Hearty Vegetable Pot Pie
Everyone loves this nostalgic classic, whether served at everyday meals or as holiday fare. Using prepared whole-grain pie crusts makes pot pies a snap to prepare. Photo credit: Sang An.
Makes two pies, 12 or more servings
- 8 medium potatoes
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 large onion, quartered and finely chopped
- 3 cups diced vegetables of your choice
(choose 3 or 4 from among cauliflower, broccoli, carrots, leeks, peas, corn kernels, zucchini, yellow summer squash, mushrooms, kale, etc.) - 2 tablespoons unbleached white flour
- 1 cup vegetable stock (homemade or store bought)
- 1/4 cup nutritional yeast (optional but highly recommended)
- 1 1/2 tablespoons all-purpose seasoning blend (such as Spike or Mrs. Dash)
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1/4 cup minced fresh parsley
- Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
- Two 9-inch prepared good-quality pie crust, preferably whole grain
- 1 cup fine whole grain bread crumbs
- Paprika for topping
Cook or microwave the potatoes in their skins until done. When cool enough to handle, peel them. Dice four of them and mash the other four coarsely. Set aside until needed.
Preheat the oven to 350º F.
Heat the oil in a large skillet. Add the onion and sauté over medium heat until golden. Add the vegetables of your choice, layering quicker-cooking vegetables like peas, corn, and zucchini over longer cooking ones like cauliflower, broccoli, and leeks (though none of these are terribly long-cooking). Add a bit of water; cover and cook until the vegetables are tender but not overdone, about 5 minutes.
Sprinkle the flour into the skillet, then pour in the stock. Add the optional nutritional yeast. Cook for a minute or two, stirring constantly. until the liquid thickens. Stir in both the diced and mashed potatoes. Heat through gently. Stir in the seasoning blend, thyme, and parsley. Season with salt and pepper. Pour the mixture into the pie crust and pat in.
Sprinkle the bread crumbs evenly over each pie, then top with a sprinkling of paprika. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, or until the crust is golden. Let the pies stand at room temperature for 10 minutes or so, then cut into wedges and serve.
- Browse more of VegKitchen’s vegan casserole recipes.
- Return to A Colorful Vegan Christmas (Vegetarians Welcome!) for a complete listing of holiday dinner recipes, menus, and desserts.
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This is an excellent, and very delicious savory treat!
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This was a very good meal. It also makes great leftovers for lunches!
First let me say I’m not a very experienced cook, but here are my thoughts…
This took 2 – 3 hours to prepare and cook. So I prepared all of the veggies and cooked my potatoes one night and then the next night I started on “Heat the oil in a large skillet…”.
In my oven it took 45 minutes to bake and I could have left it in longer.
I used only 6 potatoes, instead of 8.
Next time I plan on doubling the broth and increasing the seasonings.
Hope this helps! Happy cooking!!
Valeen, it’s likely that if you make this again it won’t take you as much time. Also, ovens are notoriously varied in their temperature accuracy, which is why I say to leave the pie in until the crust is golden. But I’m glad you enjoyed the dish and thank you for your comment!
I am slightly confused about the nutritional yeast ingredient. I have nutritional yeast and would like to use it in this dish, but the recipe instructions makes no mention of it.
I’m sure it was just forgotten.
Thanks
Sorry about that; I added it to the instructions. Thanks for the catch!
This recipe is far to much for my family, but I was wondering if this would freeze well? That way I could put the second pie in the freezer and save ti for a later date.
Jayme, I double the dish so it could serve as holiday fare, but you can cut the recipe in half. I’ve never tried freezing it, but I don’t think it could hurt!
Nava,
Thanks for the recipe! I’m trying to introduce more veggies into my step-kids’ diet, and I’m happy to sassy that this one was a hit! I halved the recipe this time, but I plan to try freezing one to see how it works out.
