Give Chicken Pot Pie A Fall Twist By Adding This Popular Vegetable

As warm and comforting as it is, chicken pot pie is already plenty suitable for fall and all the chilly evenings that the season ushers in. It's flaky on the outside, creamy on the inside, and bursting with poultry and classic veggies like peas and carrots. It just seems tailor-made for sweater weather even without any further alterations. But adding in some of the sweet potatoes that a lot of folks associate with this time of year (Thanksgiving's sweet potato casserole, anyone?) can make chicken pot even more autumnal.

Now, a classic chicken pot pie doesn't actually need to include regular potatoes at all, so this isn't your everyday swap. You may not even add extra starch, since the crust is carby enough. Sweet potatoes are another story. Yes, like regular potatoes, they're also a starchy carb. But their sweetness, earthy notes, and beta-carotene (which makes them orange) make them stand out in this dish. You can add sweet potatoes the same way you'd add regular potatoes: by cubing and cooking them in butter on the stovetop until tender, then combining them with the rest of the filling and baking the way you would for any pot pie recipe.

As with any other potato variety that you'd use for a chicken pot pie, you want to make sure that you cut your sweet potatoes so that they are bite-sized. They should be small enough to comfortably fit on a fork alongside chicken and crust. Being that your pot pie may ultimately only spend about 30 minutes in the oven, you don't want to skip the pre-cooking part. Otherwise, your sweet potatoes may still be underdone and hard. That also goes for when you're making chicken pot pie in the air fryer, as it might spend even less time in that appliance than a standard oven.

You don't necessarily need to cook the sweet potatoes on the stovetop, either, though it will give them a crisp texture and some caramelization. You can also boil the cut potatoes until they're tender, checking the consistency after around seven minutes depending on their size. You may also consider canned sweet potatoes, which will not require any pre-cooking, but just remember that they will not necessarily get much softer in the oven. In any case, you will still benefit from the sweet potato's signature fall flavor.