan or make your own seitan chicken from scratch.

**If you’d rather, you can finish the pot pie with a very light coating of olive oil. It helps the crust to brown nicely.

***Some people say that warm filling going into a cold pie crust will make for a soggy bottom crust. If you’re concerned about it, you can let the filling cool on the stove before ladling it into the pie crust. Or you could make the filling ahead of time, chill it in the refrigerator, and then put the crust out to thaw for a while before putting the whole thing together. Personally, I didn’t have any complaints with the warm filling going into a cold crust.

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Nutrition

More Main dishes

Vegan cauliflower cheese soup
Sheet pan barbecue jackfruit nachos
Vegan arancini (air fryer or oven baked)

About Cadry Nelson

Cadry Nelson is the writer, recipe creator, and photographer behind Cadry’s Kitchen. She's also the author of Living Vegan For Dummies, 2nd edition. Cadry loves sharing vegan comfort food classics that come together quickly. Her work has been featured on NBC News, Mashable, Yahoo, Buzzfeed, Parade, Huffington Post, VegNews, and Vegan Food & Living.

Reader Interactions

Comments

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Shirley Leger
January 20, 2023 at 11:21 am
I was wondering if you could make suggestions for substitutions for all those who are allergic to nuts and or seeds. Thanks
Reply
- Cadry Nelson
  January 20, 2023 at 11:39 am
  Happy to!
  The usual way of making a pot pie is to make a gravy-style sauce. I’m going a little off book by thickening with cashew cream instead. So to avoid nuts, I’d recommend going back to the standard method of using flour as a thickener.
  Saute onions, garlic, and celery until fragrant. Then add dried rosemary, dried basil, carrots, potato, green peas, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and seitan. Give that a couple minutes. Then add 1 1/2 to 2 cups of vegetable broth and around 1/4 cup all-purpose flour. Stir until the gravy has thickened and until the potato has softened slightly.
  The flour is less prone to clumping if you let it dissolve in a separate bowl with some of the broth before adding it to the hot pot or skillet. Give it a good stir with a fork or whisk before adding.
  Finally, add about 1/4 cup of soy milk or oat milk for added creaminess.
  I haven’t tested the recipe this way, so you may have to play with it a bit to get it just right for you. Let me know how it goes!
  Reply
Susan
October 14, 2022 at 12:42 pm

I made this earlier this week for a mixed group of omnis and vegetarians and it was a HUGE success – incredibly delicious, creamy pot pie filling. But I have to admit I HEAVILY modified the recipe, and it didn’t matter one bit: I added potatoes and mushrooms and increased the quantity of the other veggies because I love potatoes and mushrooms in chik’n pot pie and because I wanted it to serve at least 6. I also used soy curls instead of seitan, because I bought them a few weeks ago and am experimenting with how to use them. They worked really well in this recipe! Finally, I am making a savory hot water crust pie for the vegans at this year’s Thanksgiving, so to practice I made a hot water crust for this pot pie and made 6 individual pies using a giant muffin tin, and used the rest of the filling and crust with a small loaf pan. Anyway, they came out great! Thanks for the delicious recipe.
Reply
- Cadry Nelson
  October 16, 2022 at 11:44 am
  That’s excellent, Susan! I’m delighted that you and your guests enjoyed the pot pies. I love that you took the recipe as a launching point & tweaked to your tastes. Potatoes and mushrooms sound like delicious additions! Thanks for the great review!
  Reply
Adam
December 26, 2019 at 1:03 pm

