Turkey, Bacon and Butternut Squash Pot Pie
Recipe and photography provided by Heinen’s partner, Chef Billy Parisi.
This delicious turkey, bacon and butternut squash pot pie is a tasty blend of ground turkey, vegetables and herbs simmered in a creamy broth and topped off and baked with a light and fluffy sheet of puff pastry.
As summer winds down, I am always looking to make tasty, easy home-cooked meals. This fall spin on the classic turkey pot pie is incredibly easy to make, extremely delicious and comes together in under one hour.
One of my favorite things about this turkey pot pie recipe is that it can be customized to meet the needs of your family’s taste buds. You can definitely add in peas, kale, carrots, root vegetables or anything else really. In the same manner, if there is something you want to swap or take out, that is definitely fine as well. You can use sliced turkey breasts instead of ground turkey, or get rid of the celery and onions if you’d like. My advice when it comes to cooking has always been to make recipes work for you.
To include some amazing bacon flavor into this recipe, start by rendering off some bacon fat and crisping up some sliced-up bacon. Not only will this add tons of delicious flavor to this pot pie, but it will also act as the oil that we will cook the rest of the turkey and vegetables in. Once the bacon is crispy, remove it from the pan and add the turkey and vegetables to the rendered bacon fat and saute for 5 to 6 minutes.
Pot pie, by nature, is really thick, so to ensure that it is to the proper consistency, you will make a roux using the rendered bacon fat from cooking the vegetables. Stir in some flour and then add in some chicken stock. It should immediately become very thick. At this point, add in some cream, herbs, salt and pepper. Be sure to taste it as well.
If you are cooking all of these vegetables in a big cast iron skillet, you can actually add the puff pastry right to the top of the pan and bake it. If you are not using a cast iron skillet, transfer the mixture to a 13×9 casserole dish and place the puff pastry sheet right on top. Be sure to brush the puff pastry with a simple whisk of egg and milk, which will help brown it up.
Bake the pot pie for a delicious, easy-to-make weeknight dinner for your family.
Turkey, Bacon and Butternut Squash Pot Pie
Servings: 12
Ingredients
- 6 slices of bacon, chopped
- 1 lb. of ground turkey
- 1 yellow onion, peeled and small diced
- 2 stalks of celery, small diced
- 2 cloves of garlic, finely minced
- 2 cups of cremini or button mushrooms, or both, sliced
- 1 large small butternut squash, diced and peeled
- 5 Tbsp. flour
- 3 cups chicken stock
- 1 cup half & half
- 1 Tbsp. fresh sage and thyme ( each), chopped
- 1 sheet puff pastry
- 1 egg, whisked with 1 Tbsp. of milk
- Salt and pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375°F.
- In a large pan or pot over medium heat add the bacon and cook until crispy.
- Once crisp and browned, remove the bacon from the pan and set aside. Add the turkey, onions, celery, garlic, mushrooms and squash and cook until the turkey is cooked through about 5-6 minutes.
- Stir in the flour until it is mixed in and then add in the chicken stock and turn the heat up to high.
- Once the mixture becomes very thick, add in the cream, sage, thyme and salt and pepper and mix until completely combined.
- Transfer the mixture to a 13×9 casserole dish and lay the sheet of puff pastry right over top.
- Brush the puff pastry with the egg and milk mixture and bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes or until the puff pastry is flaky and browned.
- Remove from the oven and serve.
