Creamy Vegetable Pot Pie

This Vegetable Pot Pie with puff pastry is proper comfort food. Mushrooms, carrots and broccoli cooked in a delicious creamy sauce infused with white wine, garlic and thyme make this veggie pie so tasty.

Chicken and mushroom pie used to be one of my favourite comfort foods. But since we switched to a vegetarian diet a few years ago I kind of missed it. So, I set myself the challenge of creating a veggie pot pie that was just as good. It took me a little while but I did it!

This creamy vegetable pot pie is now one of our favourite dinners. It's deliciously creamy, packed full of veggies and has a lovely flaky puff pastry topping. And it's so easy to make. I can also confirm that no one misses the chicken when I make this, even the meat-eaters in my life love this! Just serve with some creamy mashed potatoes for a delicious dinner.

Why This Recipe Works

• The perfect creamy filling - packed with veggies this is so easy to make and it tastes amazing.
• Shop bought pasty - make your life easier and use pre-rolled puff pastry!
• Ready in under an hour - from making the filling to cooking the pie in the oven this can be on the table in an hour!

What You'll Need

This is an easy recipe made with just a few simple store cupboard ingredients.

How To Make Vegetable Pot Pie

This is just a quick visual guide, please see the recipe card below for the full instructions.

1. Cook the onion and leek until they are soft. This can take 10 - 15 minutes.
2. Add the butter and mushrooms and cook for a few minutes. Then add the garlic. Turn up the heat then add the wine and cook until it reduces.
3. Add the flour, mustard and creme fraiche and stir until you have a roux like paste.
4. Slowly pour in the stock, stir well until you have a sauce, then add the carrots. The sauce should be getting thicker now.
5. Drop the broccoli into the sauce. If your sauce is too thin, now is the time to thicken it. See the recipe card below for how to do this. Transfer the filling to a pie dish. Add the frozen peas and stir them into the sauce.
6. Roll out the pastry, score the pastry with a sharp knife then place it on top of the filling. Brush the pastry with egg wash then put it in the oven and bake until the pastry is golden brown.

Recipe Notes and Substitutions

• Pastry - I use a store-bought pre-rolled puff pastry to make this pie. Unrolled it is a rectangular sheet measuring approximately 350mm x 230mm (14in x 9in). I roll it out further to fit my round pie dish which measures in at approximately 10"/25.5cm in diameter and 2.5"/6.5 cm deep. You can use shortcrust pastry if you prefer and still get very good results.
• Mushrooms - Chestnut or brown mushrooms are great for this pie, I have made this with wild mushrooms too with very good results. If you want you can also use white button mushrooms to make this. I like a mixture of big and small mushrooms in this pie, I slice the bigger mushrooms and cut smaller mushrooms into halves or quarters.
• Vegetables - This pie filling is very flexible so you can add in different veggies according to what you have in your fridge. I have made this using a variety of veggies, butternut squash, potatoes and parsnips work really well in here too.
• Creme fraiche - Full-fat creme fraiche makes the filling lovely and creamy without using any cream. You can use low-fat or half-fat creme fraiche if you wish, you will still get a good result.
• White wine  - You can omit the wine if you wish, it does add a lovely flavour to the sauce but I have made it without wine and it still tastes great.
• Stock - I make my stock using 2 teaspoons of vegetable bouillon and just under half a pint of boiling water. If you wanted to use stock cubes I would use a whole stock cube dissolved in the same amount of water.
• Mustard - English mustard is best for this sauce if you don't have it you could substitute it for Dijon mustard.

Tips For Making The Best Vegetable Pot Pie

• Make sure you cook the onions and leeks until they are soft and creamy. This brings out the sweetness in the onions and the leeks, which adds to the flavour of the pie.
• Don't overcook the mushrooms. The mushrooms need to be just cooked as they will cook further when you bake the pie.
• Turn up the heat when you add the wine. The pan should be nice and hot when you add the wine, it should sizzle as soon as it hits the pan.
• Add the stock slowly. Once you start adding the stock do it slowly and stir the sauce continuously until you have added all the stock. This will ensure your sauce is smooth and not lumpy.
• Add the broccoli and peas at the end. I prefer to add the broccoli right at the end of cooking the sauce. It will cook once the pie is in the oven. The same goes for the frozen peas, I add them when I transfer the filling to the pie dish.
• If you find that your sauce is too thin thicken it. I often thicken the sauce by adding a cornstarch/cornflour slurry. I mix 1 teaspoon of cornstarch/cornflour with 1 or two tablespoons of milk then pour it into the sauce, stirring it well. The sauce should thicken up really quickly.
• Don't forget to preheat your oven. I also place the pie dish on a baking tray to avoid any spillage and to make it easier to take the pie out of the oven without breaking any of that lovely pastry.

FAQs About This Vegetable Pot Pie Recipe

What do you eat with vegetable pie? We love to have this with creamy mashed potatoes, you can serve another vegetable with this but to be honest we rarely do.

Can I make this ahead of time? Yes, you can make the filling the day before and you can pop the pastry on it too. Just keep it in the fridge until you are ready to bake it. Don't brush the pastry with egg wash until you are ready to bake. This pie really is best baked fresh so I would recommend you bake it and serve it on the same day.

Can I freeze this pie? This pie really is best when made fresh but if you need too you can freeze it. You can freeze it before you bake it once the pastry has not been frozen already. If you freeze it this way make sure the filling has cooled fully and don't brush the pastry with egg wash. Place the pie on a tray then place in the freezer, after an hour or two, remove the tray, cover the pie in freezer wrap or put it in a large freezer bag and put it back in the freezer. It will keep for 3 months. You can cook it from frozen. Brush it with egg wash before you bake it. It may take longer to cook this way.

Can I freeze the pie once it is cooked? Yes, you can. Leave the pie to cool completely then place the pie on a tray and put it in the freezer, after an hour or two, remove the tray, cover the pie in freezer wrap or put it in a large freezer bag and return to the freezer. It will keep for 3 months. You can cook this from frozen, it may take longer to cook and you may have some differences in texture.

More Tasty Comfort Food Ideas

• Quorn Cottage Pie - another family favourite this pie is so easy to make and tastes amazing.
• Gnocchi Bolognese Bake - this is proper comfort food! A real treat and it's a one-pan dinner too!
• Stuffed Shells with Spinach & Ricotta - if you fancy a pasta dinner then this one is a winner, it never fails to satisfy.
• Lentil Cottage Pie - the perfect classic winter dish, easy to make and so full of flavour.

Have you made this Creamy Vegetable Pot Pie Recipe? Rate it and leave me a comment below to let me know what you think!