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Umm, this looks so yummy, but I have never baked a pie and it’s been eons before I baked anything. What baking utilities would I need (I know I need the oven, obviously, lol)?
Charlee, this recipe uses the shortcut of a good-quality whole-grain crust, so you don’t need anything but a skillet and an oven! Just follow the easy directions carefully and you should have no problem. Enjoy!
Loved this! I have missed pot pies and don’t really care for the frozen veggie ones. This is yummy. Non-veg hubby liked it too. It would be an excellent dish for a holiday meal. Thanks. I would give it 5 stars if I could figure out how.
Hi Deborah. Glad you and your hubby enjoyed this! If you really do want to give it 5 stars, you just need to click the 5th star up above the post! Otherwise, simply enjoy the dish and happy holidays …
Hi I am only 12 but I intend to surprise my family with this dish. The only problem is that we don’t have seaoning blend, vegetable stock, thyme, and pie crusts at our house. Any idea on how I could make vegetable stock, seasoning blend, and pie crusts.
Hareen, that’s so commendable that you’d like to make this for your family. Without these shortcuts, it’s going to be a bit of extra work! But let’s see if we can make this do-able. For the vegetable stock you can substitute a cup of hot water with a dissolved bouillon cube. But if you don’t have that, simply use a cup of nondairy milk like rice milk, or regular milk if you’re family isn’t vegan. For the seasoning blend, just combine a few dried herbs and spices to make up 1 to 1 1/2 tablespoons. Use seasonings whose flavors you enjoy. Taste the whole mixture once everything is stirred together and just make sure it has enough salt and pepper not to be bland.
I have to admit that pie crust is something I’ve never been good at, but there are lots of recipes for pie crust out there, if you’d like to make it from scratch. Google “pie crust recipe.” If your family is vegan, substitute Earth Balance or other nonhydrogenated margarine, used very cold, for butter. Good luck! Please tell me how it goes.
Thank You Very Very Much because I just know that my family will love this. Thank You Thank You Thank You
Hi, so I’m vegetarian, but the rest of my family isn’t, so I was wondering if this recipe could be made in smaller individual pies? Would I have to edit the recipe at all to do this?
Jessica, would you make your own pie crust and put it in some kind of smaller baking dish? I suppose that would work, but maybe better would be to make the pie and see if your family would enjoy it as a side dish with whatever else they are eating (thus introducing them to yummy veg food!), or else just making the whole pie and then freezing half. Half a pie could be good for two night’s dinner for you. I think that would be easier than making individual pies.
I was curious about the nutritional facts about this dish. Is it pretty low calorie?
Katie, according to an analysis of a similar recipe in my book, The Vegetarian Family Cookbook, each generous wedge (1/6 of the pie) has about 300 calories.
Hi! Tommorrow I am going on a school skii day and I was wondering if you had some really easy trail mix recipes consisting of just a few ingredients.
Thank You
Hareen, go to this post: http://www.vegkitchen.com/kid-friendly-recipes/healthy-snacks –the fourth one down is Trail Mix; you don’t even need a specific recipe. It’s basically half dried fruit and half nuts; be creative and use whatever you have on hand! and be careful on those skis!
Thanks! I think I missed it or something.
Actually I just added it for you — I should have had it there to begin with so thanks for giving me the hint that VegKitchen should include a simple formula for making trail mix.
Just made this for my family. As a Mum to a 3 year old it can sometimes be tricky to get her to eat vegetables! This was an instant hit, so much so that my daughter licked the spoon for the pie filling once I was finished!
The vegetables I used were carrots, cauliflower, peas, potatoes and creamed corn. I added the creamed corn at the end and let it simmer a bit so it wasn’t too thin. Of course this make it non-vegan with cream in it. I also added an extra stock cube to the pie mixture and mixed it all in before putting it in the oven.
