The Crescent Roll Shortcut That Makes Chicken Pot Pie A Breeze

Comforting, tasty, and particularly delicious during the chilly months of the year, chicken pot pie is a go-to meal for many. While there are plenty of excellent premade options on the market, there's nothing quite like making a chicken pot pie from scratch. The process of creating the perfect crust, however, can be a bit trying. Whether you're going for a laminated puff pastry dough or you're chilling butter to create a pie crust base and topping, developing a flaky crust that perfectly complements the chicken and veggies in your pot pie can take some time. Thankfully, there's an easier solution: It's as simple as picking up a tube or two of premade crescent roll dough from the refrigerated section of the grocery store.

There are a few different ways to go about making a chicken pot pie using refrigerated crescent roll dough. You can do a blind bake if you want to have a bottom crust; simply lay your crescent dough out on the bottom of the dish into which you're going to pour your chicken pot pie filling, bake it until it's golden brown, then move forward with the rest of your recipe. You can also forgo the bottom crust to make it even easier; simply layer pieces of refrigerated crescent roll dough on top of your chicken and vegetable mix to create a super-satisfying top layer to your pot pie.

Using crescent rolls instead of a pie crust isn't the only way you can speed up your chicken pot pie recipe. Believe it or not, you can actually use your air fryer to take your pot pie from raw to table-ready fast. Pro tip if you go with this method: Cover the top of your pie with foil for the first half of the air frying process to ensure it doesn't burn. Another way to make chicken pot pie fast is to use leftover or canned chicken. When combined with veggies, no one should be the wiser that you didn't cook your chicken the same day.

While crescent rolls are a simple go-to topper for a quick-and-easy semi-from-scratch chicken pot pie, they're not your only option. Mixing up a box of Cheddar Bay Biscuit mix (you can pick up a box of the Red Lobster-branded mix at the grocery store) and using it to top off your chicken pot pie can add a fantastic garlicky flavor. If you're dead set on including a bottom crust, use a store-bought pie crust — blind bake it first to stop it from getting soggy — to create a flaky, perfectly buttery base for your filling.