Easy Mini Pot Pies with Leftover Thanksgiving Turkey

Looking for a simple recipe to use up Thanksgiving leftovers?

If you're like me, you probably have tons of leftover turkey after Thanksgiving dinner. These mini pot pies are a fun way to turn leftover turkey into a new exciting meal. But if you don't have leftover turkey, don't worry. You can use a number of replacements like rotisserie chicken, or just go with veggies instead and make these mini pot pies all year round!

Simple and healthy mini pot pies for toddlers and kids

I used a muffin tin to make these mini pies. The mini size makes these pies easy for little kids to eat because they fit comfortably in little hands. Toddlers can easily cut the pies into even smaller bites by using Grabease stainless steel fork, knife, and spoon set. I love how these utensils are lightweight, and the handles are round with grooved finger guides. 

Cayenne pepper adds a wonderful kick to these pies if your child can tolerate a bit of heat. To my surprise, my youngest enjoyed subtly spicy food even before her second birthday. Obviously, we want to stay moderate, but I'm a big fan of introducing strong spices early on. Then, I can cook foods our whole family enjoys, not just my kids.

You can use any frozen vegetables you have on hand for the vegetables. For the crust, I used store-bought pie crusts and cut them with a 4" diameter biscuit cutter. If you don't have a biscuit cutter, you can use a lid from a jar of peanut butter. I love how flaky they turned out in the muffin tin - making it very hard to stop eating!

I served these mini pot pies on a Grabease silicone suction cloud plate. My daughter calls it her "flower" plate and adores it. It's made of 100% food-grade silicone that is dishwasher and microwave safe, making cleaning easy!  

 

Recipe

Mini Pot Pies with Leftover Turkey

Servings: 12 mini pot pies

Prep time: 15 minutes

Cook time: 15 minutes

 

Ingredients

1 cup mixed frozen peas and carrots (or veggie of choice!)

1 1/4 cups shredded turkey or rotisserie chicken

1/2 cup heavy cream or half and half

1/2 teaspoon onion powder

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

(optional) 1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

(optional) 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper

3/4 cup + 1/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese

1 package pie crust package (2 X 9" pie crust)

baking spray

  

Instructions

1. Position rack in the middle and preheat oven to 425 F.
2. In a large bowl, place frozen peas and carrots, cover and microwave for 2 minutes.
3. Add turkey, heavy cream, onion powder, garlic powder, salt, pepper, cayenne pepper, and 3/4 cup of shredded cheddar cheese. Mix to combine.
4. Coat a muffin tin using a baking spray.
5. Unroll the pie crusts. Cut out circles using a 4" biscuit cutter (or similar sized lid). Insert them into muffin cups. The pie crust will fill up to about half of the muffin cup.
6. Divide the filling into each cup. Sprinkle the rest of the cheddar cheese on top.
7. Bake for about 15 minutes until the top is golden and bubbly.
8. Let the pies cool in the muffin tin for 5~10 minutes before carefully taking them out.