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Healthy Chicken Pot Pie Casserole is a low calorie veggie and protein packed casserole. A lighter chicken pot pie recipe that's easy, delicious and filling. Low Calorie + Gluten Free
Love chicken pot pie, but not all the calories? This low calorie chicken pot pie recipe is for you! I lightened up the recipe making this casserole dish lighter, but just as delicious as the real deal.
Along with low calorie chicken pot pie soup, this is one of my favorite recipes to make.
It's hearty, packed with vegetables and protein and the ultimate satisfying meal! The good news is you can feel great about eating this as it's nutritious and much lower in calories than other versions.
What Makes This Chicken Pot Pie Casserole Recipe Healthy?
You will love this lighter chicken pot pie recipe! It omits heavy cream and uses broth and milk instead to lighten up the calories along with omitting the biscuits and butter.
- Low Calorie - Traditional chicken pot pie recipes have 500-700 calories per serving. This recipe is just 377 calories per serving.
- Higher Protein - This recipe has 41 grams of protein per serving. Protein is important for satiety and stabilizing hunger along with preventing muscle loss from losing weight and from the aging process. Most of my clients are very deficient in protein.
- Lower Fat - There is only 2 grams of saturated fat in this recipe making it much lower in fat that traditional chicken pot pies.
Ingredients For Healthy Chicken Pot Pie Casserole
Here's what you need to make low calorie chicken pot pie casserole! For the full list of measurements and nutrition information, scroll to the bottom of this post.
You will also need a rectangular backing dish for making chicken pot pie casserole. Here's the one I used.
- Chicken Breast (I used ButcherBox pasture-raised chicken)
- Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- Mushrooms
- Yellow Onion
- Celery
- Carrots
- Garlic
- All Purpose Flour (or Gluten Free Flour)
- Garlic Powder
- Onion Powder
- Thyme
- Milk
- Frozen Peas
- Jasmine Rice
- Chicken Broth
- Salt and Pepper
For ingredient substitution recommendations, see the substitution section below.
How To Make Healthy Chicken Pot Pie Casserole In The Oven
Here's how to make this lighter chicken pot pie casserole. You will need a skillet and a baking dish to make this healthy casserole recipe.
Step One - Preheat oven to 375 F. Set aside a 9-inch by 13-inch baking dish.
Step Two - Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Add the oil, onion, garlic, celery, carrots, mushrooms, thyme, garlic powder, onion powder, salt and pepper. Cook 5 minutes until the vegetables are al dente.
Step Three - Add the flour to the veggies and stir together to absorb the liquid from the skillet.
Step Four - Add the milk to the skillet while stirring constantly until the milk thickens.
Step Five - Turn off the heat and add the frozen peas, uncooked rice and cooked chicken to the skillet. Stir together then transfer to the baking dish.
Step Six - Add the broth to the mixture in the baking dish and stir. Cover the casserole with foil and bake 30 minutes in the oven.
Step Seven - After 30 minutes, remove the foil and stir the contents. Bake for another 20-25 minutes then remove it from the oven and let it sit for 15 minutes before serving.
Can You Use Raw Chicken In A Casserole
I used cooked chicken in this chicken pot pie casserole recipe. I make shredded chicken in the Instant Pot (it's super easy!) and then just add it to the dish.
You can also use raw chicken in a casserole like this one as it will fully cook safely to 165 F after 30 minutes of cooking at 375 F. I recommend chopping the chicken into small cubes and added it to the casserole that way.
Storing and Reheating Chicken Pot Pie Casserole
- Prep Ahead Of Time - You can prep chicken pot pie casserole ahead of time up to the point of baking. Simply cover the casserole dish and refrigerate then when ready to bake, remove from the oven while the oven is preheating then pop the casserole dish in the oven with it covered and baked according to the instructions.
- Storing Chicken Pot Pie - This chicken pot pie casserole can be stored in the refrigerator up to 4 days.
- Freezing Chicken Pot Pie - I do not recommend freezing the casserole until after it has been completely baked as the freezing will create a lot more liquid from the vegetables. You can freeze chicken pot pie after it has been baked up to 3 months.
- Reheating Chicken Pot Pie - If you need to reheat chicken pot pie, bake it in the oven at 325 F for 15-20 minutes or in the microwave 2-3 minutes for one serving.
Chicken Pot Pie Frequently Asked Questions
Is It Safe To Use Raw Chicken In A Casserole
Raw chicken breast is safe to use in a casserole as the bacteria will be killed at 165 F after 30 minutes of cooking at 350 F or above.
How Long Does It Take To Bake Raw Chicken At 350 F
Chicken breast at 350 F takes 25-30 minutes to cook. Check with a meat thermometer that the internal temperature is 165 F or above.
How To Thicken Chicken Pot Pie Filling
How do you thicken chicken pot pie filling? Adding milk, broth and flour is what thickens chicken pot pie and creates a thick mixture. If your mixture seems runny, you can add a tablespoon of flour, cornstarch or arrowroot powder to absorb some of the liquid.
Do You Cover Chicken Pot Pie In The Oven
This chicken pot pie recipe is cooked covered in the oven to prevent from burning.
Substitutions For Healthy Chicken Pot Pie Casserole
Here are the substitutions you can make for this lighter chicken pot pie casserole without biscuits.
Remember when you substitute ingredients it will change the nutritional values from what you see in the recipe card below.
- Chicken Breast - Turkey can be swapped for chicken in this recipe. For a vegetarian option, use tofu or tempeh instead to keep the protein content balanced.
- Milk - Any milk can be used in the recipe including dairy-free milk.
- Flour - You can replace the flour with gluten free all purpose flour.
