Ina Garten’s Shortcut Chicken Pot Pie Is One of My Favorite Meals

Back in 2009, right as I was graduating from culinary school, the iconic chef Thomas Keller wrote a cookbook called Ad Hoc at Home. It featured family-style recipes of dishes you could find at the famous Ad Hoc, the casual sister restaurant to the legendary The French Laundry. I couldn’t wait to get my hands on a copy.

At the time I was working as a private chef in Manhattan, constantly on the hunt for inspiration, especially for the dinner parties I was tasked to cook for. That’s how, one day, I decided to take a shot at Keller’s chicken pot pie recipe. How hard could it be?

About five hours later (not a joke) I had one (albeit perfect) chicken pot pie to show for myself. The good news: It was a hit. The bad news? It was so good that it became a repeat request from the customer. 

Don’t get me wrong, the recipe is excellent. However, there’s a reason Keller’s restaurant has an army of cooks. The recipe is labor-intensive. The all-butter dough is formed and chilled while the chicken is roasted. Each vegetable is simmered individually in its own pot of aromatics, and the celery is blanched and shocked. A béchamel sauce simmers while the pearl onions are peeled. A far cry from the frozen pot pie of my youth! 

While there is a time and a place for that chicken pot pie, as a mom of three little kids, for the next 12 to 18 years of my life, I don’t see myself making it. 

Luckily, I recently came across Ina Garten’s shortcut Chicken Pot Pie Soup and it is definitely something I’ll be making at least once a week. My one-year-old daughter Eloise simply could not consume this soup fast enough. It’s easily one of her very favorite meals, and for good reason!

The Genius Behind Ina Garten’s Shortcut Chicken Pot Pie

While it ruins the surprise a bit, the first thing we need to talk about is the genius of Queen Ina’s shortcut. Instead of making a pie crust, Ina calls for using puff pastry to make croutons for this soup. 

She cuts them into fun shapes like hearts and stars, but to get the most bang for my buck—have you seen the price of all butter puff pastry lately?—I use a fluted cutter and simply cut the dough into squares. Then, I space them out on a parchment-lined baking sheet, brush them with egg wash, and hit them with salt and pepper.

These bake to golden, flaky perfection and make the crunchiest topping for chicken pot pie soup. I actually had to hide these from Eloise because she couldn’t stop eating them!

How I Make Ina Garten’s Chicken Pot Pie Soup

Think of the coziest most delicious chicken pot pie filling you’ve ever tasted, and this soup is probably 10 times better.

Start by cooking leeks, fennel, and carrots with butter in a large Dutch oven. You want the leeks to become tender, but not brown. Stir in minced garlic and fresh tarragon. I am crazy about leeks and I think they add something to this soup that makes it very unique. The fennel adds a lovely depth and sweetness. 

The soup is thickened with Wondra flour (it’s a staple in my home), which makes this soup very stress (and lump!) free. Add chicken stock—like the good Ina disciple I am, I do use homemade chicken stock, which I really think contributed to the rich flavor—and cream sherry, and season with salt, pepper, and a parmesan rind. It’s fine if you don’t have one, but know that it adds an umami flavor that stands out. I didn’t have any cream sherry on hand, and while I think the flavor would be excellent, a dry white wine works, too.

After simmering for about 20 minutes, you add cooked chicken, peas, and pearl onions. Here’s where I deviated, but it still worked out beautifully. Ina calls for roasting chicken breasts and cutting them into pieces.  I used leftover cooked chicken cut into bite-sized pieces. Using a store-bought rotisserie chicken is a great way to save some time. 

I also left the frozen pearl onions out because I couldn’t find any at my local store and there was no way I was peeling fresh ones by hand.

This soup was super easy to assemble and, by using a few shortcuts, took me less than an hour from start to finish. Both the soup and the croutons would reheat beautifully, but we didn’t have many leftovers to speak of. This recipe is just that good!