So glad you and your daughter enjoyed this! Being a mom myself I remember how challenging it could be to get the kids to eat well when they were little. So I’m happy when I can pave the way a bit for others …. please check out our Veg Kid and Teens page for lots more child-friendly fare: http://www.vegkitchen.com/kid-friendly-recipes/
Can you post some really easy recipes for vegetarian teens to cook?
Cait, there are several categories of easy teen-friendly recipe on VegKitchen’s Veg Kids and Teens page, especially in the first group of topics, Easy, Healthy Recipes for Kids and Teens: http://www.vegkitchen.com/kid-friendly-recipes/
Yummy! I bet the nutritional yeast is great for a cheesy flavor! I am going to have to take this recommendation and use in my pot pie recipe, thanks!
http://www.cookeatdelicious.com/vegetables-recipes/vegetable-pot-pie-recipe.html
Hi I love this recipe as I need to make something for my mother in law who is a vegetarian and also highly allergic to garlic but my problem is I have no idea what the yeast is u have listed or the Mrs dash or spike is as I’m Australian so could u please inform me what I could change these to in order to make this for Xmas day any help would b awesome cheers jade
Jade, this will be easy to adapt to your needs. Simply leave out the nutritional yeast, which is optional. The seasoning blend is what it implies — a bunch of seasonings in single spice jar. You can just add whatever spices you want, or if you have some sort of seasoned salt, that would be good, too, but then leave out the regular salt at the end. I hope that helps, and that your family likes it!
I’ve recently became a vegan, and never have I ever tried nutritional yeast, what is it? and does it really taste like cheese? Also, i’m hoping my family will like this, considering most of them are carnivores, figuritvely speaking of course. lol
Thanks so much hun I’ll give it a test run soon with any luck I can pull it off then make it for Xmas day
Cheers again jade
Emily, nutritional yeast is a type of de-activated yeast (so it wouldn’t make bread rise, for instance). It is not bitter like brewer’s yeast. The reason that vegans like it is because it’s such a good source of B vitamins, especially B 12, which is typically not found in vegan foods. This recipe calls for so little of it that you can skip it if you’d like. does it really taste like cheese? In my opinion, not that much but I do like its mildly fermented flavor.
This came out a bit dry, in my opinion. When reheating the leftovers I microwaved them in almond milk and it came out delicious! I would definitely recommend adding significantly more fluid to the filling, such as adding almond milk
Could you make the vegetable pot pies as small individual pies? Would you cook it the same amount of time?
Joanne, I think this recipe would be quite charming as individual pies. I would start checking after 25 minutes of baking time. The only thing that really needs to get done in a sense is the crust. If it is smaller and thinner, it will probably bake through more quickly. Perhaps not as little as 25 minutes, but since I’ve never tried this that’s when I’d start checking. Perhaps you can let us know what you do to alter this recipe and how it turns out, as it is a great idea!
I can’t wait to make this for Chrisrmas dinner. My entire family are meat eaters (I am vegan) and they are all coming to my house for dinner. If I were to prepare it the day before and bake it the day befor, will the pie crust go soggy in the fridge?
Hi Carol-Anne, I do believe I’ve made this and have had leftovers, and I don’t recall the pie crust going soggy. As long as you can reheat it in a 350-degree F. oven for a short time just before serving (maybe 15 min.), you should be OK. Hope your family enjoys it!
Love this recipe!! I made this for Christmas dinner for myself as everyone else in my family had turkey! I did have leftovers and I can tell you with some assurance that the crust does not get soggy when held over and the flavors do meld together creating a wondeful taste sensation!! I sent a couple pie wedges to my sister’s house for her try and she is now asking for the recipe. It was a hit there as well!! I’ve used many of your recipes Nava and have enjoyed them!
I forgot to vote before my post!! Definately five stars!!
My new favorite comfort food – I love this!
I intended to vote 5 stars!
It was such a favorite when my kids were growing up — a great way to get both kids and adults to eat their veggies! Glad you enjoyed it.