- Broth - I used no sodium added chicken broth for this recipe. Chicken or vegetable broth or stock can be used in this recipe.
- Vegetables - You can swap any of the vegetables in the recipe to your liking.
- Peas - You can replace the peas with frozen corn or omit them.
- Rice - You can use any uncooked rice for this pot pie chicken casserole. Brown rice, white rice, basmati rice, barley or quinoa could all be substituted in this recipe. Cooking times may vary using different rices than the one used in this recipe.
- Dairy-Free - Use dairy-free milk for a dairy-free chicken pot pie.
- Gluten-Free- Use gluten-free flour all purpose flour instead of all purpose flour.
More Healthy Casserole Recipes
- Healthy Cabbage Roll Casserole
- Healthy Buffalo Chicken Casserole
- Healthy Tuna Noodle Casserole
- Paleo Turkey Sweet Potato Casserole
- Healthy Ham & Potato Casserole
- Healthy Greek Chicken Casserole
Healthy Chicken Pot Pie Casserole
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- 8 oz Mushrooms canned or fresh and diced
- 1/2 cup Yellow Onion diced
- 2/3 cup Celery diced
- 2/3 cup Carrots diced
- 4 cloves Garlic minced
- 1/3 cup All Purpose Flour or GF flour
- 1/2 teaspoon Garlic Powder
- 1/2 teaspoon Onion Powder
- 1/2 teaspoon Dried Thyme
- 1 1/2 cups Low Fat Milk or milk of choice
- 1 cup Frozen Peas
- 1 cup Jasmine Rice uncooked
- 2 lbs Chicken Breast cubed or shredded and pre-cooked
- 2 cups Chicken Broth no sodium added
- Salt and Pepper to taste
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 F and set aside a 9-inch by 13-inch baking dish.
- Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Add the oil, onion, garlic, celery, carrots, mushrooms, salt, pepper, thyme, garlic powder and onion powder. Cook 5 minutes while stirring until the veggies are slightly al dente.
- Add the flour to the veggies and stir together to absorb all the liquid from the skillet.
- Stir the milk to the pot while stirring constantly until the milk thickens. You can add a little more flour if you need to.
- Next turn off the heat then stir in the frozen peas, uncooked rice, and cooked chicken breast into the skillet mixture. Transfer the mixture to the baking dish.
- Add the broth to the mixture in the baking dish. Stir once more then cover the casserole with tinfoil and bake in the oven for 30 minutes.
- After 30 minutes, remove the tinfoil and stir. Bake the casserole another 30 minutes then remove it from the oven and let it sit 15 minutes to thicken more.
Notes
- Prep Ahead Of Time - You can prep chicken pot pie casserole ahead of time up to the point of baking. Simply cover the casserole dish and refrigerate then when ready to bake, remove from the oven while the oven is preheating then pop the casserole dish in the oven with it covered and baked according to the instructions.
- Storing Chicken Pot Pie - This chicken pot pie casserole can be stored in the refrigerator up to 4 days.
- Freezing Chicken Pot Pie - I do not recommend freezing the casserole until after it has been completely baked as the freezing will create a lot more liquid from the vegetables. You can freeze chicken pot pie after it has been baked up to 3 months.
- Reheating Chicken Pot Pie - If you need to reheat chicken pot pie, bake it in the oven at 325 F for 15-20 minutes or in the microwave 2-3 minutes for one serving.
Debbie says
How many weight watchers points is this recipe
Megan says
I do not have WW point information. You would have to build the recipe in their app for them to tell you this.
Jennifer Stelter says
How much is 1 serving? If you said it in grams or ounces, I missed it 🙂
Thank you
Megan says
It is not standard for blog nutrition data labels to state servings in grams or ounces. There are 6 servings in this recipe so 1/6th of the recipe would be one serving. If wanted to know the grams or ounces, simple weigh the entire cooked dish in either ounces or grams on a food scale and divide by 6. That will give you the grams or ounces per serving.
Brooke says
I made this on Friday night so my family could eat it while I am out of town this weekend. My husband texted me yesterday evening that he loved it. The only change, I used 2 Seeds of change quinoa and brown rice with garlic pouches in place of rice. Thank you for the recipe.
Brooke says
I meant to give this recipe 5 stars. Sorry
Kathy Chatty says
Question about COOKED or UNCOOKED RICE? In the "HOW TO MAKE" section Step Five shows COOKED RICE, but in the "SUBSTITUTIONS" and the actual "Recipe - INGREDIENT LIST" it shows UNCOOKED. I think that is something I'd really like to know because I'd like to make this. Can you clarify please?
Megan says
It should be uncooked. I will update the how to make section. Thanks for the catch.
Melissa says
Hi! I’m wondering what I did wrong. After cooking, it was still incredibly soupy! 3 cups of chicken broth with cooked rice seems like a lot. Was that a typo?
Megan says
I have always done 3 cups and it's come out, but you and a client of mine mentioned it was soupy so it could be the type/brand of rice and/or flour. I reduced the quantity to 2 cups to be safe though. Always easier to add liquid than take away. Thanks for the feedback!
Tarrie Battaglia says
This is super creamy and delicious! So happy to be able to have one of my favorite childhood meals gluten and dairy free!
Glenda Robles says
If I am interpreting it correctly, I measure 1 cup rice and then cook it? Or is it 1 cup of cooked rice?
Megan says
Hi Glenda! The ingredients state 1 cup jasmine rice cooked. So 1 cup cooked rice. 😉
Glenda Robles says
Thanks!! That was my assumption and I made it that way. This was so delicious. I fixed biscuits for the family members that can have gluten. I had a huge bowl of this. So so fresh and satisfying