I tried this as written, including the Organic Wholly Wholesome pre-made pie crusts and the referenced brand/flavor of seitan — and it came out great! First time I’ve made anything on my own that required a crust, so pre-made was definitely a bonus. 🙂 Right alongside this though I made a second one with the Wholly Wholesome gluten free crust (organic version not found, but still vegan), using chopped-up Quorn nuggets as an alternate faux meat because hey, let’s see what that’s like! Things I learned:
1) The gluten-free crust was wet and gooey when thawed and so it was not possible to remove it from the pie tin in any coherent shape. I had already made up the stuff to put in it though and it was time to move on to other things I was supposed to be cooking so in the spirit of “what have I got to lose?” I (should I be confessing this?) just left it in the tin and put in atop the other, now-filled bottom half and pushed the edges together, and then cut slits in the bottom of the pie tin on the top. After 20 minutes I checked and found the top tin came right off, and although I didn’t put any olive oil or aquafaba on top of that one it actually browned a little more than the regular/non-gluten-free pot pie.
2) The chopped-up Quorn nuggets soaked up the liquid way more than the contents of the other pot pie, so the filling was more like a paste to start with — but no harm done to the final product, it worked well.
3) Somewhere during the cooking process I read the Quorn label more closely and learned that while some Quorn products are vegan, this one was not. No meat, but some egg-based components. D’oh! So although the final product was good, it wasn’t what I was aiming for — and, the seitan version definitely tasted better anyway.
Reply
- Adam
  December 26, 2019 at 1:05 pm
  Minor clarification re: “After 20 minutes I checked and found the top tin came right off” — that’s after 20 minutes of cooking in the oven.
  Reply
- Cadry
  December 27, 2019 at 5:23 pm
  Thanks for the newsy review, Adam! That’s some good intel on the gluten free crust. I haven’t tried that one, so I’m glad to hear about your experience. I’m glad you enjoyed the pot pies!
  Reply
Katherine Emerson
December 14, 2019 at 7:58 am
Merry Christmas Cadry,
Is there an alternative to using cashews? I am allergic to nuts. Thank you.
Katherine
Reply
- Cadry
  December 14, 2019 at 8:30 am
  Merry Christmas to you as well, Katherine! The usual way of making a pot pie is to make a gravy. I’m going a little rogue by thickening with cashew cream instead. So to avoid nuts, I’d go back to the standard way and use flour as a thickener.
  So you’d saute onions, garlic, and celery until fragrant. Then add dried rosemary, dried basil, carrots, potato, green peas, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and seitan. Give that a couple minutes. Then add 1 1/2 to 2 cups of vegetable broth and around 1/4 cup all-purpose flour. Stir until the gravy has thickened and until the potato has softened slightly.
  The flour is less prone to clumping if you let it dissolve in a separate bowl with some of the broth before adding it to the hot pot or skillet. Give it a good stir with a fork or whisk before adding.
  You could also replace some of the broth with soy milk for added creaminess.
  I haven’t tested the recipe this way, so you may have to play with it a bit to get it just right for you. Let me know how it goes!
  Reply
Terry
April 14, 2019 at 4:55 pm

This was easy and deeeelish!!! Everyone loved it! I will definitely be making this again!!
Reply
- Cadry
  April 14, 2019 at 5:23 pm
  I’m so happy to hear that, Terry! Thanks for letting me know!
  Reply
rosalyn
March 14, 2019 at 2:14 pm

absolutely AMAZING! i had been craving pot pie and hadnt had it in years, my mom made it for me in the winter and now its a family favorite with everyone! even non vegans! yyuumm!!
Reply
- Cadry
  March 16, 2019 at 6:22 am
  I’m so delighted to hear that, Rosalyn! That was so nice of your mom to make it for you, and I’m thrilled it was a hit all around. Thanks for letting me know! 🙂
  Reply
Teri
December 29, 2018 at 7:30 pm

Tried this at Christmas. Delish!
Reply
- Cadry
  December 30, 2018 at 8:11 am
  Thanks, Teri! I’m glad you enjoyed it!
  Reply
Shell
November 20, 2018 at 2:22 pm

Brilliant! I tried to make a pie recently and the crust was the most painful part of the process..and it didn’t turn out. This would make the process much more enjoyable!
Reply
- Cadry
  November 20, 2018 at 4:20 pm
  Oh, wow! I’m so surprised that you made a pie. What was the occasion? I’m lucky to have a pie maker in the house. And when he’s busy, frozen pie crust to the rescue!
  Reply
Becky Striepe
November 19, 2018 at 9:19 am

This looks amazing, Cadry! I love that you used a frozen crust to save time. I’m all about a no-stress holiday.
Reply
- Cadry
  November 20, 2018 at 4:19 pm
  Agreed! Might as well make it easy on ourselves. There’s enough to do!
  Reply
Dianne
November 18, 2018 at 8:37 am

I haven’t had potpie in forever, and it used to be one of my favorites. Making it at home always seems so daunting, but I love how easy you’ve made it with the pre-made pie crust. I can’t wait to try it!
Reply
- Cadry
  November 18, 2018 at 8:52 am
  Oh, if pot pie used to be one of your favorites, you’re going to love this. I’m excited for you to try it! And with pre-made pie crust, it doesn’t get much easier. 🙂
  Reply
David
November 16, 2018 at 1:06 pm

Having just had some of this pot pie for lunch, I can attest that it is delicious indeed! 🙂
Reply
- Cadry
  November 18, 2018 at 8:51 am
  I’m glad to hear it!!
  Reply
Debra Maslov
November 16, 2018 at 1:01 pm

Thank you Cadry for another great recipe! I love the idea of using 2 frozen pie crusts – easy & clever! Happy Thanksgiving!
Reply
- Cadry
  November 18, 2018 at 8:49 am
  Thanks, Debra! When a person isn’t feeling like making pie crust from scratch, it’s an easy workaround. Happy Thanksgiving to you too!!
  Reply